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 Crosstrek Sport and Limited’s 2.5-liter flat-four, 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. The Crosstrek Wilderness took 8.6 seconds to hit 60 mph, a half-second slower than the Crosstrek Limited, which uses the same engine. The Wilderness was also 0.4 second behind at the quarter mile and four-tenths back in the 50–70 mph top-gear passing test. The off-road-oriented model was a tenth quicker on the 30–50 mph passing test, and the model does receive 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: Whereas the Limited returned 35 mpg on our 75-mph highway driving test, the Crosstrek managed just 27 mpg.
Although the engine goes unchanged, the tow rating increases from 1500 to 3500 pounds, thanks to a more powerful cooling fan and a new oil cooler. That greater towing capacity should 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 changes the transmission, throttle, and torque distribution calibrations 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 G015 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. On-road grip was surprisingly unaffected despite the more dirt-focused rubber, with the Wilderness returning the same 0.81 g reading as the Limited.
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.
Specifications
Specifications
2024 Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness
Vehicle Type: front-engine, all-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door wagon
PRICE
Base/As Tested: $33,540/$35,810
Options: Option package (Harman/Kardon audio system, power moonroof, 10-way power driver’s seat), $2270
ENGINE
DOHC 16-valve flat-4, aluminum block and heads, direct fuel injection
Displacement: 152 in3, 2498 cm3
Power: 182 hp @ 5800 rpm
Torque: 178 lb-ft @ 3700 rpm
TRANSMISSION
continuously variable automatic
CHASSIS
Suspension, F/R: struts/multilink
Brakes, F/R: 12.4-in vented disc/11.2-in vented disc
Yokohama Geolander A/T G015
225/60R-17 99T M+S 3PMSF
DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase: 104.9 in
Length: 176.4 in
Width: 71.7 in
Height: 63.6 in
Passenger Volume, F/R: 55/4 ft3
Cargo Volume, Behind F/R: 55/20 ft3
Curb Weight: 3447 lb
C/D TEST RESULTS
60 mph: 8.6 sec
1/4-Mile: 16.7 sec @ 83 mph
100 mph: 27.5 sec
Results above omit 1-ft rollout of 0.3 sec.
Rolling Start, 5–60 mph: 8.7 sec
Top Gear, 30–50 mph: 4.6 sec
Top Gear, 50–70 mph: 6.3 sec
Top Speed (C/D est): 120 mph
Braking, 70–0 mph: 175 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft Skidpad: 0.81 g
C/D FUEL ECONOMY
Observed: 22 mpg
75-mph Highway Driving: 27 mpg
75-mph Highway Range: 440 mi
EPA FUEL ECONOMY
Combined/City/Highway: 27/25/29 mpg
C/D TESTING EXPLAINED
Caleb Miller began blogging about cars at 13 years old, and he realized his dream of writing for a car magazine after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University and joining the Car and Driver team. He loves quirky and obscure autos, aiming to one day own something bizarre like a Nissan S-Cargo, and is an avid motorsports fan.