KEY POINTS:
Subary, surely Japan's most idiosyncratic volume-selling car company, is trying to reach out to the rest of the world by designing and building cars that are less weird looking and more broadly appealing. Witness the utterly inoffensive Impreza hatchback and facelifted Tribeca seven-seater.
So it is with the new Forester, which has eschewed the set-square and chunky - some would say ugly - styling of the previous model in favour of smoother, more SUV-like lines.
But, of course, there's a lost-in-translation downside to this new design philosophy.
Before, you might have grimaced when you saw a Forester coming down the road towards you, but there was no mistaking it.
The car wasn't pretty, but individuality and no-frills functional styling were a big part of the appeal of the previous Forester.
The new one - large and handsome though it is - is pretty hard to pick at a glance.
Is it a Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4 or Mitsubishi Outlander? You have to wait until it gets closer to find out.
That may be bad news for fans of the outgoing Forester. The good news is that the latest model, which went on sale in New Zealand this week, still stands apart from most of its rivals in engineering terms.
The Forester has a horizontally-opposed "boxer" engine, which gives it a low centre of gravity for better on-road handling. It also comes with the option of manual transmission and a low-range transfer, two things that are increasingly rare in this city-oriented segment.
And it retains a proper full-time four-wheel-drive system, while most rivals favour on-demand systems that operate in front-drive most of the time.
Whether you want or need that hardware is up to you. But it gives the Forester the edge in ability and - perhaps more importantly - credibility among the crossover set.
Owners who are more worried about where to put the kids and prams won't be disappointed either. The new Forester is on a 90mm-longer wheelbase than the old and stands 110mm taller. It's a proper five-seat family wagon and luggage space has been boosted by 30 per cent.
All but the top Forester model are powered by a 2.5-litre boxer engine with 126kW, a 5kW increase over the outgoing Forester. A 3Nm increase peak torque to 229Nm now comes at 3200rpm, instead of 4400rpm on the previous model.
Weight is up by 70kg, but fuel efficiency has improved in the manual version from 9.6 litres per 100km to 9.3 litres per 100km.
The automatic version has also improved from 9.7 litres per 100km to 9.6 litres per 100km, according to the Australian Design Rules standard.
Performance and economy are impressive given the extra size and weight of the car.
However, the four-speed automatic gearbox (with manual-shift mode) may be the Achilles heel of the new car.
It looks a bit old-hat compared with some rivals - the CR-V has a five-speeder, while the four-cylinder Outlander gets a continuously variable transmission with a six-step manual-hold function.
The Forester range comprises four models. The $36,990 entry-model X is $1000 more expensive than the previous version, but still looks like the pick of the line-up. It comes with all you'd want - six airbags, stability control, alloys, air con and an auxiliary connection for the audio system.
For another $3000 the XS adds a seven-stack CD player, rear privacy glass, fake wood, climate air and self-levelling rear suspension.
Another $3000 for the XS Limited gets you leather, a sunroof and a power driver's seat.
The XT turbo wears cloth trim but steps up to 17-inch rims and fatter tyres, has xenon lamps, a rear roof spoiler, an alarm and a 169kW turbocharged engine (same output as the Impreza WRX) for a $2000 premium over the XS Limited.
The $4,900 XT will be a special-order model only, starting in June.
