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Forester rejig sets up showdown with Outback
Richard Bosselman
June 5, 2025
Details revealed a week ago are validated by national distributor - and, as tipped, prices have climbed.
FIVE heading out, six coming in - and all new Subaru Forester choices for New Zealand cost more than their predecessors.
The biggest hit is at entry level, with a $5000 hike between the cheapest incoming configuration of the sixth generation car and the least expensive current base choice.
Another new trend is that Forester petrols are effectively lineball priced with the two of the three available editions of make’s flagship product, the Outback, which is physically larger and roomier but presents in virtually identical tune - and now with a less fulsome specification.
Here from July, with pre-orders being taken from now, the new line keeps focus on the 2.5-litre four-cylinder.
Three are keeping on with the pure petrol plucked from the outgoing car, still developing 136kW power but now uprated to 247Nm torque (an 8Nm lift).
Three more take the new petrol-electric, a Toyota-derived ‘strong hybrid’ system. As reported last week, with this drivetrain, outputs are 121kW from the engine alone, rising to 145kW combined, with torque of 212Nm.
Each sub-set configures in an entry labelled the AWD, as well as a new mid-family Sport specification and a flagship Touring.
The hybrids carry a premium over the petrols, the separations ranging from $3000 in AWD to $5000 in Sport. The Tourings are $4000 apart.
Forester prices overall are also up, old against new. The cheapest new model is the petrol AWD, at $49,990.
That’s $5000 more than the cheapest outgoing choice, the petrol Luxury, and exact-matched to the entry Outback.
The Sport petrol is asking $54,990 - again, the same as an Outback X (below) - the Forester Touring is $56,990, so $3k shy of the Outback Touring.
The other outgoing Foresters reliant on fossil fuel have been the $49,990 X Sport and $54,990 Premium.
In the hybrid family, spend starts at $52,990 for the base choice, rising to $59,990 for the Sport and $60,990 in the Touring.
The outgoing e-boxer hybrids were the $53,490 Forester and the $58,490 Premium.
As our May 29 story predicted, specifications already revealed for Australia carry to this country. The markets have a common distributor, Inchcape. Our neighbour also a takes a new Premium spec not showing here.
The new hybrid works with a 90kW Toyota-sourced electric motor and 1.1kWh battery. It promises lower fuel use than the old in-house Forester Hybrid, but not by a lot. The cited 6.2L/100km is a 0.5L/100km improvement.
The non-hybrid models are rated at 7.9 litres per 100km, up 0.5L/100km over the previous models. CO2 emissions sit at 180 grams per kilometre and 140g/km.
The petrols are rated to tow up to 1800kg braked with a 180kg tow ball down weight compared to the petrol's lesser 120kg.
Forester is built on a revised, strengthened version of the Subaru Global platform that underpinned the previous generation car as well as the current Impreza, Crosstrek, WRX and Outback.
All models are equipped with a continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT), but now with eight rather than seven gear steps, and Subaru’s signature permanent symmetrical all-wheel drive system.
As previously reported, whereas Toyota hybrids - including the RAV4 that is an obvious competitor - have an electrically driven rear axle, the Forester Hybrid installs so it can power all four wheels on petrol or electric power, or both.
Petrol Foresters are equipped with a full-size 18-inch spare wheel, while the Forester Hybrid is equipped with a tyre repair kit.
The base specification includes an 11.6-inch portrait touchscreen offering wireless Apple CarPlay and wireless/wired Android Auto, models from the Premium and above there add satellite navigation. Go high and the six-speaker audio is swapped out for a 10-speaker Harman Kardon premium system.
A 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster is standard on Forester Hybrid Sport and Hybrid Touring models.
The AWD cars run 18-inch alloy wheels and has dusk-sensing LED headlights with self-levelling, steering-responsive headlights, LED fog lights, keyless entry with push-button start, and tyre pressure monitoring. They also have dual-zone climate control, rear air vents, a leather-trimmed steering wheel, cloth seats, heated front seats, an auto-dimming interior mirror, and one-touch electronic rear seat release.
A new camera with a wider field of view powers features such as adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist, lane-centring assist, autonomous emergency braking, traffic sign recognition, and intelligent speed limiting is across all models.
Other safety tech includes blind spot monitoring, a driver-monitoring camera with emergency driving stop (if the system detects the driver is unresponsive), lane-change assist, 360-degree cameras, reverse automatic braking, adaptive headlights, and more.
Forester Sport takes a dark metallic finish for the 18-inch alloy wheels, a sunroof, a more sophisticated X-Mode terrain system, a ‘premium’ instrument cluster, green highlights and water-repellent grey and black seat trim.
The Hybrid Sport has low-profile roof rails, 19-inch alloy wheels in a bronze finish, a bronze instrument panel finish and a 12.3-inch instrument cluster.
Tourings add leather and Ultrasuede upholstery, a leather gear shifter, brown stitching for the steering wheel, and front seat ventilation. The Touring Hybrid has a widescreen instrument cluster and 19-inch wheels.