Subaru Forester wins Stuff Motoring’s Top Medium SUV 2018 Award

The new generation Subaru Forester SUV has been announced as the Stuff Motoring Top Medium SUV 2018 today.

The new generation 2019 Subaru Forester SUV has won the 2018 Stuff Motoring Top Medium SUV, as published on one of New Zealand’s largest online news sites - stuff.co.nz, today.

This accolade, which is a category in the Stuff Motoring Top Cars 2018 awards, saw Stuff Motoring Channel Director and Top Cars judge David Linklater raving about the recently-launched, family-friendly SUV.

“There's not a more capable (on-road and off), practical, better-equipped and better value medium SUV on the market,” Mr Linklater says.

Subaru of New Zealand’s Managing Director Wallis Dumper wholeheartedly agrees with him.

“Since it’s inception in 1997, the fifth-generation Forester has evolved into the SUV it is today, which is not only fun for families, but is loaded with technology. As more Kiwis who are looking to buy an SUV discover the 2019 Subaru Forester, our expectation is that it will rise in popularity, doubling the previous generation model’s sales volumes. The first two months of sales already indicate that we are on track to achieve our ambition, with our 16 Authorised Subaru Dealerships around the country reporting record Forester sales.” Mr Dumper says.

The Forester is spacious, capable and with 220mm of class-leading ground clearance, is bound be a favourite with families nationwide according to Subaru, and Mr Linklater agrees.

“As a family vehicle, Forester really delivers. All of the extra length in the new model has gone into passenger space, the tall cabin gives a high H-point and the packaging virtues of Foresters past have remained - like the wide and tall cargo space, or the low-cut rear window that allows you to see young children behind the car (a rear camera is also standard),” Mr Linklater says.

He continues with nods to the strong, across the range safety features and sharp pricing.

“Even the entry Sport has the EyeSight active safety system that includes an array of driver-assist and collision avoidance technologies. But such is the value in the new range, it's very easy to contemplate moving up the ranks: the Sport Plus and Premium add even more tech like Reverse Automated Braking (RAB) and an industry-first feature called Driver Monitoring System (DMS), which uses facial recognition to prevent distracted driving - but also automatically set preferences for up to five users,” Mr Linklater says.

As with all Subarus, the Forester is All-Wheel Drive, which is well-recognised as providing sure-footed stability on all surfaces.

“It goes without saying that Forester is much more capable off-road than your average family SUV. The top Premium has even has a new dual-mode selector for Forester's X-Mode off-road setting,” Mr Linklater says.

He believes the 2019 Subaru Forester has been finessed to the highest degree: “When you experience it there's no doubt that it's a state-of-the-art product in what's New Zealand's most important new-vehicle segment: medium SUVs.”

Mr Dumper concludes: “The Subaru team thank the Stuff Motoring judges for this accolade and the positive feedback about the 2019 Subaru Forester. We knew when we first drove the new generation model in Japan, it was going to be a strong contender for Kiwi families who were looking for an SUV. We know that awards and excellent reviews from independent sources are helpful to our potential customers and we encourage those in the market for a new SUV to take it for a test drive back-to-back against other SUVs to see what the fuss is truly all about.”

Read the full article on Stuff here: https://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/top-cars/107869910/why-the-subaru-forester-is-our-top-medium-suv-of-2018

 


Catherine Pattison
Public Relations

Subaru of New Zealand
46 Lady Ruby Drive, East Tamaki, Auckland 2013, New Zealand

M  +64 (0)27 4455389
E  catherine.pattison@subaru.co.nz
 
subaru.co.nz