Improved Styling, Chassis, and Interior Revive Subaru Forester

• Subaru is on a roll with its Crosstrek and Outback sales lately, and now the fully redesigned Forester unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show should boost brand sales even further.

• The Forester is all-new for 2025, featuring a taller, more square body plus a stiffened chassis.
  

• Additionally, Subaru is increasing cargo capacity and modernizing the interior infotainment screens, all in the name of nabbing market share among crossovers.

Riding a wave of increasing sales this year, Subaru is showing just how big of a player it can be in the crossover world. The recently redesigned Crosstrek is now the best-selling small crossover in the US, while the larger, re-engineered Outback is doing well among a flood of popular midsize crossovers.

And now Subie unveils yet another popular crossover, the two-row Forester, for its sixth generation with a fresh look and some key chassis upgrades for 2025.

Unveiled at the 2023 Los Angeles Auto Show, the 2025 Subaru Forester is improved in a variety of ways, but the key to Subaru's success is in its chassis. Following its smaller sibling's engineering footsteps, the new Forester chassis remains based on the Subaru Global Platform, though it is now 10% stiffer torsionally.

The frame construction now benefits from stronger welding techniques and additional structural adhesive, which actually simplifies assembly and saves some weight, too. Subaru has yet to share the exact chassis dimensions, but product planners say this new approach yielded a more responsive Crosstrek.

As always, a 2.5-liter flat-four Subaru boxer engine is found under the hood, making 180 hp and 178 lb-ft of torque and paired with Subaru's polarizing Lineartronic CVT.

Active Torque Vectoring and SI-Drive performance management systems are standard, though paddle shifting abilities are reserved for the four trim levels above the base (Premium, Sport, Limited, and Touring). The Forester's steering system is borrowed from the WRX’s dual-pinion electronic power steering rack, just like the Crosstrek.