Jalopnik
All the guessing is over as the 2009 Forester has been revealed in advance of its Christmas Day public debut via scans from some magazine. The scans from the magazine ended up on a Russian car site and reveal the Forester in a variety of trims and colors. Much as we expected, the SubeUV has traded the tall wagon feel of the previous generation in favor of the more traditional SUV dimensions. This may upset some Subaru purists, but we're betting the company would make the trade for more sales.
When it finally bows, the Japanese version should come with either the normally aspirated 2.0-liter boxer fourbanger at 148 horsepower and 140 lb.-ft. of torque or the turbocharged version, which is good for 230 horsepower and 234 lb.-ft. of torque. So far there have been no pics of an STi version, though you'd have to expect one was in the works. We'll have more on the Forester after its Japanese debut and, of course, we'll take you their for its us reveal at the Detroit Auto Show. [Drom.ru]
Comments
hello Vuelander!
is that a 3rd nipple?
Little more SUV, little less green-house.
I would have to see it in person to really tell if they messed it up. At least it still have the boxer four.
A magazine printed in Japan gets scanned and uploaded to a Russian website, which gets listed on a Detroit blog, which I view on a Mac seconds later.
Damn, it feels like a cheesy IBM ad...
@Unregular: Exactly what I was thinking!
Its still a subie.
Its still ugly.
Smaller than a Tribeca, but larger than an Outback? Seems like a good fit in their product line I guess.
Will this be rebadged as a Scion SUV?
I'll assume the 2.0 liter engine is the european release? Or are they planning on "downgrading" the US version from 2.5l ?
OOOoo --- theatre seating? Is it the angle or is that rear seat a good 2 inches higher than the front? OOOOOO -- power passenger seat! (at least the picture looks like right hand drive)
Looks like a squashed Pilot.
What happened to you, Subaru? You used to be cool.
@greatsunjester: The JDM Impreza gets the 2.0 for homologation purposes I believe. Not sure why they'd bother with it for the Forester--the 2.5L is better suited to U.S. driving habots.
I did the Bablefish on the Russian page. Says the Forester is 45mm wider and 80 mm longer. No mention about wheelbase. So it's a bit wider, but still smaller than the Outback. The Forester, if the article is to be believed, is still built on an Impreza chassis.
I think the headlights look a little awkward, but better than the current design of the front end.
@cshontz: Yeah, exactly. Bring back the ugly, pretty please.
@cshontz: Bland, formulaic, conforming. Where's the eccentricity? ...the dare to be different? Give me my bug eyes and grille vaginas anyday.
Subaru are hilarious.
It's like they have completely ignored their last 20 years of product development.
I don't think they know who they are any more.
The ad is hard to look at - it's like a giant package of ramen.
@Rust-MyEnemy:
Perhaps they determined that those flabs in the "Check Out My Su-ba-rrrrru!" video were their demographic target.
*Insert crude "lumberjack lesbian" joke here*
Seriously though, Subaru's turning into the French Big 3 during the '80s: Forsaking almost all of their baked-in wackiness in a bid to draw in more buyers. Hopefully things don't turn out the same for Scoobie (read: pulling up stakes in our market).
Bring back front fender mounted mirrors.
Remember @Rust-MyEnemy:, GM had they're hands up Subie's a*( as well as Saab. We really should not be too suprised eh?
@Tanshanomi: Oh god, you're probably right, and @CEman: I was trying to forget.....
Mind you, GM ballsed Saab up way back in '94. Subaru were doing really well with all the rally stuff and making pubescent boys all frothy-mouthed, right until they dropped the soap in 2004.
Naturally GM were standing by to administer a good fingering. It's what they do best
I thought they stopped making Saaburus...
I don't think this looks half bad. It's a bit Outlander-derivative, but there's really nothing wrong with it. It even looks like it might have decent ground clearance and approach / departure angles for a small 4x4. I'd consider buying one once the diesel comes on stream.
It's also a hell of a lot better looking than the current model.
Touareg 2 headlamps aside, it's a clean, inoffensive look that matches up well with the Impreza and Tribeca. Even if there's nothing interesting here, at least Subaru is going for consistency.
I'm becoming giddy with despair. This post is perfect for our sad, wagons-morphing-into-SUVs thread on Jalopnik. [jalopnik.com]
(I've having difficulty holding back the expletives.) And yes, the first thing I thought seeing these ramen photos was that this Forester WAS being developed as another Subaru/GM/Saab, (before THAT fraud fell apart.)
Just what the world needs now.
@Rust-MyEnemy: I've never been interested in any Saab that didn't begin with "99" and end with "Turbo."
The Google Language Tools link reveals that Russian Drom.ru visitors think this about the new Forester:"Do you like this car? Yes 359 (67%) No 173 (33%)" Example translated comment: "Chinese jeep-like, the horror!"
I wrote on Drom.ru: "Lot's of interest in this post about the new Forester on Jalopnik.com, a popular US car blog. I think the styling is perhaps related to former projects between General Motors and Subaru, as in the so-called "Saab" 9-2X. Subaru "station wagons" have been more popular in my state of Maine than any other, so some are disappointed that Subaru seems to be moving from making "wagons" in favor of SUV's, which seems a bad idea with gasoline getting more expensive, air pollution, global warming, etc.
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