Updated 2022 Subaru Forester review // Plus, new Wilderness trim

#SubaruForester

We’re in snowy vancouver a rare snow day here perfect subaru forester weather let’s go for a ride oh boy you know in movies they have continuity errors yep you’re going to notice a major continuity problem with this video because outside right now there’s snow on the ground but when we got this car we shot it what was it andrea well it was a beautiful sunny day

All right so you’re going to see the car in the sun but we’re driving in the snow all right andrea what’s under the hood of this forester a 2.5 liter four-cylinder engine matched with a cvt 182 horsepower and 176 pound-feet of torque standard all-wheel drive no longer a turbo no longer a manual some people lament that for sure but you do get a lot of stuff with

This vehicle let’s get into our key standard features here’s what you get on the base trim a 6.5 inch touchscreen a 4.2 inch multi-information display apple carplay and android auto manual driver and passenger seats cloth upholstery heated front seats power adjustable foldable and heated door mirrors led headlights and led tail lights 17-inch wheels and i say

Driver assist technology and x mode with hill descent control a big dial here says x mode what are we going to put it in you got to put it in s for subscribing if you can hit the notification bell you’ll be notified when all of our reviews drop and then you can watch them and we do this the couple car review twice a week the first one drops on wednesday we put

Out another one on saturday and make sure you follow along on instagram as well to find out what’s going on behind the scenes it’s motor mouth underscore andrea for me it’s motor mouth underscore auto and the links are below this video is brought to you by car cost canada get the dealer’s cost list of rebates plus discounted interest rates use the promo code

Motormouth to become an expert member and get extra searches the link is in the description below now we recently put out a video of our top five favorite compact utility vehicles the card is up here and the forester makes the list yeah it offers such a great drive it feels smooth the cabin is quite quiet when you accelerate on the highway and you try and pass

The vehicle i can hear the engine matched with a cvt but then it comes right down i think it’s great for the city and some people will say about the power it doesn’t have enough power the only time i felt there was a lack of power was passing on the highway how would you use that well the the thing about a cvt is it has its pluses in its negatives so you get a

Bit of that motorboat effect as you mentioned when you’re driving on the highway but off the line you can make what is essentially the first gear really short so you get that launch right away in the city and driving in everyday situations i find it works really really well and you know i would like the turbo engine but i can see why they sell so many of these and

You know what i did i just popped it into manual mode and i used these paddle shifters when i had to do a quick pass and i found that it gave me that boost of power that i needed it does mimic how many gears seven right seven and the wilderness has eight we’re going to talk about the wilderness as well because they’ve come out with a new trim that’s their more

Off-road capable vehicle a little bit more wildernessy the forester wilderness offers half an inch more ground clearance than the other models it has improved gear ratios for off-road performance a re-tuned suspension all new front and rear bumpers 17-inch matte black finish off-road wheels and yokohama geolander tires it also comes with a full-size spare tire if

Needed it has exterior body cladding and rear differential skid plates it comes equipped with a front view camera improved dual function x mode all weather soft touch water repellent upholstery and more towing capacity of up to 3000 pounds it also has a strengthened roof rack that can hold 800 pounds so if you want to put a tent up there you can so this is a 2022

Model and subaru has given it a refresh it’s a mid-cycle refresh now from a distance you might not notice but there are some changes the exterior is a refresh grille front fascia led headlights and a new fog light cover as well i think it looks better we’ve got the premier trim that top model it’s got some chrome accents throughout and 18 inch wheels and it looks

Fantastic with this green also they’ve refreshed the back with a lower valance that makes it look a little bit more rugged i think there’s a minor tweaks but i think they’re improvements what hasn’t changed is the functionality of this vehicle you’ve got large windows large doors to get kids and car seats in and out of this vehicle animals yeah a huge cargo door

It’s really really well thought out there is no better compact utility when it comes to the functionality aspect these windows maybe it’s not being picked up too well on camera but they’re huge and then you add in the panel roof i don’t particularly like them andrew loves them but i can see the appeal with this because you feel like you’re kind of in a fishbowl a

Lot of people are concerned about outward visibility this is where you should start they do a really good job well i like the seating position in this forester i feel like i kind of sit up and over the dash it gives you a great view in all directions and then you go on to the inside and we’re both pleasantly surprised now it’s only been like six months since we drove

The previous version of the forester but every time i get in i always note that the level of materials that they use and the way it’s put together is kind of top of this class the only one that beats it might be the cx-5 for mazda yeah and the new tucson that’s also a beautiful interior i think that the seats are fairly comfortable in here i’m a little disappointed

That there’s a 6.5 inch standard touch screen i think that it really should have the standard eight inch touchscreen that you don’t get until you move into those higher trims but you do andrea you get the little screen above that there’s a quick information readout on certain models it gives you a forward-facing camera we don’t get it with this one so there’s some

Extras that are added in here there’s no fancy digital instrument cluster i’m okay with that i find them kind of gimmicky myself but a lot of people like them yeah and some people were saying oh my gosh some of these knobs and switches in here seem like they’re from 1999 but guess what they really work and the other thing is when you put your seat warmer on there’s

Just a little switch it’s a mechanical switch yeah so every time you get in the vehicle your seat warmer is always on how good is that hey if you want to be like prince and party like it’s 1999 this might be your choice the thing is it’s well designed so the volume knobs are big the heat controls are big you can work this stuff with gloves on when it’s cold we’re

In canada but andrea if you don’t want to do that what else can you do gesture control yeah well on the limited and premier trim those two top trims you get gesture control so you can control the climate now this is how it works if you put okay you said works we’ll see if it works okay well nobody said it was going to be quick okay i’ll tell you that so what you

Do is you put your hand up there it is yeah and what it does is it raises the temperature up two degrees celsius yeah yes now if you want to bring the temperature down by two degrees you go like this now this is the one that we can’t get working so every time that we go like this we keep raising our temperature but we can’t bring it down let me try let me try

Fight the power oh it went down anyway let me try it again fight the power got it now i’m not sure if that’s quicker or easier than me just reaching here and turning it down that is much easier yeah i want a party like it’s not about you put it on low i want to party like it’s because yours kept turning it down now we’re freezing we want to go back to 1999.

All right andrea always goes to what is the best value trim what do you think so the touring trim in canada for under 35 000 and the limited trim in the us for under 32 000 and that’s where you’re gonna get those features that you want the eight inch touchscreen panoramic sunroof power driver seat and the power tailgate you don’t have to spend top dollar on this

Premier trim another really good trim zach is the limited trim in canada which is just below the premiere it gets you all the features that you get in this premiere trim but minus the leather seats right no you get the leather seats but what do you think you don’t get zach the panel roof no you get the panel roof on the um on the lumber truck what could you be

Giving up wow this color combo oh the color combo okay that is exclusive to the premier trim and also there’s some exclusive accents to the exterior of the premier trim like like chrome or silver accents throughout i i like this interior but i’m sold on cheaper yeah i’m scottish yes that’s true but you know what would you pay an extra thousand dollars to get this

Not that much more you know what i think this vehicle is priced to perfection we’re going to come up with our vital stats in a moment i think you’ll agree from where it starts to where it ends there’s not much in it and it really offers a lot of value all right the back seat there’s plenty of room when you get in there the doors are huge it’s comfortable you sit

Up high you’ve got great outward visibility how does it compare to the others like you said zach it’s got plenty of space but the escape and tucson offer the most second row space but just a little bit more than the forester although the forester passed our carry-on and a cooler test with ease it offers the least amount of cargo space behind the second row at 26.9

Cubic feet compared to others in this class overall cargo capacity is better at 69.1 cubic feet but the rogue tucson and crv all offer more but on the plus side with the cargo area the door is very square and large and getting stuff in is a snap all right you have some good questions including a hybrid what subaru let’s get into it time now for questions coffee and

Cars your questions from instagram i personally think subaru not including the turbo engine as an option for the forester wilderness is a huge disappointment they should at least give customers the option yeah i agree you know what there is a big fan base of the old xt turbo model they got rid of it when they came up with this latest version it didn’t sell as

Well in the united states as it did in canada canada as a percentage grabbed more turbos however our market’s too small to get them on their own and they seem to be bringing the turbo back and other variants so i’m i’m hoping that that will happen one day yeah well the outback has the turbo and the ascent that we reviewed and the new wrx yeah they both have that

Turbo we like it i mean who’s kidding who of course we like the extra power when it’s needed but i’m wondering if subaru has bigger plans and that’s coming up in our hot topic oh good point draya right we don’t want to give it all away right now what’s the next question then i’ve always liked the forester i think it’s a great compact suv why would somebody buy

This over the outback and why would somebody buy the outback over this doesn’t the outback have more practicality the outback is more like a station wagon i feel like it drives like a station wagon it’s more like a yeah this drives like an suv you do have a higher seating position and interestingly enough the ground clearance on the outback and the forester are

Equal actually the crosstrek has the same ground clearance it’s 220 millimeters and that’s true through all of the subaru suvs so the basis of the old outback is the legacy station wagon it morphed into a cross so it’s like a true crossover went from a car to a utility this is a more of a traditional compact utility so pick your poison they’re both great and the

Outback wilderness offers a little bit more ground clearance in this forester wilderness and also i think with the outback you get that turbo engine so if you want more power the outback is definitely going to be for you do yourself a favor if you’re getting the outback get it with the turbo giddy up if you’re looking for practical information on a new car you’ll

Find it right here on the motormouth youtube channel all you do is go to youtube and type in motor mouth first and then the brand that you’re searching say it’s subaru in this instance you’ll find all of the videos we’ve done on this brand it’s that easy it kind of irks me that subaru put a cvt in an off-road oriented vehicle it’s probably what is really holding

Me back from considering one i wouldn’t say this is an off-road oriented vehicle it’s a compact crossover that has a little bit off-road chops okay let’s just call it what it is if you want a real off-road vehicle you’re going to get something like a toyota 4runner or something like that a wrangler a wrangler those are real offerings so this brand definitely lets

You do a little bit more in the way of like cottage roads and that kind of thing but that’s what they’re designed for but i do understand where you’re coming from because subaru is certainly promoting this as an off-road vehicle if you watch any of their videos on the wilderness it really shows that yeah i did google because zach and i when we do our off-roading

It’s mostly like a cottage trail a rough road the biggest concern with off-roading in a cvt is overheating and maybe power being cut off so i went on to some subaru forums and people who have foresters see that they’ve never experienced that and that it has been very good and they’ve done some real mountain off-roading with steep inclines and decline that’s the

Feedback that we got from these forums so not the forester but the outback we went on a trip up into the yukon and there’s a big sand dune there talk about an all-wheel drive system working very hard in deep sand and here’s the video of the outback china lawn and we did it for an hour or so there were no issues with the car see that’s really good and now it’s time

For our hot topic what’s this one andrea looks very similar to the model that we have now if they are smart they would do a hybrid or a plug-in hybrid sales would go through the roof i’ve got a 2020 forester sport i like it with the gas prices going up like crazy it’s worth it to have a hybrid or plug-in version so there’s a lot of people complaining that subaru

Got rid of the turbocharged option in this forester but they can make up that power deficit by going slightly electrified with a hybrid option and there’s loads of rumors about this right oh my gosh the speculation is crazy to the point that i almost want to believe it i mean people are saying that it’s going to have a 1.8 liter turbocharged engine with toyota’s

Hybrid system and it’s coming out as a 2024 model in 2023. this has not been approved by subaru or toyota and when we spoke to steven beatty the vice president of toyota canada we asked about the relationship with mazda and that maybe the cx-5 could share the same hybrid system as the toyota rav4 and he basically said why would we share our technology but it’s not

Sharing there’s actually co-ownership of each of these brands whether it’s subaru or it’s mazda toyota has their thumb in the pie so i think they might share some of their old technology now one of the issues i think that subaru has with the hybrid system that toyota has developed is they use a separate electric motor to power the rear wheels yeah and that doesn’t

Really work with the symmetrical oh they just put the heat up with the symmetrical all-wheel drive system that subaru has developed so maybe they’re trying to work through how they’re going to do that but they could have their cake and eat it too add more power what people want and go slightly electrified or maybe even a plug-in variant yeah for sure i mean we see

Obviously that hybrids and phevs are so popular right now you can’t get a rav4 prime the hybrid is difficult to get we see it with the tucson and the santa fe and the sorrento for that matter more people are ready to make a change one thing to point out is that the crosstrek in the us does have a plug-in option all right let’s get into the pricing and all the vital

Stats pay attention to the pricing the forester starts at twenty nine and a half thousand dollars the wilderness is just under thirty nine thousand dollars and this top premier trim is just over forty and a half thousand dollars jd power has not rated the 2022 forester yet but it gives the 2021 model a quality and reliability score of 81 out of a hundred car edge

States the forester will retain 59 percent of its value after five years here’s the fuel economy 9 liters per 100 kilometers in the city 7.2 on the highway that’s 26 miles per gallon city 33 miles per gallon highway the forester can tow 1500 pounds but we mentioned the wilderness can tow 3 000 pounds the warranty is three years sixty thousand kilometers or thirty

Six thousand miles now andrea this is a very competitive category let’s find out what else you can buy with your money for your consideration four vehicles for you to consider up first is the toyota rav4 with a 2.5 liter four-cylinder engine paired with an eight-speed automatic transmission 203 horsepower and an all-wheel drive starting price of 30 690 canadian

Next is the nissan rogue with a two and a half liter four-cylinder engine and a cvt 181 horsepower and all-wheel drive starting at just over 31 000 the honda cr-v has a 1.5 liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine matched with the cvt 190 horsepower and an all-wheel drive starting price of 33 and a half thousand dollars next is the hyundai tucson you guessed it with

A two and a half liter four-cylinder engine but this one comes with an eight-speed automatic transmission 187 horsepower and the all-wheel drive starting price is just under 30 thousand dollars so there are four compact crossovers for you to consider all right lightning round two things we like two things we like to see improve well i like all the safety features

In here and subaru keeps adding more it has a new automatic emergency steering system and also available driver focused to keep you from being distracted so the emergency braking say you’re coming up behind something and you’re jamming on the brakes or the emergency braking system it’ll also look for a space to put the car in if it’s available all right what about

Things we’d like to see improve well i would like to see ventilated front seats in here at least as an option not today and uh the screen the six and a half inches a bit small on the base models they could go standard with the eight inch this refresh forester is practical and versatile all wrapped up in one neat package we chose the forester as one of our top five

Compact crossovers for good reason this video is brought to you by carcass canada get the dealer’s cost list of rebates plus discounted interest rates use the promo code motormouth to become an expert member and get extra searches the link is in the description below

Transcribed from video
Updated 2022 Subaru Forester review // Plus, new Wilderness trim! By Motormouth