All The Things I Loved About the Subaru Forester

 Last week I detailed all the facts about the 2014 Subaru Forester. What I wanted to do today is detail everything I liked and loved about the 2014 Subaru Forester, and frankly what I did not like.

Lets Start with safety because, since I had my fist child, that has been where the deal breakers were for me. All of my cars since 1999 have had side curtain airbags.  Subaru wisely includes that plus the drivers side knee bags and the pelvis/torso bags. Under safety I would also mention the Anti Theft, daytime running lights and whiplash protection. I felt that family and myself would be as safe as possible if the unthinkable happened and we were in an accident. This is my number one absolute when purchasing a vehicle.

Next lets talk interior. If you are going to drive carpool and do the family shopping there are some important things to consider. My husband is an only child and his mom is a widow so we need room for five. We are often going out to visit relatives, vacation and dinner with her in tow. She is a tiny woman and it was pretty tight in the rear with Tech Monkey, Airborne and her in the back seat. However there was plenty of leg room and it was extremely comfortable with just two back there even with the center arm rest down. The rear area was very roomy. I was impressed by all the cargo space. This is a must have for my family and I and the 2014 Subaru Forester had it in Spades.

It is also important to my kids that mom be in a good mood when driving carpool. They are much more likely to convince me to run through a drive through for something cold on a hot day if I am in a good mood. There are many interior features that made driving the 2014 Subaru Forester a dream. The stereo package I was given had an iPod port so I could bring my own tunes, an AM/FM CD player, best of all XM radio. I do not currently have XM radio and frankly used to think it was a waste because I have an iPod. I was so WRONG! XM stereo had stations by genre and 6 presets. So I was able to toggle back and forth between the all 80's music and the comedy station. I would have never thought I would want  or need such a thing but I fell in love with that option. I took the kids and their friend up to Universal Studios on a Saturday and of course we were stuck in traffic. Not only was I able to flick on the heated front seat to keep me relaxed and feeling good. I had the kids laughing and enjoying the ride because of the comedy networks.

Heated seats are a must have and have been for about 15 years now. I know I live in California and it seems like I would never need them, but the heat in the seats in like having a wonderful hot pad on your back and thus takes a bad back day and makes it a wonderful relaxed day all in the time it takes you to get to your destination. I LOVE heated seats. It is always worth the up charge to have them. these actually had two temperature settings a high and a low options. That is really nice when it is already hot outside.

And while I am on the subject of temperature lets talk AC. Air Conditioning in my part of the world is a must. With out it I would never arrive at my destination with make up still on my face in the summer. It would melt right off and land in my lap long before I ever reached my destination. But the 2014 Subaru had a LOW setting that would almost blow your hair back and freeze your breath. I found it by accident and it is great for cooling off a hot car quickly. It almost made up for the fact that they back row had no air vents at all. I think, mostly because I am relegated to the back seat often, that the back seat needs air vents. I was disappointed to see that the Subaru Forester didn't have that.

In California we have mandatory "hands free"  laws on the books so it is pretty important to me that the hand free  Bluetooth work well in any car I would choose. Now I have over 1,500 names in my address book. I know it sounds crazy and I am trying to get rid of phone numbers for people who have died or whom I no longer keep in touch with but I never seem to get around to it. So the 2014 Subaru actually took about four days to completely sync properly. Before the four days were up the phone would ring and I could answer but only then number would be read out not the name of the person calling. Also the text feature never quite worked properly. It was a small disappointment but it is something that the folks at Subaru need to work on.

I used the GPS and it worked well. There was a little bit of a learning curve but for the most part it was pretty intuitive. I liked that about everything on the Subaru. It really felt like they went out of there way to make everything intuitive. No one wants to have to read a 50 page manual just to figure out how to turn on or off the windshield wipers.

The gas mileage on this SUV was probably one of the things that surprised me the most. I really tried to use up the whole take of gas but I never even got to a quarter tank. That is really impressive in an SUV.

Overall I liked this vehicle. I would feel safe sending one of my kids off to college driving it, or just having it to run around town doing errands. I imagine it would be very comfortable on a long trip, but alas I didn't get the chance to take it on a road trip.

 To check out my other posts about this vehicle click here or here

Standard Safety Equipment:

* All Wheel Drive
* Vehicle Dynamic Control
* 4-Wheel Disc Brakes
*Anti Lock Braking System

* Electronic Brake Force Distribution
* Brake Override System
* Drivers Side Knee Air Bag
* Subaru Advanced Frontal Airbag System
* Side Curtain Airbags
* Side Curtain Rollover Sensor
* Front Seat (pelvis/torso) Airbags
* Anti Theft Alarm & Immobilizer System
* Daytime Running Lights
* Whiplash Protection front seats
* Safety Pedal System.
- See more at: http://www.realarmyofmoms.com/2014/04/just-facts-mom-2014-subaru-forester.html#sthash.ICrfR5X8.dpuf

Standard Safety Equipment:

* All Wheel Drive
* Vehicle Dynamic Control
* 4-Wheel Disc Brakes
*Anti Lock Braking System

* Electronic Brake Force Distribution
* Brake Override System
* Drivers Side Knee Air Bag
* Subaru Advanced Frontal Airbag System
* Side Curtain Airbags
* Side Curtain Rollover Sensor
* Front Seat (pelvis/torso) Airbags
* Anti Theft Alarm & Immobilizer System
* Daytime Running Lights
* Whiplash Protection front seats
* Safety Pedal System.
- See more at: http://www.realarmyofmoms.com/2014/04/just-facts-mom-2014-subaru-forester.html#sthash.ICrfR5X8.dpuf

Standard Safety Equipment:

* All Wheel Drive
* Vehicle Dynamic Control
* 4-Wheel Disc Brakes
*Anti Lock Braking System

* Electronic Brake Force Distribution
* Brake Override System
* Drivers Side Knee Air Bag
* Subaru Advanced Frontal Airbag System
* Side Curtain Airbags
* Side Curtain Rollover Sensor
* Front Seat (pelvis/torso) Airbags
* Anti Theft Alarm & Immobilizer System
* Daytime Running Lights
* Whiplash Protection front seats
* Safety Pedal System.
- See more at: http://www.realarmyofmoms.com/2014/04/just-facts-mom-2014-subaru-forester.html#sthash.ICrfR5X8.dpuf