AS with the rest of the Subaru range, the Forester employs a front-mounted, horizontally opposed "boxer" engine (in this case a 2.5-litre four-cylinder unit) that sends drive to all four wheels, all of the time. The entire Subaru range has used the all-wheel drive set-up since September, 1998, when the last of the front-wheel drive Impreza and Liberty models were dropped.