2024 Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness Proves Surprisingly Capable

Mountain goats look unbalanced—they have goofy faces accented by a tuft of chin hair, and their heads look far too small for their bodies. Yet these large, oddly proportioned beasts possess extreme rock-climbing capability, able to navigate sheer cliff faces and perch on the narrowest of ledges.

In the automotive kingdom, the new 2024 Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness is similarly deceptive. Compared to boxy body-on-frame off-roaders such as the Jeep Wrangler and Ford Bronco, the Crosstrek’s tall-boy hatchback stance and smallish size don’t suggest all-terrain competence, even with its acres of plastic body cladding. But our first drive of the Crosstrek Wilderness—which took place largely on trails through the desert surrounding Zion National Park in Utah— revealed a surprisingly spry and adept machine, one that was able to climb steeper hills and traverse more treacherous terrain than expected while maintaining the comfortable on-road demeanor of a standard Crosstrek.

The Wilderness badge brings a host of upgrades. Copper accents on the exterior and interior spruce up the Crosstrek’s design, the comfortable seats are wrapped in Subaru’s water-resistant StarTex synthetic material, and there are standard rubber floor mats. There are substantive changes as well. A 0.6-inch lift courtesy of a revised suspension with taller springs gives the Wilderness 9.3 inches of ground clearance. That significantly outdoes other off-road-oriented crossovers including the Jeep Compass Trailhawk (8.6 inches) and the Ford Bronco Sport Badlands (up to 8.8 inches). The raised ride height improves approach and departure angles, from 18.0 degrees to 20.0 degrees and from 30.1 to 33.0 degrees, respectively. The breakover angle also increases, from 19.7 to 21.1 degrees.

This was crucial on the surprisingly challenging off-road course Subaru set up, with its soft sand, slick mud, and steep hills. Despite ascending and descending at serious angles, we never heard any sickening scrapes from the Subie’s front end nor did we end up high-sided on a narrow peak. Had we misjudged the clearance, the Wilderness sports an aluminum skid plate that protects its vital powertrain components. At times, we wished for a front-facing camera—key for spotting obstacles in the road ahead and seeing where to go next when pointed skyward atop a hill—as found on off-road editions of the Forester and Outback. Unfortunately, it’s not offered here.

The Wilderness uses the 2.5-liter flat-four that’s optional on the standard Crosstrek, and with 182 horsepower and 178 pound-feet of torque, it isn’t particularly quick. Acceleration is adequate around town, but short on-ramps can become nerve-racking. A Crosstrek Limited, which uses the same engine, needed 8.1 seconds to reach 60 mph in our testing. The Wilderness should fare about the same, though it does get a shorter final-drive ratio—4.11:1 versus 3.70:1—which allowed it to easily dash up steep inclines and trudge through deep sand with a determined driver behind the wheel. The trade-off is poorer fuel economy: The Wilderness’s 27-mpg EPA combined rating is 2 mpg less than the standard 2.5-liter Crosstrek’s estimate.

Although the engine goes unchanged, the tow rating increases from 1500 to 3500 pounds, thanks to a more powerful radiator fan and a new oil cooler. That greater towing capacity sould allow drivers to haul a small boat or camper for outdoorsy excursions. More adventurous owners can also affix a roof-top tent, as the beefed-up roof rack provides a 700-pound static load capacity.

Like all Crosstreks, the Wilderness gets a version of Subaru’s X-Mode, which reprograms the transmission, throttle, and torque distribution for varying terrain. On much of our journey we used the Deep Snow/Mud mode, which deftly allocated torque to the wheels with the most traction. Engaging X-Mode also activates hill-descent control when under 12 mph. The crossover’s computers confidently control the vehicle’s speed, adding a safety net on sharp descents and leaving the driver to focus on steering around pointy rocks and deep ruts. The Crosstrek’s steering feels vague on pavement—especially in long, sweeping corners—but the lighter effort was welcome off-road, minimizing fatigue over several hours of exploration.

Much of the Wilderness’s off-road prowess likely can be attributed to its Yokohama Geolandar A/T tires. Mounted on black 17-inch wheels, the beefier treads provided sufficient traction on loose surfaces and withstood sharp impacts from rocks. Yet the all-terrain tires didn’t negatively impact the ride on-road or bring a noticeable increase in road noise. Like all Crosstrek trims, the Wilderness is a soft-riding machine, and the cushioned chassis helped it feel stable at high speeds on smoother dirt roads.

The Wilderness’s extra capability doesn’t send the Crosstrek’s price sky-high. At $33,290 to start, the Wilderness is only $1100 more than the Limited model and is cheaper than all-terrain competitors such as the Compass Trailhawk ($37,990) and the larger Bronco Sport Badlands ($39,985). The Crosstrek Wilderness may not climb rocks quite like a Wrangler or jump over dunes like a Bronco, and its 2.5-liter engine could stand a few more ponies, but the versatile crossover’s off-road performance proved that the Wilderness is not an appearance package. It’s more goat than sheep.