What is the most popular Subaru in the United States? Last year, the Forester edged the slightly larger Outback by a meager 100 vehicles, with Subaru reporting 154,723 deliveries for the smaller model.
As per the August 2023 sales report for the US market, the Forester is currently ranked in third place. With 69,151 deliveries to its name, Subaru's compact-sized crossover lags behind the Outback (96,907 units) and newly redesigned Crosstrek (99,262 units). Part of the reason the Forester has lost its mojo is age, with Subaru revealing the SK-codenamed Gen 5 in 2018 for the 2019 model year.
Speaking of which, the fourth-generation SJ ran between 2012 and 2018 for model years 2014 and 2018. It's pretty clear that an extensive redesign is on the horizon, with reports from Japan suggesting that the sixth gen would drop in 2024 as a 2025 model.
Pixel artist Halo oto speculatively rendered the SK's replacement with influences from various utility vehicles and some lines from the Levorg. Not available in the United States, the Levorg sports the very same wheelbase (2,670 millimeters or 105.1 inches) as the Forester, yet features a longer overall length (4,755 millimeters or 187.2 inches compared to the Forester's 4,625 millimeters or 182.1 inches).
Also based on the Subaru Global Platform that underpins all combustion-engined Scoobys except for the Solterra electric utility vehicle, the Levorg comes with either a 1.8-liter turbo or a 2.4-liter turbo. The Forester doesn't have any force-fed engine to call its own, but – allegedly – that's going to change for the next gen. For this purported turbo version, Subaru is expected to roll out the Forester XT designation.
Hearsay points to the Outback's 2.4-liter turbo four-cylinder boxer, which belts out 260 horsepower and 277 pound-feet (376 Nm) of torque. Similar to the current gen, a hybrid naturally-aspirated boxer is reportedly going to join the aforementioned 2.4er.
Incorrectly described as a full-size SUV by Halo oto, the Forester is anything but that. Better described as a crossover because it features unibody construction, the Forester is far smaller than a true full-size crossover (think Chevrolet Traverse) and a true full-size SUV (like the Silverado 1500-based Tahoe).
According to Subaru Australia managing director Blair Read, an electric Forester is probably one of the eight new EVs due to be introduced by 2028. Speaking to Which Car?, he let it slip that a streamlined range is coming to Australia without going into the finer details. In addition to the zero-emission version, the cited publication expects three combustion-engined powertrains: a 2.5-liter NA H4, a 2.0-liter NA mild-hybrid H4, and the aforementioned 2.4-liter turbo.
The all-electric Forester isn't likely to use Subaru's existing platform because the SGP wasn't designed for electric vehicles. Given the automaker's close relation to Toyota, it wouldn't come as a surprise if the Forester EV would receive Toyota underpinnings.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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