2003 Subaru Forester X review from UK and Ireland

No faults on delivery

No faults to report at first (1000 mile) service

Too early to make any other judgment (car is 6 weeks/1150 miles old)

This is the new 2003 Forester X. Ours is base model - the UK specification is 2 litre engine, manual gearbox, no turbo,15 inch wheels, climate control and hill holder clutch.

We ran a 1998 Forester 2litre manual for 5 years and liked it. The new Forester keeps all the good qualities of the old one, and has a much improved interior. The climate control and heated wiper blades worked well in very cold weather in the weeks after we got the car, but its been too cold to know how the aircon will perform in hot weather. Instrument layout and seat comfort is good, but a few minor switches are still scattered in awkward positions.

The car is nice to drive. The engine felt very stiff when new, and at 1000 miles is just beginning to loosen up. Too early to judge fuel economy, but a 160 mile trip running on main road at steady 50 - 70 miles per hour gave 33 miles per gallon (US readers remember that's the bigger imperial gallons!) That's probably not very representative, but looks a good start.

The radio/CD player is better quality than the previous model Forester, but the controls are awful. Tiny push buttons and incredibly small lettering -very difficult to do more than a simple channel change when driving.

This is a preliminary report after only 6 weeks/1150 miles of ownership. First impressions are very good.