2025 Subaru Forester First Drive: Improved but incomplete

MISSOULA, MT. — When the 2025 Subaru Forester was revealed last year, it was pitched as an all-new model. Except it really isn’t. The underlying platform is carried over and the dimensions are virtually identical to the compact crossover it replaces — almost to the inch. In fact, the changes are so subtle that Subaru is comfortable selling the 2024 Forester Wilderness model right alongside the 2025 for at least the remainder of this calendar year.

Despite their subtlety, however, Subaru says there were enough fundamental alterations to label the new Forester as redesigned. And why not? The same was true of the recent WRX redesign; sometimes it’s the little things that make the biggest difference.

Just what are those little things? You can read our preview piece here, but the gist is this: The chassis is now assembled with stronger steel and more structural adhesive, making it stiffer; there’s a new steering rack, making it more responsive and comfortable to  drive, and there’s refreshed styling inside and out, along with some small tweaks to available features and packages.

If Subaru’s improvements are to bear fruit, they’d be detectable in at least one — and ideally all — of three categories: chassis composure, refinement (NVH, specifically) and cabin material quality. Fortunately for us, all three are readily evaluated, especially since the first two go somewhat hand-in-hand.

Our drive route included surface streets and two-lane highways offset by a healthy chunk of fire roads and park trails. If it’s something you can drive on in rural (redundant?) Montana, we put tires on it at one point or another.

On solid pavement, the new Forester feels tight and composed. Both road and wind noise are diminished, and the absence of the former was particularly noticeable on the typically broken pavement of the roads we spent most of our time traversing. We’ll give equal credit to both the NVH updates and Subaru’s tire selections; both paid dividends. But if you live someplace where you regularly see snowfall, you’ll want to swap Subaru’s OEM rubber for something that bites into the icy stuff a bit better.

We learned this firsthand driving the Forester down the side of a