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Settle or stretch?  When growing families are in the market for a medium SUV up to about $30,000, the dilemma that always arises is the question of value versus priorities

Will the buyer settle for a car that comes close enough to the purchasing criteria while remaining under budget? Or is it worth the financial stretch of an extra two or three grand for a vehicle that has everything the buyer demands? The Honda CR-V Vi and the Subaru Forester 2

5i present a unique opportunity to find out how this sort of dilemma plays out in reality

Why are we comparing them?  Relatively new to the market, the Honda CR-V Vi is the most affordable variant in the range – and its performance takes a hit to match the lower price

Honda has chosen a 2.0-litre naturally-aspirated engine in lieu of the 1.5-litre turbo unit powering other variants in the CR-V range

If you like the Honda CR-V and don't care about straight-line acceleration, the CR-V Vi is an attractive proposition at just $28,290

 Its nemesis for this comparison is the basic Subaru Forester 2.5i, which is mechanically identical to most variants in the range

Priced at $33,490, the Forester in this trim level is positioned $5200 higher than the CR-V Vi, and also exceeds that $30,000 threshold that may be the budget ceiling for many buyers

 Can the Forester peg back that shortcoming with extra features – and are those features key to the Subaru's appeal? It's not enough to load up the Forester with $5200 worth of headlight protectors, floor mats and mud flaps

The Subaru has to be more convincing than that. Who will they appeal to?  One aspect of these vehicles (medium SUVs in general, as a matter of fact) that strikes the right note is the generous rear-seat accommodation

For a family comprising two parents and two kids, a medium SUV will be comfortable and spacious enough for both kids right through to adulthood

 Beyond that, the CR-V will draw in buyers familiar with the badge, buyers who know and respect Honda's reputation for reliability, safety and low running costs

The Forester – along with other Subaru models – has raised the stakes recently with advanced safety technology complementing its well-established longitudinal all-wheel drive traction

Buyers will gravitate to the Forester for its innovation and its practicality. How much do they cost?  In an unusual convergence of events, the two cars tested here cost no more with metallic paint

That's because you can't specify flat paint for the CR-V (so the 'cost' is built into the price) and Subaru abides by a policy of not charging extra for cars with metallic paint

That means that the Honda costs $28,290 with no options fitted, and the Subaru costs $33,490, also with no options fitted

 Both cars offer five-year warranties with unlimited-kilometre coverage, and neither car needs to be serviced more than once a year, although if you rack up a lot of kilometres, the Honda will have to be serviced sooner than the Forester – 10,000km versus 12,500km for the Subaru

 Combined-cycle fuel consumption is 7.6L/100km for the CR-V with this engine, and 7

4L/100km for the Forester. In urban running the official figures are 10L/100km (CR-V) and 9

3L/100km (Forester). Both cars return the same highway figure of 6.3L/100km. In reality, we found the CR-V to be consistently more economical than the Forester, which is hardly a surprise from a vehicle with fewer drivetrain components and a smaller-displacement engine

What do they do well?  Both vehicles are roomy, quiet and easy to drive. At a steady speed of 60km/h on a section of coarse-chip bitumen, road noise was equally subdued for both cars, but audible at a higher pitch in the Honda

At open road speeds noise from both powertrains was suppressed very well in the cabin

 There are adjustable vents for the rear-seat passengers and adults of average height will sit comfortably back there, with plenty of headroom and legroom available

 While these two cars are easy to load, the Honda's floor is lower than the Subaru's, and there's more space, measured up to the window line of the CR-V's boot, but the Forester's tailgate aperture is wider for loading bulkier items

At a volume of 522 litres of boot space the Honda has the edge, but the Subaru is not far behind at 498 litres – a decent figure for a four-wheel drive wagon of this size

 Importantly, for vehicles like these, the Honda's tailgate is light to lift, and each car comes with its own full-size spare on a matching alloy rim

 The pair are not only easy to drive – with the Forester a particular stand-out for its field of vision – but they were surprisingly safe and secure, in dynamic terms

While the CR-V offers marginally better road-holding and body control on dry bitumen, the Forester is certainly in the same ballpark and its ride/handling balance is better than its rival's

 Of the two, the Forester delivers spritely performance in a straight line – with exploitable torque on hand across the rev range – but as mentioned above, the CR-V is more economical in terms of fuel use

 The Honda has a large, practical cubby hole and removable tray in the centre console for storing knick-knacks, and its seats are very comfortable and well-shaped for longer trips

The Forester has a lot of safety equipment, such as the Eyesight suite, which is very sophisticated and 'alerts' the driver with gentle but persistent chimes rather than bowel-loosening alarms and flashing lights

Also included in the suite is a forward-facing left front camera that is genuinely useful when parking

 The Subaru is equipped with excellent headlights that are adaptive to light up the inside of corners at night

 Additionally, the Subaru offers the comfort of climate control and Apple CarPlay/Android Auto connectivity, and the convenience of USB ports for the rear-seat occupants

What could they do better?  At full throttle the Forester's continuously variable transmission shrieks like a banshee

 Honda's transmission, also a CVT, isn't as well calibrated for the naturally-aspirated four-cylinder in the CR-V and needs its sport mode (and in extreme situations the 'low' mode) to optimise performance

On occasion the Honda CVT was jerky and inclined to hunt for the right ratio in hilly country

 For all its refinement – zero vibration at idle – and its sporty exhaust note, the CR-V engine feels lethargic at low revs and there's a small but distinct gain in performance at around 4000rpm and higher, which is where most drivers won't want the engine revving in a family-oriented SUV

Even then, the CR-V in this variant cannot keep up with the base-spec Forester.  From the start, the CR-V presented as a downmarket rival to the Forester, with little things like the smaller infotainment screen and the monochromatic instrumentation detracting from the overall ambience

The fuel gauge uses a digitised bar-graph format, rather than a straightforward needle to show at a glance how low the fuel level is

 In other ways too, such as lack of acoustic guidance, the absence of a starter button and the clunky shift lever, the CR-V was playing second fiddle to the Forester, and particularly on hotter days, when the Honda's manual air conditioning struggled maintaining a cool cabin temperature once the temperature rose above 30 degrees

 Both cars featured a three-point seatbelt for the centre/rear position, with belt and buckles retracting into the headlining when not in use

It's less convenient than an anchorage point behind the rear seat. The CR-V's headlights are dim and yellowy, also lacking the adaptive (active cornering) facility of the Forester's lights

Which wins, and why?  An incident near the end of the week placed these two vehicles in perspective

 Rounding a right-hand bend late at night I noted an adult kangaroo on the road, standing stock still

It was occupying a spot on the centre lines, right at the apex – and just 40 metres away

 No damage was done. I brought the vehicle safely to a halt in plenty of time, honked the horn twice and Skippy hopped off the road

 I was driving the CR-V at the time. If I had been in the Forester, with its brighter, adaptive headlights, I would have seen the roo a lot earlier

 And that was the decider. For the $5200 extra, the Subaru easily justifies its higher price tag with safety gear that works, with an engine that performs and with standard comfort and convenience features that the family will welcome

 How much does the 2019 Honda CR-V Vi cost? Price: $28,290 (plus ORCs) Engine: 2

0-litre four-cylinder petrol Output: 113kW/189Nm Transmission: Continuously variable Fuel: 7

6L/100km (ADR Combined); 8.5L/100km (as tested) CO2: 174g/km (ADR Combined) Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP, 2017) How much does the 2019 Subaru Forester 2

5i cost? Price: $33,490 (plus ORCs) Engine: 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol Output: 136kW/239Nm Transmission: Continuously variable Fuel: 7

4L/100km (ADR Combined); 9.4L/100km (as tested) CO2: 168g/km (ADR Combined) Safety rating: TBA

For more infomation >> Subaru Forester v Honda CR-V 2019 Comparison - Duration: 5:22.

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Subaru Forester 2019 Review - Duration: 5:46.

If looks could kill.  In an alternative-world version of the Netflix movie 'Bird Box', Sandra Bullock and her two kids would make their escape blindfolded in a Subaru Forester – it would not be out of fear they'll see monsters, but because they might see the SUV's reflection in a shop window

 As with its many rivals in the medium SUV segment, the new Subaru Forester will never win a beauty pageant, but far from its design regressing in this latest model, it's so similar in its proportions and details that it's hard to distinguish from the superseded model

 Whatever the reason for adhering so closely to the previous model's style, the Forester's looks count less to consumers than its engaging mechanicals and its packaging

 Take for instance the 2019 Subaru Forester's driving dynamics. This generation of Forester turns in tidily and delivers near-neutral handling

Once committed to a corner the Forester feels lithe. It's fairly safe and secure and the driver feels comfortable getting on the throttle earlier than other SUVs for a faster exit out of a bend

This is unexpected from a Forester – and impressive.  Yet it doesn't sacrifice ride comfort for that handling – and body control over rippling country bitumen is quite composed

The Forester doesn't buck and jiggle, unlike Mazda's CX-5 Akera driven a week earlier

 Rolling on higher-profile Bridgestone Dueler tyres and smaller (18-inch) wheels seems to help with that, although the tyres do protest when they're under pressure to stay glued to the bitumen

 The brakes are strong, with a progressive, communicative pedal, and the Forester can be slowed at an optimal rate with the tyres squealing away like there's no tomorrow – yet without provoking the ABS

Boxer tricks  Powered by a horizontally-opposed (boxer) 2.5-litre four-cylinder carried over from the previous model – but with 90 per cent of its mechanicals new for 2019 – the Forester produces linear torque right across the rev range

This translates to fairly brisk acceleration, helped no doubt by the relatively light kerb weight and a moderately high 'stall' characteristic from the continuously variable transmission (CVT)

 The engine sounds a bit tinny when cold and isn't all that charismatic, considering its horizontally-opposed engine architecture

In fact it's a bit thrashy in the last 1000 revs up to the redline (6000rpm), but despite the noise there's not a lot of vibration

 At freeway speed the Forester's powertrain is barely audible. Some wind noise is apparent, combined with general road noise

At lower speeds the tyres dominate – both for roar on coarse-chip bitumen and squeal at the limits of adhesion

 Around town the Forester was posting figures in the high nines, with 10.0L/100km posted following a 70km test loop

On the freeway, with the engine ticking over at just 1500rpm (or 2000rpm with S/I powertrain mode set to Sport), the fuel consumption was as low as 7

3L/100km. The engine drives through the CVT to all four wheels. Subaru engineers have done some good work to eliminate much of the droning characteristic that goes with this type of transmission

Only with the foot flat to the floor and the tacho needle hovering around the redline do the engine revs stay put

In manual mode the transmission will change up automatically at the redline, but there are also shift paddles on the steering column for on-demand downshifting

 Unfortunately, when the engine is operating under full load the CVT whines in that distinctive Subaru way

It sounds like the shriek of a supercharger, and even at low speeds in reverse gear the whine is present, but use the engine performance sparingly and the whine fades away

Refined and spacious  The Forester 2.5i-S seems quieter than the 2.5i Premium variant usually, although engine noise from a cold start can be heard penetrating the cabin through the flagship's sunroof

In addition to the sunroof, other features as standard in the range-topping variant include an eight-speaker audio system with Harman Kardon speakers and leather upholstery

All these features set the Forester 2.5i-S apart from the Premium variant. Inside, the Forester is roomy and functional

With its typical Subaru design – good field of vision, low beltline and cowl, high roof and big windows – it feels open and spacious

And for rear-seat passengers, that's not just an illusion. There's plenty of headroom in the rear, plus generous legroom – including space to tuck the feet under the seat in front for those who are really tall

Even with the sunroof fitted the flagship Forester's rear-seat headroom is more than adequate

There are adjustable vents in the rear as well, for both variants. In the boot, finger pulls lower the rear seats from the tailgate, and there's a full-size spare on a matching alloy rim under the floor

 In front, the Forester offers a good driving position. While the Forester is a slightly longer car than the CX-5, it's actually narrower too, and higher, but feels more car-like – despite the ground clearance for the CX-5 in Akera trim measuring 193mm, versus 220mm for the Forester

Many drivers will likely feel more at home behind the wheel of the Forester for that reason, although they would forego the high-driving position so beloved by SUV owners

 The front seats are softly-cushioned and well shaped, but the bolstering in the squab is perhaps a little too soft, although most Forester owners will barely notice this

 While the instruments are large and easy to read once familiar, the information displayed in the infotainment, trip computer and instrument graphics can look busy

You do get used to it though, and the resolution and graphics for the infotainment touchscreen are aesthetically appealing, showing the album covers for a track being played from a USB stick or mobile phone

 There's an actual button on the dash marked 'Trip/Reset' for those who like to monitor fuel consumption

This is much easier to find and use than the arcane set-up for other Subarus, such as the Levorg, for instance

 The S/I mode toggle on the steering wheel may need some explanation for first-time users

Although the graphic tells you the engine is developing more torque from lower in the rev range when the sport mode is selected, there's precious little difference in terms of power delivery once the engine is revving higher

Leading edge safety technology  A key feature of the new Forester is the latest version of Eyesight, the company's suite of safety-assist driving technology

The system is much better than earlier iterations, with warning chimes that are a light, steady piping tone that alerts the driver, without alarming him or her

No DEFCON 1 status here. The forward collision warning generally works well, but did interpret a Honda Accord parked on a nature strip as a potential hazard

The Honda was on the outside of a gentle right-hand bend and the Subaru Eyesight system presumed the Forester would continue straight ahead, rather than turn with the bend in the road

 In another instance of the system misinterpreting a situation, a car pulling up at a pedestrian crossing in front of the Forester 2

5i-S triggered the AEB to haul on the anchors literally a fraction of a second after I had slipped on the indicator and begun moving right into the next lane

Stamping the accelerator with the front wheels steering to the right to clear the obstructing vehicle was enough to break the AEB deadlock, but it might have been embarrassing if a vehicle had been approaching from behind when the Suby decided to come to a complete stop in the same lane

 Maybe that's the next step in this sort of technology: configuring systems to recognise when a detected hazard isn't actually on the road, or learn from a driver's habits and driving style

 Lane-keeping assist proved to be no better or worse than in other vehicles – including most prestige models – once you're driving on country roads, without any line markings on the shoulder

 But the forward-looking camera that displays the left front quarter panel and wheel when reversing is a great idea

If only the display were a little larger for more detail. And rightly or wrongly, we like Eyesight informing the driver that the car in front has moved off when in stop/start traffic

 Unlike other systems in more expensive vehicles, the Forester's high-beam assist doesn't dip the lights in built-up areas

I was also concerned that the system seemed a little slow shifting to low-beam for on-coming cars, but didn't receive any furious flashing from other road users – so presumably the system is sufficiently sensitive to the needs of other drivers

 Generally, the Forester seems solidly built and looks finely finished, although there was a rattle in each car, one intermittent rattle in the dash of the Forester 2

5i Premium and another in the driver's door of the Forester 2.5i-S. All in all, however, the Forester is more of what many consumers will want

It's practical, comfortable and safe, offering good value for typical families.  How much does the 2019 Subaru 2

5i Premium cost? Price: $38,490 (plus on-road costs) Engine: 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol Output: 136kW/239Nm Transmission: Continuously variable Fuel: 7

4L/100km (ADR Combined) CO2: 168g/km (ADR Combined) Safety rating: TBA How much does the 2019 Subaru 2

5i-S cost? Price: $41,490 (plus on-road costs) Engine: 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol Output: 136kW/239Nm Transmission: Continuously variable Fuel: 7

4L/100km (ADR Combined) CO2: 168g/km (ADR Combined) Safety rating: TBA