Subaru’s Best-Selling SUV Is Still Waiting For The Turbo Engine It Deserves
Subaru has carved out a sizable niche for itself with super-reliable all-wheel-drive vehicles, from passenger cars to SUVs. Powered by its flat-four Boxer engine that started out humbly with 977ccs and 55 horsepower, this iconic H-4 would eventually reach 300 horsepower with a more recent turbocharged version. Turbocharged Subarus range from street machine tuners to raging rally cars and perform well on all surfaces, but not all models benefit from forced induction. In fact, Subaru’s best-selling SUV is a naturally-aspirated off-roader in desperate need of some turbocharging.
Subaru Forester Crossover Sensation
Introduced in the U.S. for the 1998 model year, the Subaru Forester is probably the first crossover SUV, and definitely the blueprint for the modern segment. With credible off-road capabilities, this all-wheel-drive marvel drove like a car on the paved surfaces. Sporting a 165-horsepower 2.5-liter naturally aspirated flat-four, the compact SUV wasn’t exactly a barn burner with a 9.1-second 0-60 time and a 17.0-second quarter-mile, but it wasn’t supposed to be a sports car. The Forester was great in the low gears and had 8.1 inches of ground clearance, with a ~23° approach angle and ~21° departure angle, making it a legit off-roader. The fact that it was also a smooth road vehicle with seating for five and plenty of cargo space made it an instant hit, moving nearly 50,000 units in its first full year of production.
Impressively Built Like An Impreza
The reason why the off-road capable Forester drove like a car is because it was built on the same platform as the Impreza. The two vehicles shared the same basic chassis architecture with a 99.4-inch wheelbase, longitudinally mounted Boxer engine, and related subframe, transmission, suspension, as well as drivetrain components. Subaru, however, made modifications to accommodate the higher ride height, greater cargo capacity, and overall utility of the Forester. It was essentially an SUV version of the Impreza WRX, but obviously without the insane street performance. A 2004 Impreza WRX STi had a 300-horsepower, 300 lb-ft 2.5-liter turbocharged H-4 that could propel it to a 5.0-second 0-60 and 13.5-second quarter-mile. If that kind of power were put into the Forester, it would have been impressive, but Subaru isn’t quite as daring as Dodge, which aggressively boosts the output of its trucks and SUVs.
Subaru Super Sales Numbers
Subaru is obviously behind Toyota and Honda in sales, but it still made an impact, moving 643,591 units in the U.S. market for the 2025 model year. Ironically, or maybe just coincidentally, Subaru sells far more vehicles in America than they do in their native country, with just 104,000 units in Japan last year. In the U.S. market, the Forester led Subaru’s SUV lineup with 250,000 units sold in 2025. Technically, the Subaru Crosstrek sold more here with 324,000 units, but it is a subcompact crossover, while the Forester is a proper SUV. That being said, it is actually fair to say that the Forester is Subaru’s best-selling SUV. Also, in the rest of the world, the Forester did 250,000 sales versus 191,724 units for the Crosstrek, so again, it really is the top dog Subaru SUV.
To be clear, it’s not like the Forester has never had a turbo option, it just doesn’t currently have one. The Forester XT, which was first available in the U.S. in 2002, had an available 2.5-liter turbocharged H-4, which was on the table until 2018, producing between 220-265 horsepower, which wasn’t quite WRX STi power, but still pretty good. For whatever reason, Subaru discontinued the turbo engine for the Forester, and in 2025 their best-selling SUV is severely lacking. The 2025 Forester is sharp, loaded with standard features, and still has credible off-road capability, but its 180-horsepower naturally aspirated four-cylinder engine makes it something of a street slug. In the grand scheme of things, it’s obviously selling well without a turbo option, but a higher-performance variant would likely push it over the top.
Flat-Four Falls a Little Flat
The 2.5-liter flat-four of the 2025 Forester is the same basic engine that all Subaru SUVs come equipped with. The naturally aspirated Boxer is rated at 180 horsepower and 178 lb-ft of torque, which is not up to par with modern vehicles. Crawling to an 8.3-second 0-60 time and a 16.6-second quarter-mile, these are Malaise Era acceleration numbers that are unacceptable for 2025. Granted, explosive launch power isn’t a necessity for off-roading and rock crawling, but with this lack of power, getting up a mountainside is an adventure in the worst possible way. Also, most people who buy a 2025 Forester use it exclusively on the street, and that sluggish flat-four turns merging on the freeway into a white-knuckle experience.
Forester Hybrid Theory
The 2025 Forester has a hybrid version that makes things a little better in the acceleration department, but not quite what a turbo would deliver. With the 2.5-liter naturally-aspirated flat-four, the hybrid adds two electric motors that rev things up from 180 horsepower to 194 ponies. This is not a radical improvement, but that extra boost shaves a tenth of a second off the 0-60 time and two-tenths off the quarter-mile. For those who don’t feel like scrolling back up and doing math, the hybrid goes 0-60 in 8.2 seconds and runs the quarter-mile in 16.2 seconds. Again, this is not mind-blowing, or even particularly impressive, but the hybrid does deliver notably better fuel economy, with a combined 35 MPG versus 29 MPG for the non-hybrid Forester.
The Outback Has Turbo Upfront
Subaru makes several SUVs that appear almost identical, so outsiders probably don’t know the difference between a Forester and Outback. The Forester is a couple inches shorter than the Outback, but a little taller, so the interior space is about the same. The major difference between the two is that the 2025 Outback comes with a turbo option. The 2.4-liter flat-four of the Outback gets a major upgrade with a twin-scroll turbocharger that produces a maximum boost pressure of 14.5 psi, and more importantly, 260 horsepower with 277 pound-feet of torque. That gives the Outback a 5.8-second 0-60 time and a 14.6-second quarter-mile, which isn’t supercar acceleration, but quick enough that it doesn’t feel like you’re towing a double-wide mobile home.
Also, the Ascent
The 2025 Ascent is the Subaru big-daddy SUV with third-row seating that comes standard with a turbo and no naturally-aspirated option. Unfortunately, the Ascent is large and heavy, so the 260-horsepower 2.5-liter turbocharged flat-four doesn’t help it out very much. With a 0-60 time between 6.4 and 8.0 seconds and a 15.4-second quarter-mile, it’s not as slow as the non-turbo Forester, but it’s close. Nobody is going to snap their neck flooring a 2025 Ascent, and drivers may get anxious trying to pass a truck on a two-lane highway, but it is, again, slightly more responsive than its naturally aspirated sibling. It does, however, have a 5,000-pound towing capacity, which surpasses both the Forester and Outback, making it a solid tow vehicle that retains Subaru’s SUV off-road capabilities.
Why The Forester Desperately Needs Turbocharging
After everything we’ve covered, the obvious conclusion is that Subaru needs to reinstate the turbo option for the Forester. It’s a capable vehicle that just needs a bit more power to truly excel. Seeing as it’s selling well, there probably isn’t that much incentive to turbocharge it, but a more powerful variant would almost certainly move additional units. We also feel that Subaru needs to bring back the BRAT, but apparently it doesn’t consult HotCars for business advice. The Outback is adequately powered, but it’s more of a wagon, while the Forester leans toward a traditional SUV, and it shouldn’t be hampered by an underpowered engine. With just a little more power, the Forester has the potential to be one of the greatest off-road vehicles on the market today, striking the right balance between performance, capability, and price.
Sources: Subaru
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