2002 Subaru Impreza Wrx Wagon 4-door 2.0l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2019 Subaru Forester First Drive Review | Hidden treasure

ASHEVILLE, N.C — Forester sales have been nothing short of spectacular for Subaru. The fourth-generation Forester sold more than double what the first three generations sold ... combined. It makes up about 20 percent of Subaru's current U.S. sales, and 58 percent globally. Clearly, Subaru has been the right thing with the Forester to bring people over to the brand, and to keep them there. So why mess with a good thing? Subaru hasn't, really. The all-new 2019 Forester looks remarkably familiar – slightly tweaking a few things to refine the experience without alienating buyers. They improved aero while maintaining huge windows. And even the small-outside-big-inside formula that makes it such a practical choice was improved, gaining interior volume with a minimal increase in length and width. Peel away the sheet metal, though, and there have been significant changes for the Forester, which shares few parts with the outgoing generation. The updated engine gets direct injection. The reworked frame, using more high-strength steel, means it has 1.4 times the impact absorption of the previous car. The geometry of the four-wheel independent suspension has been optimized for stability, the steering retuned, the transmission reworked for better power, efficiency, handling, comfort and safety. So, can this visually familiar Forester really feel all that different going down the road? More importantly, do we like it better? We headed into the Blue Ridge mountains around Asheville N.C. in order to find out. Our first vehicle for the day was the new Sport trim, with no added performance and some funkier design cues. Somehow, matte-ish orange accents have become the go-to hue to represent "sport." They stand out most around the air vents and gear shifter, in the contrast stitching and here and there in the instrument panel. The busy mix of materials and colors might find favor in youthful buyers, but were a bit too flashy for our taste. Loud as that interior might be visually, sonically the Forester is quite the opposite. We kept the radio off to enjoy, finally, a Forester interior in which we could hold a quiet conversation at highway speed. Depending on the surface, we heard some tire noise, but muted compared to Foresters — and tons of Subarus — of generations past. In normal, calm driving, the new Forester behaves like a more premium vehicle – calm and comfortable.

To the end of the world in a Subaru

On a quiet beach in southern Argentina, I stood in awe facing the Desdemona, a massive cargo ship that wrecked ashore in the mid-1980s and has remained untouched for the subsequent 30 years. In the intervening time, Desdemona was not vandalized, nobody broke her down and sold the parts for scrap, and unlike what you'd expect in the United States, no one set up shop to sell memorabilia in addition to a $5-beach entrance fee. This is only one of a thousand gorgeous vistas that make up Patagonia, the southernmost part of South America and, indeed, the end of the world. I was there to drive Subarus along dirt two-track roads and gravel highways on an epic journey from El Calafate to Ushuaia. Subaru would have you believe that this sort of rugged wilderness is the natural habitat for its cars. Whether or not that is a stretch, the Subies proved to be up to the task of trekking Patagonia. But I fully expected that from the get-go. What I didn't expect was how every part of this journey – the cars, the location, the people – would combine to form one of the greatest travel experiences of my life. View 85 Photos The end of the world. Patagonia is gorgeous, vast, brilliant. And those words don't even really do it justice. The plains, the lakes, the mountains, the forests all feel like every color is more vibrant, every detail is sharper. It's like looking at the world through an Instagram feed, and then realizing that every photo has the "no filter" hashtag. The journey started on Valentine's Day, with senior video producer Chris McGraw and I flying to Atlanta, followed by a 12-hour flight to Buenos Aires. That's where we met the rest of the group, and spent a day relaxing and exploring the Argentine streets and shops. "It's like looking at the world through an Instagram feed, and then realizing that every photo has the 'no filter' hashtag." But we still weren't at our start point. From Buenos Aires, we hopped a flight to El Calafate, about 1,500 miles southwest. It's a common entrance point to Patagonia for tourists and explorers because of its proximity to the Perito Moreno Glacier, a stunning site we visited the next day. Watch our earlier update video to see more about the glacier – an ice formation three times the size of Manhattan (and growing!). If Patagonia is on your bucket list of vacation destinations, this glacier is a mandatory stop. There's a boardwalk that runs along the lakes, leading right up to the face of the glacier.

IIHS says these are the safest cars of 2013

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has revealed its annual list of Top Safety Picks, an award that highlights automobiles it says offer "superior crash protection." A new and still more significant award, the Top Safety Pick+ honor, is given to those vehicles that earn good ratings for occupant protection in four out of five areas of measure. And while some 117 vehicles were given the TSP seal of approval for 2013, just 13 passed muster for TSP+.
To be fair, IIHS only evaluated 29 vehicles with its new testing procedures for TSP+ (we'd expect that the number of qualified cars will rise substantially for 2014). Luxury and Near Luxury midsize cars were the first groups evaluated, followed by midsizers in the Moderately Priced Cars category - unsurprisingly, it's only midsize cars that you'll find among the class this year.
Only two luxury sedans made the list of 13 for 2013: the Acura TL and Volvo S60. The other 11 cars on the list included entries from domestic, Japanese and German car makers: Dodge Avenger, Chrysler 200, Ford Fusion, Honda Accord (sedan and coupe), Kia Optima (but not its close kin, the Hyundai Sonata, strangely), Nissan Altima, Subaru Legacy and Outback, Suzuki Kizashi and the Volkswagen Passat all made the grade.