Newport/Newport Center, Vermont, in New York Times
2009 Subaru Forester Review

The following is an excerpt from a review of the redesigned 2009 Forester, which was written by Chris Jensen, that appeared in the Sunday, July 13 Automobiles section of The New York Times.

FOLLOWING the curves and dips of Lake Road in the 2009 Subaru Forester it is hard to imagine what it must have been like on this two-lane in the 1920s, trying to outrun the feds in a big Cadillac weighed down by cases of Canadian booze.

The road led from a store just inside Quebec that sold liquor, across the border (now marked by stern-looking warning signs) south along Lake Memphremagog.

The chases must have been something. Even now the road’s whimsical ups, downs and arounds require attention when driven quickly. Crashes were common along here, according to “Rumrunners & Revenuers: Prohibition in Vermont,” by Scott Wheeler (New England Press, 2002), who wrote that the smugglers did not rely on driving skills alone.

One tactic was bovine interference. The smuggler would pay a local farmer to be waiting to move his cows across the road just after the booze-laden car roared by. Another trick was a 1920s cloaking device: the driver would pull a lever that poured oil on the hot exhaust to generate a thick smoke cloud.

When it comes to disappearing acts, this year Subaru rivals the most clever rumrunners. Presto! The easily recognized little Forester wagon is gone. The 2009 version is larger and has more of a generic crossover-style appearance. Now it looks like everything but the Forester.