Dan Neil Reviews the New Subaru Forester

We haven't seen the new Forester yet, but we're definitely starting to hear about it!  Dan Neil reviewed the recently released 2009 model in this week's Rumble Seat column in the L.A. Times. 

The good news for CarGoDogs readers is that the size has increased a bit.  I've never seriously considered a Forester simply because the old model had so little cargo space.  But the 2009 version is 3 inches longer and about 2 inches wider.  That may not sound like much, but it may allow you to squeeze a crate where you weren't able to squeeze a crate before!

The downside to the Forester is gas mileage.  All models are 4 wheel drive, which doesn't help.  The non-turbo version gets 20/26 mpg and the turbo gets 19/24.  That's not all that much better than a minivan, and though it has more space, it doesn't have THAT much space.

We'll try to take our measuring tapes to this one very soon.