FAMILY CAR REVIEW: 2018 SUBARU FORESTER

So… How big is the boot of the Subaru Forester?

When it is empty I could fit 13 shopping bags in the boot.

The boot space and its functionality are really important. I like to have a big boot space and little side wells or areas I can divide things into. So something I don’t want to move around while I’m driving such as Tulsi’s lunch bag or her wet swimming gear can be sectioned off in a little well where it’s not going to spill or get squashed by the rest of the things in the boot.

Hooks for securing shopping bags to are also favourites of mine, I like being able to secure the bag containing more fragile things like eggs so they don’t move around on the journey.

I measure the boot space in freezer shopping bags, prams and dogs. Not because I think all there is to a mum’s life is food shopping, prams and dogs. (Although it can feel like it sometimes!!) But because these are visually mesurable items we can all associate with. For me, the car company boot measurement of litres is not an amount I can easily visualise and 400L in one car may differ in usability to that in another due to the configuration or shape of the space.

The Mountain Buggy Duet twin stroller fitted with two shopping bags beside it.

The Mountain Buggy Urban Jungle single stroller fitted with five shopping bags beside it.

The Mountain Buggy Nano compact stroller fitted with 10 shopping bags beside it.

Or you could fit a medium sized dog in there!

The boot floor of the Subaru Forester is nicely carpeted so it's good for an emergency nappy change. However, near the opening of the boot the floor slopes down sharply and this actually cuts off the storage area of the boot about 10cm short of where it should. This prevented me from being able to store even more in the boot and would be a worry that things would roll out when you reached your destination if they moved during the journey.

Storage in the cabin was okay. The front door bins are nice and large and will hold a large refillable water bottle, a 600ml bottle and my wallet.

There are two cup holders in the central console, they are really big though and I found only my large refillable water bottle fitted and found a disposable and reusable coffee cup both rattled around in the holders.

In front of the gear lever is a rubber-lined well that would hold my phone and my glasses, as there is no glasses case in the Subaru Forester. There is a 12V socket in here too.

The central console storage box is not a bad size; it is square and deep and has two USBs, a 12V socket and AUX inside it too. There is a tray in the top which would hold a phone but only one of the smaller ones and there are some coin holders there too.

The glove box is not enormous in the Subaru Forester. It would hold my wallet and iPad, but with the manual in there too I think you would struggle to close it.

The doors all have storage wells in them where the handles are, which is a great BabyDrive feature. I find them really useful for putting keys or whatever my daughter has in her hands when I am loading her into the car. The front passenger also gets an extra one where the window control panel is in the driver's door!

In the back of the 2018 Subaru Forester, there are map pockets on the back of both front seats that will hold an iPad but not conceal it.

In a fold-down armrest in the central seatback are two good sized cup holders. They would hold a re-usable or disposable coffee cup and they have rubber flaps in them that help to grip a smaller 600ml or baby bottle.

The door bins in the back are not as big as in the front but they will hold a large refillable water bottle and my wallet.

So… How noisy is the 2018 Subaru Forester?

There are no parking sensors in the Subaru Forester, they are an expensive additional option which I find really surprising as they are standard on most competitor cars of a similar price range.

When you are reversing, the camera image is displayed on the media screen which is quite small but with a relatively clear image.

There is also a second camera image, down the left side of the car, in a screen in the top of the dashboard where a clock would normally be. I found this useful to make sure I was in the lines when parking.  There is blindspot warning in the mirrors too.

The media screen beeps each time you touch it, but you can turn that this off within the screen's settings. There is no Apple CarPlay or Android Auto and I find the system quite dated to use. I am told the new Forester coming out in September will have Apple CarPlay and will have lots of new technology updates like fatigue detection and facial recognition. The media system volume settings are not remembered from previous journeys. For example, if you have muted the radio on your previous journey when you get back in for your next journey the radio will be playing and not muted.

I found there to be a surprising amount of road noise when driving the Forester around town and the engine had this kind of whistle or howl sounding noise too when you accelerate, which I found disturbing while driving.

There is sat-nav in the media system, it was quite simple to navigate and I found you could mute the announcements and adjust the volume of it within the map screen settings.

The lane departure warning button is on the right-hand side of the steering wheel, it beeps to alert you that you are out of your lane.

You can turn the warning volumes off, or change the volume, within the settings on the screen in front of the steering wheel. You can change the warning volume to off, minimum or max. I found on the minimum setting they were quiet enough to not disturb my daughter when sleeping.

Becoming a parent I soon realised there are some noises and sounds I feel are unnecessary and I could happily live without if it meant my baby stayed asleep!!

That often the distraction of my screaming, distressed baby is more dangerous when driving than not having a lane departure warning for example.

If it is the lane departure warning beeping that creates distress with my baby then which is safest?

It’s where I think we need to be able to strike a balance and choose when we can mute the warnings or swap them to a vibration in the steering wheel or flashing light perhaps?

A lot of these noises come with the increase in technology and especially linked to safety features and alerts. For me these all have their place.

Another thing I have realised is I spend my time in a lot more places where small children roam, parks, beaches, play gyms, swimming lessons, daycare centre etc. I have become more aware that when I’m reversing or manouvering in the car parks I have to tripple check for small children running around behind me or being in my blind spot when reversing. For this I LOVE reversing cameras, I just don’t like their beeping sounds!!

I have become so much more aware of safety and potential accidents or hazards since having a child and so I love the peace of mind that I get from the cameras and sensors combined with my own vision from windows and mirrors as I don’t trust cameras alone.

The indicators are quite a quiet tick sound in the Forester and not a baby waking beep!

The windows of the Forester are quite noisy to open and they close with a loud thud. The doors also close with a baby waking thud but are fairly quiet to open. The doors and windows can both be locked from the driver's door control panel. I found you can come to a stop with the engine still running and get out of the car without sounding any alarms.

Since becoming a mum I spend A LOT of time parked up somewhere with a nice view while my daughter is asleep in the back! If it's hot I need to leave the engine running and the aircon on but I do like to get out and drink my cuppa tea in the fresh air while enjoying the fact my limbs are free from said dangling child!!
SO this is a very important test as I have found that sometimes I have been held hostage by a cars BEEEEPING alarms when I have taken off my seatbelt or opened the door while the engine is still running!! (I only stand outside the car, I am not a bad mother!!)

The auto engine cut out button is in the central console to stop the engine turning on and off at lights and junctions when you come to a stop.

I find this function really disturbing for sleeping babies, you have just got your baby to sleep in the car and you stop at lights and the engine turns off sometimes they will stay asleep but when the engine shudders to a start again it shakes baby awake and all your efforts are ruined!! Even coming to a stop at lights with the engine running can be enough to wake a sleeping child so turning the engine off and on again will definitely do it! I have driven routes I know have roundabouts rather than lights just to avoid coming to a stop for any length of time!!

The seatbelt removal alarm makes a ‘gling, gling' sound and a light alerts you on the dashboard too.

So… How many child seats fit on the 2018 Subaru Forester?

There are three top tether points across the rear seat backrests of the Forester, easily accessible through the boot. They are within plastic guides that are clearly marked and which I found easy to connect to.

The two outer rear seats have ISOFix points behind leather flaps between the base and seat backs, that are not within plastic guides. The fabric and foam of the seats behind the flaps are crudely cut and you can tell over time that crumbs and child detritus could collect down that gap! But at least the ISOFix were nice and easy to connect to when installing the child seats.

I managed to fit three child seats into the Forester really nicely: The rear-facing Britax Unity infant capsule and rear-facing Britax Graphene in the two outer seats and the forward facing Maxi Guard Pro in the central seat. I did have to use the seatbelts for all three seats rather than the ISOFix in order to move the child seats out to the edges of the seat base.

Posting bub into their child seat from inside and outside the car is really nice and easy in the Forester. The ceiling is high, making it easy from inside and there are lovely big open doorways that give you plenty of room for posting bub in from outside.

Australia being a country of weather extremes; blazing sun and torrential rain, mean you may find it easier to put Bub into their seat from inside the car sometimes. If it’s hot you can get the air-con going, cool the car down and not stand out in the sun while you fasten them in or shelter from the rain and not get soaked yourself whilst you’re doing it. So it is important to test whether Bub can be easily installed from either direction!

There is room to feed bub in the back if you only have one child seat installed. The seats are upholstered with black leather which would be nice and easy to wipe clean however the central panels are perforated so detritus and crumbs get trapped in the holes and are really hard to keep clean.

So… How comfortable is the 2018 Subaru Forester? and How good is the 2018 Subaru Forester to drive?

In the front of the Forester, the seats are nice and comfortable with electronic adjusters on both sides. You can have a ponytail in the front seats which was fantastic!

I had spent hours styling my hair this morning to get this ponytail just right too… said no new mum ever!!!

For a mum travelling in the back, the seats are comfortable and there is ample headroom. The central seat is slightly raised and there is a small hump in the footwell in the middle but it was not too bad to rest your feet on or to straddle. The seats are comfortable but you can feel the hard central backrest because of the fold-down armrest with cup holders.

The second row of seats doesn't slide or adjust for legroom but the legroom was really good in the Forester.

The steering wheel was fully adjustable in/out and up/down.

There are four air-conditioning vents across the front dashboard; two central ones and one at either end. There are no rear air vents. The controls for the aircon are three large dials on the central dashboard, which I found nice and easy to locate and use whilst driving.

There are lit vanity mirrors in both visors in the front. The visors are very deep and extendable too. They are like enormous maternity sanitary pads, very practical but quite ugly!!

The interior lights in the front are press on, the rear ones are in the ceiling above the back seats but are too far back to reach from the driver's seat and they cannot be controlled from the front light panel either.

I have found Tulsi does not like travelling in the dark in the car so if it gets dark whilst travelling then I reach back and turn the interior light on for her. So it’s really important for me that I can reach the rear ceiling light.

Also if I am traveling home and it is getting near to bed time and I DEFINITELY DON’T want her to fall asleep in the car as even a five-minute nap in the car means bed time is all over!!!! I lean back and pop the light on so it’s not dark and try to keep her awake!! Along with screaming/singing at the top of my voice!!!

It is also useful when there are lights situated above the doors where the handles are usually positioned. These are good for when putting baby into their child seats when visibility is poor, so you do not have to reach across them to a light situated in the ceiling centrally etc.

Visibility in the Forester is excellent for both driver and passengers, the windows are all nice and big and deep, the wing mirrors have been moved back slightly and a little triangular window put in front in each side to give extra visibility too.

One thing I have noticed since being a mum is I hate it when I reach a destination or get home from being out and Tulsi has either done really well in the car or she is screaming her head off and I have done really well to keep it together for the entire journey (usually the latter!!) and it takes 10 minutes to park the car! It can be really stressful. Usually I dread parking new cars as they take longer in our tight apartment block carpark, but the Forester was simple to park as the visibility was so good!

There are handles above both rear doors which are well positioned to hold a baby toy.

There are two 12V sockets in the central console storage box and one in front of the gear lever too. All the surfaces in the Forester are easily wiped clean. The black leather of the seats would be good too but there is a lot of perforated leather in the seats and doors which is harder to clean and raps sand, crumbs and kiddie detritus.

There were no floor mats in the model I tested.

The Forester has keyless entry and a powered tailgate which was silent when opened from the boot.

So… How safe is the 2018 Subaru Forester?

The Subaru Forester scored a five-star ANCAP safety rating in 2013, getting a total of 35.64 out of 37 overall. For the frontal offset test, it got 14.64 out of 16 and 16/16 for the side impact test. It got 2/2 for the pole test and in the pedestrian protection test, it was rated acceptable.

Seven airbags come as standard; there is a driver's knee airbag as well as dual frontal airbags and front side airbags and side curtain airbags for the front and the rear side passengers.

As standard, the Subaru Forester comes with symmetrical all-wheel drive (SAWD), anti-lock brakes (ABS), electronic stability control (ESC), electronic brake force distribution (EBD), along with brake assist and traction control system (TCS) and hill start assist.

Top spec models come with the vision assist package consisting of adaptive driving beam (ADB), blind spot monitor (BSM), lane change assist (LCA), rear cross traffic alert (RCTA), side view monitor (SVM). As well as the SI-Drive EyeSight driver assist package which includes adaptive cruise control, brake light recognition, lane departure warning, lane keep assist, lane sway warning, lead vehicle start alert, pre-collision braking system, pre-collision brake assist and pre-collision throttle management.

Some of these safety features are also features that drive me crazy as a mum! Like the lane departure and forward collision alert or the parking sensor beeping sound. I want all the safety technology AND to be able to mute the sound when Tulsi’s asleep!