Subaru has been in the ''compact SUV'' market since before that term even existed. The engineering-oriented Japanese marque pioneered all-wheel-drive passenger cars and station wagons over 40 years ago and remains a major player today.
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This early work by Subaru is paying big dividends today, because compact SUVs compete in one of the fastest growing market segments.
Interestingly, this doesn't just apply to Australia; buyers in many countries are discovering how much sense it is to own affordable, driver friendly compact SUVs.
Which brings us to Subaru's Forester, the midsize model in the extensive Subaru all-wheel-drive wagon range.
So important is the Forester that Subaru Australia imported several pre-production generation-four Foresters to Australia to permit a select group of journalists to drive them on and off-road. The new model won't reach us downunder until February.
We are impressed by the latest Forester. While competing SUVs are becoming softer, Subaru has stuck to its guns and produced a genuine off-road wagon.
Even better, Forester's on-road behaviour has been further refined despite the upgrade of its allroad abilities.
We did some reasonably serious driving in hills near Canberra as part of the press launch of the Forester.
Its ground clearance of 220mm is greater than that of all its competitors, even of some dedicated 4WDs. So deep ruts and large rocks will seldom cause hassles.
The electronic traction controls, tagged X-Mode by Subaru, are arguably the best we have experienced; sophisticated, non-intrusive and simple to use. However, X-Mode is fitted to Foresters with automatic transmission, not on manuals.
Downhill and uphill assist are controlled by the throttle and brake pedals, making them significantly more intuitive than the hand controls generally fitted.
Even first time off-road users of a gen-four Forester will feel they are experts in the way the wagon responds.
On sealed roads, the added ground clearance of the Forester isn't a problem unless pushed far harder than is ever likely to be attempted by the typical owner.
The fourth-generation Subaru Forester is marginally smaller on the outside, but clever design means the interior is slightly larger.
As is the way with most latest generation cars, the Subaru Forester is quieter and smoother than ever before, with cabin noise levels diminished to the sort of levels that used to require an expensive sedan to achieve.
We road tested the EyeSight system fitted to the topline Forester. Unlike other crash avoidance and mitigation systems, Subaru's uses cameras, rather than radar, in its operation. Anything that can be seen by the human eye will create an image behind the cameras' lenses, whereas radar only works when its beams are reflected back from metallic or similar surfaces, so may not 'see' pedestrians, cyclists or animals.
New Forester can be specified with a 2.0 or 2.5-litre flat-four petrol engine, and a 2.0-litre turbo-diesel. However, only the 2.5 petrol can be specified with an automatic transmission, the others have a six-speed manual gearbox.
