Issue date: 2/5/10 Section: Automotive

Media Credit: Sierra Hutto

Fresh metal glistens with droplets of rain, climbing vehicles scale flagstone mounds when entering a sleek lot. The blue oval shimmers in diffused light on every car: cobalt blues, obsidian black and silver birch hues.
The Subaru Forester is a sweet new ride with all the bells and whistles, and this year Subaru has brought something exciting. The Forester has all bases covered for a versatile ride. A test drive on a rainy day in Livermore quite literally brought the sun out, perhaps in a genuine curiosity to watch the zooming ride.
The Forester harbors a plethora of features to far surpass plain satisfaction in performance, entertainment and safety.
The whiff of spanking new leather filled senses with excitement.
Clutching one hand on the ergonomically designed steering wheel, and the other on the shifter flooded the mind with devious ideas for the solo voyage.
Every curve thrown on the back roads was handled with a supportive grasp of the designer wheel and balanced structure.
Subaru is one of the only cars on the market with a horizontally opposed Boxer engine, Porche's 911, Boxter and Cayman sports and GT models accompany the Forester.
The great advantage with Subaru is the technology within the engine, where one side uses motion from the pistons to cancel the opposing side's for ultimate engine stability and performance, thus demonstrating the Boxer engine.
Technology plays a key role in this year's models. Bluetooth syncing and the new "Media Hub" make digital integrated into the vehicle. The 2010 Subaru models have a hidden USB connection in the console to relieve worry about nosy and devious onlookers. Browsing playlists on the navigation screen is an easier way to view favorite music, there is even an option to add wireless play of all content from mp3 players.
Turn key, ignite engine, shift and accelerate the manual transmission, feel the weight sink deeper into the seat.
Two hundred and twenty four horsepower is what the 2.5XT Premium model has to offer, a mid-range level with a kick of turbo. Because it's turbo-charged, freeway merging is anything but frightening, drop it into third and hear the turbo whirl, acceleration brings adrenaline and soon as you know it, you are well above the speed limit. Bump to the beats with the six speaker stereo system, and if it's the radio playing, the navigation screen will let you know what song is on.

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