Subaru Forester

Just like on the outside, the interior cabin too doesn’t stand out with its layout. However, while the exterior design still has some sort of distinctiveness, the cabin looks too simple and lacks any unique styling elements, which makes it look a bit undesirable.

The three-spoke steering wheel with silver touches looks inspired by that of previous-generation Mercedes offerings. The blue backlit instrument console has a very boring design, which doesn’t standout from the crowd. The centre console has a broad layout to it, with vertical AC vents and a large touchscreen infotainment system and a piano black finished panel for climate control buttons below it. Other prominent features such as powered front seats, keyless entry with push-button start, leather upholstery, automatic headlamps, and dual-zone automatic climate control do make it feel premium as well.

What adds some uniqueness here is a small panel atop the centre console, which displays few off-road data like compass and approach and tilt angles, which are very useful while doing off-road driving. The large dimensions of the Subaru Forester play a major role in making the cabin incredibly spacious, which easily is the best in its category. Even the boot space feels capacious.

The Subaru Forester does not break any grounds when it comes to design, however, it looks rugged and smart enough to make it look and appeal desirable. It looks big for its segment, which definitely gives it an edge when it comes to road presence.

At the front, the Subaru Forester has a simple hexagonal grille with thick chrome slat at the upper portion and gets big sweptback headlamps on its sides. The headlamps do come with LED projectors and daytime running LEDs on its outer edges. The vertical LED fog lamps with thick boxy chrome housing are quite unique in its layout too.

The side profile of the Subaru Forester looks quite aerodynamic with a slightly sloping bonnet and looks quite stylish with machined alloy wheels, chrome garnish on windows, large roof rails, silver skid plates, and door-mounted rearview mirrors.

The Subaru Forester looks wide when viewed from the rear, with unique thick C- shaped LED tail lamps and elongated U-shaped skid plate at the bottom.

With Macpherson struts at the front and double-wishbone setup at the rear, the Subaru Forester has its core strength lying on its fabulous ride and handling balance. The crossover feels rock-solid over any kind of terrain, which makes it unshakable over all kinds of conditions.

The 2019 Subaru Forester is powered by a 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, which produces 156 PS of maximum power output and 196 Nm of peak torque output. The engine is coupled to a CVT gearbox. While the engine has impressive bottom-end grunt and smooth and linear power delivery, the transmission feels a bit lethargic.

The Subaru Forester is equipped with a variety of safety features, the list of which includes front, side, curtain, and knee airbags, ABS with EBD and brake assist, reverse parking sensors with camera, active torque vectoring, brake override and vehicle dynamics control.

The 2019 Subaru Forester might not be a visually strong product in and out, but when it comes to mechanicals, there is hardly any fault to find in this brilliantly engineered crossover. The suspension and steering balance feels rock-solid, due to which it feels a fantastic vehicle to drive whatever the condition is. In terms of practicality, the Subaru Forester feels a complete vehicle for both urban driving and weekend getaways.