Category: Small 4x4s 
Price Range: £19,115 to £26,495
Car-like handling, smooth engines, lively pace, lots of space, useful off-road ability, ludicrously quick 2.5 XT, unique appeal
Too many hard plastics inside, clumsy styling, not a full off-roader (if that matters), no diesel option, thirsty fuel consumption, too quirky for many.
For sheer driving pleasure, the characterful Forester is the best of the soft-roaders.
This is quite a cheap car to run by usual 4x4 and soft-roader standards; the good security provision means relatively low insurance groupings considering the performance on offer. The 2.0 manual returns 30.4mpg and 220g/km of carbon dioxide, 30.4mpg and 220g/km in auto form, whilst the 2.5T is said to do 26.4mpg/254 g/km (manual) and 26.9mpg/250g/km (auto). In practice, you'd be lucky to see the claimed fuel economy figures in real-life driving, though, especially if you like to put your right foot down. Subarus also need more frequent servicing than many cars, but they do hold their value well; there's strong demand for this type of vehicle secondhand which makes it a good investment, especially given the competitive pricing in the first place. Only thing is, if you don't really need a full off-roader, Subaru also offers the excellent four-wheel drive Legacy estate, which comes with a wider choice of engines and is a more accomplished all-rounder. It's a tough call to choose between the two.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Subaru Forester
wrote on 22 12 2006