We've been away on a road trip since Thursday morning. We drove to the trailhead for Lake O'Hara in the morning, backpacked up, and came out Saturday afternoon. Then we headed to Kamloops for two nights. We had twelve people in total, one group going to a softball tournament in Kamloops, the other a soccer tournament also in Kamloops. Our little family stayed up at the ski hill to check out summer activities there. Since we had a good sized group going to three different spots in Kamloops, we took three vehicles.
The first is our trusty 2004 Highlander, now showing 270K on the odo. Second was a 2004 4Runner V-8 model with 330K, and lastly the newest member of the group, a 2015 Forester XT. We swapped drivers occasionally for fun.
My observations...
1. The two old Toyotas feel great considering their age and mileage. Both feel and drive tight and strong. The 4.7L V-8 in the 4Runner wouldn't have been my choice, but the SUV is very nice to drive with it.
2. The Forester is bigger than mine, much larger in the rear seat. That said, it is sized a class smaller than even the older Highlander and 4Runner, and interior space wise, it's noticeable jumping back and forth between the vehicles.
3. The Forester is about the same power/weight ratio as the Highlander, and during two lane passing and accelerating from rest stops, the two were dead even. The 4Runner has more power than the others, but a lot more weight to pull, and during passing it would get left a little behind the other two.
4. The Forester was the most fun by far on twisty roads - low center of gravity and tight suspension won the day. On the straight drone from Hinton to Edmonton, the Highlander was the comfiest. The 4Runner was a mixed bag - not as isolated on the straight roads and the least at home in the bends. That would all change if we ventured at all off-road though.
5. Fuel economy was nearly a wash between the Highlander and Forester. On the straight and level sections, the Forester had a clear advantage, but that went away on the two lane roads thanks to us driving quite quickly and doing a lot of passing. The turbo engine loved the transmission and made passing easy and fun, but if you spend lots of time on the boost, you're sucking fuel. The Highlander usually records 8.5-9.0 on the highway - this trip was closer to 10.0, and the Forester right behind it at 9.5.
The poor 4Runner drank gas like it owned oil company stocks. With our aggressive driving it was recording 14.0L/100km on the highway. The V-8 was wonderful on the big hills, barely even needing a downshift, but the relatively large throttle opening allowed a lot of fuel into the big engine. I was passing a pair of semis and at 150km/h I could swear that I could see the fuel gauge dropping.
6. The 4Runner didn't notice the people and gear on board at all. It sat exactly the same, drove the same, and even with the AC on, climbed any hill at whatever speed you wanted. We had a lighter load in the Highlander, so hard to compare, but it too felt no different regardless of people/gear. The Forester's driveline also performed pretty much the same, unless you were out of boost. Fully loaded the Forester would hesitate for a nanosecond when a hill came up, and then the instant the engine made boost, presto! The Forester's rear end drooped a little with four people and full of gear. Didn't seem to affect the handling though.
The Forester sure is a nice package - a huge step up from previous models - interior is much nicer, engine/trans combo is the best ever (save perhaps for the turbo/manual from the old days) and overall build quality feels un-Subaru - okay it only had 8000km on it, but still, felt great. It's still a little noisier than the other two despite their AT tires - but to be fair the OE tires on the Scoob didn't drone like the AT tires on the HL and 4R, but they did emit a high pitch whine that was really annoying at some speeds.
