08/08/2008 08:35. Subaru’s Forester has always resembled the shipping carton for a side-by-side Frigidaire, a barb that has become less pointed during this wagon’s 11-year lifespan. During that spell, even boxier boxes have appeared—think of the Honda Element and the Scion xB . No matter. The Forester’s practical, unpretentious countenance personifies Subaru’s ethos, and the model has done much to fatten the pay packets of more than a few Fuji Heavy Industries executives.

Every body panel is new. Just to look at the thing, you’d swear the ’09 Forester is 50-percent larger than its forebear . Not true, but it is 2.9 inches longer and 1.8 inches wider, and it rides atop a wheelbase stretched 3.6 inches. EPA passenger volume has swollen by 11 cubic feet. The... // Car and Driver