| European Premiere | 2008 Geneva Motor Show | Subaru Forester |
Subaru is continuing its busiest ever period of new car launches with the unveiling of the all-new Forester at the
Geneva motor show in March. The Forester is set to be the star of the Subaru stand and will go on sale in the UK shortly afterwards in April.
The new Forester is 75mm longer, 45mm wider and 110mm taller than its predecessor to take the Subaru into more direct competition with the likes of the Land Rover Freelander and
Nissan X-Trail. The extra length has also helped free up an extra 95mm of rear legroom and the boot has grown by 30-litres of space to 450-litres with the rear seats up.
Based on the same platform as the new Impreza, the Forester will come with a 2.0-litre 'boxer' petrol engine to begin with. However, Subaru is hoping for much larger sales when the 150bhp 2.0-litre Boxer Diesel model goes on sale towards the end of 2008.
Using the Impreza platform also opens the way for a new Forester XT model using the 2.5-litre petrol engine from the Impreza WRX, though Subaru says any such model would use a detuned version of the Impreza's 227bhp motor.
Alisdair Suttie - 11 Feb 2008