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Leaked images of a Japanese-market brochure give us our first real look at the 2014 Subaru Forester. The new crossover wears design cues inspired by the new Subaru Impreza, and looks more like a traditional wagon than the current boxy crossover design.
The brochures appear to reveal that the new Subaru Forester will be 180.9 inches long (up 1.4 inches), 70.7 inches high (up 3.8 inches), and 66.7 inches wide (narrower by 3.4 inches). The wheelbase also is increased to make for more interior room. The 2014 Forester may be built on a stretched version of the chassis that underpins the new Subaru Impreza. The mesh front grille is gone in favor of a smaller rectangular opening, like on the new Impreza, and the 2014 Forester’s headlights are smaller and slightly more upswept than on the current car.
The primary change within the interior appears to be a new center stack, topped by a color LCD screen that may be part of a new infotainment system. A large navigation system remains centered in the dashboard, sandwiched between the climate-control knobs and the air vents. Like the outside, the cabin design mostly mirrors that of the new Subaru Impreza. The new Forester also is slated to get Subaru’s new EyeSight safety technology.
The current U.S.-market Subaru Forester (pictured below) is offered with a 170h-hp, 2.5-liter flat-four engine and a turbocharged 224-hp 2.5-liter flat-four. The leaked information suggests that the new Forester will have a 2.0-liter flat-four with 146 hp and a turbocharged 2.0-liter unit with 276 hp — at least in Japan. The former engine sounds like a likely choice for the American model, given that the Impreza offers a 2.0-liter flat-four engine with 148 hp. It’s also reported that the new Forester will get an updated 2.5-liter engine with about 173 hp.
Moving to a new, smaller engine would help Subaru achieve its goal of making its vehicles more fuel-efficient. The 2012 Forester returns 21/27 mpg (city/highway) with its base engine and 19/24 mpg with the turbo engine. Those are no longer competitive numbers in the crossover segment, so we wouldn’t be surprised if Subaru tries to amp up the economy of the next Forester. We’ve also heard rumors that Subaru will eventually launch a hybrid version and a go-fast STI version of the 2014 Forester, but even if those models are in the cards, they won’t be revealed for some time.
The 2014 Subaru Forester is expected to launch in Japan later this fall. It should arrive in the U.S. and Europe next year as a 2014 model.
Source: Motor Trend
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