Review 2010 Subaru Forester 2.5XT: A backhanded compliment for a car that can easily wear skinny jeans

Forrester1

Have you ever had one of those moments when you are flying down the
road and you realize that the car you are driving fits you like an
expensive designer dress at your 20th High School reunion?

You think to yourself, this car is just perfect for me. I love the
way it looks, I love the way it drives, and I love how I look in it, I
want this car!

Strangely enough I had one of those moments with the newest and one
of the more powerful Subarus: the 2010 Foresters 2.5XT Limited.

I say strangely because the Forester is not the kind of car I think of myself as driving into the sunset.

But
there you have it, the other night I was flying down a country road
with fingers gently tapping to the beat of the satellite radio on the
leather wrapped steering wheel, the moon blazing in through the
operatic glass roof and with the turbo just waiting for my foot's call
like a restless butler…and I must admit I felt at one with the light
blue Subaru.

To be honest it's sort of like discovering that you are attracted to
that geeky guy with thick glasses who knows way too much about calculus
and plays dungeons and dragons in his spare time.

Because, at least on the surface, the Forester is not exactly the Brad Pitt of crossover sport utility cars.

The Nissan Murano has the swooping curves of Angilana Jolie, while
the new Mercedes GLK has the rugged features and Germanic manners of
Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Forester 2,5 XT…well…it has a giant hood
scoop that just screams post pubescent teen with a severe need for
speed, but nowhere near enough cash for a car ending in "arri", "sche"
or "Martin."

And yet, unlike the base model which I drove earlier this year, the Forester 2.5XT stole my heart on that cool summer night as we flew into the still evening air.

So what is it about the car that makes it the Mathew Broderick (think Ferris Bueller's Day Off) of all wheel drive crossovers?

First impressions are not exactly overwhelming.

When
you close the driver's door it shuts with distinct hollow and somewhat
cheap sounding clang as if somebody forgot one layer of the door at the
factory. The oddly diverse dashboard mixture of dull plastic, leather,
and shinny fake metal plastic is staring to look a bit like the old
Kmart blue light special in a world of Walmart price cuts, and engine
has a distant communist era tractor ruble and rattle at idle.

But all of the changes once you get on the turbo and hit the
highway. All of the different parts and pieces of the car seem the melt
into one fine surgically precise instrument for carving up roads or
just going to the mall for a meal and movie. With the panoramic roof in
the wide open position and the turbo in the full boost position the car
drops 1000 pounds and looks like it belongs in that pair of skinny
jeans in your closet.

The suspension goes from mushy to fit.

The huge hood scoop goes from washtub to washboard, and the Subaru
goes from practical to fun, to dangerous, to devilish…in a Jack Nicholson sort of way.

And you think to yourself, yes, this is the car I've been waiting for all of these years as you make your mental checklist:

– $29,694.00 sticker price

– All wheel drive

– Leather seats

– Subaru"s reputation for quaility.

– 224 hourse power

"Yes," you think with all of that in one car I can even live with his huge nose…no make that its massive hood scoop.

2010 Subaru Forester 2.5XT Limited

Price as Tested: $29,694.

Engine, Transmission: 2.5 DOHC Intercooled Turbo 4-speed Transmission with SPORTSHIFT

Horsepower: 224

G-Tac Test Data

1/4 Mile: 15.53 second at 97 mph

0-60 mph: 7.17

Max Acceleration: 0.66 g's

EPA Fuel Economy Estimates

City: 19 mpg

Highway: 24 mpg

Combined: 21 mpg

As tested: 21.3 mpg

CO2 per year: 10,207 lbs

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