Subaru’s enchanted Forester

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This is the all-new 2009 Subaru Forester. Although usually described as a crossover utility vehicle, the new Forester’s styling has more of an SUV vibe about it, with a healthy 8.9 inches of ground clearance. The new platform is longer, so the Forester’s wheelbase now measures 103 inches, 3.6 inches more than before.

This provides a little more space for everyone and everything inside, plus a somewhat more comfortable ride quality. Enhancing that ride quality is the double-wishbone rear suspension, a new feature on Imprezas (and therefore this machine), which is more forgiving than the previous strut-type arrangement.

Echoing the Impreza, Subaru claims better-quality cabin materials. And cars fitted with the five-speed manual transmission also have incline start assist, to stop them from rolling back momentarily when setting off from a standstill while facing uphill.

The Forester goes on sale this spring as a 2009 model, with prices to be announced shortly. The current model starts at $21,195 and -- in naturally aspirated form -- gets 20/27 mpg city/highway, so the new one shouldn’t be that far off.

-- Colin Ryan