A beast

It looks very SUV-ish. The front is just like the old Ford Endeavour. The boxy exterior is very desirable and 'in'.

It has superb space and comfort levels are high. But it misses on a lot of features like a sunroof, automatic transmission, shift-on-the-fly AWD (it's permanent AWD), rear AC vents, rear center armrest, climate control, steering mounted controls, 2+ airbags (it has just 2) which were found on other luxury sedans of that time for the same prices (18-20 lakh) such as Skoda Superb, Honda Accord and Toyota Camry.

First-class engine. It's a boxer engine and the only car to have it in India. This is mated to an AWD with a 5-speed gearbox: its clutch is heavy. Its fuel economy is 10 km/l which is not bad at all for a petrol AWD SUV of those times, especially compared to the Grand Vitara (4 km/l).

This is where the Forester steals the show. It totally rocks in ride quality.

It's a great product but is not able to match CR-V's features. But it's still great and I would never exchange it for anything else. It can be compared to the Mitsubishi Outlander and Jeep Compass.

Superb space, engine, offroading capacities, good fuel economy for an AWDNo sunroof, climate control, rear armrest, rear ac vents, AT