To be honest, I've never tried a business trip to have so many twists and turns. The flight did not have direct flights, only stopovers, and then flew to the stopover station and was notified that the subsequent flight was cancelled due to heavy snowfall. Only buy overnight sleeper greenskin train to continue to the local area. Some of my media friends with me have begun to back off. But there are two things that particularly appealed to me about this test drive, which made me even go in a green car, one is the ice and snow test drive, and the other is Subaru.
Ice and snow, nature is the most powerful place for Subaru's signature left-right symmetrical full-time four-wheel drive system. For 75 years, thanks to the continuous tempering of the rally field, Subaru's left-right symmetrical full-time all-wheel drive system has been fully verified on production cars. Even now that Subaru has left the top rally, its left-right symmetrical full-time all-wheel drive system is still evolving on production cars.
The 2022 Forester (priced at 223,800-26.58 million yuan) that I tested this time is the best example. The biggest change in the full-time all-wheel drive system of the new car is the addition of an automatic reset function in X-MODE. In the older model, the X-MODE automatically shuts down at speeds in excess of 40 km/h, but still needs to be opened manually after deceleration.
In the 2022 Forester, X-MODE will be automatically opened under 35km/h after manual opening, reducing the trouble of operation, which will be particularly useful when the ice and snow test drive of my venue.
I, the keyboard car god, have only played ice and snow pull on the game console before, and have practiced a drift on the track, never experienced the ice and snow test drive in the real world, this time under the leadership of the Forester and Subaru coach is finally experienced, I have to say that and I imagined that the gap is quite large.
On low-grip roads such as ice and snow, maintaining good traction and not serious slippage is the most critical. The X-MODE of the 2022 Forester has a snow mode, and after matching the nail tires of Nokia, you don't need to worry too much about getting out of control in the ice and snow track control.
I like to drive in a "slow in, fast out" way on the track, in the slow speed of the corner, in the corner to give a little bit of throttle, even if the wheels start to slip, the controllability of the vehicle is still very high, and the tolerance of the system is enough, can let me slide out of the corner to get a higher cornering speed.
It is also because of X-MODE's speed-based automatic switching function that I can pass at a faster speed on the big straight, as long as I can reduce to a controllable speed when entering a corner, I don't have to worry about getting out of control. On the narrow and curved ice, driving the Forester SUV to more than 50km/h, not to mention how exciting.
And on the ice and snow road, this set of 2.0L naturally aspirated horizontal opposing engine + steel chain CVT transmission powertrain is particularly light, the power is as followed, in the initial section of the throttle can provide a good power response. This is also important in snow and ice driving, because if the throttle response is slower than a few tenths of a second, the vehicle will throw itself into the arms of the track-side snow pile. So drive a forester on an icy road and you can get 90% of your happiness.
But why is the remaining 10% of happiness gone? Or this set of left-right symmetrical full-time four-wheel drive system. I can clearly feel that the power distribution in X-MODE mode will still be biased towards the front wheels when exiting the corner, which means that it is not so easy to make the foresters throw the rear of the car when they go out of the corner. Coupled with the height and center of gravity of the forester SUV, the vehicle is still relatively pushed when the body is bent. At this time, I really wanted a handbrake that could pull up the rear wheels and let the rear of the car float up, so that it would be more spiritual.
And X-MODE can play the most out of it than the deep snow crossing. The Forester's full-time four-wheel drive system carefully controls the traction on the slopes of the deep snow area, and even on slippery ice, it can climb to the top of the mountain with X-MODE and Nokian nail tires.
After climbing to the top of the mountain, it is the turn of the Forester X-MODE's steep slope mitigation function to threaten, the new Forester's steep slope slowing function is more controllable than the old model, and the brake control will immediately intervene after releasing the brake pedal. This is very important on the downhill crossing road after many crushing and the ruts have turned icy and slippery, because as long as the time of intervention is one night, the vehicle will become a wild horse that is out of control.
The 2022 Foresters made a deep impression on the snowy pavement, but on the paved pavement, the performance of the new Foresters is also remarkable.
As an urban SUV, the foresters meet the needs of mild non-paved roads, the road driving is relatively smooth, driving at 80km/h on the ordinary road without the feeling of fluttering. This is also because the new Forester has optimized the suspension tuning, the filter is more crisp and clean, and the control is more sensitive.
Of course, this test drive is equipped with Nokia's winter nail tires, so the driving noise level is higher than that of summer tires. But this Nokian tread tire still has its special features, its tire nails can be stretched through the rubber ring on the mounting position, encountering harder road surfaces, the tire nails will be pressed in, and the rubber tread will contact the road surface; and in the softer snow, the tire nails will remain extended. This ensures grip on both snow and roads.
Don't look at the 2.0L naturally aspirated horizontal opposed 4-cylinder engine only 154PS, but under the blessing of the steel chain CVT, the initial power comes very quickly, and even has a little "channeling" feeling, and the traffic lights in the city start are not vain at all. Moreover, the steel chain CVT is more durable than the steel belt type used by Japanese friends, and is more suitable for complex road conditions such as crossing, ice and snow driving, and higher requirements for the gearbox. However, the steering system does not have a strong sense of centering, and there is more isolation from road information.
Finally, let's mention the changes in the exterior, interior and configuration of the new Forester. The new Forester's headlights evolved into a blade-like shape, shorter and more sleek, and with a larger blackened front grille, the entire front face was more aggressive. At the same time, changes to the front fog lights and luggage racks have also made the new Forester more practical. The body color is two new models, streamer copper and field deep green.
The interior adds orange + dark metal decoration to the X Sport model, and adds air conditioning temperature gesture control to the interactive system. Of course, I would prefer gesture control to be extended to other functions. The Subaru EyeSight Driver Assistance System adds emergency automatic steering assist, lane centering and front car steering.
In fact, the Forester is a car that Subaru sells well in China, and its left-right symmetrical full-time four-wheel drive system and practicality are relatively good in Subaru's sales products in China. This redesign is also mainly aimed at the needs of users to improve, full-time four-wheel drive is better to use, comfort and handling have also improved. Of course, due to the limitation of the model, some of the handling details are not perfect, but driving a forester in the snow and ice is the most extreme enjoyment.
Test Drive: 2022 Subaru Forester 2.0i Deluxe EyeSight (238,800 yuan)
Guidance price: 22.38-26.58 million yuan
merit:
1. Vehicles on ice and snow roads are very controllable, and X-MODE automatic opening/closing saves a lot of operational effort
2. Excellent power distribution of the four-wheel drive system on the climbing road
3. The power response is brisk and fast, driving in the city is very heeled
shortcoming:
1. The interior design and central control interaction system are older
2. The steering system provides insufficient information and a weak sense of centrality