The off-road trim is back for the new model, and with enhancements.
The Wilderness line of models was, historically speaking, both the smartest and most obvious business decision Subaru ever made. Take a company already associated with doing outdoorsy things and give it more off-roady models? Obviously that plan worked; now the 2026 Subaru Forester Wilderness is here to continue the line.
Please, Subaru, May I Have Some More?
Messing with a good thing is generally acceptable if you make it better, and that’s what Subaru’s done here. The headline upgrades are wider tires, a better transmission cooler, and slightly more ground clearance—now 9.3 inches up from 9.2. The lift comes from longer springs and shocks, not the tires, which are the same Yokohama Geolander All-Terrains on Wilderness-exclusive 17-inch wheels, albeit now 235-width instead of 225.
The upgraded transmission cooler bumps towing capacity from 3,000 pounds to 3,500 and should also help keep things cooler during serious off-roading. In the same vein, Subaru engineers installed a temperature sensor on the rear differential so you’ll know when you’re overdoing it away from the pavement and should stop for a cooldown.
Further upstream, the continuously variable transmission features a shorter final drive ratio for better low-speed crawling. The symmetrical all-wheel-drive system already updated for 2025 otherwise carries over with its faster-locking center differential and ability to factor steering angle into power distribution. As before, the X-Mode off-road drive setting gets additional off-road-specific settings. Ahead of the transmission, the Wilderness employs the same 2.5-liter boxer four-cylinder as the regular Forester. With 180 hp and 178 lb-ft of torque, we found it a bit underwhelming in our testing. No word yet if there will ever be a Forester Hybrid Wilderness.
The Other Numbers
Ground clearance is just one factor in off-roading. You also need good approach, breakover, and departure angles to keep from bashing the lower parts of your car on obstacles. The Forester Wilderness bumps the standard model’s approach angle from 19 degrees to 23.5, the breakover from 19.5 degrees to 21, and the departure angle from 24.6 degrees to 25.5. Those are essentially identical to the old Forester Wilderness (save a 0.1-degree improvement in departure angle) despite the slightly higher ground clearance.
Elsewhere underneath, we assume the new Wilderness continues to employ an aluminum skidplate under the engine with optional additional skidplates to protect other underbody components, although Subaru hasn’t provided specifics.
Topside, the roof rack continues to be rated for 800 pounds static (parked), but dynamic load (while driving) drops to 176 pounds (from 220 pounds previously).
Inside, cargo capacity is now 27.5 cubic feet behind the second-row seats and 69.1 with them folded, as in all other Foresters except the base model.
The Rest
As before, the Wilderness model gets its own body cladding, hexagonal LED foglights, and “anodized copper” accents on the front and rear bumpers as well as in the cabin. StarTex synthetic leather is standard along with a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster introduced on the Forester Hybrid, which naturally gets special Wilderness-specific graphics. It can also display Apple Maps in the cluster.
You won’t be able to buy a Forester Wilderness until sometime this fall, and Subaru is keeping the rest of the details secret until then. The big one, of course, is the price. Based on the last-generation model, we think it’ll come in near but not at the top of the lineup, so we’re estimating a starting price of around $37,000.
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2026 Subaru Forester Wilderness Specifications |
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| BASE PRICE | $37,000 (MT est) |
| LAYOUT | Front-engine, AWD, 5-pass, 4-door SUV |
| ENGINE | 2.5L/180-hp/178-lb-ft DOHC 16-valve flat-4 |
| TRANSMISSION | CVT |
| CURB WEIGHT | 3,700 lb (MT est) |
| WHEELBASE | 105.1 in |
| L x W x H | N/A |
| 0–60 MPH | 8.8 sec (MT est) |
| EPA FUEL ECON | N/A |
| EPA RANGE, COMB | N/A |
| ON SALE | Fall 2025 |
