Toyota RAV4 fighter: The 2025 Subaru Forester mid-size SUV has leaked ahead of its official reveal, is it going to be new enough?

The new Subaru Forester has been leaked ahead of its reveal late this week at the LA Auto Show, with images from unknown sources showing off the Toyota RAV4 rival's inside and out in great detail.

Posted to the r/Subaru subreddit and subsequently in a full image gallery by another user, the images of the new Forester show a different design language that was compared to the American-market Ford Explorer SUV a number of times in the thread.

While there's been no official confirmation that this is the new Forester, it's hard to mistake this as the car given there are dozens of detailed photos - although Subaru USA has posted a few teasers to its social media, and one matches the wheels on this car.

Its blacked-out, reshaped grille and the tail-light bar across the rear are both reminiscent of Ford's large SUV, but the interior is unmistakably Subaru, with the upright multimedia touchscreen from many current models like the Crosstrek and Outback featuring in the new Forester.

In keeping with Subaru's simplistic and arguably ‘rugged utilitarian' approach, physical dials remain on the instrument cluster with a standard TFT screen in the centre for extra info. There aren't many centre console buttons, nor controls around the gear shift lever.

Photos of the engine also appear to show the same powertrain currently available in Australia, the naturally aspirated 2.5-litre flat four ‘Boxer' which here makes 136kW and 239Nm.

It's also available here with a 2.0-litre hybrid-assisted engine as also found in the Crosstrek, though it's not clear if that will remain in the Forester given its extra cost and minimal fuel savings when compared to rivals - something that has been independently tested by CarsGuide.

Expect to see the new generation of Forester land in about a year, given the time usually taken between a global reveal and cars rolling into dealerships, although Australia won't be forgotten about given our relatively high importance to Subaru as a brand globally.

The current Forester should remain mostly the same until then, save for  a possible run-out special or similar during the course of the next year or so.

The existing Forester is available from $37,890 before on-road costs in base form or from $43,290 for the hybrid L, but it is unclear how much prices will increase for the new-gen model.

We should find out more about the next Subaru Forester when it's revealed at the LA Auto Show on November 16, with Australian details likely to follow a local launch confirmation.