It’s like riding a well-trained horse: a stream of power that propels you along. And you know there’s more available should you need it.
Besides that, you feel as secure as you would on the back of a Basotho pony in the Malutis. It’s surefooted on rocky sections and completely reliable. It could only have come from Japan.
Tiaan from Subaru explained the workings of the horizontally opposed Boxer engine (what was good enough for kamikaze pilots should be good enough for me), the way the four wheels know when to give more traction, the stability, road-holding and safety features (double air bags and a steel frame that surrounds you like a cocoon).
I can honestly say Tiaan did not exaggerate. In the few months we’ve owned the Forester, we’ve driven up mountains in the Mountain Zebra National Park, through ditches in Addo and up twisty roads in the Outeniquas, and through it all the Forester purred gently and never skipped a beat.
We took the pictures featured here near Trekoskraal and Tietiesbaai, on the West Coast. We’d been to Trekoskraal twice before: The first time it was a wild, bumpy ride through drifts and over rocky ledges in an ordinary car; the second time we got stuck in sand.
In the Forester we argued about where exactly it was that we’d got stuck the previous times. We barely noticed the ditches, the rocks and the inclines.
But if you thought the Forester does well on gravel and sand, it sails over tar… and over potholes in the tar.

Absolutely. When I’ve driven in the rain and on sand, the Forester has negotiated the road in a reassuringly secure manner. But where it makes me feel the safest is every day at the Salt River circle in peak-hour traffic, among the taxis and buses and cars and motorbikes and horse-drawn carts. The accelleration is snappy and the braking precise – it apparently has to do with the four sensors on the ABS brakes and the electronic brake distribution.

More than I need. It has space for a box of wine and groceries and clothes and books and a sleeping bag - that I know already. Soon I’ll be able to tell you how many plants I can fit in the back.

We kept a tally when we visited Addo and also on the West Coast trip, and got a healthy 9,3 ℓ/100 km.

After four months, I still get surprises. Some have to do with the design – elegant details such as the frameless windows. Others have to do with the technology, such as the automatic climate control and demister. You don’t have to adjust the air conditioning all the time. And it’s amazing to see the mist on the windows clear automatically after you’ve stopped for pizza on your way home on a rainy night.
Another surprise was the virtual lack of blind spots in the rear-view and the side windows.
But best of all are the small comforts like the water-resistant upholstery, the headlights that turn off with the engine, the extra storage bins in the cabin, the CD player with its six-CD changer that can keep you in music from the Cape to Kakamas, and the extra 12V power point in the boot. You can amuse yourself for hours wondering what to plug in there. Fridge? Reading lamp? Microwave? Hairdryer?

Two things: The doors that don’t lock by themselves and the irritating noise if I don’t put on my seatbelt within 30 seconds of turning the key.

I haven’t had my Forester serviced, but the service at purchase was excellent, speedy and personal. I would have preferred a dry bubbly to the sweet one, though.

What do you mean? They can bury me in this car. Not even a Porsche or Lamborghini would make me change my mind. But perhaps a New Holland tractor or a Scania R500 truck…

Subaru Forester 2.5 XS, 2007 ModeL, R199 000.
Engine: 2457 cc (121 kW and 225 Nm)
Official performance: More than a woman could wish for.
Ground clearance: 200 mm
Petrol tank: 60 ℓ
Tank range: 600 km (playing it safe)
Top speed: 185 km/h

(Note: Prices accurate in August 2009)