A great allround car that is not too expensive to purchase and own, if you sell after a few years you will get a great return on your dollar too! The XT is a peach, but needs 95 Oct fuel as a min, so expensive to run and 12,500 services aren't cheap! The standard features in X, and XS are very basic and there are more 'toys' in other makes, but the Subaru name maeans quality and safety.
220mm Ground Clearance, Subaru Rally name, a neutral good handling
When you shut the door you really think hard that this car has a 5 star safety rating.... So tinny....

We have the new 09XT premium. This is our 3rd Subaru and first Forester. We have been very impressed with the new Forester. It has a very large cargo space. Leg room is excellent. Engine is powerful and smooth. Cabin noise is better than our previous Subaru's. It has the best rear vision of any car I have owned to date. The sunroof is massive and gives a light airy feeling to the cabin. The only bad point is the built-in GPS which is more of an annoyance. It has less features than a typical standalone GPS such as traffic, red light cameras, etc.

Overall though the car is excellent and definitely the best value SUV you can buy today.
Cargo space, boxer engine, build quality, performance, leg room, AWD, excellent fuel economy
Built-in gps

It's a great car - drives well, especially in the wet. Not to big to park or get in and out of. Looking to update with some accessories to assist with storage for when I travel. The head rests on the drivers side took a bit to get used to - but I don't wear my hair up much anymore. Overall I love it :)
Reliable, safe and a great drive
Head rests are positioned strange on drivers side - so I can't wear my hair up much. Also I didn't realise the petrol tank would be small.

This car handles like a suv should, I took myself and my son to an advance driving course and we had to use the Forester on the test field it handled the sharp turns like it wasn't even trying and that was with a full tank, and let me tell you the ABS on the Forester is amazing, it had the same stopping distance as a new Hyundai i20 with abs.AMAZING.
Love it all round.
Would have like the Mags and foggies should have been standard on the 2011 model.

My one is a MY10 XS Premium Manual which has only done 7500km so far. It is in black and the paint quality is AWFUL. The paint on this car needs extreme care - always hand wash gentally and make sure you wax it every month. One plastic trim on the rear left door became very loose and buzzed a lot when driving. I had to glue it back in place. Then rear parcel separator makes fair a bit noise.

The tyres are rubbish.
AWD system is really effective, Dual Range is very useful. Good cornering stability.
Build quality. And where the heck is your 5-speed auto gearbox, SUBARU??

This review is of a MY09 XT. Does every thing we want, daily commuter, camping, tows a boat. Supurb snow driving in this, it is so surefooted. This is our first Subaru and won't be the last.
Great performance with reasonable economy. heaps of rear legroom. Has more active and paasive safetly features than older models. The rear vision is amazing compared to other soft roaders.
A little less nimble in the handling than previous models but that the price you pay for roomieness. The stereo I find to be a little hard to adjust for good sound, it seems to bassy at times. Yoyohama Geolandars are still not the best tyres, they are too much of a comprimise and end up not doing anything well.

This is my 9th Subaru over 33 years, I'm hooked! This is a wonderful tourer and handles firetrails with aplomb as well. Safety is tops with great road holding in the wet. And no, I don't work for Subaru!
Oh dear, where do I start? I've got the top of the line turbo, leather, sunroof. Absolutely love it. Great use of space, legroom in the back is better than ever, seats comfortable, suburban and highway performance is so smooth and powerful.
Minor niggles: GPS doesn't show speed cameras or your speed (without going to another screen which can only be selected when stopped and any other screen over-rides it); centre console lid-armrest slides back too easily; not as many hidey holes as the last model.

This is a great car for touring, everyday use and rough roads. It's very comfortable, but is limited on space. We used to have a station wagon, so we're really noticing the difference in what we can carry. This is our first Subaru and we're very happy with it, although we were thinking of upgrading to a newer one last year. We would have only received about half what we paid new though, as a trade in. This was with the Subaru dealer we bought it from new and with an up to date service record through them. Needless to say,we decided to just keep ours.
reliable, fuel efficient, comfortable.
a bit limited on baggage space.

Very nice drive. Intend to keep driving this as long as I can, maybe upgrade to a turbo version. Highly recommended.
The new look of the 2008 model. Smooth drive. Love the large side mirrors which gives a wide view and reduces blind spots. The GPS unit with DVD player is an excellent option. Very comfortable back row seats, plenty of leg room. The raise base and large wheels make occasional off road drive easier to handle.
The boot space is smaller because Subaru made the second row larger. It can be a bit of struggle to fit a pram with shopping. The engine is little more thirsty on the petrol consumption. There is no diesel option. The middle back seat a little narrow for 3 adults at the back.

After having a toyota landcruiser, being only 5'2" tall, I have found the Subaru such a delight to climb in and out of...the best of any cars I have ever had! The seat adjusts for good viewing. My husband is 6' tall, and he has found it very roomy to drive, with a good clearance with head height. I have had it from new for 2 years now, and I have had not an ounce of trouble. It's so smooth to drive.
Not too big, easy to park. Light and zippy to drive. Easy to get in and out of.
Could do with a bit more space at the back, for supermarket shopping bags, I find I have to put some on the back seat as well, so it doesn't get squashed.