The 2025 Subaru Forester is a functional and capable five-passenger compact SUV. It brings together the latest in-car tech and advanced safety features with the all-weather confidence of standard all-wheel drive (AWD).

What’s New for the 2025 Subaru Forester

The Forester has been completely redesigned for the 2025 model year. It introduces the latest version of EyeSight and Starlink tech, as well as a new hands-free power liftgate and a 10 percent stiffer chassis.

Design

The new Forester is slightly longer and wider, and it boasts sharp headlights that frame up a bold, shield-like grille. It will be offered in Base, Sport, Limited, and Touring trims. The Base and Premium trims come equipped with 17-inch alloy wheels, while stepping up to the Limited adds 18-inch alloy wheels. The Sport and Touring trims come with larger 19-inch wheels. The Forester comes standard with helpful roof rails. An available all-weather package adds heated windshield wipers.

Powertrain

The standard power plant in the 2025 Forester is a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine. It makes 180 horsepower and 172 pound-feet of torque. Power is routed through a continuously variable transmission (CVT) to Subaru’s standard Symmetrical AWD. All but the Base trim come equipped with a manual mode that simulates “gears” in the CVT, operated via steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters. Subaru has also leveraged a modified version of the steering rack from the WRX performance sedan, resulting in more communicative steering feedback.

The Forester boasts 8.7 inches of ground clearance, and Sport and Premium trims come with X-Mode with hill-descent control. This feature is like cruise control for the trail and modulates the throttle and brake so that the driver can focus on the path ahead.

Interior

The 2025 Forester comes standard with remote keyless entry, dual-zone automatic climate control, and front seats with reduced shoulder area for better visibility. The available all-weather package adds heated front seats, and the Touring trim comes with ventilated front seats.

The Forester is now available with gesture control. Using this feature, the driver can perform tasks like changing the climate control temperature with a wave of the hand.

With the rear seats folded, the 2025 Forester provides up to 74.4 cubic feet of cargo space and 29.6 cubic feet with the rear seats in use. That’s a modest increase of 0.2 and 0.7 cubic feet, respectively. The Forester now comes standard with heavy-duty cargo hooks and is available with a foot-operated hands-free power liftgate.

Technology

The base-trim Forester comes with dual 7-inch touchscreens in the center console. The lower screen operates climate and other vehicle controls, and the upper screen operates the infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. All other screens come with a large 11.6-inch inch portrait-oriented touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and wireless Android Auto. Like the lower screen in the Base trim, this larger screen also houses controls for climate controls and vehicle settings and functions. These trims with the larger touchscreen also include wireless device charging and navigation.

Safety

The 2025 Subaru Forester comes standard with the EyeSight suite of advanced driver-assistance technologies. This list includes automatic emergency braking, forward collision warning, steering-responsive LED headlights, and adaptive cruise control. Available safety tech includes blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, reverse automatic braking, and a 360-degree parking camera system.

Pricing

Prices for the 2025 Subaru Forester start at $31,090, including the $1,395 destination fee. This represents an increase of $2,900 over the prior model year, not outrageous when you consider that this is also the start of a new model generation. The 2024 Forester Wilderness, which will continue to be sold alongside the 2025 Forester lineup, clocks in at $36,265, only a $250 increase. At the top end, the 2025 Forester Touring starts at $41,390.