Subaru Forester 2.5XT Limited Phoenix AZ

BY JOHN PHILLIPS

Subaru’s Forester has always resembled the shipping carton for a side-by-side Frigidaire, a barb that has become less pointed during this wagon’s 11-year lifespan. During that spell, even boxier boxes have appeared—think of the Honda Element and the Scion xB. No matter. The Forester’s practical, unpretentious countenance personifies Subaru’s ethos, and the model has done much to fatten the pay packets of more than a few Fuji Heavy Industries executives.

Every body panel is new. Just to look at the thing, you’d swear the ’09 Forester is 50-percent larger than its forebear. Not true, but it is 2.9 inches longer and 1.8 inches wider, and it rides atop a wheelbase stretched 3.6 inches. EPA passenger volume has swollen by 11 cubic feet. The back seat is now something of an amphitheater—legroom is vast, and egress will brighten the faces of octogenarians. The rear center rider, unfortunately, must perch on a rock-hard hump. As has always been true of Foresters, there’s headroom sufficient to support the odd cumulus cloud or two. Flatten the rear seats, and a mountain bike slides in, no sweat.

The base Forester is powered by the same 170-horse flat-four you’ll find in the nose of an Impreza. Mated to the heavier Forester, however, it rates about a 4.5 on the C/D passion meter. Bolt a turbocharger to that little barking boxer, however, and what once was Velveeta becomes Pont L’Évéque—witness blown Foresters winning our 5Best Trucks Small SUV award in 2004, 2005, and 2006.

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