Subaru Forester 2002 test drive - 2005 SUV

All photos Subaru Forester 2002 - 2005

Road

Friend, what's wrong with you? Who angered you so much? Poachers, cursed, tortured? And let us, dear, now we’ll go a little with you, and you will tell you everything in detail: and what you have in your life of a new or good one, and how you live today.

Oh, do you, I look, is completely new? And how is it, with a new body, new salon and all the same motors?

More than! Outwardly, Forester`02 is extremely similar to the predecessor: the same proportions, the same directness and severity of the design. Anfas the machine began to look more aggressive as a forester as if frowning, which made the appearance of the car less amorphous. The design of the stern has undergone more significant, but also more dubious changes: thanks to spicy lamps and the fifth door narrowed to the bottom, Forester has become like Suzuki Liana.

Good news is expected to go inside. The new salon has become more interesting and looks more expensive than that of the forester five years ago. The dashboard is the same as that of the new Impreza: it looks through a rather large, but convenient steering wheel, alas, alas! Only in the corner of the inclination. Well, you have to work with seats.

Adjustments of the front seats are also not indulged in abundance, but this does not interfere with the acceptable work pose. The seats themselves do not differ in developed lateral support, but are equipped with leaning armrests from the central tunnel.

The roof of the Forester is half consists of a giant sliding hatch, through which the inhabitants of not only the front row of seats, but also the rear can look. This is the most important attraction of the salon. The opening cup holders hidden in the central console and between the front seats are slightly less impressive.

Before the trip, we look at the car again for the presence of hidden bonuses. Looking for the sake of curiosity under the hood, we understand that the radiator of the intercooler in a tightly filled motor compartment is not a decoration. So it turned out. Start and even with an easily crushed gas pedal, a forester turns into a sprinter. If you accelerate so that the tachometer arrow does not fall below 3000 rpm, then the rate of speed set will upset everyone around, except for the driver of Subaru himself. However, if acceleration needs to be felt, then the music of the motor is better to hear Vuushia and once again evaluate the specifics of the sound of a boxer.

The poachers have something to be afraid: getting away from the forester it will not be so easy! Especially in winter or on a slippery road, when all the advantages of the AWD appear fully, monoprodic vehicles will be powerlessly polished, while Forester will rush forward.

A full -wheel drive transmission is also a good help and in conditions, not off -road, it will be more correct to say roadside, because, despite the clearance and suspension moves enlarged compared to cars, the machine essentially remained the same asphalt imprecial. Large front and rear overhangs that are by no means decorating the parameters of geometric patency, painted in the color of the body, beautiful bumers and more speedy than the moment, the engine setting (as well as the lack of lowering the transmission on a turbocharged version) implies that the forester is not capable of truly off -road exploits. And, believe me, they will definitely forgive him, because all other advantages of Subaru more than overlap his weaknesses in the affairs of the Dzhipovsky.

And the main advantage of the foreman is precisely its need for its binding qualities. Again, we will remember the impregnate to vain, but it is to her that the forester owes his honed controllability. The car reacts to the rotation of the steering wheel without the slightest delay, but does not scare the driver with excessive sharpness, and the hydraulic power steering is reported to the fate of the guided wheels in each specific turn with bribing honesty. But each turn of the steering wheel is accompanied by significant rolls by the consequence of the increased suspension moves and changes in the center of gravity of a higher body. It is worth sorting out at speed and the car begins to shift out of turn. The discharge of gas causes the back of the rear axle, accompanied by all the same rolls, but nothing is able to spoil the impression of the control of the car, even in these modes, we can easily control and, when handling it, will enjoy the connoisseur of rally driving techniques.

The smoothness of the course is such that you simply do not pay attention to it, it means good. Not a formula, not Rolls-Royce, but somewhere very much in the middle as, in fact, it was expected. The long -term pedal did not cause complaints and brakes allows you to accurately dose efforts, and the effectiveness of slowdown is quite satisfactory for a car of such energy and an electric power.

So, the new Subaru Forester remained himself. It became better and, as it seems to us, a little less adult and serious. The forester is for those who seem not comfortable and practical enough. For every day, in any weather and on any roads. And even sometimes next to them.

The car was provided by Subaru-Neva.
During the test, the car is insured by LLC Nation Center.

Text: Kirill Brevdo
Photo: Roman Ostanin