If you cover the emblem in the upper middle of the grille, you might never guess that the vehicle you’re trying to identify is the new, 2025 Subaru Forester Touring. 

We’ve discussed just about every Subaru model in recent years, from the sporty WRX hatchback to the new Impreza RE, and on up through the larger midsize sedan, the Legacy, which is about to be discontinued.

We’ve also evaluated the Foresters in past years, and I’ve always decided the Forester was a Legacy Wagon that tied the contemporary with Subaru’s past — which is not a bad thing, if you like maintaining that link to a simpler time.

But Subaru has learned a lot through the years, and the new Forester for “next year” has seemed to copy companies like Toyota and Hyundai in adding various contours and creases to the bodywork, and I must say that the photos I’ve taken of the new Forester Touring are more strikingly updated than even the PR photos by Subaru’s promotion arm.

It’s a good time to make a split from the old days and accommodate the new era in auto design because the new Forester rides on a new chassis, so the timing of the new body panels is only natural. 
If you look at the grille of the new Subaru, as I mentioned, cover the emblem and it becomes hard to identify it as a Subaru.Which might be a good thing, if the styling clicks with traditional Subaru customers.

Subaru customers, incidentally, are among the most loyal in the industry. Living in the Great White North of Duluth, I love the North Shore of Lake Superior and the Northwoods of Northern Minnesota, and the daily views of the enormous Lake Superior makes you forget you’re really only a couple hours from the “civilization” of Minneapolis-St. Paul, if you crave the Major League pro sports and entertainment and don’t mind the almost constant traffic congestion and occasional violent crimes of the big cities.

But when you drive North of the Twin Cities, the scenery and ability to escape the weekend migration of Twin Cities types seeking the solitude we enjoy every day is much appreciated. Duluth, however, is both unique in its scenery on the cliffside of the Western tip of Lake Superior, and dramatic in underlining why people seek Subarus and, if they already own one, seek another one as their next vehicle.

Subaru has stuck with those odd little flat-opposed 4-cylinder engines for most of our lifetime, and adding overhead camshafts and fuel injection has allowed those pistons to keep firing as they slide back and forth, rather than up and down, as they do in a normal inline 4. Sliding back and forth is more closely similar to what a V4 might accomplish, as far as eliminating the natural harmonic vibration of inline 4s, and they deliver their power with smooth efficiency.

They do not, however, return the same exceptional fuel economy of some of the best 4-cylinder powertrains from Honda, Mazda or Hyundai/Kia, even as their quest to match the power output of such notable rivals is more easily attained.
The 2025 Forester Touring has a 2.5-liter flat 4 with dual overhead camshafts and delivers a fully adequate 180 horsepower at 5,800 RPMs, with 178 foot-pounds of torque at 3,700 RPMs. The transmission that directs that power to all four wheels is called a “Lineartronic CVT,” which sounds impressive in its effort to disguise the fact that it is a Continuously Variable Transmission. 

It further disguises the boringness of CVTs by adding steering-wheel paddles so you can shift manually to preset detents in the continuing one-speed transmission.
That makes the Forester more fun to drive, and the power boost adds sportiness to that whole concept. The EPA estimated fuel economy shows 25 miles per gallon in city driving and 32 mpg on the highway. Not bad, as a compromise between adequate power and adequate fuel efficiency without embracing the exceptional in either category.

When you move up to the “Touring” trim level, you complement the new chassis — which is 10 percent stiffer than the current Forester — and the Symmetrical AWD that is a Subaru staple with larger, 19-inch alloy wheels and all-season tires that will aggressively challenge the worst surprise blizzard or sleet storm of the North Shore. 

Scaling the cliffs of Duluth is no big challenge for the Forester Touring.

All the contemporary safety features also show up on the Touring feature list, with driver aids such as automatic emergency steering, blind-spot detection, lane departure and rear proximity alerts, cross-traffic alert and reverse automatic braking, standard in the Touring package. 

Driver-focus “distraction mitigation” also comes in the package, and Subaru is so proud of the “vehicle dynamics control” system that they list it twice on the feature list.

Two impressive features include the incline start assist that prevents rolling backwards when you’ve stopped at an uphill stoplight, and the “dual X-Mode” function with hill-descent control to help you go down steep hills without riding your brakes.

For comfort features, the combined leather and composite seats are very comfortable and supportive, and they look luxurious too. And if you like your tunes turned up loud, the Harman Kardon audio system comes with a 576-watt amplifier blowing through 11 speakers positioned throughout the spacious interior.

The interior is, in fact, spacious as Subaru has caught on to the elite Asian trick of making the vehicle sleeker on the outside and somehow more spacious inside. 

When we first got the Forester Touring, I was anticipating a larger, squarish vehicle, but when I parked it next to a normal midsize or compact SUV, it looked lower and smaller. Then you get inside and find the power front seats — 10-way for the driver and 8-way for the front passenger — electrically powered, and the rear fold-down seats that are roomy enough for two or even three adults, you have to be impressed at the head and legroom.

Including destination costs, the sticker for the Forester Touring is $41,380. That’s a lot for a Subaru, but it’s not exorbitant when you compare the top models of competitors, who might make a model or two that will confront the harshest of winter storms (remember winter storms?) but are better suited to freeway cruising.

KIA invitation:  Since the Covid pandemic, there has been a dramatic upsurge in stolen vehicles, particularly compact SUVs, and remarkably the South Korean partners of Hyundai and Kia have been hit hardest — so hard that various government agencies are trying to get them to recall the vehicles and so an alteration on the lockout security systems. Kia is making a major move to alleviate troubled owners, with Kia officials holding a large seminar in Minneapolis at a Kia dealership, where, on Friday, over 70 Kia owners showed up for a free clinic, at which the dealer upgraded the theft-deterrent software.

Nationwide, more than 1.2 million Kia vehicles have undergone the free process, which results in defeating the ignition system if an attempt is made to bypass the system and start the car to steal it. Any Kia owner can go to any Kia dealership in the country and get the whole process done free of charge. The problem has been most severe in Milwaukee and then in the Twin Cities, as a objectionable feature of some new vehicles without push-button start.