What Car Shoppers Need to Know
- In addition to lowering the prices of almost every trim for the gas-only Forester, Subaru is focusing on affordability for 2026 with lower prices for the Forester Hybrid, as well.
- The 2026 Subaru Forester Hybrid starts at $36,180 (all prices include $1,450 destination fee), $235 cheaper than the 2025 base price.
- Subaru says the Forester Hybrid gets a combined driving range of nearly 600 miles on a single tank of fuel.
Subaru has done something surprising with its 2026 Forester lineup. Usually, when an automaker updates a model for the new model year, those updates come with increased prices; sure, you’ll get more features, but you’ll have to dig deeper in your wallet. Not so with Subaru: Not only has the brand lowered pricing on all but the base trim of the gas-only Forester, it’s lowered the price on all trims of the Forester Hybrid, as well, which now starts $235 less than it did for its debut model year.
Related: 2025 Subaru Forester Hybrid Up Close: More of a Good Thing
Release Date and Pricing
The 2026 Subaru Forester Hybrid should arrive at dealers soon. Full pricing is as follows:
- Premium: $36,180
- Sport: $39,380
- Limited: $40,445
- Touring: $42,995
Trim Levels and Safety Features
The Forester Hybrid’s lineup differs a bit from the regular Forester in that the base for the hybrid is the Premium trim (while the Premium is one rung up from the eponymous base trim on the gas-powered Forester). The Premium gets you standard features that include Subaru’s EyeSight suite of driver safety aids (automatic emergency braking, blind spot detection and rear cross-traffic alert), 18-inch wheels, a 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster for the driver, another 11.6-inch touchscreen for the infotainment system and a hands-free power liftgate.
The Sport trim has more of an emphasis on styling, with unique exterior and interior trim such as 19-inch bronze-finish wheels and a gloss-black grille. Inside, you get standard features such as an 11-speaker Harman Kardon audio system and Subaru’s StarTex animal-free upholstery.
Next up is the Limited. This trim comes standard with a few more upscale features and styling elements such as black exterior badging, an eight-way power front passenger seat, rain-sensing wipers, rear automatic emergency braking and blue stitching on the seats.
At the top of the Forester Hybrid’s lineup sits the Touring. In addition to premium features from the other trims, such as the Harman Kardon audio system, it adds 19-inch wheels with a dark-gray finish, ventilated front seats, a heated steering wheel, heated rear seats, leather-trimmed seats with Ultrasuede inserts, a smart rearview monitor and a 360-degree camera system.
Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard on all trims.
More on the Subaru Forester From Cars.com:
- We Take the 2025 Subaru Forester Hybrid on Our MPG Loop to See if It Delivers the Goods
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- 2025 Subaru Forester Hybrid Review: Say Hello to the New Cult Leader
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Powertrain Specs and MPG
All trims of the Forester Hybrid get the same powertrain setup. Subaru pairs its 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine with an electric motor for a total combined output of 194 horsepower, 14 hp more than the gas-powered Forester. That gets paired with Subaru’s Symmetrical all-wheel-drive system and a continuously variable automatic transmission. The sophistication comes in how the Forester Hybrid puts that power down: Subaru uses what’s called a series-parallel system for the hybrid, meaning that the system can switch between the gas engine and electric motor powering the wheels as needed.
While fuel-economy numbers for the 2026 Forester Hybrid aren’t yet available, they shouldn’t change much from the 2025 model, which returned 35/34/35 mpg city/highway/combined — slightly worse than the rival Toyota RAV4 Hybrid (41/38/39 mpg) and Hyundai Tucson Hybrid (38/38/38 mpg). Subaru says the Forester Hybrid is 40% more efficient versus the regular gas-powered Forester. That also means the Forester Hybrid has a longer driving range, with up to 581 miles on a single tank of fuel — though when we tested one in a real-world fuel-economy drive, we found significantly better combined mileage.
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