The Subaru Forester is a very important car for the brand. It’s one of the brand’s best-selling models globally, so the release of an all-new model is always a big deal. However, while the 2025 Subaru Forester is classified as a new-generation model, that’s not exactly the case as is in the equally new Crosstrek.
That strong sense of familiarity begins with the exterior. While it does look very different due to its wide grille that’s merged with the LED headlights, the LED light bar (for the US-market’s Touring variant), and Y-shaped LED daytime running lights on each end, you can somehow sense that it’s just a major facelift. Sure the body panels are new and more sculpted, plus it comes with a taller hood, but you can tell from its proportions that it inherits the outgoing model’s Subaru Global Platform.
Wheel sizes range from 17 to 19 inches wheels, depending on the variant, and if it does go on sale in the Philippines, we can expect similar exterior features to the range-topping Touring. Subaru would also be happy to tell you that the new Forester’s platform comes with a 10 percent increase in rigidity while handling has been improved further by using the WRX’s responsive steering rack (just like in the Crosstrek).
Its interior design also feels pretty much like a major facelift, too. The dash is pretty much what you’ve seen in every other Subaru on sale today, inheriting tech features such as an 11.6-inch portrait Starlink touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and those familiar analog gauges with a small color multi-information display in the middle. Subaru, at least, redesigned the dashboard panel on the front passenger’s side to separate it from other models, but architecturally speaking, it’s very familiar across all other Subaru models.
Because of the familiar underpinnings, there’s nothing surprising with the drivetrain as a result. Therefore, that 2.5-liter four-cylinder boxer engine is carried over in the United States, and to the surprise of many, it actually makes two fewer ponies at 180 horsepower. Equally familiar is the Lineartronic CVT that drives all four wheels. In the Asian market, a 2.0-liter four-cylinder boxer engine will most likely be offered, which in the current Forester produces 154 horses and 196 Nm of torque.
Like what you see, or does it indeed feel more like a major facelift? Before this heads to the Philippines, the new 2025 Subaru Forester will first go on sale in the United States in the spring of 2024. A Philippine launch could happen sometime in 2025.
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