When I was a kid in rural Yorkshire, all our farming neighbours had a Subaru pickup. Tough as old boots, they'd usually have a bale of hay or sheep dog in the back. They weren't particularly looked after, so most were as battered as the Rover 200 Father Ted once tried to give away in Craggy Island's raffle.

How times change. These days, most Subaru owners wouldn't dream of getting their cars dirty since the company reinvented itself in the Nineties with the aid of the Impreza Turbo. And now even the Forester, the last of Subaru's basic workhorses, has left the fields for good and has gone soft with the birth of the second generation.

You can see Subaru's new direction as soon as you clamp your eyes on the new Forester, available in the UK from October. It's similar to the out-going model, but prettier and a little more grown-up. With its new lights, more sculptured side profile and interesting hexagonal rear window, it is a good-looking estate.

This improvement continues inside with, thankfully, minimal use of that shiny plastic normally found in Subarus. The equipment level is high, with electric windows, aircon and CD player as standard on the two models, X and XT. Leather trim is an option on the XT - not good with muddy wellies - while an All Weather Pack (alloys, front fog lights, sunroof and heated screen) is available on the X.

Subaru's design team has worked hard at improving the interior space, coming up with a great seating position for all occupants and more legroom. In fact, it's so spacious it made me want to go home and start producing more kids than my TV namesakes to fill it with. Thanks to the all-wheel drive, the Forester's handling is awesome - almost as good as the Impreza - and it makes me want to forget about Walton-ettes by fitting a rollcage and going rallying. Go barrelling into a corner with the Forester and it'll come through the other end minus roll, clamped to the road.

Performance in the turbo XT version is also similar to its more glamorous relative. Gently squeeze the accelerator and power is delivered with only the tiniest hint of lag before that gruff sounding two-litre, four-cylinder engine starts churning out more of its 174bhp and everything that was far away zooms in.

The non-turbo X has all of the handling characteristics of the XT, but the performance isn't there. There's no excess of power so the non-turbo Forester needs constant attention to keep the revs up. Although its top speed of 112mph compares well with the turbo's 125mph, it's harder work getting there.

New Forester owners may never go off road, but it's worth mentioning that although the car's image is now softer, it can still handle itself on the rough stuff. On the off-road course on the launch, the Forester coped better than I expected. Only the two-litre version is fitted with a high and low ratio 'box meaning it's better suited to off-road driving than its turbo cousin, the low 'box giving that extra bit of grunt for those sticky situations.

But most won't have to handle such harsh terrain. They'll be used on-road, where they'll excel as a well thought-out and laid-out estate car that's as much fun to drive as an Impreza, with room for an optional Border collie.

Paul Walton