Used 2017 Subaru Forester Consumer Reviews

Great all around

Need improvement on the headlight. But overall, it's a great family car.

2017 forester xt touring

have not had the forester that long,2 big disappointments would be seats are very uncomfortable(not enough support and could have more padding) 2nd thing is it does not have wipers on/headlights on feature. most states now require this,it would be a nice feature to have. other than that,i am happy with it so far.i have since traded the forester in on a better car.

still great

almost 3 years in with 20000 miles. Still a great ride.

Bought Another One!

Hit a deer with my 2015 Forester and totaled it. I liked it so much, I bought a 2017 Forester, but not before I test drove just about everything in its price range. The Forester still suited my needs best for economy, real 4wd ability, roominess , handling, ground clearance, and acceleration from a stop. I rated this car highly in just about every category compared to similarly priced suvs . The CVT transmission is particularly well suited to this car, reacting quickly to throttle input on hills and stop signs where others searched for gears or just would not get the car moving in a timely fashion creating some hairy moments when trying to get into traffic. When going on a trip, my wife wants to take everything, including the sink, but somehow, we manage to get it all in. Muddy fields, washed out farm roads, and interstates have been no problem. I am not saying this is the best suv out there, but it is hard to find a base model suv that will do most everything well. This one comes as close as anything I could find, in 2015 and 2017. Another 25,000 miles, I still have the car, and would buy it again. The only issue is the air conditioning which is a little weak for southern Virginia. No squeaks or rattles in spite of what I put it through. Good car. I still have the car and still like it, but the air conditioner is a serious problem. Several trips to the dealer and a recall did not fix the issue. I have now been told it is all my fault and it will cost $1600 to put it right. I do not know if this is a design or a dealer problem because it is now hard to trust the dealer. Just be aware. I have not fixed the air conditioner. When the summer heats up, I will take it to an independent repair shop as the dealer has put a bad taste in my mouth. The Forester still does everything well, except cool; no squeaks, no rattles, good milage, good car. An independent repair shop fixed the air conditioner for under $100 including refrigerant. Apparently, a leaking connection. It puts out cold air, just not enough of it. My sister has an identical Forester with the same problem. My wife's Outback cools just fine, go figure. Other than that, I really like the car and have no plans to trade anytime in the foreseeable future. Air conditioner has been giving me a fit! Replaced burned out compressor, now leaking refrigerant behind the dash, a real pain to get to. Car only has about 75,000 miles on it and getting to be a hassle. Here in southern VA an air conditioner is a necessity. The situation is not good! The car has been outstanding otherwise. I will have it repaired, no choice really. Cannot sell it with no air conditioner and once it is fixed no point in selling it. Keeping my fingers crossed!

Sleeper Hot Rod Forester XT

This car has lots of power, and handling, and once you get used to it, is superb. However, this car is extremely twitchy, with no slack or weighted steering right in the middle. The '02 Outback Eddie Bauer edition we had, was way better in the steering. This is a serious problem that Subaru should address: Please subaru, drive a German Car, a Mercedes, BMW, or VW, even an old one. You can see how cars should steer. You have to pay attention constantly when driving, good for the Zen meditation expert who wants to use the art of driving as a tool for addressing Life, but poor for the average person that has to text, pay attention to the phone, figure out the climate controls and the radio and has a passing interest in the art of driving. I do love this car, but wish it had more storage, a voltmeter (how come we don't get to know how the battery is doing?), and a little more luggage area in the back, although you can fold down the back seat. (Don't make it any larger!) The styling is sort of "me, too"; but I'm getting used to it, and learning to love it because it is so average. A sleeper Hot Rod, the XT! The headlights are way good, and really shine down our deer laden roads in Wisconsin. I will write a more thorough review once I've had it longer. Oh Subaru! You must address the twitchy steering!

Worst new veiled I have ever drove.

Drives [non-permissible content removed] in cross wind.Any wind will torque steer this car.Going to trade in asap.Drivers power seat very uncomfortable with no rear bottom adjustment.

CVT

The CVT transmission makes for a driving experience not unlike that of a go-cart. There is a lag on acceleration and the continuous nature of this technology makes it just dreadful to drive. I couldn't wait for the test drive to end.

subaru forester limited 2017

this is a great car, I have 1 complain so far very miner and it is the front cup holder. I use a 30 oz. s.s. tumbler with a handle on it , turns over in cup holder, but if that all I have got to complain then this is a great car. Year after owning this car it is still a great car. It may have 8700 miles on it.

poor man's SUV

I ordered a toyota RAV4 but got a Forrester from Alamo. Drove the car 4 weeks. Display drove me crazy. Clock was advancing hilarously. very unlogical controls. Banged my head several times against the trunk lid. Underpowered car. Overtaking others is a life threathening experience. Loads of noise but car does not move faster. never again. Drove a Hyundai I10 the week before in rough roads in Iceland, performed much better...

Lost me when having to use Premium gas

I test drove a 2017 XT Touring with the turbo engine. They almost had me sold until they said the turbo needs premium gas. You can use mid-grade ok but why would you pay that much more for a bigger engine when it runs at it best on premium? Kia/Hyundai have turbos that don't need premium and the Ford ecoboost turbo doesn't either. In this day in age I see no reason to have to use premium gas unless you're buying a serious high end car - and if you do then obviously gas prices are not an issue for you. Three other complaints are that the seats are hard, the passenger side seat is not powered at all (how at this price point is the passenger seat not powered??) and the side mirrors don't power fold (my garage is small and love this feature that I have on my current vehicle).

so good I bought another Subaru

We've owned the Forester for a little over five years and it has been great. Very comfortable and efficient, with superb visibility. Fuel mileage has held at 27 in mixed suburban driving, 32 hwy . Only after driving a car like the Forester do you realize how difficult it is to see out of most new cars. My wife just loves this car - doesn't want any other. Eyesight is amazing - everything works just as promised, making you feel very safe.

Practical, safe without a lot of whistles

This SUV is easy to maneuver and I like the more boxy style opposed to bubble like models out there. I had to get used to the black line in my side view where the window went into the pretend little window, I found that odd but eventually got used to it. Comfortable seating and storage area is pretty roomy. This vehicle is not as wide as the Outback so you don’t have a lot of elbow room but it works great for me! The automatic shifting would seem out of sync at times and took into service to adjust. I feel the side mirrors could be a different shape the small odd shape doesn’t give you the best visual. All in all a great vehicle for the money.

I love my Tardis, it's bigger on the inside

it is a small SUV, but it has plenty of room not the inside. I love it so far, only having a bit of an issue with the USB plug-in not connecting correctly or resetting in the middle of my music. Otherwise I LOVE IT!

Best car I’ve ever owned!

This is an excellent vehicle. Only small complaint is that it is a little louder when accelerating than I like. But it’s comfortable, has great features and good mileage for a SUV.

First new car in 13 years

My 2017 Forester gave me exactly what I was looking for - good visibility out of windows, logical controls, rear cross traffic alert and blind spot. Acceleration and power have been good.

First Forester

Surprisingly we had the rack & pinion steering go out at 38K miles, $2000 repair. Subaru covered the cost even though our warranty was expired. We did have to pay a deductible, $500, Also Subaru customer service sent us a cordless Shark vacuum as a thank you. That did

Comfort, reliability, value

My '02 was still going strong, but new safety technology was calling so I succumbed and am so pleased. I believe you can't find a better value for the price.

Best of class!

This top of the line Subaru SUV is a well engineered car. Love the Subaru engine. This is not a luxury SUV, but it’s a terrific, fun to drive vehicle.

All wheel ridin'

Handles well, good acceleration, quiet ride

love my car

the car is wonderful and fun to drive only down side is the dealer got a good and fair price after that not worth going back to pines subaru stay away from this dealer

what a blast to drive

7000 miles so far, impressions are - traction is amazing at all speeds, acceleration is thrilling, technology is good, steering responsive headlights are useful, overall visibility is amazing, driving position is perfect, eyesight technology works flawlessly, interior materials could be better at some places, wish rear air vents and passenger 'power' seat were provided, steering is precise but road feeback is so so. The dash around passenger air bag area is not smooth and I don't like it. The seats are too small, lack of thigh support.

Great addition!

Comfortable like an old pair of jeans!! Too early to tell on some issues but having owned a Subaru for the last 6 years I expect ownership will not be troublesome at all. Past service experience has been VERY good. Update 10/4/17. Forester has become a "Sunday car" of sorts. Usage will pick up when the snow flies I'm sure. Have not had any issues with fit, finish, operation, or function of any systems or features on this machine. The stadium seating works well for my wife in terms of visibility and allows her to enter and exit with ease. The only service so far has been the oil change. Great car for us!

my new car

Great vehicle and great service from the dealership

My new Traveling Companion

Great vehicle, but you may want to check out the front seat first. I have had trouble for quite some time tying to get the front seat to adjust to me properly so much so that my left leg and often my left arm does not go numb within a 1/2 hour of my drive. Believe I have tried every combination with the seat and steering wheel. It may be because the seat needs some time to soften up or it may be due to my height. The seat hits me under my knees, due to the length of the seat pan. About two weeks into owing the car it has not cause as much of an issue. The seat may be softening or I have figured out how to adjust it just so. Just pray you do not have to move it like I did and then try to find that spot that worked again. I just ordered two different type of seat cushions to see if that will help. The first one not so much yet. Otherwise I love the car! It has a great HD radio. I love that I can see all around me while driving in traffic. I love the big windows, especially in the back! I have not had time to play with all the other new gadgets yet, so I can not speak to them.

It's the little things that drive me crazy

After 6000 miles - PROS: 1 handles great in bad weather (as expected), 2. has lots of safety features (as expected), Mileage is good (avg 30mpg for me) CONS 1. Seats are uncomfortable and not only for people over 6' tall (I'm well under 6') , 2. Nav is very user-unfriendly - If you're used to Garmin, you'll be disappointed, you might even laugh. 3. voice control is embarrassingly bad. I can't believe they let it out of the factory. If you're used to Alexa or Google voice, you'll be extremely disappointed. 4. this one might just be me - but in the dark, almost all the controls are a hideous red. It makes me tense. If I had test driven the car at night, I never would have bought it.

Kathy from Sackets

Best car I have ever owned, and I have been driving and buying cars since 1965. This car handles great in winter conditions, and all year. It has alot of pep. I can pass with confidence. Also, good visibility to see outside my car.

Great family vehicle

Traded in my 2015 Rave 4 with 10k miles for 2017 Subaru Forester Touring. The ABS "REALLLLY" works faster than I could. Avoided a collision when a fool cut right in front of me. when my foot hit the brakes the pedal was already down with inches to spare.

2017 - 2.5i

I rounded up as it scores 5 stars in most categories. Fuel economy is very good, visibility excellent, seat comfort is good but has room for improvement. The handling and ride is good for what it is. Climate controls are easy to use, the display screen is very good. This month 9-19 is the third year of driving her, but being low mileage drivers we have only put on 13,500 miles so far. The only problem we have had was the air conditioner compressor, it went bad and was replaced by the dealer under warranty. The dealer service dept. has been very good. I see some say it lacks power, but if I compare it to some of the cars we had in the 90's it does quite well and I would say more than adequate power for city driving, and highway. I have driven it on short 100 mile trips on the interstates of western Pa, and it handles the rolling hills well. I have not driven it at high altitude or on mountain roads so it might fall short there. The CVT transmission works well for us, but took a little getting use to. I love the ride height of the vehicle as it is very easy to get in and out of. If I were to change anything it would be the seats to something more comfortable. I don't know maybe the higher end models have better seats. Ours is a lease with 6 months left and we are seriously thinking of buying it at lease end.

Great Sporty SUV - Subaru XT

This is a great car. Subaru is famous for not having the best exterior design as Germans, but let me tell you, We (wife and me) leased 12 Cars in 15 years. I drove from Honda Civic up to Audi A4 and BMW X3. All people complain about turbo lag on turbo engines but on Subaru it is almost not present. CVT transmission makes this car fast having linear acceleration with few time between the demand for an increase in power . Subaru has many of years of experience in Rallies with turbo engines, while other brands such as Mazda, Ford and Toyota has poor experience (Check reviews on turbo problems for 2017-2018 Mazda Cx-9 and also for Lexus cars). I changed wheels for a wider ones and it looks great and perform better (It has a greater offset). Now, due to its boxy design cargo area is amazing. Lots of visibility and room. Interior design is simple but logic. All controls are placed in the right spot. Also Eye technology has many years on the market. Subaru is the pioneer on it, and it works great!! My sister is starting to have problems with the Honda sensing technology on her brand new 2017 CRV. Her car stops by itself with no reason (it seems suffers from shadowing). Sound system (Harman and Kardon) is great with huge bass. However, No car is perfect. Subaru needs to improve seats. Those are very flat and not comfortable for long trips. I hope the new Ascent will have better seats. Getting 22 MPG in city on premium for a 250HP car is great. Magazines such as Car and Driver and MotorTrend do not like to mention this car or compare to others because it will beat many common competitors such as Honda CRV, Toyota RAV4 or Tucson. ANY of them offer a real powerful engine to compete with Subaru Forester XT. This is my Second XT in 3 years. It is a great SUV making a balance among price, performance and Reliability (It is still assembled in Japan!!!)

first automatic

Great car, my first automatic a real reliable pleasure to drive. For an SUV, extremely comfortable. Got it for the winter and I have been using it all the time.

basically ok

very happy with vehicle except . poor mpg . front seats a little small . GPS sucks

Get ready to get stranded!

My wife leased a 2016 model and within 6 mths the battery began to completely fail without any warning. After 6 or so episodes of this the dealer replaced the car with a 2017 model. Well guess what: after approx. 6 mths the battery completely failed again. Do not buy/lease a Subaru Forrester unless you enjoy waking up each day wondering if your car will start!

Leaves Much to be Desired

I was in my friend's brand new Subaru Forrester for about a minute when I went to open the small change compartment that's to the left of the steering wheel and the cover came off in my hand!! It's only held on by to small hook-style clips, so I can't see anyone ever using this without this happening every single time. I didn't yank on it, I simply went to open it. While the vehicle looks great, I noticed that the basic model doesn't have tinted windows in the rear. This provides zero security of anything you might want to have back there when your car is left unattended. I thought that was pretty much standard in all SUVs these days. I was also surprised at how lightweight the hood of the car is. It has a hydraulic lift system, so the weight of it shouldn't be an issue. How well will this hold up in a front-end collision? One other thing missing in the back seat is the armrest/cup holder that comes down between the seats. She has kids and that's a good thing to have between the carseats for beverages, small toys, etc. This is not my car, so these are just my observations of what I thought most cars come with standard these days. I'd never been in any Subaru before and I know Subarus are very highly rated, but it just seems like even the most basic car should have these things included, and parts definitely shouldn't be coming off in your hand when the car is brand new.

Great value for the price

It's a SUV so expect a little more wobbly ride than a sedan.

cle's new wheels

got what we paid for

Passion fades

Slightly long, but worthwhile review of 4 years of ownership. We were so excited when we bought our new 2017 Jasmine Green 2.5i Premium with a six speed! My wife and I have driven manuals exclusively since the 90s and love the fact that they are not only more engaging to drive, but tend to require fewer repairs. That has been our experience anyway since we tend to keep our cars for at least 10 years and have had several of them reach the 150 - 200k miles mark. We tend to drive a fair amount and average 15-20k miles per year, but 2020-21 saw us largely at home so we've only put 38k miles on the car in a little under four years. That's enough time to give a long term review. Pros: The car is lively with a manual where the automatic felt bogged down. Shifts click into place nicely and handles much better than you'd expect from a relatively tall and narrow vehicle. The sunroof is large and wonderful. This car gave us a wonderfully trouble-free 2 years. We purchased the service plan and go to our dealership for service since their prices are reasonable and the turnaround is quick. We've used the same dealership for their other brands and are familiar with them. Repairs, overall, have not been expensive. Cons: Interior: I find the seats to be very uncomfortable for long drives. I have reasonably broad shoulders which hit right at the bolsters which push my shoulders inward causing me to hunch. My wife finds the seats to be comfortable. Another family member who is 6'3" and has a 2020 finds his to be comfortable as well, though the seats may have changed. There are loose threads hanging off several seats throughout the cabin and some seats are beginning to develop pills. The silver rings around the hvac look and feel cheap. The whole experience feels cheap and feels like driving around in a doctor's waiting room. Perhaps it's better in the leather interior which was not offered on manual models. Ride quality is much like a pogo-stick when going over narrow speed bumps. I don't want to touch the radio volume knob. Dumb, I know, but it feels terrible. The radio is an annoyance in terms of user interface and how it connects to devices. My wife and I each drive the car and connect our phones via Bluetooth. I'd appreciate a choice of which device connected when the radio tries to connect so that when we drive into or out of the driveway it doesn't automatically connect to the phone in the house and start playing a book or music when we are already playing something using the phone in the car. Solved that by using cables only. I've uninstalled Pandora from my phone because the radio is hungry for Pandora and boots it any time you try to change the volume while using a different app like audible. I read through threads regarding the issue and the solution was always to stop using Pandora. Maybe there is a patch for the radio now. Issues: Our battery died while on vacation the second summer of ownership. That happens, though 2 years is not great for a battery. The front passenger-side window routinely stops working. Now we just turn the car off and on again and play with the window switches until it starts to work. On vacation the next year, the A/C stopped working and we took it to the nearest dealership 45 miles away to be told that they did not have the part in stock because so many 2017s were having A/C issues. They patched the core and we were ok for a few days. I took it to our dealership and they ordered the part which arrived about 14 days later and was installed for free. It was not a recall at the time though it may be now. Needed to replace brakes at 35k, seemed early to me, but not unusually so. Third year in a row on vacation something happened. This year the clutch pedal sank right to the floor as we were heading home. The master cylinder for the clutch failed and leaked fluid all over the place. A 4 year old part with <40k miles. I've never had one fail before, but am now feeling nothing but paranoia regarding the car. The dealership has been great and worked with us on all the issues. Even so it will probably be the last Subaru we ever buy.

I love my Forester!

I have just completed a 36 month lease & I plan to lease a new Forester!

Still shiny

We just purchased our Forester so we can't rate the reliability and the repair costs, etc. However, the amount of room in the SUV is fantastic; great headroom, great leg room, plenty of cargo space, and even a full size spare tire! It seems to be a great value. We are experiencing some difficulty in understanding the directions for customizing the lists for radio stations etc. The manual seems a little difficult to understand but we may just need more time to "play" with the settings etc. All in all we are quite excited about our purchase and pleased with our experience at International Subaru of Merrillville.

my fourth forester

I loved every one of my Foresters. Subaru is a company that puts quality and safety and clean air above profits. The service I received at dealerships has always been done as scheduled with no unpleasant surprises. They make it easy to stay loyal to the Subaru brand.

I won't buy another Subaru

My problem is more with the company than the dealership. If you make a car that your dealerships can't fix, I don't want to buy your cars anymore. The company was aware of my problem None of these car companies are perfect, but I'll take my chances on one of Toyota's Hybrid models next time.

Love my Subaru

Ask if there have been any issues with water coming in the passenger front compartment from under the dash. Had a leak within the first few months and they never did find out where it came from. Fired the entertainment system.

Overachiever

It “ overachieves “ in that in every area of performance and assessment ( less the nav system ) and after two years of driving, this vehicle outperforms my original expectations, which were based on a careful reading of the specs and a short demo drive. In the two years, there were two hurricane evac’s and a 1100 mile wedding trip. Only weak points were the nav system and absence of android auto. The former remains valid ( in spite of detailed mailings to Subaru ) while the second is resolved in the 2019 model.

Not What it Used to Be!

I leased a 2017 Forester Premium model and it is probably the worst new car I've ever gotten. Much worse than the 2009 model that I had previously owned. Completely underpowered, or is it just that the CVT transmission is one of the worse gearboxes on the market? Terrible handling and body roll on the highway. Unimpressive MPG for the lack of performance. My BMW 5-Series gets the same MPG with much better acceleration and handling. My son's VW GTI gets waaaay better MPG with rapid acceleration and great handling! After I brought it home, I made my son drive it for several months and he hated it. My wife finally drew the short stick and got stuck driving it. We couldn't even wait until the end of the lease and leased a Honda a couple of months before the Forester lease was up - what a relief! To top it all off, Subaru charges a rediculous "disposition fee" of $300 plus tax to give it back. That's the only car I've ever leased that charges a disposition fee. For a "Limited" trim level, no dual climate control, no rear-seat climate control, no automatic locking and unlocking doors (when you put in drive or park). No Apple/Android Car-Play. Positives: Pretty big sun roof, good ground clearance (not as good as my truck), and the best thing about Forester's is great visibility with virtually no blind spots - but this is less of a draw now with back-up cameras and other safety notification features. Don't buy a 2017 for sure!

Very good

Very good

Subaru should start making wagons again

Too bad Subaru doesn't make wagons anymore. I had a 2004 Forester XT that was so much fun to drive. Subaru got bitten by the SUV bug in a big way, quite the shame. I now drive a BMW 328 sport wagon, and the Forester dwarfs my car in the parking lot. Even the Outback seems fat and ungainly. Subaru should get back to what made them attractive in the first place- 4WD and wagons.

Great Buy

This car is living up to its potetntials.

My Forester and Me

Mileage is surprisingly good. Feels safe on the road. Lots to like about it. Very good in bad weather/snow. Fun to drive. Love all the cameras/safety features.

2017 Subaru Forester is Great

Miles to empty is a farce

Subaru prominently displays, on the console screen, a picture of a car with an arrow pointing toward a gas pump. Next to this graphic is some number of miles, always a multiple of ten. I was wondering if I could trust it and wanted to trust it because it gave me plenty of miles to get to the next State of Washington gas pump which I'm supposed to use. I watched it carefully as it dropped from 50 to 40 to 30. I was about 15 miles from the State pumps when the display went from 30 miles to empty to a series of dashes. Great! Why even include this feature if it bails on the driver at that critical point when gas is running out? I immediately found a gas station and charged an expensive tank full to the State of Washington. And, I drove away with a sour feeling about what is otherwise a decent car.

Good but

I really enjoy this car. It is easy to maneuver and park. The Eyesight safety system works well and is a great feature for us mature drivers who maybe don’t drive as well as we used to. The AWD system prevents snow and ice; at least in North Texas where I live. Since I bought my first Forester in 2015 we have had negligible winter precipitation. It does very well on soft sand though, and that is why I bought it. I fish the Texas gulf coast and so far it has taken me where I want to go. Thats the good. The bad is very hard seats and no soft place to put my knee on long trips. There is a dead pedal, however. The mandatory moon roof in all but the base model takes up interior space. The CVT is a pain. It bogs down on a normal start and will sometimes shift hard in the higher gears. There is a lot of noise in the cabin. That being said I’m going to get a new 2019.