Suresh

I've been scoobless since selling my Forester to the originating dealer for a tidy sum a couple of months ago. My replacement permanent (lease) wagon arrived yesterday after a 3 month wait.

Some impressions: The blown 2.0 FSI engine pulls strong from around 1500 rpm and would murder my old Forester S turbo (in the dry) with its instant response. The colour is 'graphite blue' and looks quite sporty with the pimp tints and 17" alloys. I like it. The interior is massive compared to the Forester. Leg room is a world apart and the cavernous boot is quoted at 600 litres compared to 400 in the Subaru. Great when you've got 2 little sprogs and all their gubbins to transport around. Going on holiday to the Dutch coast in the thing in a couple of days and don't expect to need a roofbox anymore.

The interior is well put together from good quality materials and is quite a nice place to be. Full screen DVD navi is pretty cool and the seats are very comfortable.

Handling is better than the Forester, but nothing to write home about. It has a comfortable refined ride, which is well-suited to an old bloke like me.

Thanks to ridiculous local car taxes the UK price equivalent of my new ride is some 36 grand!

ScoobyDoo555

Nice looking car mate

Is this based on the A4 or A6? I've got an A4 variant ( ) in estate version, and it's great for the kids and dogs.

Keep us posted on how you get on with it

Dan

Andy M3

A responsive FSI engine and a VAG that handles - a rare combo

Looks nice and practical though, and I like the colour!

Matteeboy

Is that 150bhp?

lestippp

Must be the 197bhp version, if its as fast as the old forester turbo me thinks

Matteeboy

Looks to me like all the letters on "FSI" are silver - usually means 150bhp.
But I may be blind.
197bhp usually marked "2.0T" with a red "T" (I think)

Matteeboy

My mistake - there is a "sport" version with 200PS.

Devildog

Matt, it will also be Dutch spec, so UK badging won't necessarily be the same.

Nice interior, not a bad looking estate

Matteeboy

Missed the Dutch bit.
Must be a top end Sport then - sounds nice!

lestippp

See now I noticed that the steering wheel was in the wrong place

Matteeboy

Might be a LHD import or could be any country except Oz, Japan and NZ!

Suresh

Thanks for the interest. It is the 200ps version - the same 2.0 petrol turbo engine as the Golf Gti in fact i.e. engine of the year for the last two years. Delivers max torque at 1800 rpm and is red lined at 6500. Must have a small turbo, which explains why it is so tractable but will probably run out of puff well before the 6500rpm redline (I haven't tried it yet though).

I've only done 150 miles in it so far, but the fuel computer is reporting 35mpg so far, compared to a typical 25mpg in the blown Forester.

The Dutch version name is "Highline" which I believe in the UK comes out as an SEL. The F and S on the badge are indeed silver, but the I is in red. I thought they'd stick a T on it too, but I guess the local model is just different.

Had an A4 estate for a month on loan and found it to be well-made but cramped compared to the Forester, let alone the Passat. It had a great Bose stereo though As far as I know this VW is not based on the Audi platform anymore. I could have got a 2.8l V6 petrol A6 estate within my budget, but there would have only been limited toys available and it would have been even more nose-heavy than the v-dub and with a smaller boot

Matteeboy

Suresh -thanks for clearing that up!
Sounds likea very nice car to me.

I had a Forester XT 2.0 on 24 hour test drive and the mpg was shocking!
Drove well though and upset a few reps in it!

The Zohan

I must be getting old (well, i am) i like it, looks nice, practical and a good spec. Certainly a car i would consider!