We drive the 2024 Subaru Crosstek Wilderness to find out if it's Subaru's best off-roader.

Chapters
0:00 Intro
0:21 What's New
1:49 Under The Hood
2:12 Exterior
2:33 Cargo Space
2:51 Pricing
3:11 Interior And Tech
5:27 Driving on and off-Road
15:00 Verdict

This is the 2024 Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness and it’s the last one to get the Wilderness treatment. With more cladding than a stormtrooper, it’s got more ground clearance and all-terrain tires. Today I’m going to test it and see if it can tackle the dirt.  

The Wilderness badge brings a plethora of upgrades. You get Copper accents on the exterior, on the inside the very comfortable seats are wrapped in Subaru's water-resistant StarTex synthetic material, and there are standard rubber floor mats.

There are some big changes on the outside as well. The Crosstrek Wilderness gets a 0.6-inch lift thanks to a revised suspension providing a total ground clearance of 9.3 inches. Believe it or not, that's more than the Jeep Compass Trailhawk and the Ford Bronco Sport Badlands. 

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.

For protection, the Wilderness has an aluminum skid plate that protects the underside when offroad but for some reason, Subaru chose not to fit it with a front-facing camera that is standard on the Outback and Forester. Grip is provided by a set of dark gray 17-inch wheels fitted with Yokohama Geolandar all-terrain tires.

Subaru has re-tuned the transmission for better off-road performance, and a revised final drive ratio improves low-speed traction. The roof rack can carry as much as 165 pounds when moving and can support up to 700 pounds when parked. Thanks to a transmission oil cooler towing capacity rises to 3,500 pounds.

Familiar powertrain

The 2.5-liter flat-four has 182 horsepower and 178 pound-feet of torque, driven through a continuously variable automatic. 0-60 takes 8.1 seconds and you can expect to get 29 mpg on the highway. 

There are rumors that Subaru is developing a smaller Turbo four for use in the Forester and Crostrek, we certainly hope that comes to fruition.

2024 Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness Numbers

BASE PRICE: $31,995
PRICE AS TESTED: $35,560
VEHICLE LAYOUT: Front-engine, all-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door hatchback
ENGINE: 2.5-liter DOHC 16-valve flat-4
POWER: 182 hp @ 5,800 rpm
TORQUE: 176 lb-ft @ 3,700 rpm
TRANSMISSION: Continuously variable automatic
CURB WEIGHT: 3,369 lb
0-60 MPH: 8.1 seconds
EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON: 25/29/27 mpg
OUR OBSERVED FUEL ECONOMY 24.6 mpg
CARGO SPACE: 19.9 cubic feet, 54.7 cubic feet with rear seats folded
PROS: Great off-road, nicer interior, rugged looks 
CONS: No manual, needs more power