The Legacy is the best selling station wagon in Japan, and has been since its inception, but that hasn’t stopped its sales figures plummeting as Japanese family men abandoned the old two box format for MPVs, minivans and crossovers largely because they’re larger, or more specifically, because they safely seat six, seven, or at a stretch, eight.

While Japan’s birth rate may be one of the lowest in the world, multi-generational homes are still common, so when granddad, grandma, dad, mom and the kids head to the ancestral home in the boonies, five seatbelts just won’t cut it. Subaru worked on a minivan for a few years, but the prototypes handled like, well, vans and the powers that be decided that they were not Subaru-rashii; they didn’t have that thing that makes a Subaru a Subaru.

Plan B was obvious: take a Legacy, stretch the wheelbase a bit, chuck a couple of seats in the trunk but keep the center of gravity nice and low. And on roads clogged with boxy MPVs ( Toyota alone make 10 different models) the result doesn’t look half bad. Most importantly it drives more like a car than any of its competitors. The only Japanese seven-seater that comes close to matching the Exiga’s handling and performance is the unimaginatively named Mazda MPV, but only when bought in 2.3-liter turbo guise.

Which brings us to the Exiga’s choice of power plants. Citing concerns about rising fuel prices and the environment Subaru only offer the Exiga with their EJ20 two-liter motor in either turbocharged or naturally aspirated forms. Now come on Subaru, is a two-liter, being flogged within an inch of its life in order to keep 2000 kgs of Exiga and occupants moving at a fair clip, any more economical or ecological than an EJ25, or better still, Fuji Heavy Industries superb flat-six 3.0 riding on their more prodigious torque curves?

The EJ20 does struggle when the car is fully loaded, particularly the non-turbo, but when you’ve got the car to yourself the Exiga feels surprisingly sprightly, even nimble. Don’t kid yourself, you won’t be seeing Petter Solberg catching big air in one anytime soon, but if you fancy a quick blast down a winding road after you drop the kids off at school, the Exiga GT will do nicely.

Inside the rearmost seats are fine for kids of childseat age and above, but anyone over 5′ 2″ won’t want to spend a lot of time back there as the seat cushions are set too close to the floor to provide under thigh support. Elbow room isn’t bad considering the scant external dimensions of the car and even with the third row full, non-NBA playing mid-row occupants won’t be jamming their knees into the driver’s back.

So how much bigger is the Exiga over the Legacy? Just 6cms longer, 4.5cms wider and 9cms taller, while the wheelbase has been stretched a full 15cms (6″), but somehow Subaru have kept its curb weight down to a nigh on identical 1,500(ish) kilos. More importantly the cabin is a whopping 88cms longer, 6.5cms wider with 8.5cms more headroom.

So would you like to see the Exiga sold Stateside? You tell us, because we can promise you that the top brass at Subaru are reading.

I just see this news, share with my friends. and today kamloops has a bad weather. this is not a worst thing. the worst thing is i miss bus. so i have to waiting for bus almost one hour. at that time i real thing about buy a car, whatevr it is.

Today in Detroit we finally got to see the long-anticipated (by some of us at least) 2009 Subaru Forester that was revealed on Christmas Day. We’ve covered the JDM version and the US model pretty extensively, but now we have a few live shots of this fun and funky CUV for those who like that sort of thing. As we’ve already revealed, US customers will have their choice of naturally-aspirated and turbocharged versions of the same 2.5L boxer four-cylinder engine that has been offered in the past, although they’ve been reworked for more low-end torque.

The new, longer press release is after the jump, and if you peruse it you’ll learn that the engines put out 170 HP/170 ft-lbs and 224/226 for the NA and turbo versions, respectively. Pretty much what we assumed, seeing as how they are virtually identical to those used in the Impreza. Although not specifically outlined in the release, we’ll probably be getting the same trim levels as in the past: base 2.5X, Sports 2.5X, 2.5X L.L. Bean Edition paired with the NA engine and the 2.5XT, Sports 2.5XT and 2.5XT Limited offered with the turbo. New features for the 2009 US-spec Forester include available satellite navigation, standard Vehicle Dynamics Control and traction control, and Incline Start Assist on models with the manual transmission. Check out the live shots of US-spec 2009 Forester that have been added to our gallery below and read Subaru’s press release after the jump.

[Source: Subaru]

From:http://www.autoblog.com/2008/01/13/detroit-2008-09-subaru-forester-shows-its-us-face-in-detroit/

2009 Subaru Forester
By Subiesport Magazine, http://www.subiesport.com

2007 has been a year of big announcements at Subaru. First there was the revision of the Tribeca, and while that wasn’t earth shattering, the world waited in rapt excitement for the next one. That would have been the new Impreza WRX. Here was the first step in the hot-saloon cum hot hatch revamp. Then, closely on the heals of this was the relaunch of the STI which made the world stand still. Not ready to throw in the towel, Subaru had just one more revamp up its sleeve. And here it is: the long awaited for… 2009 Subaru Forester.

Not exactly the biggest release from Subaru in the last 5 five years, but still, another all-new model for Subaru fans to either rejoice or lament over. Given Subaru’s track-record over the last year, the faithful are sure to have their beefs with this new car as well.
Gone is the shoe-box styling that made the Forester such a hit. Again, Subaru seems to be taking styling cues from the likes of Toyota as the new Forester looks to be much more Rav 4 and not so much box-back Impreza.

The Forester still shares its platform with the hot saloon Impreza and therefore also shares the all-new, more sophisticated double-wishbone rear-suspension which Subaru claims improves crash protection as well as handling feel. Whereas the senior Forester was much more car-like in stance and ride-height, this generation is taller for a more SUV feel, with up to 8.9-inches of ground clearance. Subaru claims that this Forester also has more cargo room, which comes virtue of better suspension packaging and a longer wheel base, 3.6-inches more than that of the previous car.

The drivetrain is the same as that of the Impreza, with both 2.5-liter N/A and 2.5-liter turbo models available. Both manual and automatic transmission choices are available with VDC traction and stability control being standard along with all-wheel-drive, ABS and 4-wheel disc brakes. Manual transmissions will get Incline Start Assist to prevent roll-back when starting out on a hill.

The new Forester will now offer the same gee-whiz interior goodies of the Impreza with optional navigation, satellite radio and portable media player connectivity. Subaru claims that “…new interior materials, including double-stitched fabrics and high-grade plastics, impart a feeling of higher quality.” The Forester again is offered in several different trim levels with the stripper being the 2.5 X, “offering one of the best values in the crossover SUV segment and the range-topping Forester L.L.Bean Edition, offering more luxury without compromising the vehicle’s sporty nature;” or so says Subaru.

While we take solace in the fact that Subaru has retained the hot XT version, it appears that Subaru has slipped yet another one of its quirky, marque-defining models into the mainstream with the Forester’s new pseudo off-road body-cladding. This may be an attempt to carve the Forester out of the GLBT niche that Subaru so happily made for the car, and try to make it more competitive against the likes of the Rav 4 and CRV, which it closely resembles now.

If this new car is anything like it’s predecessor, it should offer more power, performance and handling than that of either the Honda or the Toyota.

Where this new car will fit in given the history and pedigree of the Forester, what with both the Japanese STI version and previous Sports editions as the benchmark, will be interesting to see. However, given the fact that this car also shares the underpinnings of the Impreza which is no slouch in the handling and power department, we will have to see just how much padding there is between the two cars.

Hopefully, as in past generations, your own home-brewed pseudo-STI version is only a set of springs and a reflash away.

For more pictures, and the original press release, visit http://www.subiesport.com

NASIOC’s News & Rumors forum already has a thread in progress.

The standard new generation evolution usually goes like this: bigger, roomier, longer, wider. For some models, it’s not such a big deal to go fiddling with the specs, on certain cars it’s even a welcome improvement. Subaru, however, has a conundrum on their hands when they go messing with the Impreza formulation. There’s a loveable quirkiness to the recipe; start tinkering too much, though, and you’ll end up with New Coke.

Thus, it’s with trepidation that we sampled the 2008 Impreza. It certainly looks different than those which came before. New duds don’t mean an expanded waistline here, the 2008 model actually twirls out considerably less measuring tape in several dimensions than its forebear, while gaining inches and tenths where they make the most difference. Better doesn’t have enough depth to fully convey the marked improvements Subaru has made in their entry-level model for 2008. Even stretching to “a lot better” leaves more to be said

i have post some infomartion about 2009 Subaru Forester
now i found another two share with my friends

More and more 2009 Subaru Forester pictures were released. but we still cam not see the picture of real car. but from the scans we could know 09 Forester will have the two launch engines in Japan will be a NA 2.0 boxer with 148 hp and 140 lb-ft of torque and a turbocharged version generating 230 horsepower and 234 lb-ft. but the one thing i should say is subaru more and more does not like subaru now.

the pictures come from autoblog.com

 also i get other picture from xcar.com.cn

Any hope of Subaru surprising us with the 2009 Forester’s new look is gone now thanks to a Japanese magazine cover that’s been scanned on the web revealing in full detail what the new boxy CUV will look like when it soon debuts. Subaru recently went live with a new mini site for the Forester that showed us a shadowy image of the Forester’s rear end, but this new scan leaves nothing to the imagination. It’s very Tribeca-like in the grille and headlights and looks much more like its own design than does the current model. Perhaps Subaru can keep the Forester’s technical details close to its chest for a few more weeks until the first official images are released on Christmas Day, but we kind of doubt it.

[Source: Autoblog]

now i willing post some picture from Carscoop, all is about 2009 Subaru Forester.

when we try to guess what the new Subaru forester look like, Subaru japan website have a page to show how long we still need to wait. in the website, you can see how long we need wait, until now , i last visit the website, i saw we still have 26 days for more informations.
but it is coming~~that is a good new for us.

This is a bad news for most subaru’s fans. Prodrive America has been around for over five years, mainly supplying Subaru enthusiasts with all the necessary gear to flog road courses and plug holes on rally stages. There’s no word as to why Prodrive is pulling out of the U.S. so if you want to but the products of Prodrive, i suggest u go to you local dealer now. also i thing subaru should think about it. subaru dealers should do something for his market.

Subarus have sported standard AWD since the 80s, well before most other automakers even bothered with the technology. That, partnered with its boxer engine, goes together like peanut butter and jelly. But the Japanese automaker has to begin worrying about fuel efficiency and emissions, so the two features that have defined the brand for decades may become optional on future models. Thankfully, it’s got Toyota to pilfer from, so the implementation of new drivetrains will be a bit easier if and when it makes the shift. Subaru of Australia Director Nick Senior broke the news of the possible switch, but he also emphasized that any changes wouldn’t be made before 2010 and that no product plans are without AWD or the boxer engine in the foreseeable future.

When I saw this news, i think i have a little suppired. why i love subaru is because his AWD and the boxer engine. but now he want to change it. wow, if he does not have those thing, why should i love her?so please don’t do that Subaru, you know that this won’t do much good to you. do not let your fans sad~~~