Subaru Forester is a popular SUV and enjoys customers' loyalty - many do not leave the model but change to a newer version when it is time to sell the old one. Subaru was a pioneer in usable four-wheel drive from rally sports and Forester was presented in the year 1997. Together with the four-wheel drive and a generous standard equipment, it quickly became popular in the important US market, but was also sold a great deal on the Swedish market. The second generation of the car model came with the model year 2002 and was a technical further development based on the chassis for Subaru Impreza. The car reminded a lot about the previous generation but was under new cover in large parts new. The chassis was stiffened up and most parts were made in lightweight material, which gave better driving characteristics than before. Subaru Forester is not a car with soft suspension and slow understeer but feels solid and sporty. The third generation was launched in 2007 and lasted until 2012. This time, the car looked radically different than its predecessors and had also grown to the outer dimensions. The all-wheel drive and the more "fixed" driving characteristics were left together with a generous standard equipment in basic design. The difference was that Subaru Forester now became common with diesel engines because of the new tax rules that came into force during the third generation life cycle. It is a 2 liter turbo diesel and 144 horsepower. The fourth generation was launched for the 2012 model and has similar characteristics and inner and outer dimensions as its predecessor. The interior is, in the usual Japanese way, quite sparse but gives the feeling of high detail quality. Along with fixed suspension and direct steering, Forester gives the perhaps the sportiest impression of the cars in its class even in this generation. This model is mainly found with gasoline engines on the Swedish market which became increasingly popular since several European big cities imposed restrictions on diesel-powered vehicles in certain areas. The petrol-powered variants are about twice as common as the diesel cars.