CHRISTOPHER MCGRAW: So my friends and family think I'm crazy-- well, for a number of different reasons, but specifically because I love the cold. I think that going to a place like Iceland or Antarctica is a better vacation than going to Florida in the winter. So it's pretty fitting that I would fly to Michigan in the dead of winter just to drive a 2019 Subaru Forester Touring across the state and review it.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
So now that we're inside the car, let's talk about the exterior styling. The 2019 model is Subaru's fifth-generation Forester. And I think with each redesign, I'm actually liking this car less and less, looks-wise. I really wish instead of this bulbous, crossover-y redesign that this one currently has, they would have stuck to the boxy Foresters of the first, second, and third generations and made something different. This just looks like everything else out there on the market.
I also-- I don't know. I really don't like the color options, specifically for the Forester Touring, which is what we're driving now. So this color is called Horizon Blue Pearl. And it's not going to offend anybody, but it's also not going to get anybody excited, either.
Where are the colors that used to make me excited about Subarus, like Rally Blue, and Hyper Blue, and whatever the orange is for the Crosstrek, and that yellow that the Special Edition Crosstrek had a few years back? Man, those are awesome colors. These? Not so much. They even have a color that's called like sepia brown, which is the same name for the photo filter you use to make photos look dated and old. Probably not the best color name for a brand-new car.
So hopping into the interior, in the Touring, you can get any interior color you want, any material you want, as long as it's black or brown leather. I actually like the brown leather. I don't like it with the blue paint job, but I think that has more to do with the paint than it does the interior. Once you get in, this is a very spacious and airy interior.
I will say, even though I don't like the exterior of the newer Foresters, this is, by far, the most comfortable I've ever been driving the Subaru Forester. With the sunroof, the interior is just so bright and airy. The pillars are small. It's very easy to see in almost every direction.
The touchscreen is easy to use, though it is pretty glossy so when it's bright out, there is quite a bit of glare that's coming off the screen itself. But other than that, I don't have any complaints about the screen. I'm really impressed with how it's evolved from what, arguably, was the worst infotainment system out there to something that's easy to use. It's just no frills.
Speaking of infotainment, I was just in the Volvo S60 doing a review of that car, and the audio system is a Harman Kardon audio system in that car. It sounds amazing. And so I hopped into this, thinking, here's a vehicle that's roughly half the price of that one. Probably has a way worse audio system. And how could I not have been more wrong.
We turned up our music all the way in this car, and the audio system is phenomenal. For something that's in the $30,000 range, I was really pleasantly surprised at how good the audio quality is. And that's when I looked down at the speakers and saw that this is a Harman Kardon audio system, as well. So it makes sense that the one in the Volvo and the one in the Subaru both sound very good. It's just that you're paying twice as much for a car in that Volvo. I just didn't expect it out of the Subaru.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
For the model year 2020, Subaru brought back the turbo in the Outback, which is great for that vehicle. But they took it out of the Subaru Forester lineup, and I don't know why. The Forester XT was much more fun to drive with that engine than it is now. This engine-- it's fine. It doesn't excite me. And couple that with the steering that's a little vague, it just kind of feels meh.
There's not enough power when you're going to pass someone on the highway, which can make me a little anxious on road trips when you're surrounded by semi trucks. I really, really miss the turbo charge here.
This Forester also has Subaru's Driver Focus safety system, which was a finalist for our 2020 Autoblog Tech of the Year Award. Since then, I've driven it more, and I found the technology to actually be more of an annoyance than helpful. Safety systems are great. They can help you keep your eyes on the road, keep you less distracted. But when they start distracting you to the point where you're shutting them off, they no longer work.
So Subaru's got to do something about all these beeps. They drive me crazy. We had to shut it all off just to be able to film this. Every second you look back to see if you're changing lanes, or if I'm looking down but have my eyes on the road-- I'm wearing sunglasses, it thinks I'm falling asleep, so it'll beep at me constantly. And I just find it more infuriating than helpful at this point.
Driver Focus does have some cool aspects. When you get into the car, it'll remember your face. So it had been a little bit since I had driven this car, and it remembered my face when I got in. It adjusted the seats, mirrors, steering wheel to how I like it, which is a pretty neat feature, but not neat enough to keep it on when it's just beeping constantly, annoying me.
Another thing that actually associate producer Alex Molberg, who's behind the camera right now, pointed out to me earlier that I hadn't noticed is that some of the lights in here are different colors. So you have daylight temperature colors up front, and then you have tungsten temperature colors in the back. So it can kind of mess with your eyes a little bit, plus it just looks bad.
It'd be like if someone had LED headlights in one of their headlight and then a regular headlight on the other, just two different color headlights. And inside, it's just little things like that that cheapen the overall experience.
On the flip side, the steering wheel is leather-wrapped and it feels fantastic. You got your heated steering wheel button right here, which I always love when the heated steering wheel button is on the steering wheel. I hate having to look where the heated steering wheel button is and having to take my eyes off the road. It's super easy to turn on and off right here.
Also, the button layout just makes sense. I got into this car for the first time a few months back, and instinctively, I knew where everything was and how to use it. It doesn't take a week or two for me to figure out where the button layout is. Plus, there are a ton of buttons on the steering wheel, which is where I want them. My hands are almost always on the wheel, so when the buttons are also on the steering wheel, it just makes my life easier.
Another thing that I like-- front seats both heated. Nothing miraculous there. But there are just switches where the heated seats turn on and off. Getting in and out of this and the Volvo S60, the Volvo's got everything in the touchscreen and I have to look down at the touchscreen to figure out how to turn on and off the heated seats. This I could just turn on and off without having to look down at all.
So this is technically in the compact crossover category, which is a little bit misleading. This is almost in no way compact, which when you're maybe trying to fit into a tight parking space might be an issue. But for me and my passengers, not an issue whatsoever. The backseat is very comfortable, has a ton of space, and there's a bunch of space for your cargo in the trunk.
I don't pack light. So I brought a 90-liter duffle and all my camera gear for this shoot, and we're going down to the Chicago Auto Show, and everything fit very easily. And you combine that with all the stuff that Alex brings, and you're talking about a lot of luggage, and the Forester could handle it all, no problem.
So when it comes to the driving modes, you have a few different options. You have a Sport Mode here that-- I mean, Sport Mode. Pretty self-explanatory. Then you have also an Intelligent Mode. It says SI Drive. It shows you right up here when you press it. So there's Sport Mode and there's Intelligent Mode. And all Intelligent Mode is as it should help you with your fuel economy while trying to remain sporty.
I don't feel, even in Sport Mode, that the Forester is all that sporty. Especially when you're talking Subarus, WRX or anything like that-- way more sporty than the Forester, as it should be. So I just pretty much keep it on Intelligent Mode to help with my fuel economy.
Some other options you have down here-- X mode, which is just an easy way to say that there are different driving modes here for snow and dirt, and deep snow and mud. And then you can just hit the button and it'll bring you back to normal. Thankfully, it is not snowing whatsoever right now, even though it's February here in Michigan, so I haven't had to use either of these yet.
But it is a Subaru. Comes with all-wheel drive. And we do have winter tires on these wheels right now. I don't think we'd have any problem handling any snow or ice we could throw at it.
Right about now, you might be thinking to yourself, man, this guy really hates Subarus. And that's just not the case at all. My personal car is a Subaru Crosstrek, and I drive that thing all over the place. And the Outback XT has been one of my favorite cars I've driven around the mountains these past few months. It's just that the Subaru Forester leaves me feeling a little bit uninspired.
The outgoing, unique personality the Forester used to have is gone, replaced by a lobotomized, focus-group-designed vehicle that isn't as fun to drive or look at. In a day and age where every other company is attaching turbos and making their compact crossovers more fun to drive, Subaru seems to have taken the opposite route, removing the turbo and manual option in the Forester.
That said, this Forester is, by far, the most comfortable and practical I've ever driven. But to me, comfort and practicality aren't enough to win out, especially when Subaru itself has been making so many better, more interesting options. And if that safety system beeps at me one more time while I'm looking to see if it's clear to change lanes, I'm going to lose my mind.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[BEEPS]
Shut up.
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