Over the last 25 years, the Forester has sold over 357,000 units in Europe, establishing itself as one of the best-sellers in the line-up.
Its accumulated global production reach about 4.5 million units.
The latest model Forester presents a refreshed version, offering new safety functions, more capability, new convenience features, and improved driving dynamics.
The 2022MY Forester is equipped with newly advanced safety technologies available as standard on the latest fourth generation EyeSight Driver Assist Technology.
The enhanced safety system features a wider field of view, almost doubled, available with 11 safety functions, and among which three new functions were added, such as Automatic Emergency Steering, Adaptive Cruise control with Lane Centering, Lane Departure Prevention recognizing also dividing line like grass or road edge.
The Pre-Collision Braking System offers now expanded support for collision avoidance at intersections.
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Driver Monitoring System, Subaru’s facial recognition technology that alerts the driver of fatigue or distraction while on the road, as well as automatically adjusting driver settings for seat position, door mirror angles, and air-conditioning preferences, has been enhanced for the 2022MY Forester with a new gesture control function, allowing the driver to raise and lower the set temperature of the automatic climate control system through hand gestures.
It is built on the Subaru Global Platform (SGP) that offers dynamic performance resulting in superior handling and stability, improved hazard avoidance performance, more responsive steering, and exceptionally low vibrations.
The improved coil springs and dampers of front and rear suspension provide a more refined ride comfort and more agile handling.
Standard (permanent) symmetrical full-time all-wheel drive (S-AWD), a trademark of Subaru’s vehicles, provides all-weather confidence and capability, while standard active torque vectoring offers improved handling and cornering performance.
The MY2022 Forester offers a unique combination of S-AWD with the e-BOXER powertrain.
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This incorporates a direct-injection 2.0-litre horizontally opposed four-cylinder engine paired with an electric motor within the customized Lineartronic transmission, achieving a smoother, 30 per cent more linear, responsive acceleration and a highly responsive torque.
The Subaru e-BOXER system adjusts the power-split ratio between the dedicated 2.0-litre direct-injection (DI) engine and the electric motor to match the driving condition, changing between three driving modes: Engine driving, EV driving, and Motor Assist driving.
From standstill, or at low speed, the electric motor alone powers the vehicle, for a quiet and zero-emission driving.
At medium speeds, power combined both from the motor and the engine give a responsive, linear and fuel-efficient acceleration, while at high-speed the 2.0L Boxer engine powers the vehicle while recharging the battery.
The standard driver-selectable mode (SI-DRIVE), is Subaru’s powertrain performance management system that allows the driver to tailor the vehicle’s throttle characteristics by choosing between “Intelligent” (“I”) and “Sport” (“S”) modes, adds more flexibility for a more convenient and enjoyable drive.
With 220 millimeters of ground clearance, it is well suited for off-road adventures, while the dual function X-MODE (“Snow/Dirt” and ”Deep snow / Mud” modes) is now offering improved functions, suited for a variety of weather and road conditions.
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A control function has been added that restores X-Mode system, with the ability to automatically re-engage once the vehicle speed drops to 35 km/h or less, enabling drivers to concentrate more on driving without needing to operate the switch again.
The Hill Descent Control function that automatically maintains a constant speed when travelling down hills with foot off the pedal, has been improved so that the brake is released when the accelerator is pressed further and the brake is applied immediately after the accelerator is subsequently released, so driver can fully focus on steering while driving downhill.
Keeping its rugged and capable character known as a workhorse, the 2022MY Forester offers a towing capacity of 1,870 kg.
The roomiest, most capable Forester to date, features a high-quality interior, spacious passenger cabin and an expanded cargo compartment with a generous cargo space of 509L (with the back seat up).
The luggage volume even increases to 1,779L with the seats down, leading to up to 1.98 metre long loading area.
Upper cargo hooks have been adopted to make use of the height of the Forester’s trunk space, to facilitate safe hanging and holding of luggage.