A greener Subaru Forester

The upgraded hybrid system reduces the sport utility vehicle's thirst for fuel

- Lee Nian Tjoe

Subaru cars are a bit like paru, or beef lung, served at some nasi padang stalls. They can be an acquired taste, but get past their unusual appearance, and rich textures come through.

But enough about my lunch plans.

For the new Forester, Subaru seems to be trying to make it appeal to a larger audience by making it look more conventional while retaining the model's best attributes, such as the cabin's usefulness and the driving dynamics. More crucially, the Japanese carmaker is making its sport utility vehicle (SUV) a bit more fuel-efficient.

Like other Japanese carmakers, Subaru is opting for hybrid technology, which involves using a combination of a petrol engine and an electric motor to boost efficiency, rather than going fully electric and doing away with the engine altogether.

The Subaru Forester adopted petrol-hybrid technology in 2022 as part of the update to the previous generation's model.

In the 2025 model, the electric motor and battery setup has been upgraded. The engine has also been upsized to one displacing 2.5 litres, from 2 litres.

When the battery is sufficiently charged up as the car is on the move, the electric motor is then either used to give the engine a bit of a boost or take over driving duties completely, albeit for short bursts at a time. These mechanical upgrades add 78kg or so to the old car, bringing the kerb weight to 1,760kg.

The changes also result in a 12 per cent reduction in fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions from the previous Forester 2-litre hybrid.

Over a three-day drive that covers more than 220km, the latest model posts an average fuel consumption of 8.3 litres/100km, which is some way off the claimed 5.9 litres/100km.