So far I'm neither happy nor unhappy. This is my first Subaru - after having had five Volvos of different sizes ...
My Forester is a MY 2013 (= US MY 2014) 2.0i (Premium trim, includes moonroof, leather seats, keyless entry, start/stop, GPS, paddles, backup camera, ...), 150 hp gasoline, CVT and Yokohama M+S tires. Manufactured in Gunma on 1 September.
CVT - Works generally fine. But, I've noticed that the software algorithm sometimes has difficulty in interpreting my intentions, in particular when I make small adjustments to the accelerator. And, I sometimes like, sometimes dislike, the "turbo lag" effect I perceive when I press the accelerator.
And, it's a bit noisy at low speeds.
Seats - Well, they aren't Volvo seats. My back will not stand a full day of driving, I'm afraid. And the lack of adjustments on the front passenger seat is annoying.
Mileage - Manufacturer figures are 29 mpg (US) city, 43 mpg (highway), 36 mpg combined.
The first 435 miles gave me 32 mpg (with a lot of "mountain climbing"), the following 335 miles 38 mpg. Yesterday some 60 miles on highway (including a mountain pass) with cruise control set to 55 mi/h resulted in 44 mpg. Much better than any of my Volvos.
Subaru seems to be rather honest here.
And, remember also, in France we pay approx. USD 8.5 per gallon for gasoline! Mileage is an important characteristic of a car here ....
GPS - For me, it was part of the package with the moonroof etc. If ordered separately Subaru France charges EUR 1000 (ca USD 1350) for it. One tenth of that sum will give you a much, much better Garmin or Tomtom device. I will certainly continue to use my Garmin for navigation. But I like that the backup camera uses the same large screen.
Design - That's a matter of taste. It's certainly not French taste (Subaru has only 0.5 permille of the French car market!).
Reliability - It's a complex car (electronics). But here in France it simply has to be reliable! In France with its almost 70 million inhabitants there are only some 60 Subaru dealerships. On average only slightly more than 1 (one) Subaru car is sold per dealerhip - per month!! But, if it's reliable, their mechanics won't get much training. I've already noticed an anomaly with the Forester's software. I doubt it's meaningful to discuss that with a Subaru dealership's mechanic. Cross fingers - knock on wood!
Why not an XT? - This version/trim's cost including delivery charges, registration and CO2 tax is already ca EUR 36000 (USD 48600). The XT would have cost me ca USD 13500 more (partly due to the exponential curve for the French CO2 tax). The power of the non-turbo turns out to be fully sufficient to me, actually better than what I've had in any of my Volvos. I doubt that Subaru will sell any XT at all in France.
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So far I'm rather satisfied with the Forester. But, reading a lot of forum comments, I'm starting to think that the Forester is a car you either love of hate. And some will both love and hate it. Future will show which one I'll become ...
