REVIEW
Gavin Foster
Subaru Forester GX
R217 950
Subaru’s Forester GX is rather different from its often-pretentious opposition. More station wagon than sport utility vechicle, it offers something that many more macho-looking four-wheel drives don’t a low-range gearset for when the going gets tough.
Its longish overhangs and limited ground clearance mean that the Forester is not the sort of vehicle you want to go barging around the bush in, but its transmission makes it great for exploring back roads and trails without fear of getting bogged down.
Add the healthy performance offered by the two-litre flat-four engine and you have a pretty worthwhile town ‘n country runabout as well. Where it loses out, though, is in sex appeal.
As modern all-wheel-drive vehicles go the Forester’s relatively austere on the surface. Boxy and old-fashioned looking, the little wagon looks well due for a stylistic revamp.
The interior’s also pretty understated, and passenger space at the back isn’t as plentiful as some would like, but the essentials are all there, and the cloth seats are comfortable.
There’s an abundance of storage compartments, and the overall impression is one of simple practicality. A look around soon lets you know that you haven’t been short-changed in the frills department, however, with electric windows, remote central locking, an aircon, a rear heating duct, airbags, self-levelling rear suspension, ABS and an immobiliser all being standard in the GX version loaned to us the entry level GL does without the ABS and self-levelling suspension.
The luggage area’s handily fitted with a pull-over cover and an auxiliary power point, and the rear seats can be folded forward to provide an additional 1 047cm3 storage space.
The Subaru boasts a permanent all-wheel-drive system, which means that the driver doesn’t have to make any decisions about when to start twiddling levers to find more traction.
A viscous coupling apportions drive between the front and rear axles, with the car operating as a front-wheel drive car most of the time. When traction is lost, however, the coupling redistributes some of the torque to the rear axle, until a 50/50 split is attained. There’s a low-range option for when things get really tough, but this isn’t as low as in true off-road vehicles the Subaru is probably designed with beaches, ice and snow in mind rather than the African bushveld. If you’re likely to need this feature frequently it’s worth bearing in mind that the automatic version of the Forester and the 130kW turbo versions don’t offer low-range transmission.
We found that the Subaru grew on us as we built up the kilometres. The 92kW/184Nm boxer engine is a willing unit, and acceleration to 100kph takes about 11,5 seconds, with the car running out of steam at about 180kph. Noise levels were low, and the Forester handles far better than most of its opposition through the twisties at medium and high speeds. It would be really at home travelling the dirt back roads of South Africa, with exploratory forays along reasonable tracks, but we’d hesitate to recommend it for places where the going got much tougher than that.
The Subaru Forester is a common sense, practical wagon with a reasonable amount of off-road capability. At R217 950 it provides honest value, although in a rather homely package.