Used 2019 Subaru Forester Consumer Reviews
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Mechanical Issues under 5K for 2019 Forester Sport
Christopher H, 10/07/2019
2019 Subaru Forester Sport 4dr SUV AWD (2.5L 4cyl CVT)
43 of 45 people found this review helpful
Bought new 12/31/2018. The car developed an odd "chug" or "jerk" around 1,000 - 1,200 RPM's with the CVT transmission. Took the car to Subaru and I was told there was no fault code so everything was operating normally. Took the Forester Sport in for it's first oil change and found the CVT transmission was failing and most likely had been since day one. Had the CVT transmission replaced. Mere days later the same "chug/jerk" developed and we were told this was "normal" operation for this model. Became a pissing match between two different Subaru service departments regarding if the transmission even needed to be replaced. Subaru of America wouldn't do anything about it because they felt that the operation was normal. Funny really because the last Subaru technician that helped us said to NEVER buy the first year of a new platform for Subaru. Do yourself a favor and buy an Outback. Gave up on the fight and we had two-Outbacks as loaners with the amount of time we had our Forester in the shop. The Outback drove light years better and is more comfortable. We bought a 2019 Outback and took a bath on owning our lemon Forester for eight-months. Will never buy a new model year again and was really disappointed with how Subaru of America handled the situation. Didn't have time to wait for the 3rd CVT transmission to fail since this is my wife's car and I wasn't willing to leave her stranded on I5 with a infant. Don't lose money like I did. Two failed CVT transmissions under 8K miles.
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Excellent choice, but misses on a few things
AS_in_DC, 04/04/2019
2019 Subaru Forester Touring 4dr SUV AWD (2.5L 4cyl CVT)
55 of 58 people found this review helpful
I really like this SUV. I waited over a year to get the 2019, once I found out the range of improvements expected over 2018s. It was worth it, but after 6 months of driving I have a list of (minor) improvements to suggest. I know some of them will seem unnecessary, but as an owner of Audis, BMWs, and Lexus over the 35 years of my owning cars, it would be nice for the Forester Touring to have some relatively low cost convenience upgrades to match their SUVs. More on that later. PROS: feel very safe and secure in vehicle, great visibility, I like the driver monitoring, comfortable in front and back, accel and engine noise are adequate for 95% of situations, generally a good suite of safety electronics/systems. CONS: stop/start can be rough and annoying, gas mileage has been POOR (under 20 mpg) but for heavy city stop and go driving, infotainment system can be spotty and Apple Carplay can be fussy, noticing a few minor squeaks on low mileage. SUGGESTED IMPROVEMENTS: relative to Audis, a few easy improvements would make the driver experience better - have 4 doors with opening sensors, not 2. Have overhead 360 camera for parking in tight spaces. Have a front sensor/camera suite for low speed/parking - not just in back. I had these in 2013 Audi, should be easy adds for 2019 Forester Touring. Lower trims may not need, but Touring customers will compare to the Q5/X5 and they have these features. Minor picks, and I really am happy with my choice overall. Hence the 5 star, not lower. NOTE: the trunk issue is real, but super easy to fix - hold the open button on the trunk for ~10 seconds and it resets. Don't go to a dealer, waste of time and money. RTFM.
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Not ready for Prime Time
Greg Wayne, 01/31/2019
2019 Subaru Forester Touring 4dr SUV AWD (2.5L 4cyl CVT)
226 of 244 people found this review helpful
Previously owned an Outback. When time came for new car decided to stay with Subaru but wanted to try something different. I really like the 2019 Forester. Some reviews have criticized the car for poor and noisy acceleration. It isn't particularly quiet, but I have no complaints about the acceleration. What is a problem is the software on this car - it's extremely glitchy. Within the first few hundred miles I had to take back to dealer to open the trunk for me - it has the automatic gate lift and the system had to be rebooted manually by detaching the battery and draining the electrical system. Dealer blamed it on the computer. The infotainment system is a disaster - every other day something is not working - the CD player won't play, there'll be no sound on the radio, Pandora won't load. Even when working the system is poorly designed. My concern is that all the safety features are computer-controlled and I don't have a lot of confidence in their software. Looking for an Apple operating system experience and I ended up with Windows Vista! Hopefully they'll get their act together and put out some updates to their software.
Great Safety Features, A Few Poor Design Decisons
Andy B, 08/31/2019
updated 09/07/2023
2019 Subaru Forester Touring 4dr SUV AWD (2.5L 4cyl CVT)
29 of 30 people found this review helpful
This is our 3rd Forester. My wife drives a 2016 Forester. I chose this one for its size, its myriad of safety features, its upright seating position, its great window visibility, its cargo space, and its tried and true AWD. Our Foresters have always been sufficiently peppy for us (except for climbing mountain peaks) and so I have no complaints about the Forester being underpowered, and the gas mileage is quite good. I also have no complaints about its handling. I do not mind the Auto Stop feature and never bother turning it off, but my wife thinks it makes stopping and starting too herky-jerky. The safety features all work great, and I especially like the new backup warning system. The navigation system is also improved over the 2016 model, although it still has some quirkiness--and updating maps from the quirky Harman Kardon site is a royal pain. I do love the Subaru phone app with the Starlink remote services. And Subaru FINALLY offers a power passenger seat, which is great for me when my wife is doing the driving. My wife likes the dual temperature control. The heated steering wheel is GREAT for my arthritic hands in the winter and one of my favorite features. We never use the panoramic moonroof and wish it was an option for this model. I have now driven the car about 17,000 miles. Overall, I enjoy driving this car very much, but there are a few design flaws and defects to be aware of: a) The power tailgate is very erratic and often gives me the dreaded 3 beeps and refuses to open with either the dash button or the key fob, which apparently is a fairly common problem. Have to force it to open using the rear button--as described in the mind-boggling, poorly written owners manual. EDIT: THERE WAS A RECENT RECALL TO INSTALL A PART TO FIX THIS PROBLEM. SO FAR, SO GOOD. b) The front seats are a bit too firm and irritate my tailbone when driving long distances. c) As someone else mentioned, the low-beam headlights have a sharp cutoff and limit visibility looking through the top half of the windshield. d) The facial recognition system is hit-and-miss. About 25% of the time it does not recognize me. e) There are too many buttons and controls, and many of them are hard to see where they are placed, such as the grouping low on the dashboard to the left of the steering wheel. Trying to identify and find each of the buttons in the poorly written and confusing owners manual is unnecessarily frustrating. Ditto for all the various dashboard and warning symbols f) The Forester has ABSOLUTELY THE WORST COFFEE CUP HOLDERS in the front seat that I have ever experienced. They are placed too far back and too close to the console cover. It's very awkward trying to reach back for one's coffee or water and could result in an accident. So much for putting the Driver Focus technology in the car--only to then overload the car with hard to see and reach buttons and coffee cup holders that are awkward to use. The coffee cup holders in my wife's 2016 Forester are much better placed and easier to use. g) The storage console is very small. I really miss all the storage cubbies in my Toyota Venza. h) Splash guards are essential and ought to be standard equipment on the Touring and Sport models. i) The two-section cargo cover is a pain. The rubber bumpers that are supposed to hold the back end up frequently slide off their holders causing the back section to droop down. The cargo cover in my wife's 2016 Forester works much better. j) Did I mention that the thick stack of owners manuals are poorly written, poorly organized, poorly indexed, hard to understand in various sections, and exhausting to read through and comprehend? Does one really need hundreds of pages of instructions with several supplemental manuals? Some of this is due to government regulations, but there are too many places where one looks something up only to be referred to another section of the manual. EDIT: I've been driving my 2019 Subaru Forester Touring model for about four years now, and my impressions of it have not changed. I like its size and enjoy driving it. I would buy it again.
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I really like my first Subraru - not love.
MaryC, 04/18/2019
2019 Subaru Forester 4dr SUV AWD (2.5L 4cyl CVT)
55 of 59 people found this review helpful
POSITIVES Smoooooth drive with CVT and AWD handles great! BEST driving car I’ve owned. Seating is roomy and comfortable with good lumbar support. Excellent visability at all angles. Auto headlights if you like that. Excellent fuel economy – 2.5-6.0 higher than my RAV 4. The backup camera and display are large, well-lit, and very helpful in backing out or into tight spaces. I really like the automatic dimming mirror – never had one before. NEGATIVES Horsepower is weak, but manageable as this is not a sports car, but an SUV. Why does radio automatically come on? You have to hold down the button to turn it off, but then your screen stays dark. That’s ridiculous. ALL other cars on the market turn off with a quick push of the button. WHO thought of that. Out of lane alerts is annoying, but you can turn it off for all future trips with one push of a button. Eyesight assist is a safety option, but it is annoying. The horn is soooooo loud and unpleasant. Acceleration also noisy. It seems there is little sound protection between horn and cabin. Auto stop/start is bothersome – you have to turn it off each and every time you restart your car. You really don’t save much money. NOT worth it. Oh, and restarting CVT is clunky/ not smooth. Could just be me, but my phone doesn’t stay connected with Bluetooth well nor does it retain phonebook information to make calls.
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Jack of all trades! Impossible not to love!
Laurie Jean, 03/07/2019
2019 Subaru Forester Sport 4dr SUV AWD (2.5L 4cyl CVT)
79 of 86 people found this review helpful
Nothing I can truly hate. I'll start with my gripes - as it may be an immediate dis-qualifier for some. IT DOES NOT have true built in GPS. Not on the Sport trim. The only GPS you are going to get here is either by syncing the car to your phone via Starlink and using the Magellan app within it or by using Apple Car Play (or Android if that's your thing - eew!). Both of those options will be using your phone carriers data. The Magellan app within Starlink is about the most atrocious navigation I have ever used in my life. It is slow, it is loaded with glitches and is down right ancient in operations compared to others on the market - but it works. However, the Apple Car Play is absolutely seamless. It becomes a mirror display of your phone to include Siri who then takes over your cars Bluetooth and makes the car her own. Just say "Hey Siri" and anything is possible. Okay. Not anything - but close. The second gripe would be that IT DOES NOT come with a towing package. That is only allotted on the two trim levels above it. Even though when you build the car on Subaru's website - they offer the option of adding a "trailer hitch cap" so one thinks there is a trailer hitch already on it. Secondly, one cannot add the hitch in the build options on Subaru's website so therefor it convinces the buyer that again, it comes with a trailer hitch. It doesn't. If you want one - you will be buying one separately and paying to have it installed. You're welcome for those two "off the get go" Debbie Downers. Moving forward to the Goodie Gumdrops of this car. My review comes from choosing a fully loaded Sport trim to include literally everything possible (all but the two previous things...as I couldn't). This car comes equipped with enough technology to satisfy the biggest nerd. The Harmon Kardon upgrade is worth it if you are a music fanatic like me. I LOVE the KH upgrade. If anyone tries telling you the Rockford Fosgate is just as good - they are lying. The HK upgrade is crisp, harmonic and thumps evenly throughout the car with it's built in tweeters and subs. It's worth the price. Plus the upgrade includes a larger screen and other fun things like the most out of the EyeSight features. Speaking of those - they are wonderful and perform flawlessly. And they can each be turned off. Which is nice for when you want to get out of the "driving a spaceship vibe" and actually drive your car. The back up camera and the RAB feature is wonderful - picks up things I honestly haven't seen even after looking. Like a child rushing out of store just today as I checked things were clear, backed up and the child ran out of the store from his mother. The car saw him, I didnt. I was far enough away that an accident wasnt going to happen but to know the car was capable of picking that up - awesome. It also picks up very well at night for when the reverse lights just dont provide quite enough light sometimes. The EyeSight system on the interstate is single handedly the most luxurious without being obnoxious like some of it's competitors - like the lane keep assist, adaptive cruise control. Everything can be fine tuned as well. You can turn the chime volumes down or you can once again simply turn the features off. The Automatic Start/Stop has already saved me 0.25 gallon of gas in a matter of a single tank. Sure - it can sometimes feel a bit weird but it too can be turned off. The interior surfaces of the car are both aesthetically and physically appealing. Streamlined and soft to touch. The automatic dimming mirror with a compass has certainly saved my eyes while driving at night. I didnt think I would care until I turned that feature off and was immediately blinded by the vehicle behind me. The headlights are bright and the light is diffused evenly where you need it. The brights will also dim automatically if option is selected. Cargo space inside is more than adequate. No doubt I will be able to cram luggage, camping, fishing & photography gear, coolers and dogs in the back without concerns. Easily put a kayak or bike or two on the roof racks if needed. Rear seats are just as comfortable as the front and they recline giving those tall folks in our lives plenty of space and comfort (or your dogs). The climate control certainly makes it's way to the back as well. The sunroof is huge without cause that flapping noise when open. The exterior approach LED's save you from stepping in mess and getting into your car. The keyless concept is awesome. The automatic trunk is handy when your arms are full. I'm your M-F city slicker who is the avid outdoors person come the weekend. This car more than covers both & more of my needs without a single sacrifice other than true 4x4 and a truck bed. But - you're not buying a truck. You're buying a Subaru and they dont have a truck to buy so just get the Sport. A overly happy medium in the forester lineup! Dont forget the all-weather flooring and seat back protection. Thank me later.
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A compromise... and many regrets
RLT7020, 04/03/2019
2019 Subaru Forester 4dr SUV AWD (2.5L 4cyl CVT)
51 of 55 people found this review helpful
I regret purchasing the base model... what didn't seem apparent on the test drive is now a major contention for me: no power seat with adjustable pan in the base model. This vehicle just kills my back. I have been in the shop for the rear hatch not closing and catching properly; I've also been in the shop for a bad window channel run that pinched the glass and never allowed the window to roll fully up - boy, that was a treat trying to convince the window regulator to roll up my window on a wet day. Waited six weeks for the part. The fuel range is completely off ... there is an issue in the software with the OBK and another Subaru product; I hope the fuel range software recall soon extends to the Forester because it is completely inaccurate and unreliable. The good side to this vehicle is that it's tighter than previous Foresters; the CVT seems better tuned, but the drone still exists. Rear doors swing wide for easy entry/egress for elderly ones, and I love that I can carry just about anything. I also have the strange belief in being able to sleep horizontally, fully stretched in any vehicle I own (I'm 5'10") and it's just another box to check with the Forester. Eyesight is what it is... annoying bells I've turned off, and sometimes the fight for the steering wheel is scary in situations where lane construction means a very narrow passage... but otherwise, the Eyesight system is worth its weight in gold in touch-and-go, congested traffic - no more stress. All in all, this vehicle is a compromise. It's a 2019 and I'm already shopping to get out of this thing... after four Subarus, I believe this is my last one... time to go back to a normal transmission, and a more refined driving experience.
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Good concept, poor execution
toeser, 01/22/2020
2019 Subaru Forester Touring 4dr SUV AWD (2.5L 4cyl CVT)
14 of 14 people found this review helpful
We have owned eight Subaru's and will probably buy another someday. However, we bought the absolute top-of-the-line this year and it has been disappointing in its flaws. There is a lot to like about this car, but following are our gripes. Rear door electronic release. This can and has failed. We had the car loaded to the roof the first time it did, and we had to unload everything and then crawl through the car to the back door, and then pry off a small door with a screwdriver to reach a manual release. We had the factory-authorized fix and it has happened again. Bad, bad design. Start-stop system to save gas works only about 50% of the time (even allowing for air conditioning loads, etc.). My ten-year-old golf cart works 100% of the time. EyeSight distracted driver warning. This is useless. It has given warnings when my eyes have been glued to the road. On another occasion, I had my wife hold the steering wheel as I stared out the side window. The warning never went off. You can do better Subaru, particularity for a car this expensive.
My last forester
JJ, 10/20/2019
2019 Subaru Forester Premium 4dr SUV AWD (2.5L 4cyl CVT)
14 of 14 people found this review helpful
Horrible auto stop/start feature. I was almost rear ended by an inattentive driver at a stop. I drive forest roads to hike a lot. The car reads the tire marks in gravel roads as lane markers and beeps as if I cross lanes. The brakes engage suddenly if the eyesight reads a bird or low hanging branch as an obstacle. I don't feel confident this will be a good thing when it snows. How is the car going to know that there is black ice and slamming on the brakes could be disastrous. I have owned 2 other foresters, and I know feel uncomfortable trusting my car to be safe in hazardous conditions. I'm tired of turning off features I don't want because they came standard and when I turn the car on after stopping they reset to on. Too many features. I'm a minimalist. They placed the cupholders too close to the heated seat switches, AGAIN. Very easy to spill liquid on them. And large cups catch on the cubbyhole lid. The back hatch gate works when it wants to. Now for the positive side. The seats are very comfortable. The ride is great with good stability on cornering and dirt roads. Great cargo space for my 2 large dogs to go with me. The 17in wheels handle well. The climate controls are way better for quick heat/cooling. But I am seriously considering finding another car due to the above problems. Too bad, Forester used to be the perfect ride for my lifestyle.
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I don't actually have one complaint
Alex, 04/01/2019
2019 Subaru Forester Sport 4dr SUV AWD (2.5L 4cyl CVT)
41 of 44 people found this review helpful
All the slight, or unimportant questions I had, already had answers. Everything has a place in the car, and everything works. The cargo is amazing, the features feel incredible. I love eyesight, I love car play, I love the feedback of the vehicle in the info dash, I love the reverse camera and power tailgate. I can't see myself not driving this car. I've heard people say that a fair trade off is the lack of power. I can't argue that it might not tow as much as a dedicated truck. But it terms of acceleration I think it's got everything it needs. I'm coming from a smaller two door sports car, and I really don't miss much. Especially over the fact that it's an SUV with 29 combined miles per gallon. It's a killer and I love it.
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