2022 Subaru Forester

History/Overview

The Subaru Forester is a fixture of the compact crossover segment, where it has been a popular player since its late-1990s debut. Today’s fifth-generation Forester arrived in 2019.

What’s New/Key Changes From Last Year

For 2022, the Forester gets new front and rear bumpers, exterior lights, and grille; Subaru has revised the suspension, too. There’s a new Wilderness trim level with a higher towing capacity, off-road tires and suspension with more ground clearance, underbody skid plates, extra recovery hooks, and trim-exclusive styling cues inside and out. Finally, the Forester gets the fourth generation of Subaru’s Eyesight suite of driver safety assists.

There are minor updates to individual trims, too, which we’ve detailed below.

Available Trims

Subaru offers the Forester in base, Convenience, Touring, Sport, Wilderness, Limited, and Premier trims. All are powered by a 2.5L four-cylinder engine, continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT), and AWD.

Standard Features

Base models come with a 6.5-inch touchscreen, Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, automatic A/C, heated side mirrors, steering-responsive LED headlights, heated front seats, four-speaker audio, LED taillights, and 17-inch steel wheels with covers. Also included is the Eyesight safety suite of forward collision mitigation, automatic high beams, and lane departure warning.

Convenience adds dual-zone A/C, fog lights, a 6.3-inch driver info display, power driver’s seat, passive keyless entry, six-speaker audio, 17-inch alloy wheels, leather-trimmed steering wheel, and a front wiper de-icer.

Touring (and every trim above it) gains new-for-2022 automatic emergency steering. Building on Convenience, it also adds an 8.0-inch touchscreen, power tailgate, blind spot monitoring, a reclining seatback, heated steering wheel, and a sunroof.

Wilderness builds on Touring with its taller suspension and grippier tires, skid plates, all-weather upholstery, auto-dimming rearview mirror, trim-specific 17-inch wheels, a transmission oil cooler, and various cosmetic tweaks.

Sport gets new-for-2022 gunmetal/orange interior trim, and also builds on Touring models with LED fog lights, a leather-trimmed shifter, and 18-inch wheels.

Limited’s 2022 additions are an auto-dimming mirror with compass and integrated home remote, and hand gesture HVAC controls. This package also brings navigation, driver distraction mitigation, auto-dimming side mirrors with approach lighting, a power front passenger seat, leather upholstery, heated rear seats, a nine-speaker stereo, and 18-inch wheels.

Premier gets new LED fog lights, brown/black leather upholstery, gloss black exterior trim, and the Limited’s new interior mirror and hand gesture controls. To Limited, it adds black trim with silver accents, chrome exterior trim, a stainless steel rear bumper garnish, LED fog lights, and trim-specific wheels.

Fuel Economy

Fuel consumption estimates for most Forester trims are 9.0/7.2 L/100 km (city/highway); Wilderness trim’s ratings are 9.5/8.3 L/100 km.

Competition

The Forester’s competitors include the Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4, Ford Escape, Chevrolet Equinox, GMC Terrain, Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage, Nissan Rogue, Mazda CX-5 and CX-50, and the Volkswagen Tiguan.