Redesigned 2025 Subaru Forester Gets Slippery Looks, Tech Enhancements

The Subaru Forester has gotten a timely makeover, designed to keep it competitive amongst strong-performing rivals from Honda, Toyota, Mazda, Ford and Chevrolet.

It gains technology and styling from the smaller and recently redesigned Subaru Crosstrek, while keeping many of the classic Forester elements that have made it a high seller for over a decade.

“The Subaru Forester, as one of Subaru’s top sellers, is in many ways the heart and soul of the brand, including from a sales perspective,” Ed Kim, president and chief analyst at AutoPacific, told Newsweek. “Forester is tremendously popular and earns a lot of repeat business from loyal customers, so generational changes for Forester must be carefully and thoughtfully considered so as not to alienate them. At the same time, Subaru continues to be on a growth trajectory, so any new Forester must also be capable of conquesting new customers.”

The 2025 Subaru Forester comes equipped with the standard features the company’s buyers look for most, EyeSight Driver Assist Technolgy and all-wheel drive.

Those features are housed under the skin of the sixth-generations Forester’s sleek new exterior. Its face has a grille that incorporates the headlight housing and an updated take on the company’s star cluster emblem. Wheel sizes range from 17- to 19-inches.

Subaru’s engineers have given the SUV more on-road stability by optimizing aerodynamics. They have also stiffened the car’s frame and lightened its load from one generation to the next, allowing passengers to enjoy a smoother ride.

Forester maintains its 8.7-inch ground clearance for this generation and its all-wheel drive system has been honed to deliver quicker responses and be more useful in tricky driving conditions.

All Foresters will come powered by Subaru’s 2.5-liter Boxer engine that delivers 180 horsepower (hp) and 178 pound-feet (lb-ft) of torque. That’s a few less hp than last year’s model, but more torque. The car’s continuously variable transmission (CVT) has been honed to deliver smoother and quieter performance.

Every one of the Forester SUVs, except the Base model, comes equipped with paddle shifters that allow the driver to utilize a manual drive mode to enhance their experience behind the wheel within eight preset ratios.

Like the new Crosstrek, Forester gets an enhanced version of the Subaru WRX’s dual-pinion electronic power steering rack. This equipment allows for a more natural steering feel and greater responsiveness.

Designers set out to make the interior of the Forester more interesting beyond traditional color options. Contoured dashboard elements and textured trim pieces were crafted to avoid showing damage resulting from daily use. The dark headliner was chosen because of its ability to hide scuffs from loading and unloading the vehicle.

Forester’s navigation and media nerve center is its infotainment touchscreen, available in two sizes up to 11.6 inches, displayed portrait-style at the center of the dashboard. Lower-end Foresters get twin 7.0-inch touchscreens, centrally mounted one over the other.

A host of features come standard on the new SUV that were options on previous generations, like remote keyless entry and steering responsive headlights. Buyers can add a wireless phone charger and ventilated front seats.

Heated seats, mirrors and wipers are available as part of Subaru’s all-weather package, a company standard they have become known for.

Forester’s seats have gotten a makeover. In the front, the seats have slimmed-down shoulder areas which allow for better visibility for back-seat passengers and access from front to back.

The SUV’s climate control system is now able to concentrate its attention on occupied seats versus heating/cooling the entire cabin, leading to more efficiency.

Like in Crosstrek, Subaru has concentrated on deadening cabin noise in the new Forester.

Increased cargo capacity comes courtesy of steep rear glass and associated enhancements. Tinted privacy glass in the rear is standard. The Forester now has more cargo space than the Toyota RAV4 and Chevrolet Equinox, but not the Honda CR-V.

Subaru finally joins the long list of companies that has a kick-sensitive automatic liftgate feature with the new Forester. The cargo area has heavy-duty utility hooks.

The 2025 Forester gets the latest version of Subaru’s heralded EyeSight Driver Assist Technology, which has been honed to operate more smoothly and quickly under a wider range of conditions for this new generation.

Buyers can add additional safety technologies to their Forester by opting for a higher trim level. The roster of tech add-ons includes: reverse automatic braking, blind spot detection with lane change assist and rear cross-traffic alert. Models equipped with these three technologies also come with Automatic Emergency Steering technology, which assists to control steering to avoid an in-lane collision at speeds less than 50 miles per hour.

Subaru is installing its Emergency Stop Assist feature on the new Forester. The technology will note if a driver has become unresponsive while using adaptive cruise control. When this occurs, the car will slow to a stop in the lane of traffic with hazard lights activated, and the doors will unlock. The car’s connected services will place a 911 call for assistance.

A 360-degree camera view of the Forester’s surroundings is available to aid in parking.

“The 2025 Forester is a textbook case of evolutionary design. There is nothing radically new about it, but it has a lot of incremental and evolutionary changes that don’t change the game, but simply makes the new model a better and more modernized Forester,” Kim said.

“It has improved infotainment and driver assist technologies, styling that despite being all-new is immediately recognizable as a Forester, and mostly carryover mechanicals from the current model. There is nothing revolutionary about it, but Forester’s customers aren’t asking for a revolution.

“Simply put, Forester customers are happy and want more of the same, and there’s enough that’s new and improved that Forester should be able to continue attracting new customers to the brand.”

Subaru will sell the 2025 Forester in Base, Premium, Sport, Limited and Touring grades. It will arrive at dealerships across the United States in the spring of 2024. Pricing will be available closer to the model’s on-sale date.