2009 Forester teaser shots
A Subaru news-meister, who goes by the handle of "flyinpig," and who lives over at
NASIOC, has just scooped a couple of images of the all-new Forester. It looks like the images are from some sort of internal Japanese FHI brochure, probably designed to educate those involved in sales.
And this one below was found on a European fan site (via
Best Car, a Japanese car magazine), as well as on
NASIOC.
UPDATE:
Another image has just surfaced over at
NASIOC this morning; this time a rear shot...
As with the just introduced Impreza, Subaru has gone mainstream with the styling. I see elements of the Honda Pilot here, and other popular SUVs as well. Still no word on the mechanicals, other than what had been posted on the Canadian version, which suggests upgrades similar to what the Impreza just got.
This rear-end shot is part of a teaser video found over on the Japanese Subaru site—an cleaned up in Photoshop by a
NASIOCer, which can be found
here.
Now that these have surfaced, don't be surprised to see more shortly...
Links
here,
here, and
here.
- Permalink | Comments (11)
- Posted by: Bob Holland November 26, 2007, 5:00 AM
- Categories: Future Vehicles, SUVs, Subaru
I for one miss the old inverted trapezoid grilles of the previous Outbacks and Legacies. The rest of the car looks much nicer than the current Forester, IMHO, but I have yet to warm to the front ends on a lot of the new Subarus. Then again, I liked the 3 piece aircraft inspired noses of the pre freshening Tribeca and Impreza, so maybe my views don't represent the majority.
I too liked the aircraft inspired nose. On the Tribeca it didnt work so well but on the WRX STi it was awesome. The new one, not so much.
Could the increased width of the lower part of the hatch (and space above the wheel wells) be enough for 48" plywood?
That would be a big incentive for purchase!
Yes it would, but I doubt that's the case. You can do that in a Pilot, BTW. Maybe even an Outlander?
48" is very ambitious, the Tribeca and Legacy offer around 40" of cargo width. Only minivans can do that. I don't think even a Suburgan offers 48" of cargo width, FWIW.
I like the new look, which reminds me of the Mitsubishi Montero, not a bad thing because I think Paris-Dakar rally when that comes to mind.
The front is a mix of Impreza lights with a smaller Tribeca grille. The rear is bland, the Pilot comes to mind, though boxy = function over form.
Suburban (and Expedition and Armada too) is probably around 49" or 50" between the rear wheelwells.
I'm not sure if I like the front or not yet. It looks a mix of the 2008 Tribeca's nose and the 2008 Impreza's nose.
Other than the grille (which I think is too large for the vehicle), I rather like it. I agree with Juice that the back is rather prosaic and Pilot-esque, but in my mind neither of those are bad things.
Can't really tell from the tiny blurred image, but the hood scoop doesn't look quite right, either. The hood seems far higher than perhaps it needs to be, given the boxer engine... And I'm intrigued by the slot below the rest of the grille, which immediately brings to mind the Lexus 400h, but I'm probably reading *FAR* too much into that...
The front does look a bit awkward, but I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt until I see larger and better images.
The 08 Tribeca has a similar slot beneath the grille.
I think it looks OK. Front and rear view a bit plain, profile better.
Forester was never a "looker". This will be the most attractive Forester ever, easily.
More info from flyinpig (who posted the brochure pixs) over at NASIOC:
Dimensions will be larger than current, as expected.
=> 4.5" longer, 1.8" wider, 3.3" taller (no roof rail)
=> Minimum clearance will be increased by 0.4" for NA, and 1.0" for turbo models (exclude Cross Sport & STI)