2014 Forester Intel?

Anyone bought the latest gen Forester? Any intel, thoughts, impressions? Is the XT much better?

We bought one late last summer to be the family hauler. We haven't had any issues so far and my wife loves driving it. We had a short wait to get ours - the salesman said they were popular - so you might want to see if that's still the case. The popularity also affected how much they were willing to negotiate, and the prices varied between dealers significantly.

I have a 2014 Forester Manual in premium trim. Pretty much the best new car I have ever had for all around shlepping of the dogs and cats and significant others. Plus my surfboard fits inside and my bike in the back plus two kayaks on top.

I get 29.4 mpg when I am traveling on the freeway about 26.7 mixed and 23.7 in the city all the time. It has amazing sight-lines as well and enough goodies that its tolerable to drive every day. We gpt 34.7 MPG my best tank to date driving back from big sur.

The only concern that I have with the whole car is that the front seats have so much back support that it can be painful for some people, and the tank at I think 15 gallons is a little too small for my taste.

12K miles on mine I think really just fluid changes at this point. Also it does not rattle at all, mine seems to be made out of old tanks.

Is the NA engine "good enough"? Would you rather have the turbo? I noted premium trim was the best you could get with manual- any complaints? Thoughts about road-trip suitability? I have 11 and 7 year old kids- enough back seat room?

Teh E36 M3 wrote: Is the NA engine "good enough"? Would you rather have the turbo? I noted premium trim was the best you could get with manual- any complaints? Thoughts about road-trip suitability? I have 11 and 7 year old kids- enough back seat room?

The back seats are better then the front and they hove TONS of room. I got the premium manual as it was the highest spec that I could get with that transmission. Plus I got heated seats and mirrors. I could not get a manual with a sunroof which was not a deal killer but my wife wanted it.

My uncle borrowed mine and bought the XT the next day fully loaded and it is WAY WAY faster then mine is. He has driven it from SD to Utah and back a few times sense. But I live in so cal so 65+ mph on the freeway is unusual. It can easily get up to speed on the freeway and with the manual but its still a big box with a small motor. 0-60 is like 9.2 seconds.

Longest road trip I have done is 522 miles in one sitting other then gas and a quick stop for food. It was fine for me, if I had kids though it would be rough as there is no entertainment for the back seats. The heated seats make long drives very nice. The premium pack also gets you the bigger stereo, wheels, the heat pack and window tint. You do not get the fancy stability control or the controls to set it up for snow if you live in a place that does. .

I will say that if a forester XT / STI came out in a manual and leather I would upgrade in a heart beat. They get all the cool ones overseas. If they made the 3.6 in a manual I would do that as well. I tried the outback manual but the sight-lines are just so good on the Forester that I could not do it even though it drove just a little bit nicer.

Also I paid like 20500$ or something ridiculous for mine. Nobody wants manuals out here and the first batches they got in were 75%+ manuals. The CVT's sold out in seconds and I got like 3K off sticker.

My wife wants one in a bad way as an upgrade from her '10, but she's insisting on a sunroof and I won't own a CVT, so we're in a sort of standoff.

I still can't figure out why manual transmission and sunroof are mutually exclusive, and it irritates me to no end. I'll probably end up with a Rav-4 or CRV instead.

Agreed. The cvt is really killing me. Why they can't just offer the manual with the turbo, I don't know. Just to throw the enthusiast a bone. That said, I've read good things about this particular cvt.

Weary- thanks for the thorough details. I grew up in SoCal (central coast), miss it, and had a little chuckle about the heated seats. Not at your expense though :)

We have the "premium" too, with heated seats / wipers / mirrors and the CVT. It seemed like the most value. We didn't even drive the turbo - out of our budget. This is our first CVT vehicle so I don't have anything to compare it to, but while its certainly not fast - its not as slow as our old 01 legacy sedan with the auto. Its a little touchy when getting started from a stop, but it reacts well when you need to pass someone. We drove it this past winter in the northeast and didn't miss any of the 'set it up for snow' buttons. The AWD does a nice job already. As was stated, the outward visibility is incredible... for instance, they moved the mirrors and put glass in their place. We compared it to the Mazda CX-5 that we cross-shopped which was full of blind spots. Rear seats have ample room for a rear-facing car seat. The front passenger seat is moved forward to make it fit, but its not un-usable for us that way. I do wish we could put the car seat in the center but the LATCH system and owners manual prefer us to use one of the two sides. I also wish there was a better light in the cargo area when you open the gate. My wife occasionally complains that the brakes aren't as good as she'd like, but I think I could solve that with better pads.

Interesting. Sounds like test drive time. Last question- anyone have any idea why euro Subaru says it can tow 2000kg (with CVT- ~4400lbs) and SOA says 1500lb? Do you suppose there is additional cooling or anything? Hard to tell from the internet. I'm guessing it's mainly lawyers, but thought I'd see if someone had insight. http://www.subaru.eu/docs/default-source/models-spec-sheets/14my_forester_spec_ec.pdf?sfvrsn=2

Teh E36 M3 wrote: Interesting. Sounds like test drive time. Last question- anyone have any idea why euro Subaru says it can tow 2000kg (with CVT- ~4400lbs) and SOA says 1500lb? Do you suppose there is additional cooling or anything? Hard to tell from the internet. I'm guessing it's mainly lawyers, but thought I'd see if someone had insight. http://www.subaru.eu/docs/default-source/models-spec-sheets/14my_forester_spec_ec.pdf?sfvrsn=2

I assume lawyers and the caravan culture over there means that it has to be able to tow.

Also heated seats in SoCal is such a funny thing, 99% of the people don't need them but when you get out of the surf lineup and the water was in the mid 50's. heated seats are a godsend.

Bought my 2014 forester in early January, Premium with manual transmission, only option was the heated stuff, which I actually like quite a bit. 6500 miles so far, overall mpg right at 29.5 (I do no city driving, but 20% is off pavement in steep terrain, and the rest is mostly rural two-lane, with one 2000 mile trip with around 1000 miles of 75 mph interstate. I'm currently running Blizzaks on a set of Tire Rack alloys, will put the summer tires back on in about a month (still getting snow here). No problems at all, it's a smooth, quiet car, actually handles very well as a road car, lots of room, good ground clearance (if I need more, I use my Tacoma). All in all, my wife and I really like it, it's a great all-around car. We have no kids, so the back seat is folded all the time, and there is a real ton of room back there. This is our first Subaru, and so far we are very impressed.