Subaru Forester e-Boxer review

Prices start from £37,990 in basic EX trim, rising to £40,090 in mid-spec Sport trim and £40,990 in the uppermost Premium trim. 

On lease, you’re looking at £489, £519 and £529 respectively, on a four-year agreement with a £5k down payment and 8,000 yearly mileage allowance, through Subaru’s own finance scheme.

For reference, the Volkswagen Tiguan, Mazda CX-5 and Nissan X-Trail all start from less than the EX trim, while the Toyota RAV4 is less than a grand more and the Honda CR-V is £46k... and that's a full-fat PHEV. So the Subaru doesn’t really have cost on its side.

What’s the difference between kit?

The Forester e-Boxer does come pretty impressively equipped as standard, including 17-inch alloy wheels, keyless entry and start, LED headlights, power folding door mirrors, an 8.0-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, reversing camera, and Subaru’s full suite of driver assistance systems.

This includes the Driver Monitoring System, which points cameras at the driver and uses facial recognition to detect whether you’re paying attention or not. It can recognise up to five different drivers, and if you head deep enough into the menus you can set the system up to automatically adjust things such as the seating position, door mirror angle, display screen content and air conditioning settings depending on who gets behind the wheel. It’s impressive tech, if a little Big Brother for our liking.

Sport models add slightly more style (depending on your taste) courtesy of 18-inch alloys, privacy glass, black door mirrors and roof rails, and red/orange accents on the front and rear bumpers, side skirts and roof rails.

Meanwhile, Premium spec models get 18-inch diamond cut alloys, built in satnav (not that you really need it), leather seats, heated steering wheel and rear seats, a sunroof and powered tailgate.

What’s the best spec?

Considering the equipment you get as standard, we’d be tempted to go with the entry-level XE spec, which offers more than enough creature comforts and likely the best ride courtesy of the smaller alloys. Spend any more, and you’d likely be better off with one of the Forester's many rivals.