[Brucelee]

September 5, 2008 We’d been looking at pictures and static displays of Subarusubaru ’s horizontally-opposed diesel enginediesel engine for several years before seeing it in the Legacy and Outback earlier this year. The engine is exceptionally compact, very light and has a low centre-of-gravity which benefits handling agility and makes best use of the all-wheel drive system. Throw in gobs of torquetorque (the 2.0 litre version produces 258 lb ft at 1,800 rpm), class-leading fuel economy and emissions and the refinement, smoothness and sharp throttle-response it has already displayed and it makes the coming Forester Boxer Diesel which goes on sale in later this month and the Impreza Boxer Diesel (January 2009) very enticing indeed. The Forester will be unveiled in Paris next week.

Both the new Forester SUVsuv and Impreza five-door will be unveiled next week at the 2008 Paris Motor Show featuring Subaru’s highly-acclaimed new 2.0 litre (150 PS at 3,600 rpm) Boxer Diesel engine.

Both the Forester and Impreza Boxer Diesels feature new six-speed manual gearboxes while the engine itself benefits from a new closed-type dieselhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel particulate filter.

No other SUV can better the 44.8 mpg Combined and 167 g/km of the Forester 2.0D X.

The Forester 2.0D produces 147 PS and 258 lb ft torque and the Impreza 150 PS and 258 lb ft – both at 3,600 rpm and 1,800 rpm respectively.