Have you ever had one of those moments when you are flying down the road and you realize that the car you are driving fits you like an expensive designer dress at your 20th High School reunion.You think to yourself, this car is just perfect for me. I love the way it looks. I love the way it drives, and I love how I look in it. I want this car! I had one of those moments with the newest and one of the more powerful Subarus — the 2010 Forester 2.5XT Limited. Strangely enough I had one of those moments with the newest and one of the more powerful Subarus: the 2010 Forester 2.5XT Limited. I say strangely because the Forester is not the kind of car I think of myself as driving into the sunset.
But
there you have it, the other night I was flying down a country road
with fingers gently tapping to the beat of the satellite radio on the
leather wrapped steering wheel, the moon blazing in through the
operatic glass roof and with the turbo just waiting for my foot's call
like a restless butler...and I must admit I felt at one with the light
blue Subaru.
It's sort of like discovering that you are attracted to that geeky guy with thick glasses who knows way too much about calculus and plays dungeons and dragons in his spare time.
Because, at least on the surface, the Forester is not exactly the Brad Pitt of crossover sport utility cars.
The Nissan Murano has the swooping curves of Angilana Jolie, while the new Mercedes GLK has the rugged features and Germanic manners of Arnold Schwarzenegger. The Forester 2,5 XT...well...it has a giant hood scoop that just screams post pubescent teen with a severe need for speed, but nowhere near enough cash for a car ending in "arri", "sche" or "Martin."
So what is it about the car that makes it the Mathew Broderick (think Ferris Bueller's Day Off) of all-wheel drive crossovers?
First impressions are not exactly overwhelming.
When you close the driver's door it shuts with distinct hollow and somewhat cheap sounding clang as if somebody forgot one layer of the door at the factory. The oddly diverse dashboard mixture of dull plastic, leather, and shinny fake metal plastic is staring to look a bit like the old Kmart blue light special in a world of Walmart price cuts, and engine has a distant communist era tractor ruble and rattle at idle.
But all of the changes once you get on the turbo and hit the highway. All of the different parts and pieces of the car seem the melt into one fine surgically precise instrument for carving up roads or just going to the mall for a meal and movie. With the panoramic roof in the wide open position and the turbo in the full boost position the car drops 1000 pounds and looks like it belongs in that pair of skinny jeans in your closet.
The suspension goes from mushy to fit.
The huge hood scoop goes from washtub to washboard, and the Subaru goes from practical to fun, to dangerous, to devilish...in a Jack Nicholson sort of way.
And you think to yourself, yes, this is the car I've been waiting for all of these years as you make your mental checklist:
- $29,694.00 sticker price
- All wheel drive
- Leather seats
- Subaru"s reputation for quaility.
- 224 horse power
2010 Subaru Forester 2.5XT Limited
Price as Tested: $29,694.
Engine, Transmission: 2.5 DOHC Intercooled Turbo 4-speed Transmission with SPORTSHIFT
Horsepower: 224
G-Tac Test Data
1/4 Mile: 15.53 second at 97 mph
0-60 mph: 7.17
Max Acceleration: 0.66 g's
EPA Fuel Economy Estimates
City: 19 mpg
Highway: 24 mpg
Combined: 21 mpg
As tested: 21.3 mpg
CO2 per year: 10,207 lb