2019 Subaru Forester

By Alex Forrest

Aside from being one of the most capable medium-sized SUVs for off road driving and a good handling thing on the bitumen, the Subaru Forester continues to also take the lead on the safety front.

You see, Subaru has used the Forester to introduce its new driver recognition technology, something we previewed briefly in the February/March edition of Horizons.

Subaru calls it a Driver Monitoring System (DMS), and it uses an infrared camera in the dash to recognise when the driver is tired by seeing when they are doing long blinks, which then triggers audible and visual warnings. If the driver is distracted, such as then they are looking outside of a given range, the warning will also be triggered.

However, the system will be hampered if you’re wearing dark sunglasses, a hat or some other face covering.

That’s the safety part. After recognising the driver, the car can also automatically adjust the door mirror angles, air conditioning and infotainment screen display to the driver’s preferences.

Among the few negatives with this new Forester is the fact it looks an awful lot like the previous one, even though there has in fact been a major revamp under its skin.

There’s more room inside than there ever has been in a Forester, the autonomous emergency braking now also works when reversing and they’ve even made the powered tailgate close faster.

The 2.5-litre petrol engine is almost all-new, and thanks to several changes it now produces 136kW (up from 126kW) and 239Nm (up from 235Nm).

The engine gets a much higher compression ratio (up from 10:1 to 12:1) and yet it still runs fine on 91 RON unleaded.

With engines more susceptible to knocking as compression ratios and heat increase, Subaru has added sodium-filled exhaust valves which assist with cooling, as well as revised top piston rings and upgraded engine coolant flow control. 

These incremental improvements to the engine, plus many more, have helped the new Forester become more efficient (7.4L/100km compared to the old model’s 8.1L/100km) and yet produce more power and torque while still only requiring 91RON fuel.

That’s what we call a win.

Specifications