The Foresters interior design is simple and straightforward, and the interior panels are well-assembled, but a few plastics feel too cheap even on this fully-loaded car.
- The Foresters interior design is simple and straightforward, and the interior panels are well-assembled, but a few plastics feel too cheap even on this fully-loaded car.
- The Foresters front seats are comfortable and offer better lateral support than most SUVs.
- The Foresters rear seat is spacious and very comfortable for two passengers. Its not well-shaped to accommodate a third adult passenger, however, who has his back against a hard flip-out center armrest and who sits on a hard flip-out cupholder tray.
- The armrest and cupholders are convenient for the outboard passengers, however.
- The Forester also includes a center front armrest with fore-aft adjustment and padded cloth armrests on each door.
- Pressing a button on the rear seatback is supposed to recline the seat. On the passenger's side, the button just falls out when pressed on this test car.
- The Foresters controls are mostly simple, and are cleanly lighted in red. This 2.5X Limited model includes automatic climate controls where the knob labels a specific temperature, but the labels could be easier to read. The navigation system absorbs some audio functions, which can add unnecessary steps to some functions, and the volume and multifunction tuning knob could be bigger. Read more about the navigation system later in the week.
- Its not easy to tell whether the Foresters doors are locked, especially when it is dark. A small dark red strip on the interior lock button is the only indication, and the doors do not open from the inside if the doors are locked. Fortunately, brighter and larger markings on the locks would be a very easy fix.
- Some past Subarus with a gated automatic shifter had been criticized for sliding too easily past Drive into low gear. This Forester avoids that problem by substituting manual gear selections for a designated low gear.
- Large windows and mirrors make for excellent visibility out of the Forester.
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