2020 Subaru Forester vs Toyota RAV4

What's the difference?

The Subaru Forester Hybrid S is a great family car - even without the hybrid engine, you get a quality vehicle. If you’re looking for something that gives a nod to a hybrid but going electric still scares you, this could be right up your alley. Personally I would like to see more of the electric motor in use but at least Subaru's headed in the right direction. 

It has a good amount of interior space, boot space and the driving acumen we’ve come to expect from Subaru. It has great safety and the technology is good for 2020.

I gave it a family rating of 7.6 out of 10, taking points off because I think you can do more with a hybrid. My children gave it an 8.0. Show them a blue car and they love it. 

My feelings of hope for improvements from Toyota have given way to expectation. Traditionally its cars have been safe, well-built, and high quality, just boring to drive and imbued with a bit much of a "just enough" attitude. The RAV4 GX Hybrid might be nearly forty grand on the road but it has an excellent safety package, genuine fuel-saving hybrid technology and plenty of room for you and your stuff.

Fun to drive SUVs don't always have the blue halo of electrification. Somehow Toyota has injected (a sensible amount of) fun into the RAV4 which is kind of funny given how much money the brand has spent pretending it's fun. But it's happened and that's a good thing.

It’s hard to tell the regular Forester S from the Hybrid S, save for a badge on the back suggesting it's a hybrid.

So, they look as a Forester does... solid. A station wagon with the height of an SUV.

Subaru is one of the only companies to champion this shape and it works well, carving a point of difference in the crowded mid-size SUV market. 

Inside is quite stylish. Being the top-of-the-range model there are leather seats that are also heated and power adjustable. There’s a leather steering wheel that feels lovely under the hands and a sunroof to let light through the car. 

The centre console looks good, but is a little fussy with an overzealous use of buttons and a split screen situation which is confusing at first, but it's  not a deal breaker.

The addition of metal inserts on the foot pedals really lift the whole design of the car. 

I do like the new RAV4 more than the old one. A few angles are a little too... um, angly, and from the rear seems to have pinched its look from the VW Tiguan. Sometimes in traffic I double take because the badges and tail-lights don't match. I doubt it's completely deliberate, but the resemblance is there.

Further similarity to the competition is evident in the nose, with a distinct whiff of Forester. Either way, the RAV4 is more interesting and much sharper than its flabby predecessor.

I really dig the interior, though. Not so much for its beauty - its left-field competitor, the Peugeot 3008 wins that race hands down - but for, again, how much better it is than the old car, and how clever it is.

Everything looks and feels much better, with nicer materials and some lovely touches like the industrial motif in the rubber bits that line things like the the cupholder, boot floor and the tray cut into the dash. The rubberised climate control dials are a nice touch, adding a halo of ruggedness and practicality. I prefer the cloth interior, too.

Those in the Forester's front seats have plenty of leg and headroom; enough for even the taller members of my family. There is no cramped feeling, with enough room between the front seats to rule out the rubbing of  shoulders. 

My two children, aged six and eight, were comfortable in the back seat. They had a good amount of space between them, and you will be able to fit a third child seat back there.

It’s tight but it does fit. I did it with two boosters and a baby capsule. We’d always suggest checking with your seats first as they are all different. 

At 509 litres the boot is a good size for a family of four and I was able to fit the bulky CarsGuide pram in with room around it for school bags or groceries. If you’re beyond pram stage, there's plenty of room for sporting equipment and other big kids stuff. 

The RAV is very nicely packaged, which isn't something you can say about the Corolla or C-HR. Front seat passengers score a big phone sized cubby hole in the console as well as couple of litres underneath the armrest along with a little tray.

The two cupholders are placed just ahead of the armrest. The dash also sports a Kluger-style split, thoughtfully lined with rubber for your passenger's bits and pieces. Just the one USB port, though, which is a shame - the GXL and up have another four. Seems a bit stingy for rear-seat passengers.

Rear seat dwellers score two cupholders and all four doors have bottle holders. There is also plenty of space back there with good head and leg room and air-con vents.

The boot has a clever two-position floor to eke out a few more litres if you need them. In its lowest position you have 580 litres (assuming you don't have an optional full-size spare).

Set it higher, and level with the boot loading lip, you have 542 litres. As is Toyota's habit, the company doesn't have an official figure for a folded seat situation.

The GX Hybrid is obviously a bit more than (and a commensurate improvement on) the 2.0-litre GX, costing $35,490 ($39,606 drive-away) before any of the very skinny options list is added. So skinny it's basically a full-size spare and only available in this grade.

Base models just aren't what they used to be, especially not at Toyota, and particularly not when the price starts with a 35. You get 17-inch alloys, a six-speaker stereo, dual-zone climate control, reversing camera, central locking, front and rear parking sensors, active cruise control, sat nav, auto LED headlights, auto wipers and a space-saver spare.

It's also a Toyota with (clears throat) Apple CarPlay and Android Auto on its prominent 8.0-inch touchscreen. Massive win.

Joining the belated digital revolution is DAB+ radio with a dire interface that reminds you how bad the embedded software is, despite a hefty upgrade in the last year or so.

I should note the car I drove was a pre-November 1, 2019 build and was yet to have CarPlay activated, but the identical system on the C-HR and Corolla has it.

The Forester Hybrid S drives well and it takes out all those things you’ve heard about electric cars and may not be fond of.

For example, it coasts along without your foot having to be on the accelerator, and they’ve added in some noise so pedestrians can hear the car on approach rather than it creeping along silently at low speeds. 

It gets up hills quickly, there’s no issue with power as it has a 2.0-litre petrol engine along with the electric motor which gives instant acceleration, so it doesn't have a lag.

The steering is slightly stiff to turn but you get used to that the more you drive it and by the end of the week it felt normal to me. 

I think the electric motor added agility and made the Forester feel more nimble than usual, so if anything it’s a benefit because of that.

But how and when does the hybrid kick in? The electric motor can work on its own at speeds under 24km/h. It works together with the petrol engine at medium speeds, and then at higher speeds, the petrol engine takes over completely.

Subaru says the electric motor also takes over if you’re coasting along without the accelerator, for example downhill, and the petrol engine will kick in when you hit the accelerator. 

The system is designed to save fuel in urban, high traffic areas. But when you compare the claimed fuel consumption of a regular Subaru Forester (7.4L/100km) to this 'e-Boxer' Hybrid S (6.7L/100km), there isn’t that much difference.

And when you compare it to other hybrid cars like the Toyota RAV4, the fuel saving is minimal. This week, the average fuel consumption I got was 12.3L/100km, but I did do a lot of stop/start driving mainly in the city, so it’s not the best representation of what it can do. 

It’s a fairly standard car to park. Even though the Forester is long I was able to squeeze into a number of tight parking spaces on a few rainy school runs this week where the competition is fierce.

It has a clear reversing camera with a bonus 360-degree view, as well as a front side view on the top split screen. I did find this confusing but I’m sure if I drove the car for a bit longer I’d get used to it. 

Toyota's experience with hybrid is unquestioned. The company has been doing it for donkeys, but mostly in the terminally dull Prius.

Now it's working its way through to other cars, including the refreshed C-HR, last year's all-new Corolla and here in the RAV4. This isn't the plug-in hybrid overseas markets get, which is a shame, but given what we already know about the fuel economy, not a massive let down.

During the week I had the car, I tried to see how fast I could go under electric power only. The battery is a small one and anything more than breathing on the throttle starts the combustion engine. A leisurely trundle down a long straight street near me saw 36km/h come up on the screen before hydrocarbons stepped in.

The hybrid system does a great job of getting you off the line, which in traffic is the bit that burns a lot of fuel. You can stay on electric in stop-start messiness when you're gentle on the throttle but it's not like, say, an Ioniq PHEV where you can get a good shove from the electric motor.

While it does whir and click a bit, the system is otherwise unobtrusive, although the initial bite on the brakes is a bit soft, which is understandable. You have to get used to it and it's not something from which other hybrids I've driven suffer. The transition from energy recovery to actual braking is a little awkward but once you're familiar, you'll stop noticing.

In terms of dynamics, the RAV4 is really nice to drive. There's enough feel in the steering to know what's going on, it rides well and responds to your inputs without the traditional Toyota pause or protests from either engine or tyres.

It doesn't roll too much, which is a massive improvement. And I'm sure a better set of tyres (over the OE Bridgestone Alenzas, which sound like an Aldi brand) would improve its overall grip.

I drove an AWD RAV4 straight after this one and I can't say there was a marked difference. So, unless you need all four wheels in action, you won't need to spend the extra.

The RAV4 ships with seven airbags, ABS, stability and traction controls, trailer sway control, blind-spot monitor and reverse cross-traffic alert.

'Safety Sense' is standard across the range and includes lane departure warning, lane keep assist, forward AEB (with pedestrian and daytime cyclist detection), road sign recognition, auto high beam and active cruise control.

There are two ISOFIX points and three top-tether anchors.

ANCAP awarded the RAV4 a maximum five star rating in May 2019.