When in Rome do as the Romans do. With a ski trip planned for Winter Park, Colorado, I requested the official vehicle of Colorado* (*this isn’t a thing), a Subaru, to brave the mountain weather. I was rewarded with a 2025 Subaru Forester Sport in a lovely Sapphire Blue Pearl. My goal was to find out why so many Coloradans opt for Subarus.
I spent a week with the Forester Sport, braving the cold and snow, driving back and forth to the Mary Jane ski resort, and driving to the airport in a snowstorm. Here are the pros and cons of the new Forester Sport.
With a starting price of $36,030 including a $1,420 destination charge, the Forester Sport is a lot of vehicle for the price, and it’s the Forester we’d recommend. Like the Premium model below it, it upgrades the standard dual 7.0-inch touchscreens for infotainment and navigation with a tablet-style 11.6 touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. It also upgrades to more soft-touch padding, synthetic leather instead of cloth upholstery, and a 10-way power-adjustable driver’s seat instead of manual controls. Other standard features include a satellite radio trial, a wifi hotspot, heated front seats and side mirrors, keyless entry, roof rails, and a sunroof. The Sport in the Forester Sport comes in the form of 19-inch bronze-trimmed alloy wheels (instead of 17s), chrome and bronze badges inside and out, black exterior trim bits, paddle shifters for simulated gear ratios, and Subaru’s dual-function X-Mode system with a Deep Snow/Mud function that cuts back on traction control to get through slippery terrain.
The Forester Sport is powered by a 2.5-liter flat-4 that makes a modest 180 hp and 178 lb-ft of torque. It’s run to all four wheels through a continuously variable automatic transmission with eight simulated gear ratios. That’s less power than most of the competition, including the bestselling Toyota RAV4. I’m not a fan of CVTs for their rubbery feel, but that is often remedied when they have simulated gear shifts. Despite the simulated shifts, the Forester Sport still had that rubber-band feel from gear ratio to gear ratio. It also didn’t build speed quickly and struggled to get up to highway speeds in Winter Park’s 8,800 feet of altitude. The Forester Sport has Subaru Si Drive with Intelligent (I) and Sport Sharp (S#) modes. These control the engine, throttle, and transmission settings, with I being the default, fuel-economy-based mode, and S# triggering a sharper throttle, higher revs, and quicker engine responses to help get out in front of traffic. S# doesn’t add any more power, though, so it didn’t help in the few instances when I wanted to get to higher speeds.
The Forester Sport’s standard symmetrical all-wheel drive makes it mountain-ready. The system continually shifts power to the tires with more traction, and it also has an X-Mode system with Normal, Snow/Dirt, and Deep Snow/Mud modes. The X modes use the stability control system to reduce individual wheel spin and send that power to the tires with grip. It also adjusts the gear ratios and engine output for best traction. The Deep Snow/Mud mode can shut off traction control to get the vehicle going when it’s slippery.
I didn’t need to change the X mode settings from Normal to get more traction for the Bridgestone Turanza EL450 tires on wet roads, roads with a layer of packed snow, or even on the highway during a snowstorm. Had we had gotten some fresh powder during my stay, I would have dug through the modes to optimize traction. The Bridgestones were up to the task for my trip, but if I lived in the mountains I’d go with a more aggressive all-season tires like the Michelin CrossClimate2 or opt for snow tires.
A ski trip means packing a lot: a big suitcase, a boot bag, a ski bag, and my backpack. That fit in the Subaru’s cargo hold with room for another set of the same. The Forester Sport has a very useful 27.5 cubic feet of cargo space behind the rear seat, and that expands to 69.1 cubic feet with the rear seat folded down. I didn’t use the rear seat, but with 39.4 inches of legroom, it is adult-friendly.
With temperatures topping out around 5 degrees on a couple of days, my fingers longed for the warm embrace of a heated steering wheel (my butt appreciated the standard seat heaters). Roads covered by a combination of snow and dirt also dimmed the headlights, so headlight washers would be helpful. Instead I rinsed them off with snow.
Those are only minor niggles. The Forester Sport is well suited to mountain driving and serving the active lifestyle. Coloradans know their stuff.
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2025 Subaru Forester Sport
Base price: $36,030, including a $1,420 destination fee
Price as tested: $37,730
Drivetrain: 180-hp 2.5-liter flat-4, AWD
EPA fuel economy: 25/32/28 mpg
The hits: An active lifestyle and family value, good interior space, effective all-wheel drive
The misses: Rubbery transmission, mediocre power, could use more inclement weather features