2025 Subaru Forester Hybrid Joins Our One-Year Road Test Fleet

• We've added a 2025 Subaru Forester Hybrid to our One-Year Road Test fleet.
• The Forester will stick around for a year and 20,000 miles.
• The EPA estimates our Forester Hybrid should see 35 mpg combined.
• Our Forester Limited Hybrid's price tag is well over $42,000.

So what makes the sixth-generation Forester different? A new hybrid engine for starters, one that promises truly excellent fuel economy without compromising what makes the Forester such a popular pick for the camping crowd. It also has refreshed styling and an updated interior with one of the largest touchscreens in the class. All of which got us curious enough to add one to our One-Year Road Test fleet.

What did we get?

Our test vehicle is a 2025 Forester Limited Hybrid, which is on the nicey-nice end of the trim ladder, topped only by the Touring Hybrid. Our Forester is painted in Autumn Green Metallic, aka "that green color Subarus always seem to be." All-wheel drive is standard, with modes that enhance traction on various terrains like mud and snow. The Forester rides on 18-inch alloy wheels 8.7 inches above the ground, which is pretty up there for this class of SUVs. Inside, the Limited comes with black heated leather seats, a Harman/Kardon audio system, an 11.6-inch touchscreen, standard EyeSight advanced driver assist systems, and a set of $156 dealer-installed rubber floor mats. Aside from the floor mats there are no other options, so the total price comes out to $42,586, including the $1,420 destination charge.

While Edmunds often purchases vehicles for the One-Year Road Test fleet, Subaru loaned this Forester Hybrid to us for the purposes of evaluation.

Under the hood is Subaru's new hybrid system, and it's a darn sight better than the old one that quietly disappeared from the Crosstrek a few years ago. This one puts out a combined 194 horsepower, 14 more hp than the standard gas engine, and routes its power to all four wheels through a continuously variable automatic transmission. At our test track, a similar Forester Hybrid took 8.8 seconds to get to 60 mph from a standstill. That's on the slow side for the class and notably pokey compared to the Honda CR-V hybrid (8.0 seconds) and the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid (7.8 seconds). On the flip side, the EPA says the Forester should get 35 mpg in mixed driving, which ... also trails both the Honda and the Toyota by 2 mpg and 4 mpg, respectively.

If you're wondering why we didn't get the off-roady Wilderness trim, it's because the 2025 version is still based on the previous-generation Forester. Why not wait? Well, when the new version goes on sale it won't be available with the hybrid engine, and the hybrid is one of the main reasons we wanted to check out the new Forester in the first place.

Why did we get it?

This isn't Subaru's first hybrid; that was way back in 2014 with the XV Crosstrek. But that hybrid didn't really save much in the way of gas, adding a mere 2 mpg but costing considerably more. Our Limited Hybrid costs about $1,700 more than a similar non-hybrid Limited, but it promises a 6 mpg improvement in combined fuel economy and 9 mpg in the city. That's nothing to sneeze at, and we wonder if those claims will bear out over time. 

Then there's the touchscreen. We noted in our First Drive review that it's laggy, something it shares with other Subarus with the same system. However, that same review noted that when using smartphone integration like Apple CarPlay it's not so bad. Over the year, we'll find out if it's a nonissue or if it drives us crazy.

Finally, there are a lot of outdoorsy types on staff here, and Subaru's no longer the only compact SUV with off-road aspirations. Over the next 12 months and 20,000 miles, we're going to put the Forester's off-road capabilities to the test and see if they're enhanced or hindered by the hybrid drivetrain.

Photos by Keith Buglewicz