Love the new design. Looks like an SG Forester, which IMO was one of the smartest automotive designs in history with respect to space, ergonomics, and car like handling.
Took delivery of my 2025 river rock pearl Subaru Forester Premium with option package 15, homelink rearview mirror, cargo tray, rear seatback protectors, all weather floor liners, cargo net and bumper cover. The only thing missing is a heated steering wheel which isn't a big deal. This is my first Subaru and certainly won't be my last. Very happy customer!!
Just came from the 2024 Baltimore Auto Show and went to check out the Subarus, one of them being the Forester. I absolutely love the way it looks, but I will wait until both Hybrid and the Wilderness comes out.
One of the welcome upgrades of the new Premium that I don't see many people mention is the addition of the shifter boot - dresses it up a bit & keeps crumbs/dirt out of the shifter mechanism. One of the changes to the new Forester (and new Crosstrek, etc.) are the new temp/fuel gauges in the tach/speedo. Love my '23 Sport, but always hated the cheesy line of blue blocks for the fuel level.
Nicely filmed & lots of technical details mentioned; eg. return back to thermostat from TCV ( 24 model & older), plus this model having a transmission cooler from last years wilderness model ( ar you sure about this?). excellent video. by the way, whats the name of that nice bridge in the backgound & location?
As far as I know that’s the case, at least that’s what’s been written online and I’m hoping I’m sharing the truth and not spreading wishful thinking, lol. I’m glad you appreciated my video, thanks for watching! And that’s called the Perrine bridge it’s in the southern part of Idaho.
Great review. I own a 2017 Forester Premium with only. 42,000 miles. I've contemplated buying a 25, but what keeps me from considering it is the switch from port to direct fuel injection, which unfortunately is the trend with most automobile manufacturers. Direct fuel injection only gives a marginal improvement in fuel efficiency and unfortunately adds increased maintenance, for if you drive as I do, short trips, carbon build-up requires walnut shell or equivalent cleaning of the intake valves every 30 to 60 thousand miles and this could also impair longterm reliability. So, I'm holding onto my reliable old model not wanting to add additional maintenance costs. I may get an electric but it will not be the crappy Solitara or BZ4X half-hearted Toyota EVs.
That’s a good question, I’ve driven a couple of them now and I think it’s only audible if you’re trying to change lanes when it detects a car is in your blind spot like the older generation. But since you ask I’m not questioning that because I hadn’t thought about that in the moment haha.
I am thinking of getting a Subaru Forester next year. I need it for putting my mother's small three-wheel walker in it. Also, my brother is tall and needs lots of leg room.
Both the walker and your brother should easily fit inside a Forester! Even a 4 wheel walker or standard wheelchair would easily fold up and fit in the back.
I can fit my large frame mountain bike with 29” wheels in my 2015 and I think these are bigger in every way. I’m also 6’1” and can sit in the back with the front seats all the way back and they are Just touching my knees. There is a lot of room up front to move the seat. Unless he’s 7’ he should be pretty good in the backseat. Other than an accident with a deer, that car has needed a ball joint and brakes. It’s at 150k and I’d trust driving it across the country. It’s also still worth a decent amount of money, considering the age and milage. I have no plans on getting rid of it any time soon, either. I like it too much.
👍🏻 New cars are fun! Its my busy season. From now until mid October. My free time takes a hit but my bank account has been waiting for it. All that jutto say if you don't hear from me that's all it is. Happy motoring:)
That’s for sure! We’ve been planning on upgrading her car to something like the Forester since before I started making videos haha. That sounds good! I do look forward to your comments on my videos, but I’m glad you’ll be having fun elsewhere for the time being! 😉
At first I hated the redesign but it's growing on me. Automatic disqualifier for me is the infotainment. I had it in my 23 Outback Wilderness I traded in and it was one of the main reasons I dumped it. It's pretty horrible to use and not reliable. I'm actually really surprised they haven't done anything to fix it over the years. No more Subies for me while that system is in them.
I just drove a 2025 Base model with the dual screens (not sure when I’ll make it public). As silly as that design is, I actually think I like it more and it’s more responsive than the 11.6” haha.
Thanks for thorough review! For future, would be good to learn exactly why the Gen 4 eyesight is so much better than the Gen 3 (I know about the third camera for some trims but nothing really specific has been reported).
Love it but you sit low in the car which I like but I can’t seem to be able to park with in the lines of a parking lot. You can’t see the lines from your seat. Also the cup holder placement is too close to the armrest. The parking break is going to get sticky from drink spillage. Next Absolute zero storage in the forward part of the dash. No place for two sets of keys. Just no room except under the arm rest. Kind of like buying a house with no closets.
would you able to tell me if Subaru finally went to hydraulic lifters for this engine or do they still need periodic adjustments? Thank you, great review btw!
That’s a good question and I’m not sure I’ve looked much into the internals of the non turbo 2.5 boxer. I’ve never heard of them needing that adjustment, but I’ve also not owned a 2.5 yet, so I haven’t looked at their maintenance schedule.
Crystal white! If it was going to be my regular daily driver I probably would have picked this Ice Silver. We like light colors because they don’t show as much dirt and eventual paint imperfections.
So an update, try and keep this short, ended up buying a 2025 outback limited edition, while I was at the dealership, I noticed they had a bunch of cars parked off to the side, basically in a field. I asked the salesman what that was about, he said they had a hailstorm that got over 150 of there new cars. I asked what was to become of them. He said probably going to be wholesaled to a dealer in the Midwest. So I left with my new outback. Got home kept thinking about all those hail cars, went back to the dealership, ended up buying a new 2024 Crosstrek sport. They took almost 12 k off the MSRP, only thing is I had to pay cash, which was fine, paid cash for the outback also. Yes had some hail spots, mostly on the roof, few on the hood, but not that bad really. Just picked the car up few days ago. So now we have two new Subaru auto's.
@@suespony Great! We have a 2025 Crosstrek Limit as well. Traded our '21 Sport for it. It's much quieter and composed than that last generation although they look fairly similar. That sounds like a steal. Enjoy!
So you’re telling me for $34,000 they can’t even make it so when you open up the hood, it goes up by itself you have to put the mechanical arm down to hold it up? How ridiculous..
I’ve already reviewed one of those but haven’t made it public yet. They’re awesome! The premium really only has a few features beyond the base (sunroof, heated seats, etc). But even the base has the same wheels and tires.
@@AutomotiveAnonymous208 Would LOVE to see the base review. It's literally impossible to find a video on it. Some vids showcase "all" the trims, but they ofcourse don't have the base trim b/c Subaru wants to keep that one secret for some reason.
Yeah, I hear you! I have the Base review available on my “membership program” it’s like $2.99 a month and that’s only because that’s the cheapest RUclips lets us provide the membership program. I’m not asking you to do that, I’m just saying because I can’t release all my footage at once and have to publish it strategically throughout the weeks and months I have a bunch of videos saved up there, which will eventually be made public. And since the Base models are so difficult to find in general I snagged one of those instead of a more popular trim level incase I don’t find out for 3-5 months which is often the case haha. But I will have all the trim levels reviewed hopefully within a month or so they’ll be public. 🙂
I think $1100 under for them just coming out is okay for the northeast not great. I’m sure the dealers that discount more are not in the north east or northwest.
I get that. My only issue with the CVT is if it fails out of warranty it’s unusually expensive to replace. We just took delivery of our premium and ended up buying a 10 year b2b/powertrain warranty to know we now have a decade of not having to worry about it. In 10 years if nothing happens to it we may keep it if it’s still running well, but since it won’t be worth much at that point we may as well just run it until it dies or we get bored of it. 🤷♂️🤪
Nope, I plan to keep the Outback for at least 1-2 more years since it’s still under powertrain warranty and vehicles have become so expensive. The Forester will be my Wife’s much needed upgrade at this point from her smaller FWD sedan that she bought new a number of years ago as it has now served its purpose and we want something larger and more safe. I actually made a video about it a couple weeks ago, but since most of my videos get 90% of their views from people who aren’t subscribed it’s just easier for the sake of this review video to briefly say I’m getting one and not going into great detail. I still plan to make a lot of videos on it though. 🙂
We both are fortunate enough to have good jobs/careers and budget well. 😊 We’ve also been planning on getting a Forester as her replacement for about 2 years now. Honestly the last thing I want to do right now in this economy is buy another vehicle, but an upgrade is needed and we really value having safe and capable AWD vehicles. So it’s definitely not a spur of the moment decision, but rather one we know it’s time to make haha.
@@AutomotiveAnonymous208 I can't believe it, with the wear and tear on the starter and battery how much gas can you save to justify the cost and annoyance.
They seriously look so much better in person than I anticipated. I’ve also already filmed a Horizon Blue Base model and that one actually looked really good haha.
When you test Foresters, do you ever get annoyed by the lack of power and lethargic acceleration ? Every review I have ever watched shows how slowly they accelerate. This would be the only deal breaker for me on the 2025 Forester, I love everything else about Foresters.
The power level is straight out of the 90s. I’ve mentioned my concerns with accelerating up to interstate speeds, going over mountain passes, or passing slow moving vehicles on the highway before with this lower HP engine. But at this point I’ve just accepted it for what it is and hopefully most people watching my videos realize 180HP is not excessive and basically the bare minimum you should have in a 5 seater vehicle. 🤷♂️😅
You likely can pay for the second remote. Or just for the my Subaru app subscription where you can remote start it from anywhere and also control temperature and other stuff!
The previous gen Forester's IMO we're just plain ugly cars ... I'm so glad they chose a different design for a change, much more visually pleasing than the previous ugly, ugly generations.
I’ve actually already reviewed a Base model and I’m sure I’ll make it public within the next week. But the two are actually a lot closer than I expected. The base costs over 2k more than the previous generation and it (to me) felt every bit worth it!
As someone who has owned the last 2 generations of Forester this one is ugly as hell, and I will be keeping my 21 Sport for a while. Honestly Subaru has lost their way and just created boring commuter vehicles at this point.
As someone who owned the last two generations and 8 Subarus in general, I like it. It’s not the best and I hated it until I saw one in person. It looks less ford ish. Now, I can’t tell from far away if it’s a 24 or 25 model. I do wish they’d offer a turbo and manual on everything again. In that way, they have lost their way.
Just traded a 2024 for the 2025. 2025 very quiet and all the bells and whistles are a welcome add.
I wasn’t expecting this new one to feel like such an upgrade, but it’s a nice vehicle!
Love the new design. Looks like an SG Forester, which IMO was one of the smartest automotive designs in history with respect to space, ergonomics, and car like handling.
Very true!!
Took delivery of my 2025 river rock pearl Subaru Forester Premium with option package 15, homelink rearview mirror, cargo tray, rear seatback protectors, all weather floor liners, cargo net and bumper cover. The only thing missing is a heated steering wheel which isn't a big deal. This is my first Subaru and certainly won't be my last. Very happy customer!!
Just came from the 2024 Baltimore Auto Show and went to check out the Subarus, one of them being the Forester. I absolutely love the way it looks, but I will wait until both Hybrid and the Wilderness comes out.
I bet that was a fun experience! These seriously look so much better in person than I expected haha.
I agree with you on this & I buy this as well.
One of the welcome upgrades of the new Premium that I don't see many people mention is the addition of the shifter boot - dresses it up a bit & keeps crumbs/dirt out of the shifter mechanism. One of the changes to the new Forester (and new Crosstrek, etc.) are the new temp/fuel gauges in the tach/speedo. Love my '23 Sport, but always hated the cheesy line of blue blocks for the fuel level.
Those are good points! Thanks for adding this. 🙂
I have a premium on order as well! Can’t wait!
My dad just picked up a silver 25 Premium. So far so good!
Nicely filmed & lots of technical details mentioned; eg. return back to thermostat from TCV ( 24 model & older), plus this model having a transmission cooler from last years wilderness model ( ar you sure about this?). excellent video. by the way, whats the name of that nice bridge in the backgound & location?
As far as I know that’s the case, at least that’s what’s been written online and I’m hoping I’m sharing the truth and not spreading wishful thinking, lol. I’m glad you appreciated my video, thanks for watching! And that’s called the Perrine bridge it’s in the southern part of Idaho.
Great review. I own a 2017 Forester Premium with only. 42,000 miles. I've contemplated buying a 25, but what keeps me from considering it is the switch from port to direct fuel injection, which unfortunately is the trend with most automobile manufacturers. Direct fuel injection only gives a marginal improvement in fuel efficiency and unfortunately adds increased maintenance, for if you drive as I do, short trips, carbon build-up requires walnut shell or equivalent cleaning of the intake valves every 30 to 60 thousand miles and this could also impair longterm reliability. So, I'm holding onto my reliable old model not wanting to add additional maintenance costs. I may get an electric but it will not be the crappy Solitara or BZ4X half-hearted Toyota EVs.
I love the front end. BTW did Subaru add audible alert to the blind spot system??
That’s a good question, I’ve driven a couple of them now and I think it’s only audible if you’re trying to change lanes when it detects a car is in your blind spot like the older generation. But since you ask I’m not questioning that because I hadn’t thought about that in the moment haha.
I am thinking of getting a Subaru Forester next year. I need it for putting my mother's small three-wheel walker in it. Also, my brother is tall and needs lots of leg room.
Both the walker and your brother should easily fit inside a Forester! Even a 4 wheel walker or standard wheelchair would easily fold up and fit in the back.
I can fit my large frame mountain bike with 29” wheels in my 2015 and I think these are bigger in every way. I’m also 6’1” and can sit in the back with the front seats all the way back and they are Just touching my knees. There is a lot of room up front to move the seat. Unless he’s 7’ he should be pretty good in the backseat.
Other than an accident with a deer, that car has needed a ball joint and brakes. It’s at 150k and I’d trust driving it across the country.
It’s also still worth a decent amount of money, considering the age and milage.
I have no plans on getting rid of it any time soon, either. I like it too much.
Great review!
Thanks!
👍🏻 New cars are fun!
Its my busy season. From now until mid October. My free time takes a hit but my bank account has been waiting for it. All that jutto say if you don't hear from me that's all it is.
Happy motoring:)
That’s for sure! We’ve been planning on upgrading her car to something like the Forester since before I started making videos haha. That sounds good! I do look forward to your comments on my videos, but I’m glad you’ll be having fun elsewhere for the time being! 😉
Thank you! This was the determining factor behind my decision to purchase. Question: Where can I find the Vinyl letters?
You’re welcome, I’m glad you enjoyed it! I did a quick Amazon search and found nothing. Hopefully someone creates those soon!
Нормально 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻.Так и должно быть .Скромность украшает .
At first I hated the redesign but it's growing on me. Automatic disqualifier for me is the infotainment. I had it in my 23 Outback Wilderness I traded in and it was one of the main reasons I dumped it. It's pretty horrible to use and not reliable. I'm actually really surprised they haven't done anything to fix it over the years. No more Subies for me while that system is in them.
I just drove a 2025 Base model with the dual screens (not sure when I’ll make it public). As silly as that design is, I actually think I like it more and it’s more responsive than the 11.6” haha.
Thanks for thorough review! For future, would be good to learn exactly why the Gen 4 eyesight is so much better than the Gen 3 (I know about the third camera for some trims but nothing really specific has been reported).
Thanks! To my understanding it’s just more sophisticated and has a wider view which is better to show cyclists and pedestrians. 🙂
Love it but you sit low in the car which I like but I can’t seem to be able to park with in the lines of a parking lot. You can’t see the lines from your seat. Also the cup holder placement is too close to the armrest. The parking break is going to get sticky from drink spillage. Next Absolute zero storage in the forward part of the dash. No place for two sets of keys. Just no room except under the arm rest. Kind of like buying a house with no closets.
Great insight!
would you able to tell me if Subaru finally went to hydraulic lifters for this engine or do they still need periodic adjustments? Thank you, great review btw!
That’s a good question and I’m not sure I’ve looked much into the internals of the non turbo 2.5 boxer. I’ve never heard of them needing that adjustment, but I’ve also not owned a 2.5 yet, so I haven’t looked at their maintenance schedule.
Sooo you can have light headliners? That’s great. I thought all 2025 came with black.
Sad to hear the Forester will no longer be built in Japan. I have heard though the Outback will be built in Japan with the 7th gen model.
For sure! Thanks for sharing about the 2026 Outback’s, I haven’t even tried to google the rumors about them yet lol.
Wish it had 18 inch rims to fill up the wheel well and also no turn signal indicators on the sid eview mirrors
Shut up
What color did you go with?
Crystal white! If it was going to be my regular daily driver I probably would have picked this Ice Silver. We like light colors because they don’t show as much dirt and eventual paint imperfections.
I wonder why these don’t have an engine cover like my 23 FW. I know the treks don’t have them either, it’s just strange to me
The Forester was the only model that had the engine cover if my memory serves me correctly. Not sure why, probably to save 3$. 😅🤷♂️
I am torn between the outback and the Forester, just not sure which one I want
I put kayaks on the roof so the slightly lower height was a selling point for me to get the Outback.
So an update, try and keep this short, ended up buying a 2025 outback limited edition, while I was at the dealership, I noticed they had a bunch of cars parked off to the side, basically in a field. I asked the salesman what that was about, he said they had a hailstorm that got over 150 of there new cars. I asked what was to become of them. He said probably going to be wholesaled to a dealer in the Midwest. So I left with my new outback. Got home kept thinking about all those hail cars, went back to the dealership, ended up buying a new 2024 Crosstrek sport. They took almost 12 k off the MSRP, only thing is I had to pay cash, which was fine, paid cash for the outback also. Yes had some hail spots, mostly on the roof, few on the hood, but not that bad really. Just picked the car up few days ago. So now we have two new Subaru auto's.
@@suespony Great! We have a 2025 Crosstrek Limit as well. Traded our '21 Sport for it. It's much quieter and composed than that last generation although they look fairly similar. That sounds like a steal. Enjoy!
Horsepower enough for high mountain areas like Colorado?
That’s a good question…😬 I’ve only been in Colorado in either a turbo car or an EV so I can’t speak to that elevation.
So you’re telling me for $34,000 they can’t even make it so when you open up the hood, it goes up by itself you have to put the mechanical arm down to hold it up? How ridiculous..
That’s exactly what I’m saying, lol.
I'm looking at the base model.
I’ve already reviewed one of those but haven’t made it public yet. They’re awesome! The premium really only has a few features beyond the base (sunroof, heated seats, etc). But even the base has the same wheels and tires.
@@AutomotiveAnonymous208 Would LOVE to see the base review. It's literally impossible to find a video on it. Some vids showcase "all" the trims, but they ofcourse don't have the base trim b/c Subaru wants to keep that one secret for some reason.
Yeah, I hear you! I have the Base review available on my “membership program” it’s like $2.99 a month and that’s only because that’s the cheapest RUclips lets us provide the membership program. I’m not asking you to do that, I’m just saying because I can’t release all my footage at once and have to publish it strategically throughout the weeks and months I have a bunch of videos saved up there, which will eventually be made public. And since the Base models are so difficult to find in general I snagged one of those instead of a more popular trim level incase I don’t find out for 3-5 months which is often the case haha. But I will have all the trim levels reviewed hopefully within a month or so they’ll be public. 🙂
Subayota awesome
That’s no deal. I ordered a premium at $1100 under but heard some are discounting close to $2000
Oh wow! 2k under MSRP is probably invoice pricing. Thats awesome!
I think $1100 under for them just coming out is okay for the northeast not great. I’m sure the dealers that discount more are not in the north east or northwest.
Does the moonroof open (like for air)?
Unfortunately no, due to the size of this one it only seems to slide but not tilt.
CVT = Big fat no . Shame as the rest is decent and it’s priced well.
I get that. My only issue with the CVT is if it fails out of warranty it’s unusually expensive to replace. We just took delivery of our premium and ended up buying a 10 year b2b/powertrain warranty to know we now have a decade of not having to worry about it. In 10 years if nothing happens to it we may keep it if it’s still running well, but since it won’t be worth much at that point we may as well just run it until it dies or we get bored of it. 🤷♂️🤪
Are you trading in your Outback Wilderness?
Nope, I plan to keep the Outback for at least 1-2 more years since it’s still under powertrain warranty and vehicles have become so expensive. The Forester will be my Wife’s much needed upgrade at this point from her smaller FWD sedan that she bought new a number of years ago as it has now served its purpose and we want something larger and more safe. I actually made a video about it a couple weeks ago, but since most of my videos get 90% of their views from people who aren’t subscribed it’s just easier for the sake of this review video to briefly say I’m getting one and not going into great detail. I still plan to make a lot of videos on it though. 🙂
@@AutomotiveAnonymous208 so then from where are you getting so much money
We both are fortunate enough to have good jobs/careers and budget well. 😊 We’ve also been planning on getting a Forester as her replacement for about 2 years now. Honestly the last thing I want to do right now in this economy is buy another vehicle, but an upgrade is needed and we really value having safe and capable AWD vehicles. So it’s definitely not a spur of the moment decision, but rather one we know it’s time to make haha.
You can buy both of these for the price of pretty much any new truck or 4runner 🤷♂️🤷♂️@@harishrp4449
@@AutomotiveAnonymous208I plan to keep my Impreza sedan until Subaru finally decides to get serious and create an Outback hybrid. It's long past due.
Did they drop the start/stop system?
Doubt it. Pretty sure that is mandated. Hence why the override button resets every time you restart the car.
It’s still there! 😅
@@AutomotiveAnonymous208 I can't believe it, with the wear and tear on the starter and battery how much gas can you save to justify the cost and annoyance.
@@richardtaylor7485😂😂😂
What is this color？
Ice silver metallic!
Well, "ugly" certainly wouldn't include the exterior styling.
They seriously look so much better in person than I anticipated. I’ve also already filmed a Horizon Blue Base model and that one actually looked really good haha.
When you test Foresters, do you ever get annoyed by the lack of power and lethargic acceleration ? Every review I have ever watched shows how slowly they accelerate. This would be the only deal breaker for me on the 2025 Forester, I love everything else about Foresters.
The power level is straight out of the 90s. I’ve mentioned my concerns with accelerating up to interstate speeds, going over mountain passes, or passing slow moving vehicles on the highway before with this lower HP engine. But at this point I’ve just accepted it for what it is and hopefully most people watching my videos realize 180HP is not excessive and basically the bare minimum you should have in a 5 seater vehicle. 🤷♂️😅
Does it have a remote start?
You likely can pay for the second remote. Or just for the my Subaru app subscription where you can remote start it from anywhere and also control temperature and other stuff!
You can pay and they quoted me 500 bucks for a key fob with remote start
It looks like the Ford edge. no offense, but I don’t like silver. Silver is not a color.
👍
Thanks for watching!
Решетку хром и колеса повыше .Будет отлично выглядеть .
The previous gen Forester's IMO we're just plain ugly cars ... I'm so glad they chose a different design for a change, much more visually pleasing than the previous ugly, ugly generations.
Too much gap between this and the base.
I’ve actually already reviewed a Base model and I’m sure I’ll make it public within the next week. But the two are actually a lot closer than I expected. The base costs over 2k more than the previous generation and it (to me) felt every bit worth it!
Looks like a Ford Explorer
Yes! Haha
Subaru... you really need to modernize the design of the Forester. It has to be one of the most boring SUV designs that's ever existed.
Doesn't it look a lot like Nissan Cube (Made in IndiaNA: the India of North America in terms of quality)?
Hahaha, I guess we shall see.
no
As someone who has owned the last 2 generations of Forester this one is ugly as hell, and I will be keeping my 21 Sport for a while. Honestly Subaru has lost their way and just created boring commuter vehicles at this point.
As someone who owned the last two generations and 8 Subarus in general, I like it. It’s not the best and I hated it until I saw one in person. It looks less ford ish.
Now, I can’t tell from far away if it’s a 24 or 25 model.
I do wish they’d offer a turbo and manual on everything again. In that way, they have lost their way.
i liked it a lot
I think Forester 2025 looks better than last Forester. That is why I will buy new one.
Don’t forget the price bump compared to previous generation. It is staggering
No thanks! If i wanted a ford explorer i would have brought one.
Hahaha I get that.
Subaru ugly as always...but i like it
Looks like a brick on wheels.
With that IPad..... no thanks
I have that screen in my wrx. It's great. The only thing that I would like is a knob for the hvac temp adjustment.
Every new car has infotainment now. It looks good on this
Have owned Outback for a year now & and frankly, there is no issue with the touchscreen so far. Very snapy.