Bravo Mate! Literally the first Australian in-depth review I’ve seen of this car that actually took the thing off-road. Subaru markets these cars as adventure machines but every other channel just puts them around Sydney and calls them dull. Great video!
I bought one yesterday and I was surprised when you said it was "a little bit low for my liking". It has the same ground clearance as a Landcruiser Prado and the only difference is that the Subaru has softer suspension so you take the ruts slower.
The issue with comparing a rav 4 to a forester is people who typically buy subaru's arent the same demograph as people who buy toyotas. Sure ppl in the city own subaru's, but not like in northern parts of the usa where everyone owns a subi. People who buy Toyotas want best bang for their buck while still having best of all worlds. Their sporty looking, fuel efficient, affordable, and reliable. But typically, the thought of "will this Toyota be able to get me through harsh winters?" is an afterthought for many toyota buyers. People in the north already know their subaru will get them through any harsh winter.
For us in Australia, Subaru Forester seems to be far better value for money... especially if you buy secondhand, very low kms. I've just bought a Subaru Forester 2022 S (8000km) and I'm saving about $20,000 compared to buying what was my initial preference (leather seat RAV4). I would normally buy Toyota, but in this instance I've done a 180 + gone Subaru. Hopefully it meets my Toyota reliability expectation... but, even if I'm not happy and have to sell it, I'm 100% prepared to take the risk considering what I'm paying (i could resell very quickly for tge same price).
I’ve been batting my eyes for this car. I am hesitant whether I would go for an Isuzu MU-X or this all-wheel drive SUV. Based on my routes and journeys, 90% on the road and most of the time here in my area, it gets a bit rainy so the all-wheel drive system is a win. 10% on off-road, there are tendencies where my journey would require me to go off road and sometimes it gets muddy and rocky, so the all-wheel drive system would still be win. Knowing that there’s a snow/mud terrain and deep snow/mud terrain system that would assist the driver is quite reassuring. Subaru does not have the luxury of experimenting and going crazy on the design of their cars, especially the Forester. “If ain’t broken, don’t fix it”. The solely base on the consumer’s feedback and if it ain’t a problem, they wouldn’t change it. It’s other competition has this huge-high definition infotainment system that all the necessary buttons are integrated within it- not to mention the huge digital gauge cluster that surely makes the vehicle modern and luxurious. But Subaru knows that their consumers does not want any of those, and they know that most of their consumers are those type of person that huge changes is a dealbreaker and that the consumer would rather want the features that they’re used to with. Subaru instead focus on the delivering the best that they could offer. An amazing Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive System, tons of safety features, and a heck ton of practicality features. In terms of power, in my country, they offer the 2.0 which produces a whopping 150+ hp, so I guess some countries are blessed to have 2.5 engines that produces 180+ hp. If your budget is an suv like Subaru, don’t expect going nord to 60 in 3.2 seconds. Get a sports car. A car that produces no more that 200 hp is a great all-around car in the city. What’s important is it could get you to point a to point b. In conclusion, if I am to buy this car. This’ll be my car for life and I think I am going to fully-satisfied with this vehicle.
We recently joined the SUV brigade and bought one the Subaru IMO is better than the R4 better interior,build quality,driving dynamics ,handling driver ergonomic lovely boxer eng that's has a unique sound but the R4 hybrid drive Train is hard to ignore especially with the price of fuel .Yes I know subi offers a hybrid as well but don't waste your time all that expence and complexity for next to no net gain in performance or economy why did they even bother. Yes we got the R4 hybrid
I accept suggestions! I live in Brazil and I intend to make a long journey through the country. Just two person and bagam. I intend to travel on dirt roads, stone, sand, mud and of course, mostly asphalt. 70% On Road, 30% Off. We are in doubt between the cars: Subaru Foerster , Suabaru XV and Mitsubish Outalander Sport 2.0 HPE AWD. Maybe in a fourth option the Jeep Compass Trailhawk 2.0 Diesel. Of course the tires will be exchanged for Continental or Yokohama. What's your recommendation? Thank !
All foresters for Canadá and I believe USA too are made in Japan mine was just shipped should have in 4 weeks only small suv I could in all seating positions
You avoid ‘the deep ruts’ whatever you’re driving. The difference between this vehicle and the Defender you tested is that this vehicle will be driven while the Defender will be at the mechanic and you’ll be yelling at the Land Rover customer service person over the phone. How much off road experience do you have, by the way?
Good review. Suggest you slow down a little bit because your listeners are not all from your generation. Some of the observations contain 'sort of' or other approximations that are irritating. In general your delivery is good but you can tend to drop in volume at the end of dialogue. Messy.
Grahame if you go to 'Settings' within the video and then 'Playback Speed' you can choose a slower speed for the video to play at. I toggle the speeds often depending on the presenter.
@@casswilson3964 I'm Gen X- cusp Gen Y + have only just discovered that setting (but to speed everything up... I have the opposite issue to Graham!). That's so nice you pointed out to him. Speeding up for me - discovered yesterday + resulted in me sitting through loads of reviews - has been light bulb moment.... I even bought a car today thanks to ploughing through reviews at 1.5 speed 😂
@@ProductReviewCars thanks. Subarus between 2014-2018 had CVT failures that resulted in a class action lawsuit. I am very interested in buying a Forester but the bad reputation of it's CVT worries me.
In Italy alla Subaru has 8 year warranty.... the subarus from USA are assembled here otherwise the Subarus for Europe are assembled in Japan and are different inside and for power engine
@@ProductReviewCars Thank you. I'm looking at buying either the RAV4 or the Forester. I do alot of driving at night , so that's why I wanted to know which one was brighter. That's good to to know that the Subaru's led headlight is bright.
@@ProductReviewCars I have a 2017 Outback and my CVT went out at normal use at 36K miles, my friends 2016 went out at 30k, again normal use. I would never buy another one. Subaru did promptly fix both however, but now I don't trust them. Too bad, the Forester Wilderness is such a cool car otherwise. Subaru has lost my business.
Am i just the onky person thinking he's being very conservative with concern for this track? Im sure Ive driven way worse in regional Qld off road - not intentionally taking off road - in my 2008 Yaris... or really bad unsealed car park lots in North Qld during wet season. My very good friend's fiance took me for what I didnt realise was "4WDing" in SA in his Hilux. I was so confused when he asked me what i was thinking (i gathered after a bit of to and thro he meant the track)....... it was NOTHING compared to some of the random stuff we grew up with (or the recent car park in wet season in my yaris). I literally remember going camping with my friend's family + all of us kids sliding out of the Toyota landcruiser old school tray, hanging on for dear life because the car was almost vertical. My friends mum had their Ford Falcon so no clue how she got through - haha!!
We're not crawling here. But in anything lower than this, you're asking for torn bumpers and damage to your undercarriage. Looks tame on camera, but has some gnarly sections for run of the mill family SUVs like the Forester.
@@ProductReviewCars ok. Thanks for clarifying!! I'll be a bit more careful to begin with, and keep away from crazy pothole carpark... or maybe that's a good place to do off road testing (!!). Thanks again!
@@amrashraf9559 Forester is tried and tested over many years. Kodiaq is still a little too new against it, but a solid city SUV. Sorento is a beast in the city too. But the Forester has the better all wheel drive system for overlanding
This car would sell like Rav4 if their engineers can work on its Fuel Economy. For a Naturally aspirated engine on not so heavy body weight it's drinks lot more fuel than it's competition
Bravo Mate! Literally the first Australian in-depth review I’ve seen of this car that actually took the thing off-road. Subaru markets these cars as adventure machines but every other channel just puts them around Sydney and calls them dull. Great video!
Greatly appreciated! It's actually quite fun off-road, but I can see why it can be a little boring as a daily driver.
@@ProductReviewCars I literally collect mine tomorrow after a 7 month wait!
@@M8YM8 Yewww! Enjoy :)
At 12:06 there's two 2006-2008 foresters parked along the curb. these things are everywhere and stand the test of time.
Great review, were waiting on our 2022 premiere also...Can't wait...!!!
Thank you for watching!!
I bought one yesterday and I was surprised when you said it was "a little bit low for my liking".
It has the same ground clearance as a Landcruiser Prado and the only difference is that the Subaru has softer suspension so you take the ruts slower.
Makes you think he doesn’t know what he’s talking about
I love analog display and buttons so that’s okay for me. Hopefully in a few years I’ll get something like this 😍
The issue with comparing a rav 4 to a forester is people who typically buy subaru's arent the same demograph as people who buy toyotas. Sure ppl in the city own subaru's, but not like in northern parts of the usa where everyone owns a subi.
People who buy Toyotas want best bang for their buck while still having best of all worlds. Their sporty looking, fuel efficient, affordable, and reliable. But typically, the thought of "will this Toyota be able to get me through harsh winters?" is an afterthought for many toyota buyers.
People in the north already know their subaru will get them through any harsh winter.
In Aus, a lot of buyers cross shop between both. I could imagine in harsh winters, a Subaru's AWD system would be more desirable.
For us in Australia, Subaru Forester seems to be far better value for money... especially if you buy secondhand, very low kms. I've just bought a Subaru Forester 2022 S (8000km) and I'm saving about $20,000 compared to buying what was my initial preference (leather seat RAV4). I would normally buy Toyota, but in this instance I've done a 180 + gone Subaru. Hopefully it meets my Toyota reliability expectation... but, even if I'm not happy and have to sell it, I'm 100% prepared to take the risk considering what I'm paying (i could resell very quickly for tge same price).
Thermal Control Valve issue for 2019 -2021 models is a worry once the warranty expires.
I’ve been batting my eyes for this car. I am hesitant whether I would go for an Isuzu MU-X or this all-wheel drive SUV. Based on my routes and journeys, 90% on the road and most of the time here in my area, it gets a bit rainy so the all-wheel drive system is a win. 10% on off-road, there are tendencies where my journey would require me to go off road and sometimes it gets muddy and rocky, so the all-wheel drive system would still be win. Knowing that there’s a snow/mud terrain and deep snow/mud terrain system that would assist the driver is quite reassuring.
Subaru does not have the luxury of experimenting and going crazy on the design of their cars, especially the Forester. “If ain’t broken, don’t fix it”. The solely base on the consumer’s feedback and if it ain’t a problem, they wouldn’t change it. It’s other competition has this huge-high definition infotainment system that all the necessary buttons are integrated within it- not to mention the huge digital gauge cluster that surely makes the vehicle modern and luxurious. But Subaru knows that their consumers does not want any of those, and they know that most of their consumers are those type of person that huge changes is a dealbreaker and that the consumer would rather want the features that they’re used to with.
Subaru instead focus on the delivering the best that they could offer. An amazing Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive System, tons of safety features, and a heck ton of practicality features.
In terms of power, in my country, they offer the 2.0 which produces a whopping 150+ hp, so I guess some countries are blessed to have 2.5 engines that produces 180+ hp. If your budget is an suv like Subaru, don’t expect going nord to 60 in 3.2 seconds. Get a sports car. A car that produces no more that 200 hp is a great all-around car in the city. What’s important is it could get you to point a to point b.
In conclusion, if I am to buy this car. This’ll be my car for life and I think I am going to fully-satisfied with this vehicle.
Nice review but why I didn't see this video before? I searched Forester many times and just saw this video in the result today.
RUclips algorithm ;) which means this channel is abt to go gangbusters (
Glad you found it in the end! If you hit subscribe, you can see more reviews like this when they drop :).
Great value for $$. One of the best AWD.
We recently joined the SUV brigade and bought one the Subaru IMO is better than the R4 better interior,build quality,driving dynamics ,handling driver ergonomic lovely boxer eng that's has a unique sound but the R4 hybrid drive Train is hard to ignore especially with the price of fuel .Yes I know subi offers a hybrid as well but don't waste your time all that expence and complexity for next to no net gain in performance or economy why did they even bother. Yes we got the R4 hybrid
Looks like we need to test the Subaru Forester Hybrid soon...
Great review Cameron. Just got to wait until OZ gets it '23 models as they're ('22) all sold out!
Thank you for watching! Only just a few weeks after this review came out, I saw that. Fingers crossed they arrive sooner than expected.
I accept suggestions!
I live in Brazil and I intend to make a long journey through the country.
Just two person and bagam.
I intend to travel on dirt roads, stone, sand, mud and of course, mostly asphalt. 70% On Road, 30% Off.
We are in doubt between the cars: Subaru Foerster , Suabaru XV and Mitsubish Outalander Sport 2.0 HPE AWD. Maybe in a fourth option the Jeep Compass Trailhawk 2.0 Diesel.
Of course the tires will be exchanged for Continental or Yokohama.
What's your recommendation?
Thank !
Forester or XV would be my pick.
I kept thinking that this reviewer looks like Guy Pearce in L.A. Confidential
nice review. what track were you on? the streets looked like Seaforth and McCarrs Ck
Picking up 23 forester Monday, switching from Corolla hybrid , apart from the obvious increase in fuel I’m very keen
Nice! It's a little more entertaining to look at and drive than the Corolla.
Forester
You look like Daniel Jackson from Stargate SG-1, a lot :D
Normally get Guy Pierce comments. But I like this one too. - Cameron
Bang on with his hairstyle of Daniel Jackson in Stargate
All foresters for Canadá and I believe USA too are made in Japan mine was just shipped should have in 4 weeks only small suv I could in all seating positions
You avoid ‘the deep ruts’ whatever you’re driving. The difference between this vehicle and the Defender you tested is that this vehicle will be driven while the Defender will be at the mechanic and you’ll be yelling at the Land Rover customer service person over the phone. How much off road experience do you have, by the way?
TBH probs gonna see more Defenders going off-road...
Great review however, if you are doing lots of off road…get off road tires….snow? Get snow tires.
For sure. Seeing how the Forester performed straight out of the showroom for this review.
Is the wilderness edition coming to Australia at all ?
Rumours have it a trademark has been filed. But it might be called something else when it arrives here. Hopefully by next year.
Good review. Suggest you slow down a little bit because your listeners are not all from your generation. Some of the observations contain 'sort of' or other approximations that are irritating. In general your delivery is good but you can tend to drop in volume at the end of dialogue. Messy.
Grahame if you go to 'Settings' within the video and then 'Playback Speed' you can choose a slower speed for the video to play at. I toggle the speeds often depending on the presenter.
@@casswilson3964 I'm Gen X- cusp Gen Y + have only just discovered that setting (but to speed everything up... I have the opposite issue to Graham!). That's so nice you pointed out to him. Speeding up for me - discovered yesterday + resulted in me sitting through loads of reviews - has been light bulb moment.... I even bought a car today thanks to ploughing through reviews at 1.5 speed 😂
How’s reliability of its CVT transmission?
Pretty decent in Subarus. It's the older Nissans that had bigger issues.
@@ProductReviewCars thanks. Subarus between 2014-2018 had CVT failures that resulted in a class action lawsuit. I am very interested in buying a Forester but the bad reputation of it's CVT worries me.
0:38 the real Forester, on the right
The OG
Is the wilderness trim actually coming here?
Name has reportedly been trademarked. Now all we're waiting for is a press release hopefully soon.
Thankyou. There was some problems with transmission in Suburu Forrester. Have these been resolved with 2022 model?
Haven't seen any major reports around said issue. I'd assume it's not a major common issue.
In Italy alla Subaru has 8 year warranty.... the subarus from USA are assembled here otherwise the Subarus for Europe are assembled in Japan and are different inside and for power engine
What's the headlights like at night compare to the RAV4 ? Is it brighter ? Are the Subaru's led headlights generally better than the Toyota's ones?
Can't say. Will need Toyota to allow us to review their press cars ASAP. Subaru's lights are excellent. High beams could be a little brighter though.
@@ProductReviewCars Thank you. I'm looking at buying either the RAV4 or the Forester. I do alot of driving at night , so that's why I wanted to know which one was brighter.
That's good to to know that the Subaru's led headlight is bright.
@@JayJay-vu8tj I just got my 2023 RAV4 Zoe and the lights are wonderful 🤗
I meant xle not Zoe lol
The headlights in Subarus are excellent in terms of brightness and also steering responsive. I love them and I am picky regarding headlights.
Ahhh, Church Point. Won a road race back in the 80's there. Warriwood to Westhead and back via Church Point. Just sayin🤣
I’d buy one if it didn’t have a CVT transmission.
Fair. But worth a drive in case you haven’t tried it yet. CVTs aren’t too bad in Subarus.
@@ProductReviewCars I have a 2017 Outback and my CVT went out at normal use at 36K miles, my friends 2016 went out at 30k, again normal use. I would never buy another one. Subaru did promptly fix both however, but now I don't trust them. Too bad, the Forester Wilderness is such a cool car otherwise. Subaru has lost my business.
Der hier gezeigte Buchsbaum (Buxus sempervirens) mit seinem stumpfen
Am i just the onky person thinking he's being very conservative with concern for this track? Im sure Ive driven way worse in regional Qld off road - not intentionally taking off road - in my 2008 Yaris... or really bad unsealed car park lots in North Qld during wet season. My very good friend's fiance took me for what I didnt realise was "4WDing" in SA in his Hilux. I was so confused when he asked me what i was thinking (i gathered after a bit of to and thro he meant the track)....... it was NOTHING compared to some of the random stuff we grew up with (or the recent car park in wet season in my yaris). I literally remember going camping with my friend's family + all of us kids sliding out of the Toyota landcruiser old school tray, hanging on for dear life because the car was almost vertical. My friends mum had their Ford Falcon so no clue how she got through - haha!!
We're not crawling here. But in anything lower than this, you're asking for torn bumpers and damage to your undercarriage. Looks tame on camera, but has some gnarly sections for run of the mill family SUVs like the Forester.
@@ProductReviewCars ok. Thanks for clarifying!! I'll be a bit more careful to begin with, and keep away from crazy pothole carpark... or maybe that's a good place to do off road testing (!!). Thanks again!
I could drive course in almost any front wheel suv it looks my my granny’s road to the farm
Nice
@@ProductReviewCars if compared this forester with the kia sorento 2022 and the skoda kodiaq 2022 regarding solidity and durabilty ? Which is better ?
@@amrashraf9559 Forester is tried and tested over many years. Kodiaq is still a little too new against it, but a solid city SUV. Sorento is a beast in the city too. But the Forester has the better all wheel drive system for overlanding
to be fair a toyota prius could of handled that 'fire trail'. Hardly off road.
I mean if you hate your Pruis' bumpers and underbody, sure!
@@ProductReviewCars didnt hurt the Prius whilst going over the steppe in Mongolia
This car would sell like Rav4 if their engineers can work on its Fuel Economy. For a Naturally aspirated engine on not so heavy body weight it's drinks lot more fuel than it's competition
Exactly. Will be interesting to see the new turbocharged motor in the new Outback and measure its efficiency.
Yeah I have the new wilderness and man it tank gas pretty hard but it’s quick so I can’t complain lol
Agree my 2021 consistently sits in high 9’s.
The most beautiful ugliest car ever….. I should know, I’ve got one 🙂
Interesting oxymoron
Looking dated externally.
Not a big change for this facelift