Saw this thing at the LA auto show this past weekend. Not a bad looking car. The inside looks more or less the same as the 12-13 model years. The outside looks decent, but I prefer the current MY. The ducting seems like a really strange idea to me, the booth pro popped the hood on the XT for us and it just doesn't seem like the same amount of good, fresh air will be able to get to the intercooler as it would through a hood scoop. She also told us they got rid of the scoop for "visibility purposes." The wife drives a 2012 XT and I have to say the scoop doesn't really hinder visibility at all... The XT will only come with the CVT as well. But, its better than the current 4 speed POS thats in there now. Its really my only beef with the 2012 gen FXT.

 

Needs a lift kit and thicker sidewalls.

Also, X-Mode FTW:






And who's looking forward to the FA turbo-engine's North American debut in North America via the new Forester???

 

you mean 06-08.

yea true that, coming from a forester owner myself.

cant say i really like the new fozzy at all. looks like a slightly modified version of a ford escape.

 

The typical "oh-gawd-the-new-Subaru-is-ugly-and-then-it-grew-on-me" syndrome.

We'll grow to like it. It's a Subaru with Subaru technology.

And FYI, the XT will finally get a sport-tuned suspension. XT comes with SI-drive and you can choose between 6 or 8 speed manual paddle shift modes.


However, there is doubt that the CVT on lower-end models will have paddle-shifting capability.

 

there definitely might be a little oh god it grew on me syndrome. almost never fails.

 

Looks too much like the impreza/xv in my opinion

Like they took the forester and raided the extra parts bin and slapped something together

 

Not really. I liked pretty much all the Fozzys from the start until the 06 body style came out. They looked OK, but sort of blended in with all the other SUVs.

I think I actually prefer the look of the XV compared to this.

 

They've been slowly doing this since the legacy came out with the redesign. As every car has come out since it starts to look more and more like the legacy.

Not sure why they feel like every car should look the same. Maybe because it's working for Audi?

 

This is the reason I like it.

The last gen Forester looked like a bloated Rav-4 cousin.

This Forester is getting back to the boxy-robocop roots. I hope it's as nimble as the old ones.

 

you mean 2009, 2006-2008 is still the boxxy smaller look.

 

No, I actually didn't like the 2006 styling either, even though it was basically the same size. I only liked the XT, and even that, not as much as the previous ones.

 

Front end is alright, not a huge fan of the back end though.

 

Brand recognition. Pretty much all auto companies are doing it, but that doesn't mean it is working for all of them.

 

As someone who owns an SG5, I definitely don't like it. It seems to have removed the "We took a SUV and made is VERY sporty" thing and made it a "We took an SUV and kept it an SUV" thing.

 

Exactly.

Very few are doing it correctly.

Audi is one of the few.

It's possible to choose elements and carry those over without morphing entire cars as stretched out clones. Which is what the companies are doing it wrong are doing. You end up with a car that just looks like an overweight flat version of another car or they have a nice SUV and the crossover just looks like a smashed version of it. Etc.

Subaru had brand recognition.... functional fog lights and hood scoops.
Toyota destroyed that by morphing the hood scoop to a toyota scoop. Now its morphed even more. Same with the fog lights. Now they're just overpriced tiny useless aux. lights.

If they were smart they would choose a few TRAITS and carry those over. As a designer you have to understand that. What happens is that the financial guys start to get too much influence in the design process. (happens all the time in all design industries, including mine).

They could take the general style... rounded bulgy fenders with hard cut shapes. The basic head light. The fog lights. The hood scoop. The wing style. Mirrors. A few things like that... carry those over.

Mercedes is another company doing it right right now.