Subaru hit a home run with it's new Forester, redesigned for 2008. Consumer Reports named the Forester is top-rated small SUV.

David Champion, the magazine's director of automotive testing, says the second generation Forester is a significant improvement over the original.

"There's more room inside. It rides extremely well," he said. "It's probably got the best ride of any small SUV that we've tested. But also the handling is nice and agile. It's a very quiet vehicle to be inside."

A lot of SUVs are now styled in a way that reduces the visibility. That's not the case with the Forester.

"But in the Forester you still sit up nice and high. You've got a lot of glass area around so the visibility is excellent," he said.

In its tests, Consumer Reports got 22 miles per gallon overall with the basic 2.5 liter, 4-cylinder engine. It uses regular gas. And it gets 20 miles per gallon with the turbo version, which takes premium.

Other top-rated small SUVs were: The Toyota Rav4, Hyundai Sante Fe, Honda CR-V and Mitsubishi Outlander.

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Subaru Forester leaps ahead