Used 2021 Subaru Forester

Winner: 2021 5-Year Cost to Own Award
Winner: 2021 Best Resale Value Award
#5 in Best Compact SUVs for 2021

Get into a 2021 Subaru Forester and take it for a drive. It will quickly become apparent why the Forester has been one of Subaru’s most popular SUVs year after year.

While retaining a relatively small footprint (an especially welcome attribute when driving around town), the Forester still offers useful interior space. Out in the wild, dirt roads and rough weather cause no consternation for the Forester driver, thanks to its 8.7 inches of ground clearance and permanent all-wheel drive.

High safety scores are yet another plus point. The Forester earned a maximum 5-star overall score from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and is named a Top Safety Pick+ by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS).

The Forester enjoys generous amounts of standard equipment for prices that stack up well against rivals like the Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, Mazda CX-5, Nissan Rogue, Ford Escape and Kia Sportage. This year sees even more standard features such as adaptive LED headlights. And blind-spot monitoring, which was optional in Sport trim, is now included.

Resale values are also robust. The Forester won our 2020 Best Resale Award and Lowest 5-Year Cost to Own award for the compact crossover class.

Motivated by a completely adequate 182 horsepower, the 2021 Forester can make it up mountain roads without much effort. The SUV’s ride quality is well sorted, providing comfort balanced by enough control to keep the Forester from leaning too much through quick curves. That’s impressive, given the almost nine inches of ground clearance.

Cornering talents are enhanced by a torque-vectoring system that attenuates individual wheel speeds for optimum stability. The electrically assisted steering might seem a little heavy at first, but it only takes a few minutes to become acclimated.

Although few potential Subaru buyers will be deterred, a continuously variable automatic (CVT) is never the transmission of an enthusiast’s dreams. They tend to drone and react slowly. That said, the unit in this new Forester is about as good as a CVT gets. It’s quiet in operation and will shift between its simulated ratios in accordance with throttle action.

We’ll save our gripes for two other items. The lane-keeping assistance feature is a little too eager to set off its warning sound, but the shut-off switch is above the rearview mirror. And the engine stop/restart action is not that smooth. This can also be disabled.

RELATED: Best Compact SUVs for 2021

Some SUV rivals are wider, but the 2021 Forester still manages to incorporate plenty of front-seat shoulder room. Legroom is also generous — a 6-foot-tall passenger can sit comfortably behind a 6-foot driver.

The quality of materials is more than acceptable. The center console houses either a 6.5-inch infotainment display (the base model) or an 8-inch touchscreen in the higher trims.

Behind the rear seats is a commodious 35.4 cubic feet of luggage space. Fold those seats down to reveal a maximum cargo area of 76.1 cubic feet. The optional moonroof chops a minor chunk out of those figures.

Instead of grumbling that Subaru styling is not the most, um, stylish, let’s applaud the Forester SUV’s lack of affectation. The large glass areas and thin pillars all contribute to excellent outward vision. Front, side, and rear underguards are standard, as is lower-body cladding to protect against mud, rocks, and salt.

Roof rails are standard on all but the base model. Sport trim is distinguished by a gloss-black exterior trim, plus orange accents on the black underguards and roof-rail mounts.

ENORMOUS CARGO OPENING
At 51.3 inches wide, the Forester’s rear aperture is huge, a full six inches better than the nearest competitor. Golf bags don’t need to be tilted to fit.

DRIVERFOCUS
Standard in the Touring model, it employs infrared sensors and facial recognition to identify driver distraction or fatigue. If the driver has looked away from the road for three seconds, DriverFocus will sound an alert and even slow the vehicle to a stop if necessary.

The base 2021 Forester comes with Apple CarPlay/Android Auto smartphone integration and an array of driver aids under the EyeSight banner. Other features include automatic climate control, adaptive LED headlights, a 6.5-inch infotainment display, satellite radio, CD player, two USB ports, selectable driving modes, active grille shutters (for optimum fuel efficiency), 60/40-split/folding rear seats, plus a washer for the rearview camera.

That’s good, but going up to Premium trim brings a 10-way power-adjustable driver’s seat, 17-inch alloy wheels, keyless entry/ignition, hill-descent control, leather-wrapped steering wheel, heated front seats/side mirrors, and a windshield-wiper de-icer.

The main options for the base 2021 Forester are roof rails and 17-inch alloy wheels. Premium trim is eligible for blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert and a powered tailgate.

Sport trim may be ordered with a 9-speaker Harman Kardon audio upgrade, an 8-inch touchscreen, reverse automatic braking, and a powered tailgate. Limited trim offers a heated steering wheel, navigation, and the Harman Kardon audio system.

Touring trim has all these features as standard, plus driver attention monitoring, an 8-way power-adjustable front passenger seat, and memory settings for the driver’s seat. Wi-fi is available in the top four trims.

A flat-4 engine — also known as a “boxer” — has two opposing pairs of cylinders rather than four in a row. It’s a Subaru hallmark. A 2.5-liter version provides the 2021 Forester with 182 horsepower and 176 lb-ft of torque. This energy is sent to all four wheels through a CVT developed and built by Subaru.

The Forester has driving modes of Intelligent for a smoother experience or Sport for sharper responses. In Sport, Limited and Touring variants, the CVT features a manual mode that simulates a 7-speed automatic transmission via shift paddles.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates combined (city and highway) fuel consumption at 29 mpg.

2.5-liter flat-4
182 horsepower @ 5,800 rpm
176 lb-ft of torque @ 4,400 rpm
EPA city/highway fuel economy: 26/33 mpg