Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm assuming the two trims are comparable feature wise. Both are available at a similar price point. Which one of these is a better vehicle? We'll probably drive 10K miles a year, most of the mileage coming from a long distance trip 3-4 times a year. Otherwise, it will be local driving around town. No commute for work. Need enough room to move kid in and out of dorm rooms, home depot runs to buy mulch and lumber, etc.

We currently own a Honda minivan and a Lexus sedan both 10+ years old, and will likely keep this new vehicle for many years.

I like both your choices and drive a Forester myself, but are you keeping the minivan? Because a minivan can do the lumber and dorm room moving, which frees you up to perhaps choose a smaller car for local driving around town.

Anyway, even though I like my Forester (which has over 100k miles), I've always said my next car will be a Toyota for reliability and low maintenance. DH drives an ancient Toyota that he does nearly nothing to maintain and it just keeps going.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm assuming the two trims are comparable feature wise. Both are available at a similar price point. Which one of these is a better vehicle? We'll probably drive 10K miles a year, most of the mileage coming from a long distance trip 3-4 times a year. Otherwise, it will be local driving around town. No commute for work. Need enough room to move kid in and out of dorm rooms, home depot runs to buy mulch and lumber, etc.

We currently own a Honda minivan and a Lexus sedan both 10+ years old, and will likely keep this new vehicle for many years.

I like both your choices and drive a Forester myself, but are you keeping the minivan? Because a minivan can do the lumber and dorm room moving, which frees you up to perhaps choose a smaller car for local driving around town.

Anyway, even though I like my Forester (which has over 100k miles), I've always said my next car will be a Toyota for reliability and low maintenance. DH drives an ancient Toyota that he does nearly nothing to maintain and it just keeps going.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm assuming the two trims are comparable feature wise. Both are available at a similar price point. Which one of these is a better vehicle? We'll probably drive 10K miles a year, most of the mileage coming from a long distance trip 3-4 times a year. Otherwise, it will be local driving around town. No commute for work. Need enough room to move kid in and out of dorm rooms, home depot runs to buy mulch and lumber, etc.

We currently own a Honda minivan and a Lexus sedan both 10+ years old, and will likely keep this new vehicle for many years.

Toyota for reliability hands down.

Love Subraus however they are not as reliable.

Anonymous wrote:I'm assuming the two trims are comparable feature wise. Both are available at a similar price point. Which one of these is a better vehicle? We'll probably drive 10K miles a year, most of the mileage coming from a long distance trip 3-4 times a year. Otherwise, it will be local driving around town. No commute for work. Need enough room to move kid in and out of dorm rooms, home depot runs to buy mulch and lumber, etc.

We currently own a Honda minivan and a Lexus sedan both 10+ years old, and will likely keep this new vehicle for many years.

Anonymous wrote:I'm assuming the two trims are comparable feature wise. Both are available at a similar price point. Which one of these is a better vehicle? We'll probably drive 10K miles a year, most of the mileage coming from a long distance trip 3-4 times a year. Otherwise, it will be local driving around town. No commute for work. Need enough room to move kid in and out of dorm rooms, home depot runs to buy mulch and lumber, etc.

We currently own a Honda minivan and a Lexus sedan both 10+ years old, and will likely keep this new vehicle for many years.

Anonymous wrote:I have a 2025 non hybrid forrester. Great visibility. We debated waiting for the hybrid version decided to buy before tariffs hit.

I hear good things about the Subaru hybrid. It uses slightly older hybrid tech adopted from Toyota. Only like $1500 more than non-hybrid

The digital gauge cluster is said to be a major improvement. Stop star feature is much better than non-hybrid.

The main difference is that the forrester has a true four wheel drive system. Toyota “AWD”typically have a separate electric motor in the rear that only turns on for extra power or traction control.


Toyota likely has better long term reliability after 100k and will hold its value a bit better after that than the Subaru.

We don’t drive that much so fuel economy and 100k mile use was less of a concern.