2005 Subaru Forester 2.5 X premium review from North America

No problems.

Just got back from a 3100 mile road trip, and was very happy with Forester. Good seats, great handling, low cabin noise. Average about 25 mpg which should go up as the tires wear and the engine gets a bit looser.

The engine has plenty of power and the 4-speed automatic shifts smoothly. In fact, the 2006 Forester is a sporty vehicle that is fun to drive because of its low center of gravity.

2 things that I have done to the original vehicle is that, at 500 miles, I changed the lousy OEM tires to Goodyear ComforTreds (greatly improved handling and ride and no tire noise) and I added sound damping material to the doors and the rear cargo floor. This resulted in a couple of improvements: the stereo sounded much, much better and there was a significant reduction in road noise.

Subarus have a distinct personality and you have to read the owners manual to operate the vehicle correctly.

Will probably replace the "donut" temporary spare with a regular tire spare since on a long road trip I wouldn't want to be bother with fixing a flat immediately.

Overall, the fit and finish of the car is very high and its all-wheel-drive system provides a lot of traction in bad weather situations. Also, a very safe vehicle with a 5 star rating.