Used 2019 Subaru Forester Sport 4dr SUV AWD (2.5L 4cyl CVT) Consumer Reviews
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An outstanding crossover
Stephen E., Homewood, IL, 11/28/2018
Subaru Forester Sport 4dr SUV AWD (2.5L 4cyl CVT)
578 of 586 people found this review helpful
I've driven the 2019 Forester for 1500 miles now in a variety of suburban and highway driving and in a variety of weather conditions and I think that I have enough experience with the vehicle to write a review. I find that the Forester has a great number of virtues: 1) the seating position and overall visibility are excellent from the driver's seat. 2) the AWD system greatly helps to maintain control of the vehicle in snowy conditions (I haven’t driven the vehicle yet on any significant stretch of dirt or gravel road.) 3) the vehicle is quiet overall with only some wind noise apparent when traveling at highway speed. 4) the infotainment system is fast and easy to use. 5) the size of the cargo space is excellent; the lift hatch is both large and fast; and the cargo floor is low and easy to access. 6) in 1500 miles I’ve gotten a combined 31mpg. 7) the vehicle is very comfortable to drive on longer trips. 8) the adaptive cruise control works very well. It maintains a lock on the vehicle ahead and controls the Forester’s speed smoothly without jerkiness or surging the engine. It will also bring the Forester to a complete halt if the vehicle ahead of it stops, and it needs only a single flick of a switch on the steering wheel to start moving again. 9) the lane departure warnings and lane keep assist are accurate and do help keep the vehicle in the proper lane while being at the same time easy enough to override to quickly make lane changes if you need to. 10) I’ve only once had the automatic pre-collision brakes activate (a car turning left in front of me did not turn when I expected it to), but once again the system recognized a potential collision and activated to prevent it. 11) the blind spot detection will not only activate when there is another vehicle in the Forester’s blind spots, but will also activate if another vehicle is rapidly approaching the Forester’s blind spots. There several downsides to the Forester: 1) the engine horsepower is adequate, but this vehicle is not a speedster. I don’t find this to be a major downside. Yes, I do find myself wishing for an extra 30 or 40 horsepower at times, but honestly the opportunities to use a more powerful engine are few. Most of my driving is on suburban streets with a speed limit of 35-45 mph, or on the highway traveling at 65-75 mph. There is little use for a bigger engine in suburban or urban conditions. On the highway once the Forester is up to speed it does just fine and will generally get 32-34mpg in highway driving. The engine noise is noticeable during hard acceleration, but is quiet during normal cruising. 2) the vehicle handles well, but is clearly not a sport car. Its true that competitors like the Mazda CX-5 (which I have test driven) handle better. However, the handling is just fine for what the vehicle is and what it is meant to do. A few other notes: 1) the LED low beam headlights have a very sharp upper vertical cutoff. Meaning that the road ahead is either illuminated very well or not at all. This can be disconcerting when driving downhill as the low beams don’t illuminate the next uphill very well. The Forester has automatic high beams that cover the vertical gap in the low beam’s illumination. In my experience, you are either driving in an area at night that is lit well enough by streetlights or other cars’ headlights so that the low beams are all you need; or you are driving in an area that has no other cars present so that the auto high beams activate and provide all the illumination that is needed. 2) I really wish there was some way to edit the screens on the upper information display. There are a number of different screens that are useful, but several of them are borderline useless (I’m especially thinking of the weather screen that only shows picture-graph current, 3 hour, and 6 hour forecast). There is only one button for cycling through all the screens and it gets tiresome pushing the button repeatedly to find the screen that I want.
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Mechanical Issues under 5K for 2019 Forester Sport
Christopher H, Portland, OR, 10/07/2019
Subaru Forester Sport 4dr SUV AWD (2.5L 4cyl CVT)
46 of 48 people found this review helpful
Bought new 12/31/2018. The car developed an odd "chug" or "jerk" around 1,000 - 1,200 RPM's with the CVT transmission. Took the car to Subaru and I was told there was no fault code so everything was operating normally. Took the Forester Sport in for it's first oil change and found the CVT transmission was failing and most likely had been since day one. Had the CVT transmission replaced. Mere days later the same "chug/jerk" developed and we were told this was "normal" operation for this model. Became a pissing match between two different Subaru service departments regarding if the transmission even needed to be replaced. Subaru of America wouldn't do anything about it because they felt that the operation was normal. Funny really because the last Subaru technician that helped us said to NEVER buy the first year of a new platform for Subaru. Do yourself a favor and buy an Outback. Gave up on the fight and we had two-Outbacks as loaners with the amount of time we had our Forester in the shop. The Outback drove light years better and is more comfortable. We bought a 2019 Outback and took a bath on owning our lemon Forester for eight-months. Will never buy a new model year again and was really disappointed with how Subaru of America handled the situation. Didn't have time to wait for the 3rd CVT transmission to fail since this is my wife's car and I wasn't willing to leave her stranded on I5 with a infant. Don't lose money like I did. Two failed CVT transmissions under 8K miles.
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2019 Subaru Forester for sale near you
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- Base 4dr SUVMSRP: $15,000In-stock online
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Jack of all trades! Impossible not to love!
Laurie Jean, Virginia Beach, VA, 03/07/2019
Subaru Forester Sport 4dr SUV AWD (2.5L 4cyl CVT)
80 of 87 people found this review helpful
Nothing I can truly hate. I'll start with my gripes - as it may be an immediate dis-qualifier for some. IT DOES NOT have true built in GPS. Not on the Sport trim. The only GPS you are going to get here is either by syncing the car to your phone via Starlink and using the Magellan app within it or by using Apple Car Play (or Android if that's your thing - eew!). Both of those options will be using your phone carriers data. The Magellan app within Starlink is about the most atrocious navigation I have ever used in my life. It is slow, it is loaded with glitches and is down right ancient in operations compared to others on the market - but it works. However, the Apple Car Play is absolutely seamless. It becomes a mirror display of your phone to include Siri who then takes over your cars Bluetooth and makes the car her own. Just say "Hey Siri" and anything is possible. Okay. Not anything - but close. The second gripe would be that IT DOES NOT come with a towing package. That is only allotted on the two trim levels above it. Even though when you build the car on Subaru's website - they offer the option of adding a "trailer hitch cap" so one thinks there is a trailer hitch already on it. Secondly, one cannot add the hitch in the build options on Subaru's website so therefor it convinces the buyer that again, it comes with a trailer hitch. It doesn't. If you want one - you will be buying one separately and paying to have it installed. You're welcome for those two "off the get go" Debbie Downers. Moving forward to the Goodie Gumdrops of this car. My review comes from choosing a fully loaded Sport trim to include literally everything possible (all but the two previous things...as I couldn't). This car comes equipped with enough technology to satisfy the biggest nerd. The Harmon Kardon upgrade is worth it if you are a music fanatic like me. I LOVE the KH upgrade. If anyone tries telling you the Rockford Fosgate is just as good - they are lying. The HK upgrade is crisp, harmonic and thumps evenly throughout the car with it's built in tweeters and subs. It's worth the price. Plus the upgrade includes a larger screen and other fun things like the most out of the EyeSight features. Speaking of those - they are wonderful and perform flawlessly. And they can each be turned off. Which is nice for when you want to get out of the "driving a spaceship vibe" and actually drive your car. The back up camera and the RAB feature is wonderful - picks up things I honestly haven't seen even after looking. Like a child rushing out of store just today as I checked things were clear, backed up and the child ran out of the store from his mother. The car saw him, I didnt. I was far enough away that an accident wasnt going to happen but to know the car was capable of picking that up - awesome. It also picks up very well at night for when the reverse lights just dont provide quite enough light sometimes. The EyeSight system on the interstate is single handedly the most luxurious without being obnoxious like some of it's competitors - like the lane keep assist, adaptive cruise control. Everything can be fine tuned as well. You can turn the chime volumes down or you can once again simply turn the features off. The Automatic Start/Stop has already saved me 0.25 gallon of gas in a matter of a single tank. Sure - it can sometimes feel a bit weird but it too can be turned off. The interior surfaces of the car are both aesthetically and physically appealing. Streamlined and soft to touch. The automatic dimming mirror with a compass has certainly saved my eyes while driving at night. I didnt think I would care until I turned that feature off and was immediately blinded by the vehicle behind me. The headlights are bright and the light is diffused evenly where you need it. The brights will also dim automatically if option is selected. Cargo space inside is more than adequate. No doubt I will be able to cram luggage, camping, fishing & photography gear, coolers and dogs in the back without concerns. Easily put a kayak or bike or two on the roof racks if needed. Rear seats are just as comfortable as the front and they recline giving those tall folks in our lives plenty of space and comfort (or your dogs). The climate control certainly makes it's way to the back as well. The sunroof is huge without cause that flapping noise when open. The exterior approach LED's save you from stepping in mess and getting into your car. The keyless concept is awesome. The automatic trunk is handy when your arms are full. I'm your M-F city slicker who is the avid outdoors person come the weekend. This car more than covers both & more of my needs without a single sacrifice other than true 4x4 and a truck bed. But - you're not buying a truck. You're buying a Subaru and they dont have a truck to buy so just get the Sport. A overly happy medium in the forester lineup! Dont forget the all-weather flooring and seat back protection. Thank me later.
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I don't actually have one complaint
Alex, Bradenton, FL, 04/01/2019
Subaru Forester Sport 4dr SUV AWD (2.5L 4cyl CVT)
41 of 44 people found this review helpful
All the slight, or unimportant questions I had, already had answers. Everything has a place in the car, and everything works. The cargo is amazing, the features feel incredible. I love eyesight, I love car play, I love the feedback of the vehicle in the info dash, I love the reverse camera and power tailgate. I can't see myself not driving this car. I've heard people say that a fair trade off is the lack of power. I can't argue that it might not tow as much as a dedicated truck. But it terms of acceleration I think it's got everything it needs. I'm coming from a smaller two door sports car, and I really don't miss much. Especially over the fact that it's an SUV with 29 combined miles per gallon. It's a killer and I love it.
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2019 Forester is the safest car I have ever owned
Bill Belfi, East Hampton, NY, 11/10/2018
Subaru Forester Sport 4dr SUV AWD (2.5L 4cyl CVT)
63 of 70 people found this review helpful
The new Forester has been reengineered and improved in so many areas. They widened the rear cargo area significantly. The backup camera and display are large, welllighted and very helpful in backing out or into tight spaces. The lane departure lightlta are brilliantly moved to the inside of the side view mirrors so that is the first thing I see. I had a 2016 Outback and my wife drives a 2014 Forester. I can’t wait to get her into this new Forester. We are seniors and all the electronics we can get to improve our driving experience are appreciated. Well done Subaru.
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