2019 Subaru Forester: FULL REVIEW + DRIVE | Functional and Family Friendly!

What's going on YouTube? Subaru has been making crossovers long before they were the in thing and it has built a very loyal following of people Now fast forward to 2019 and we're standing here with the fifth generation Which has all the modern upgrades that people demand, but without reinventing the wheel Of course we do want to specially thank our friends at Quantrell Subaru for providing us with this fully loaded forest or touring and if you're in the market for any new Subaru Be sure to stop

by their dealership or visit them via their website, which we provided a link to in the video description So with that said, let's go ahead and see if this new forester has further expanded its appeal So getting started with the exterior it is a clear evolution from the outgoing model The grille for instance is almost exactly the same shape, but the chrome and the inside texture are slightly different The more substantial difference is in the lower grille where all the black has been expanded up

wards to make it look more rugged than before Now this year also sees the introduction of a new sport trim which changes several things from the other trims like the blacked out grille and Orange accents all around the vehicle Turning to the headlights They also look practically identical to the last gen except that these LEDs are now standard on all models instead of just being on the Touring and finally on the bottom You'll find fog lights on the top three trims as well as an excellent 8.7 inc

hes of ground clearance on all the trims Going around to the rest of the vehicle again Most of the changes are very conservative, but you will probably notice the biggest styling update which are the new tail lights They've got an interesting boomerang design to them now and some of the lights within the housing are LED Dropping down this bumper area is fully black on most models However, the sport would have an orange accent and this Touring gets the silver surrounds So overall Subaru didn't me

ss with success much when it comes to the exterior styling But the changes they did make were for the better now As far as the wheels are concerned they have changed thoroughly from the outgoing model Every trim gets their own design. So on the top three trims, you have 18 inch alloys in three different styles Then dropping down to the premium gets you 17 inch alloys and the base model of 17 inches Pheo wheels Heading on up to the mirrors You'll find body colouring and heating on all but the bas

e model and auto dimming is available via popular package three Additionally the limited in up includes standard blind spot detection with rear cross-traffic alert And on the topic of safety the foresters excellent eyesight safety package has gotten even better for 2019 since it's now standard across the board that Means even the base model will have pre-collision braking lane-keeping assist and adaptive cruise control Additionally high-beam assist is included on the sport and up and this tourin

g also comes with rear automatic braking Those taken together with its top safety pick+ rating makes the Forester certainly one of the safest options in the class Finally all but the base model will come with roof rails and every Forester has a 16 point six gallon fuel tank That's good for 481 miles of range on regular unleaded fuel But anyways, that's it for all the exterior changes so now let's go ahead and get inside and see the all-new cabin So on the Forester You do have Subaru smart entry

system on the Sport trim and up or it is optional on the premium trip You can also remote start via the StarLink app And then of course to get inside all you do is grab the handle because there is a sensor behind it All righty So checking out the cabin of the all new Subaru Forester as you can see It shares a lot of the same styling characteristics as many of the other Subaru models Now there's going to be quite a few different ways. You can equip this interior So on your base through your sport

trim The seats are going to be cloth and then on the limited and touring you're gonna get real leather And then as far as your color options, there's a lot of different ones So your Base and premium, you're gonna have black or gray cloth only The sport though is gonna go with a grey cloth with special orange accents Going up to the Limited gives you black or gray leather and then on the Touring like this one You've got the option of black like we have or an exclusive brown color Then turning ov

er to the door trim it is very nicely appointed as you can see You've got a leather Material that goes all the way down through here with a nice stitching detail through it and then it additionally goes all the way up To the very top for you to rest your elbow on Would you also have kind of a faux carbon fiber trim right through here Now your front two windows are one touch automatic and you will find two person memory seating on the touring trim only Coming down to the seats you will find these

10-way power adjusting seats on all but the base trim with manual seats and Then like I was saying we do have the real leather Feels very nice and it does have a really attractive stitching and perforation design So like I said the actual styling of the cabin is pretty much in line with all the other Subaru models and The materials are also in line with those models as well so across the upper dash we do have a soft touch plastic with a nice stitching detail through it and Then here on the Tour

ing at least we've got this textured leather as well as the extra leatherette patch right here Additionally, we do have some more leather trim that comes all the way down through here for your knee to rest against and everything in Here fits together really really well and really solidly On a sport and up just press the button to start When you do you will see this 8 inch display fire up on most of the models However on your basic trims you do have a 6 inch display instead Now checking out your

gauges here they do have the typical Subaru design So you've got analog gauges and then a 4.2 inch multifunction display in the middle This does contain some basic information However, you'll find that most of the information is actually located over here at this six point three inch display that comes on the sport and up For this you'll just use the info button on the steering wheel and you can cycle through different things like your safety system some off-road modes just tons of different thi

ngs even the weather and you'll also notice another little thing here that black sensor across the top now that is on the touring only and That's the new driver focus system. So basically that's actually monitoring your face So if you look away from the road or get distracted for more than three seconds it the system will remind you to pay attention And if you become unresponsive, it can actually stop the car completely Now moving back to the steering wheel itself Of course, you do have electric

power assisted steering and you will nicely find a leather-wrapped wheel on all but the very base model You have your standard affair of buttons up here for your phone audio and voice commands then over here You got your buttons for your adaptive cruise control as well as your drive modes Here on the terrain from the steering wheel is also heated And the wheel itself will always be manual tilt and telescoping Now one of the Foresters signature characteristics has always been having more interio

r space than you'd expect from the outside and that does carry over for the 2019 model So turning over here to your console Open it up, and you do have a little removable piece right here But then underneath the edge you can see it is very deep and you do have a felt lining down at the bottom as well Initially, there is a 12-volt outlet inside Then in front of that you've got a little shelf here, which would be good for setting your phone To cupholders and then another giant bin up here in the f

ront Which does contain another 12-volt outlet two charging USB ports as well as an aux jack It's overall as you can see there is a lot of storage now Subaru was able to do that without going to an electronic shifter that some of the rivals have gone to So for this it's very simple You just pull back for Drive, of course, and then you can't bump over here to the left of shift manually Through these seven simulated gears right here or via these paddle shifters When you go into reverse, you'll fin

d a standard backup camera across all models There is no 360-degree option. But as you can see, this is a very clear system You do have the active trajectory as well And then at least here on the upper trims the mirror actually tilts down to show you the parking lines better And then back behind the shifter you do have an electronic parking brake as well as a brake hold feature Over here next to it, you will notice this knob labeled X mode This of course is a system at liking all other Subarus i

t basically just optimizes the powertrain throttle response All-wheel drive system all types of different things just for whatever circumstance you may find yourself in mud dirt, or just a normal mode And then over here we do have the two-stage heated seats that comes on the sport and up However, there is no ventilation option on any trim Now moving on up the next stop here is the climate control now for this all new forester you go to a Automatic climate control setup no matter what trim Howeve

r, it is single zone on the lower trims and dual zone on the limited and touring so as you can see on this one You can just adjust both sides independently, and when you make those adjustments, it will show up up here on this secondary display But I do like how simple it is because everything is located nice and easily right there And now that brings us up here to the audio system Now the forester just comes with three different setups. You've got four six or nine speakers So the base model is f

our speakers the most of the tones come with the six speaker system However on this touring only we have the standard nine speaker five hundred seventy-six watt Harman Kardon audio System. So let's go ahead and take a sample of that I Have to say sound quality of this system is excellent But anyways that now brings us up here to the Subaru Starling system, so let's go ahead and take a quick look So like I said here on the limited trim You do have an 8 inch display and then you've also got some p

hysical controls underneath to help you control it So you press the home button to take you to this page, which is filled with all of your applications going To your apps, this is where you'll find a lot of different things but most importantly you'll find Android auto and apple carplay Now these do come on both the 8 inch display and the six and a half inch displays on the lower two trims The more or less covers all the highlights of the Subaru StarLink system but of course we do have a detaile

d in-depth tutorial available for those of you who want to find out more a Link to that video is provided in the description Moving on up you will find an frameless auto dimming mirror with homelink Universal remotes built in and this is actually an option across all of the trims However one really impressive thing that is standard on almost all of the trims is this panoramic moonroof This is like I said standard on all the food base model as you can see it Is giant and almost the entire thing o

pens up So I'm really impressed by this feature to be included on almost every model even the basic affordable models And overall, I'm really impressed by the Foresters cabin as a whole Subaru continues to mail all the important aspects ergonomics and Functionality and now it's even taken a big step up in luxury as well Now I'll go ahead and hand it off to Mason who will finish up the rest of the cabin Coming around to the rear seat of the 2019 forester, you're gonna find a really large amount o

f space for its class You'll find thirty-nine point four inches of rear legroom and thirty nine point six inches of rear headroom Which does actually make it larger than the Subaru Outback as well as most of the competitors Now turning over here to the door trim on the touring model it is finished super nicely So you do have a leather wrap armrest with stitching details going through the bottom and even here on the top portion It is leather wrapped and you have more stitching going through here

as well as some sideways entry Now did it additionally your window is power here in the back and you do have door storage down in the bottom Now the seat itself can also recline on this model and it does have the same perforation as the front seat with some more stitching Now here in the center the Forester is really well equipped so all but the very base model will come standard with these rear vents and You will also find plenty of features So on the Sport trim and higher you will have these t

wo charging USB ports And on the Touring trim, you will also find two stage heated rear seats Subaru does also give you an armrest. It does fold down and it even has same black piano trim around Top you have a dome light as well as a really nice headliner and an assister. I Do also want to point out that the panoramic moonroof really does help air out the cabin back here It makes you feel like you have a lot more Headroom than you actually do And as far as rear space is concerned Like I said, th

is is bigger than most of the rivals and even the outback so behind drew seating position I probably have six to eight inches of rear legroom and my feet can easily sign up onto the seat So overall, I'm extremely impressed by the all-new foresters rear seat It really checks all the boxes office in terms of features, and it does have plenty of space in addition to them Now the Foresters receipts do also folk 60/40 split so I have to do is locate this little tab and pull up Now coming around to th

e tailgate of the Forester It is power on the sport trims and up and you can't option it onto the premium So just push this button under the lid and it will open right up And once inside the trunk of the forester you're gonna find a really large amount of space once again So you'll find 35 cubic feet behind the second row seats and that expands to 76 cubic feet with them folded now Like I said that is larger than most of the rivals. So this is a really big offering for the class Now Subaru does

also finish it really nicely back here so you have a cargo cover and In addition to that you also have some hooks here on the side to hang stuff as well as a 12-volt power outlet Now you will also notice that on the Touring model you do have these rear buttons and these Electronically fold the rear seat and like I said, this is exclusive to the Touring trim Now under the floor you do also have some more storage just locate this little strap and under the floor you have plenty more storage Now co

ming over here to the passenger see is that same lovely design and it is also 8 way power adjusting here on the Touring Now in front of the passenger we do have a nice stitching detail going through here And you do also have a little leather area here and down below that you have a glove box that is decently sized It does not felt lying though Up top you do have a Sun Visor does have a mirror and light and It can also detach and it has an extension here at the end Well guys that sums up all the

rear areas of the all-new Forester So now let's go ahead and take it out on the road and see how the powertrain performs All righty, so let's go ahead and talk about the powertrain and fuel economy Now interestingly the only Forester actually simplified the powertrain line up from the outgoing model So you no longer have the turbo engine or the X lead the XT trim level anymore All the models now are equipped with the 2.5 liter boxer four-cylinder That makes a hundred and eighty-two horsepower an

d a hundred and seventy-six pound-feet of torque, which is of 12 horsepower over the last generation All models are also equipped with the Lineartronic CVT Which has seven simulated gear changes, and of course that is also paired with the standard xtronic all-wheel-drive system All that together makes for very impressive fuel economy So you're looking at 26 City 33 highway 29 combined which is one of your most efficient products in the class But it's definitely your most efficient all-wheel driv

e model since of course, like I said all models do comes standard with all-wheel-drive But anyways now, let's go ahead and take it for a quick test drive Now one of the things that's interesting about this Forester, this is actually the first Subaru with an auto start/stop system So, of course there's that's been out for a while but this is the first Subaru to have it So, let's see if it's a they've taken that extra time to really smooth it out. Oh Yeah, that's very good So first taking off in 2

019 Forster power feels pretty good right off the line This is instead of like a really small Turbocharged engine, of course. This is a decently sized naturally aspirated four-cylinder and that does you know It feels a more responsive than a lot of those really small turbos though. Shouldn't suffer from lag I want to commend Subaru for their steering going around that corner there They've done an excellent job it definitely has more feel than the average thing in the class It's also more progres

sive so you don't have so much numbness and stuff like you find and some of the Competitors they don't even feel like they're connected, you know And that beeping there was your lane departure warning also another helpful system when you cross the double yellow of course I Don't know if you can see on camera, but the this road is pretty dilapidated and Very impressive ride quality though. There's really no harsh intrusions or anything. It's very isolated Yeah, it's very quiet inside this cabin L

ike you said, this is a very very very rough road Lots of road noise and a normal vehicle and the Subaru does take it very very well It almost feels like a luxury car at most. Yeah, it's very well dampened Definitely your focus here is gonna be on luxury smoothness and comfort in this car I think the engine feels plenty powerful enough and this does have a CVT, of course But it you don't feel any type of CVT lag they've done a good job of tuning that out Yeah, I mean none no car in this class is

really going to feel that powerful maybe the cx-5 turbo. it's definitely the most powerful one in the class, but This is right in line with all the competitors and like drew said the CVT is not bad at all So I think that most people in this class they're not really all that concerned about the driving dynamics and wanted to be comfortable I really don't think the average consumer is really going to notice the difference here Now we should have Seven simulated gear changes. I think that occurs i

n your sport mode. So go ahead and activate the Sharp driving is super it likes to call it. I will see if we get the simulation going here Definitely in this mode your throttle is going to be a lot touch here and that does remind me of something I do want to mention and That it is how much better the throttle response is compared to the outgoing generation because one of the things I noticed and the old model was How sensitive the throttle was all the time is very hard to modulate a smooth takeo

ff from a stop and they've definitely fixed that If you want the feeling that's closer to the outgoing model, then you can go into the sport mode It's definitely a little bit of touch here And also writing along here it is worth noting that the Forester has absolutely excellent visibility That's one of the first things that we noticed in this car when we got in it, honestly Like it feels like you're sitting wasted described as a greenhouse because there is so much glass around you You can really

see absolutely everything. I mean, even these quarter panels here. I mean if there's glass everywhere so you can see Absolutely everywhere at this car. And that's a really nice feature to have. Yes. It is amazing In comparison, you know now everything has to be more more stylish and more horse, Whoopie it's refreshing that Subaru they put ergonomics first in this car Now I imagine most of you can't be doing that but the Subarus include a manual mode and paddle shifters for good measure So if th

at's your jam then go ahead and do it Overall I like the package that Subaru has created here like I said, this is Kind of like the king of practicality in a sense. It's very spacious. Very family-friendly, very ergonomically friendly But at the same time they also didn't make the driving experience like a penalty box or anything it's a very pleasant very comfortable To cruise around in and also very fuel-efficient as we already mentioned to be most efficient all-wheel drive crossover in the cla

ss So as a fan as a family vehicle, which is what this is intended to be a Subaru is really nailed it So as far as the pricing is concerned for the Forester you are going to find it right in line with most of the rivals if a little bit cheaper than some of the newer Offerings like the rav4 and stuff like that Now you will find the starting price for the 2.5i base model at twenty four thousand two hundred ninety five dollars Which is about two thousand dollars more than last year. So that's worth

noting Now if you want to move up the trims to the premium that's gonna run you twenty six thousand six hundred and ninety five dollars The sports gonna run you twenty eight thousand seven hundred ninety five The limited is thirty thousand seven hundred ninety five And finally you have this model which is the fully loaded touring and that comes in at thirty four thousand two hundred ninety five dollars and as all of you know that You have of course standard all-wheel drive, which pretty much al

l the rivals make you pay extra for. Yes Now as far as this particular forester is equipped There aren't really any Option packages or anything to add to the touring but we do have the popular package which throws then a few commonly Wanted accessories like the auto dimming mirror with homelink garage door openers And LED upgraded lighting and stuff like that and that is nine hundred and forty seven dollars we also have crossbars on the roof and that's two hundred one dollars as well as a rear s

eatback protector for ninety-three dollars and Then when you add in the destination charge of nine hundred and seventy five dollars This particular model has equipped as thirty six thousand five hundred and eleven And that does come in quite a bit cheaper than some of the newer rivals which like the rav4 you can really top forty thousand In that model, so this is a little bit cheaper than some of those models So if that's what you're looking for the Forester might be a good option for you Well g

uys we've enjoyed watching this in depth of review of the 2019 Subaru Forester touring Please hit those like and subscribe buttons if you haven't already and we'll catch you next time for more of the latest automotive delicacies!