Auto Vasar Blog

Subaru Forester Diesel

The new Forester is a decent looking machine – which is good given that Subaru continues to be a lesser-considered badge than many others in the UK.  There’s more space, practicality, better safety and greater ground clearance than the older version too.

The new Forester is based on the platform of the hatchback Impreza, offering multi-link rear suspension, power steering, Subaru Vehicle Dynamics Control, automatically levelling suspension and a revised automatic transmission that (for no reason) offers sports – along with normal and manual settings.

This Subaru offers real off-roading ability and make no mistake, the low ratio, dual range gearbox is proof of that.  Simply depress the clutch and raise the level next to the gear shift and away you go, pulling strongly.

Once again, Subaru offers great improvements over the previous edition of one of their range – with perhaps the only let-down being the high emissions which are 198g/km.  Overall, this is a good looking, capable car that should provide years of reliability.  Whether it can compete with the likes of the CR-V or the Nissan X-Trail is entirely up to you - but it’s certainly a credible choice.

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The Nissan Qazana Crossover Concept

Is this the car to save the motor industry in the north east of England?  Nissan has a huge factory in Sunderland that’s unfortunately seen some layoffs.  Will the Qazana change all that though?

The Nissan Qazana is a four wheel drive crossover that features (in the concept at least) Nissan’s All Mode system.  It is roughly around the size of a Micra and will be built on the replacement platform that is due to begin production in 2010.

How similar the actual production version will be to this crazy concept remains to be seen – but I do hope that they don’t move too far away from the cool, pimped-out funky buggy look that we can see here.  It’s a car with real character when everything is starting to look very similar in most markets and manufacturers are playing it safe (just look at the C5, the Insignia, and BMWs etc).

The Qazana concept features suicide doors – to be honest I can’t see these making the production cut – which is a shame.  They’re novel and add more interest to the vehicle.  My guess is that whilst the front lights might increase in size, the more aggressive styling (including the massive alloys and arches) may get toned down.  The bold front end too might be reworked when we see a production model.

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