Subaru Forester design & styling

The new Forester is built on the Subaru Global Platform, which owing to details like using 27 metres of structural adhesive instead of 8m, is lighter than its predecessor and 10% more torsionally rigid.

It’s a little bigger, too, though at 4.67m long (+30mm) and 1.83m wide (+15mm), it's still in a comfortable realm, even for those who drive on narrow British lanes. It’s the same 1.73m tall and retains the current model’s 220mm ground clearance, considered essential given 84% of Forester buyers live rurally.

Other consistent Forester staples remain too, like compact A-pillars and a big glass area, which has front and rear quarterlights, and whose shoulder line drops significantly between them, too, to make it feel airy inside, and to make it easier for the driver to judge when they're about to hit a gatepost or dry stone wall.

Call me unsexy – you wouldn’t be the first – but I like that kind of sensibility.