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2018 Subaru Forester drops turbo XT

No boosted XT-replacement for now, but could that change in the near future?

2018 Subaru Forester drops turbo XT
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THE recent unveiling of the fifth-generation Subaru Forester at the New York motor show raised a question perhaps as important as those it answered: specifically, why no turbocharged flat-four?

It’s hard to overlook the enthusiasts’ point of view. How many fourth-gen Forester XT owners will be willing to trade their 2.0-litre 177kW/350Nm turbo SUVs and settle for a new model that’s at least 50kg heavier and produces 136kW and 239Nm? Not forgetting the new Forester’s FA25 direct-injection 2.5-litre flat four makes its peak torque figure at a relatively peaky 4400rpm, way higher than where the old turbo engine generates peak twist.

Subaru Forester Fourth Gen Current XT Engine Jpg
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Fourth-gen Forester XT engine 

Subaru pretty much pioneered the performance-SUV genre with the Forester GT back in the late ‘90s (essentially a WRX powertrain in a high-riding, trail-capable package) and has not deviated significantly from the strategy until now.

Putting aside the disappointment of enthusiast customers for a second, we need to question how Subaru is going to meet tougher consumption and emission regulations in the form of Euro-7 compliance due in 2021 with an atmo engine in a circa-1600kg SUV.

We don’t yet have an official consumption figure for the fifth-gen car that’s due in Australia in September, but even if it improves slightly on the current number of 8.1L/100km, that’s unlikely to cut it in the face of tougher CO2 legislation, even with the addition of a plug-in hybrid joining the line-up sometime in 2019.

Subaru Forester New Ascent Engine Jpg
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Subaru's FA25 as fitted to the USDM 2019 Subaru Ascent

Wheels sat with Mr Tomoyuki Nunome, project manager of the fifth-gen Forester (along with the Mr Toru Ozeki who led design) at the New York motor show and asked why the new 2.4-litre turbo-petrol flat four (as fitted to the US-market seven-seater Ascent SUV ) was not part of the line-up for the new model.

The response, through an interpreter, was that the atmo 2.5-litre was deemed entirely appropriate for both the performance parameters and the target market. The turbo engine, we were told, was not necessary. When pushed about tighter emissions standards, and the need to reinvigorate a model during the course of its life, Mr Nunome simply declined to comment on future product plans.


The take-out from this? It would seem that perhaps reasons of hierarchy are why the new turbocharged 2.4-litre engine, which makes 194kW and 376Nm in the Subaru Ascent (above), is being reserved for the large SUV. Will a lower-boost version, tuned for even sharper economy, make it under the bonnet of the new Forester some time after the plug-in Hybrid is launched? We think so. And we hope so.

MORE: Subaru Forester Range Review
MORE: Subaru Forester Specs, Range & Price

Associate Editor Wheels
Siteassets Authors Ash Westerman

September 2023: Wheels Media mourns the loss of Ash Westerman, long-time staffer and close friend. He was 57. Read our story here to learn more about Ash, his life and career, and how beloved he was by so many.

Ash Westerman was Associate Editor for Wheels magazine and one of our longest-serving scribes. He got his start as a motoring writer on MOTOR in the late '80s, where he cut his chops as a road tester, honed his magazine craft, and learned to write about himself in the third person.


 

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