2011 Subaru Forester

2011 Subaru Forester

Subaru hasn’t made much of a commotion over its 2011 model year updates for the Forester range but we will as the compact SUV has been made more fuel efficient.

An all-new four-cylinder ‘boxer’ engine for the base 2.5X models sees fuel economy rise to 21/27 mpg city/highway for both manual and automatic models. This compares to 20/27 mpg city/highway for manual-equipped 2010 models and 20/26 mpg city/highway for the automatics.

The new engine still displaces 2.5-liters but it features a slightly longer stroke and a chain driven double overhead cam instead of the previous belt. It’s also still rated at 170 horsepower but torque is up to 174 pound-feet. Peak power and torque figures also come in at slightly lower rpm, making the new engine more flexible.

The turbocharged 2011 Subaru Forester XT retains the previous engine.

Other changes to the 2011 Subaru Forester range consist mostly of trim and equipment changes. The Forester 2.5XT models, for example, now include 2.5XT Premium and 2.5XT Touring, the latter replacing the 2.5XT Limited as the top Forester model.

[Subaru]