2025 Subaru Forester Hybrid offers a new dimension in utility and economy

Published 12:06 pm Thursday, April 3, 2025

The compact Forester crossover is Subaru’s all-around answer for most questions. Do you need a family car? Forester is a great choice with seating for five and plenty of cargo capacity. Do you want to go camping? Forester has nearly magical off-road chops, and it will carry a roof pod or a roof tent with ease. Are you on a budget? Forester is affordable, lasts a long time, and has great reliability stats.

But as great as the basic Forester is, Subaru needed to add a hybrid model to appeal to those who want to go a bit greener and save on gas costs. So it’s no surprise that we’re welcoming the Forester Hybrid to the lineup. The important things to know about the hybrid are that it’s still a Forester, and it’s still pretty affordable.

The hybrid system in the Forester uses two electric motors and an adapted planetary gear system that replaces much of the mechanism in Subaru’s Lineartronic continuously variable transmission. Now that you know that, you can ignore it, because the transmission works like any other CVT or automatic gearbox. You still get Subaru’s legendary symmetrical all-wheel drive, and that’s what you should care about. We put the Forester Hybrid through some off-road exercises that literally had the competition giving up and rolling back down a hill.

The fuel economy gain on the Forester hybrid is pretty good. City fuel economy jumps from 26 in the base trim Forester to 35 in the hybrid, and that’s what we saw on a test drive of several hundred miles. Highway fuel economy goes up by 1 MPG from 33 to 34. So the Forester Hybrid is really a benefit for the around-town driver.

The Forester Hybrid is available in four trims, starting with Premium Hybrid at $34,995, and ranging up to the luxurious Touring Hybrid at $41,695. The standard gas-fueled Forester Premium starts at $32,310 and Forester Touring at $40,295, so really it’s just a couple thousand more to get the hybrid. The hybrid engine also adds a bit of extra horsepower and torque to the Forester.

Inside, the Forester Hybrid offers a great technology and winning safety package. Buyers can choose from the StarTex simulated leather (which is good enough that we had to look it up to see if we had leather or not) or real leather. The touchscreen is huge and the Harman Kardon audio was very nice.

On the road, the Forester Hybrid offers the same predictable, calm handling that you expect from a Subaru. There’s enough engine power to scramble across a busy highway or use a short on-ramp, but the Forester is not a hot rod. Like all Foresters, the Hybrid has a sport mode. You’ll want to use this to get immediate throttle response. In the default Intelligent mode, the Forester optimizes its operation for fuel economy and that means a bit of lag on acceleration.

The really interesting part about the Forester Hybrid is its off-road performance. We took the Subaru to a challenging OHV area, along with the competing Honda CR-V Hybrid and the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid and tried to run them all up the same hill. Spoiler alert: the Forester scrambled right up the hill on stock all-season radials. The Toyota gave it a brave effort, but couldn’t maintain traction. The Honda was a little bit frightening because when it couldn’t go forward, it surprised us by shifting itself into neutral and we started rolling back down the hill!

After that, we took the Forester on a 45-minute off-road route that had us climbing and descending and scrambling over obstacles. Subaru’s X-Mode is an off-road program for the AWD system that helps maintain traction and forward momentum, and also functions as hill descent control. It really works, and we feel safe in saying that very few Forester owners will ever subject their own cars to the workout we gave Subaru’s loaner. Long story short: The 2025 Forester can handle off-road work that we’re not brave enough to try.

The Subaru Forester Hybrid is a great addition to the Forester line. Whether it makes sense for you to spend the extra money on the Hybrid is up to you, but you’ll be getting all the same features and capabilities that make the Forester a Northwest favorite, plus some better gas mileage.

One last note: the Forester Hybrid is available at Subaru dealers now, so if you want to buy one before the tariffs start driving prices up, it’s best to act today. The Forester Hybrid is currently being made in Japan, but starting in 2026 will be made at Subaru’s plant in Lafayette, Indiana. That will take the tariffs off the table next year.

2025 Subaru Forester Hybrid

Base price: $34,995

Price as tested: $39,415

Type: Compact crossover SUV

Engine: 2.5-liter four-cylinder with two hybrid electric motors (194 hp, 199 lbs-ft)

Transmission: Lineartronic Continuously Variable Transmission

EPA estimated mileage: 35/34 (City/Highway)

Overall length: 183.3 inches

Curb weight: 3,913 pounds

Final assembly: Gunma, Japan