You know that sinking feeling-the horses need hay and feed and you have to go to pick it up. The dogs have run out of kibble and the children are going through the contents of the fridge like a plague of particularly voracious locusts.
You’re destined to spend the day endlessly ferrying animal feed back and forth. It’s a chore, lugging a month’s worth of hay and bags of hard feed into the boot-and out again-and bales are hardly the most space-efficient food ever invented. It’s a massive, three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle, with added mess.
Luckily, the Subaru Forester-named Mid-Range SUV of the Year by 4×4 Magazine-can at least help to make the job a little less onerous, because even the dietary requirements of the hungriest horse or eight-year-old boy can be catered for in its large, easy-to-access boot.
Because Subaru thinks about the needs of its cars’ owners, rather than what it might look like in a showroom, the boot of the Forester has been designed to be simple to clean, with a flat-load floor and lots of space.
With the XT model, you can open the boot remotely-this is the first car in its class to feature a powered tailgate-if your hands are full, store the cargo cover under the floor, tip down the rear seats in one quick motion, and then just slide the feed in. It may sound obvious that life should be this simple, but often it’s the simple things that are overlooked.
Even though it’s winter and the horses are eating more, you should still be able to get all their feed into the boot, because, compared to the previous Forester, boot space in the new model has been enlarged by 12%, from 450 to 505 litres. When the rear seats are folded down, that space increases to a massive 1,592 litres, giving an immensely useable area. The larger load bay is now 884mm high, 940mm long and up to 1,166mm wide. And you’ll be able to deliver right to your horses’ stable doors, wherever they are situated, thanks to the clever X-Mode technology which improves the vehicle’s all-wheel drive capabilities.
Thanks to the option of a hard-wearing plastic lining in the Forester’s boot, all it takes is a quick wash out and the car will be returned to pristine condition.
All this, and the XT version also comes with luxurious features such as heated leather seats, sunroof, rear-parking cameras, Bluetooth and iPod connectivity. In fact, the Forester turns today’s chores into tomorrow’s little pleasures-even stocking up for the hungry hordes in your life.
For more information visit www.subaru.co.uk
Official fuel consumption figures for the Subaru XV range in mpg (l/100km): Urban from 32.1 (8.8) to 41.5 (6.8). Extra Urban from 47.9 (5.9) to 56.5 (5.0). Combined from 40.9 (6.9) to 50.4 (5.6). CO2emissions from 160 to 146 (g/km). MPG figures are official EU test figures for comparative purposes and may not reflect real driving results. For built-in peace of mind, all vehicles marketed by Subaru (UK) Ltd are covered by a five-year/100,000 mile (whichever is sooner) limited warranty.
