The Subaru Forester, is a tall station wagon, marketed as a compact crossover, produced since 1997 by the Japanese automaker Subaru. Released in the United States in 1998, it is based on the same underpinnings as the Subaru Impreza.

The Forester has always been an all wheel drive vehicle.

The Forester was introduced to the American market in 1998, using the Impreza platform but with the larger 2.5-liter horizontally opposed four-cylinder engine from the Outback, making 165 horsepower at 5,600 rpm and 162 ft.-lbs. of torque at 4,000 rpm. Due to the Forester's low center of gravity, it meets the United States federal safety standards for Passenger Vehicles, and does not require a risk of rollover warning label on the driver's visor. Size and price wise it fits between the smaller Impreza and the larger Legacy and is popular with commuters, campers and small families. People appreciate the practicality, looks, strong motor, smooth ride and excellent handling.

As with all Subaru models marketed in the United States and other international markets since the early 1990s, the Forester is equipped with an all-wheel drive drivetrain. Subaru advertising employed the slogan "SUV tough, Car Easy" to appeal to the SUV-oriented market; and to this end, the Forester has features associated with SUVs such as a large, boxy cargo area and more ground clearance than other Subaru models (although it employs a unibody architecture, rather than a body-on-frame construction associated with some large trucks and large SUVs). The Forester, up until recently, was also sold in India as a Chevrolet alongside other Chevrolet models sold there. However since General Motors no longer holds an ownership stake in Subaru's parent company, Fuji Heavy Industries, sales in India of the Chevrolet-badged Forester have ended. The Forester is produced at the Gunma Yajima Factory in Japan.

Subaru chose to continue their longstanding traditional use of the boxer engine in the Forester, as well as their other products, to simplify the powertrain implementation of all wheel drive and because of the natural smoothness of the engine design. According to Subaru, because the engine sits inline with the transmission, instead of being offset, as can be commonly found by other FWD and AWD vehicles, body roll is minimized. The weight of the engine and transmission are balanced instead of being offset, which causes the weight of the engine and transmission to be unbalanced in the engine bay in other vehicles. The boxer engine also affords a low center of gravity because the engine sits low in the engine bay and close to the ground, as opposed to other vehicles, allowing the vehicle to stay more stable in moderate to high speed maneuvers. Other manufacturers attempt to counteract the offset weight by making their powertrains weight evenly distributed, which overall causes the powertrain to be heavier than the Subaru layout, which is lightweight from the beginning, having being manufactured from aluminum. The boxer design also provides perfect vibration mitigation because the movement of each piston is exactly countered by the corresponding piston in the opposing cylinder bank, eliminating the need for a harmonic balancer attached to the front of the engine at the crankshaft. Torque steer is also reduced with this type of powertrain layout. This is achieved by having the front driveshafts being of equal weight and length, and extend from the transmission to the front wheels at almost perpendicular from the transmission.

The Forester was created for buyers who preferred the boxy, truck-based appearance of SUVs and found the Outback and the smaller Outback Sport as more station wagon-like in appearance. The Forester competes against the Honda CR-V[/b], Kia Sportage, Suzuki Sidekick, [url=http://www.desktopcar.net/land-rover/freelander/]Land Rover Freelander, Mazda Tribute, Ford Escape, and Toyota RAV4.

The trim levels were the basic model, followed by the "L" and the fully equipped "S" for the USA version.

View also:
Subaru Legacy - Subaru Outback - Subaru B5-TPH - Subaru B9 Tribeca - Subaru Exiga - Subaru Impreza

Check out the Subaru Forester wallpapers and Subaru Forester Pictures (pics) collection below: