The new Forester sports a more refined look and comes with a modest price increase over the previous model.
Subaru today unveiled pricing figures for the updated 2025 Forester, bringing starting MSRP with destination and delivery north of $30,000, an increase of just under $2,000 compared to the 2024 model. Major changes for the 2025 Forester include a more refined, less chunky exterior appearance and an update to a new interior and tech suite, the same already featured in Subaru’s other gas-powered SUV models.
The focal point of these new interiors are the infotainment screens; dual 7-inchers on the base trim and a single 11.6-inch portrait-oriented screen on the Premium and up. CarPlay and Android Auto are standard for both but only the Premium and higher trims get them wirelessly.
The drivetrain for all trim levels remains a 2.5L Boxer paired with a CVT, which gets paddle shifters and a manual mode at higher trims, and the trim structure itself remains largely unchanged.
Somewhat interestingly, the trail-oriented Wilderness trim will continue to be offered as a 2024 concurrently with the new models. That means a prospective Forester buyer will be able to compare the new and old looks, inside and out, in the showroom. Price-wise the Wilderness slots in the middle of the Forester range at $36,265, marking potentially good value for buyers who don’t care for the aesthetic and tech changes on the 2025s.
The new Forester will also feature a hands-free, powered rear tailgate for the first time, standard on Sport, Limited, and Touring trims and an option on the Premium. Speaking of the Touring, the Forester range now tops out at more than $41,000 for that comfort-oriented trim, featuring things like heated rear seats and what Subaru calls a “360 Degree Surround-View Monitor”, which offers a “birds-eye view of the vehicle” to aid with parking.
Subaru previously said that 2025 Foresters would begin arriving in showrooms sometime this spring, with a hybrid model soon to follow.
Commentary
Subaru says that the Forester’s new look is a “sleek, contemporary shape [that retains] the SUV’s classic, rugged proportions”. The outgoing Forester was – particularly at lower trims with horrible black plastic features – somewhat bulbous and weak, lacking the confident stance of previous Foresters. This new one rectifies that with a simpler, more angular design language. It does look much more Foresterish, particularly from the side. The Sport trim in particular is quite handsome. Subaru chose, in a decision perhaps contradictory to their image, to do the photoshoot for the 2025 Forester Sport on the grounds of what looks like a stately 19th-century mansion. Yet the car looks at home in those surrounds with its familiar boxy silhoutte and surprisingly tasteful bronze wheels It gives more gentleman-offroader vibes than the previous model’s techie weekend hiker look.
The Forester’s new interior is unsurprisingly inoffensive. Haters of the enormous screen trend (me) may be disappointed to see Subaru go in this direction, but their other SUV models have already received this same treatment. The additional safety features (like auto-braking and driver drowsiness detection) are par for the course at this point, as is the new hands-free tailgate.
Always a solid value, I see no reason the new Forester won’t continue to fill the same automotive ncihe it always has. The new price won’t change that, as it’s still a discount compared to other offroadish compact SUVs. But Subaru deserves credit for making it far more attractive for the rest of us to look at. If they’d bring the Forester back to the pre-CVT days of the third-generation Forester and earlier, I might even like it.