Subaru Forester review - Reliability and safety
Subaru’s focus on safety and strong reputation for reliability bode very well for Forester owners
Safety and reliability are Subaru’s strong suits. The Japanese firm has placed a focus on making its cars some of the very safest on sale in recent years, while expertise gained from decades of producing hard-wearing cars has found its way into the brand’s current line-up.
Subaru’s reputation is backed up by a strong showing in our 2023 Driver Power owner satisfaction survey. A 4th-place finish (out of 32 manufacturers) put the brand ahead of Honda, Jaguar, Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Volkswagen to name but a few, while the Forester itself placed 29th on a list of the 75-best cars to own.
Subaru’s EyeSight safety system is fitted as standard – it uses a series of cameras mounted in the windscreen that are used to scan the road for hazards and can use automatic emergency braking to avoid collisions with cars, pedestrians and cyclists. It also incorporates adaptive cruise control, pre-collision throttle management and lane keep/departure assistance. The car includes blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert and lane-change assist as standard, plus reverse automatic braking.
Warranty
Subaru supplies all of its cars with a standard three-year/60,000-mile warranty, while Hyundai offers its Tucson and Santa Fe SUVs with a five-year cover plan, and Kia has its famous seven-year, 100,000-mile warranty
Servicing
Traditionally, Subaru owners have had to be prepared for fairly steep servicing costs – albeit with the tradeoff of their cars rarely going wrong in between visits to the dealership.
