2025 Subaru Forester Reviews, Pricing & Specs

The Forester has never been known for its beauty. It’s a function-first compact SUV focused far more on practicality and capability than on looks, yet substantial attention has clearly been applied to the styling for 2025. In fact, the bulk of the changes most people will notice are visual. Outside, the Forester has gained standard roof rails and 17” alloy wheels (the latter used to start with the Premium trim). Its looks have been smoothed out and made, in our opinion, rather more generic, with less Forester or even Subaru DNA.

Steering-responsive LED headlights with welcome lighting come standard, and they flow into the shape of the grille to create what Subaru calls an “integrated shield effect.” The Forester Sport, which we tested, now features bronze rather than red identifying trim accents, a more grown-up differentiator we thought was attractive. The Sport trim’s bronze coloring carries over to its 19-inch wheels. Limited gets 18s, and the top Touring trim gets 19s. Touring also comes standard with a low-profile roof rack and chrome badging. A new Subaru Forester Wilderness is in the works, but as of the new model’s launch, the only available Wilderness model will be a carry-over from the previous generation.

From the side, it’s clear that the large-greenhouse Forester shape has been maintained, but with some significant differences. The wheel arches are more geometric now, and the shape made up of all side windows together is more decisive, leveling off rather than flicking up at the rear end. Subaru has added black plastic pieces at the corners of both, which appears to separate the roof from the rest of the vehicle. Perhaps they are intentionally setting the stage for a two-toned paint job to come, or perhaps they just liked the cat-eye effect.

While the base Forester comes with cloth upholstery, trimmed with blue contrast stitching, the Forester Sport now gets the StarTex material previously seen in the 2024 Forester Wilderness. Though it’s not leather, it still feels nice and brings the added benefit of easy cleaning. And with the brown contrast stitching echoing the Sport’s bronze exterior accents, we did think it looked nice, too. Limited and Touring trims come with genuine leather seating surfaces. The Forester’s new interior features structural dash elements, which were attractive in person, not cheap-feeling as we worried they might be. Overall, the cabin now has a more designed and intentional look.

While the Forester’s body may be all-new, its powertrain is more of an update. Every 2025 Forester has a 2.5-liter Boxer four-cylinder engine under the hood, meaning every 2025 Forester makes 180 horsepower and 178 lb-ft of torque. (This represents an increase of two hp and a decrease of two lb-ft over the outgoing Forester.) Subaru’s Lineartonic continuously variable transmission (CVT) and Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive (AWD) system are both standard as well.

Boxer engines are not known for their tranquility. Subaru said they’d made the Forester quieter for 2025, but automakers often say that, so our expectations were not high. But we were genuinely impressed with the improvements. Accelerating to highway speeds still involves a good deal of noise, but cruising at a back-road-appropriate pace, we could barely hear the engine. It certainly wasn’t intrusive at low speeds.

Subaru’s X-Mode system becomes standard at the Premium trim level. It is accompanied by a Hill Descent Control feature, and it manages engine output, transmission performance, and AWD for improved stability and traction on slippery surfaces or challenging terrain. The Forester Sport and higher trims get a dual-function version of X-Mode.

We were able to sample the Forester Sport’s performance both on- and off-road. We found acceleration to be about the same as the outgoing Forester: far from peppy, but it’ll get there in the end. We really liked the smooth, fluid feel of the steering, and we felt confident in the vehicle even when we weren’t so confident we were actually supposed to be this far off-road. It was stable and planted on a variety of surfaces, including snow, mud, and wood chips. X-Mode activated and de-activated itself seamlessly with no interruptions to the driving experience, except that it announced itself with an annoying beep every time. We were too focused on keeping it on the path (“road” would be a generous description at the point we’re thinking of) to search for a function that might turn off the sound effects.

Thanks to its standard, symmetrical AWD system, the Forester has never been a standout in terms of fuel economy. For 2025, the EPA rates the Forester at 26 mpg city, 33 highway, 29 combined. Sport and Touring trims take a slight hit, delivering 25/32/28. A hybrid Forester is expected to follow this 2025 redesign, but fuel-economy figures have not yet been announced for that one.

The 2025 Forester is the first Subaru ever to get a hands-free power liftgate. It becomes powered on the Sport trim, or with an options package on the Premium trim, and becomes foot-activated on Limited. The more vertical angle of the rear glass has increased the Forester’s cargo space just a tick: It now measures 29.6 cubic with the rear seats in place and 74.4 with them folded down, compared to 28.9 and 74.2 previously. The cargo area is now equipped with eight heavy-duty hooks standard.

Cargo area volume easily surpasses the smaller Subaru Crosstrek and is competitve with the Subaru Outback, but it suffers just a tad compared with some competitors, because the Forester provides a roomy second row. The Toyota RAV4, for example, offers 37.5 cubic feet of cargo space with all seats in place, besting the Forester by almost 8 cubic feet, but it falls short by nearly 12 in total cargo volume.

Regardless of interior color choice, the new Forester comes with a dark headliner, meant to resist or mask the marks that can accumulate from loading pets and gear in and out of a family vehicle. The Premium trim gets a 10-way power-adjustable driver’s seat, which can be heated with the addition of the all-weather package. The Limited trim level adds eight-way power adjustability to the front passenger’s seat, and the Forester Touring adds driver’s seat memory, front-row seat ventilation in addition to heating, and heated back seats.

Subaru’s 11.6-inch Multimedia Plus infotainment system finally joins the Forester lineup for 2025. It’s standard on all but the base trim, and it includes wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The base Forester continues to provide two 7-inch touchscreens and wired smartphone projection. Premium and up also get dual USB-A and USB-C ports up front, as well as a wireless charging pad and Wi-Fi hotspot capability. Bluetooth, SiriusXM, HD radio, and over-the-air (OTA) update capability are all standard, and the entry-level Forester supports USB-A only.

A navigation system becomes standard at the range-topping Touring trim level; it’s voice-activated, powered by TomTom and SiriusXM Travel Link, and utilizes “what3words” technology. An 11-speaker Harman Kardon sound system also comes standard on the Forester Touring, and it’s available to be added to Sport and Limited trims as well. On the Forester Sport, it’s part of a $1,700 package which also includes convenience and driver-assistance content. On the Forester Limited, the upgraded sound system will run you $1,600 and will also come with navigation and reverse automatic braking.

Subaru’s Starlink connected services suite is not new to the Forester model, but it does have additional capabilities for the 2025 Forester. These include a Valet Mode, Remote Vehicle Configuration, and a Trip Log and Driving Journal.

Starlink Connected Services is also involved in a new available safety feature: Emergency Stop Assist. When adaptive cruise control is in use, if the system detects that the driver has become unresponsive, it will first try to regain their attention. If it fails, it will slow the vehicle to a stop, notify emergency services, activate the hazard lights, and unlock the doors to allow access when help arrives. While adaptive cruise control is standard, Emergency Stop Assist is only available on vehicles equipped with the driver distraction-mitigation system, which essentially limits it to the Touring trim. Touring also gets a digital rearview mirror, surround view monitor, and reverse automatic braking.

Top-trim features aside, the 2025 Forester is still well-equipped on the safety front, as family vehicles are expected to be. In addition to a rear seat reminder system, Subaru’s EyeSight suite of advanced driver-assistance technology comes standard, and enhancements for 2025 include a wider field of view courtesy of a third standard camera which allows the system to spot cyclists and pedestrians earlier. An electric brake booster has been added as well.

The 2025 Subaru Forester is too new as of this writing to have been crash-tested by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The 2024 model earned a Top Safety Pick award from the IIHS and a five-star rating from the NHTSA, so Subaru’s high hopes for this new and improved iteration seem justified.

Nobody likes to see a price increase, and the Forester has sustained a fairly substantial one for the 2025 model year. Its base price of $29,695, before accounting for the $1,395 destination fee, makes it nearly $3,000 more expensive than the outgoing Forester, and it’s more expensive (to start) than a 2024 Subaru Outback. That does come, however, with enhancements to the advanced safety features, as well as with newly standard alloy wheels and newly standard roof rails. At the other end of the spectrum, the fully loaded Forester Touring starts at $39,995 before destination, which again represents an increase of around three grand. But the 2024 pricing ship has sailed, and so that comparison may not be the most valuable. Now that we’re here, what really matters is how that pricing measures up to its rivals’.

As of this writing, 2025 model year prices are not yet available for the Forester’s key competitors, but since none are due for a redesign in 2025, we can speculate that pricing will look similar. We’ll also bear in mind that the Forester comes standard with AWD. The 2024 Toyota RAV4 LE with AWD started at $29,875, while the 2024 Honda CR-V with AWD started at $31,000. (Both prices are before destination.) By this metric, Subaru’s offering looks quite reasonable.