The Latest To Get the Wilderness Treatment
Loyal Forester owners wanting even more off-road capability and ruggedness got their wishes granted with the new, just-introduced 2026 Forester Wilderness.
Clean Fleet Report was among the first automotive journalists to drive the Forester Wilderness at a media event in Portland, Oregon. A drive route of freeway, country and mountain roads took us across the Columbia River into Washington state with a stop at the Columbia Gorge Museum. From there we headed to the forest near Mt. Adams, the 12,276-foot dormant (or at least they hope it is!) volcano, where we got a taste of what the Forester Wilderness can handle.
So what did we learn? The appeal of the Forester will only grow with the Wilderness option. It still delivers very composed and comfortable road driving, but also impressive off-roading for everything just under rock crawling. This is a great combination to have in a single vehicle.
Power and Drive
The 2.5-liter Subaru Boxer engine runs on 87 octane, putting out 180 horsepower and 178 pound-feet of torque, driving all four wheels through a continuously variable transmission (CVT) which includes three drive modes and a 6-speed “manual shift” option. Fuel economy is rated at 24 mpg city/28 highway and 26 combined.
The standard symmetrical all-wheel drive includes the latest generation of X-Mode, which increases grip and traction in icy, sloppy and off-road conditions, and includes hill ascent and descent control.
On-Road Driving Experience
Our drive was about 175 miles on smooth paved surfaces and 25 miles on gravel, washboard, rutted and otherwise rough roads and trails. The on-road portion had a combination of mountain roads with high-speed sweepers, tight twisties and open highways. The CVT transmission was smooth as the computer and CVT defaulted to favoring fuel economy, which at times was underwhelming for pulling a grade or getting up-to speed quickly. For a bit more performance we used the manual transmission setting and the paddle shifters to keep the revs high. There are no ‘gears’ on a CVT so using the paddles holds the CVT in a rev ratio. Note: There isn’t a tachometer so we estimated we were in the 4,000 rpm range when finding the right ratio to give us some extra oomph.
Some question–why paddle shifters in a non-sporty car? In the case of the Forester Wilderness, they had a functional use in the conditions we needed them and will be even more important when loaded with four adults and all their gear headed-out for a weekend adventure or pulling a trailer up-to 3,500 pounds.
The suspension is nicely tuned as cornering of all types was under control with body lean easily and quickly managed. We tested it in ways you never will by pushing it on corners. The idea was not to break the law but to get a feel for how the Forester Wilderness would respond in an emergency situation with your family onboard.
With the stable ride and the steering responsive to quick maneuvers, the 4-wheel independent suspension that electronically transfers torque to the wheel or wheels requiring the most grip, the Forester Wilderness took everything we threw at it.
The 2026 Forester Wilderness is well-suited for two or four people to hit the road for a weekend adventure, for commuting or in-town driving for chauffeuring the kids or bread and butter runs.
Off-Road – Time To Get Dirty
Subaru has earned a strong reputation building off-road capable SUVs, beginning with (almost) everything they offer coming standard with the Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive system. The Forester Wilderness is also equipped with X-Mode, which adds even more grip and traction for sand, mud and snow. The Wilderness trim has additional off-road capability over the base Forester with a beefed-up suspension, tires, under body protection, upgraded rear differential and greater approach and departure angles.
A big factor for how well a vehicle handles off-road driving are the tires, Our Forester Wilderness was shod with Yokohama Geolander 235/60 all-terrain tires on 17-inch rims. This tire performed very well off-road and felt great on road for handling with a smooth ride.
The trails and forest roads provided the opportunity to test the readiness of being able to attack steep ascents and descents on varying surfaces. The Forester Wilderness is up to the task, giving owners the option to find forest service roads or even take-on off-road park trails. We had a blast traversing steep sections of loose sand, shale, small and medium-size rocks and even a bit of mud.
The 9.3-inches of ground clearance came in handy several times and also when using the Hill Descent Control, where the computer keeps the downhill speed in the single digits. For comparison, the Forester Wilderness ground clearance bests its key competitors of the Toyota RAV4 Woodland at 8.1-inches; the Honda CR-V TrailSport at 8.2-inches; the Hyundai Tucson XRT at 8.3-inches; the Nissan Rogue Rock Creek at 8.2-inches and the Ford Bronco Sport Badlands at 8.8-inches.
Simple Interior
There is one standard Forster Wilderness trim and one technology-type package option. The Wilderness is equipped with fully animal-free interior surfaces and water-resistant StarTex (a synthetic upholstery material) in gray with copper stitching and the Wilderness logo embroidered on the front seat headrests. It comes with thick rubber all-weather mats and a rubber cargo tray. We put these to good use as driving off-road gets messy and the mats and tray captured all of the gunk we left behind.
The driver gets 10-way power adjustments with lumbar while the passenger gets manual adjustments. The seats are heated as are the exterior mirrors and windshield wiper de-icer.
The thin A-pillars, high seating position and tall windows provide excellent forward and side visibility. The optional configurable 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster works as an information display for vehicle functions. The tablet style 11.6-inch touchscreen houses navigation and, as with the Wilderness we were driving, the 7-speaker, 576-watt with sub-woofer Harman Kardon sound system for AM/FM HD and SiriusXM radio, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. This sound system comes in an optional package ($2,200). USB-C ports and wireless phone charging are standard.
The rear seat’s head, shoulder and leg room was ample for two adults, three in a pinch, with a fold down armrest with cup holders and charge ports.
You got gear? The Subaru Forester Wilderness will eat it up as the cargo area is urging to be packed for a weekend road trip. With the 60:40 split rear seat upright storage space is 27.5 inches, when folded it grows to 69.1 inches, the widest point between the wheels is 43.3 inches and the height is 32.4 inches measured to the panoramic moonroof.
Familiar But More Rugged Exterior
The design, playing-off the standard Wilderness, was on purpose as Bill Stokes, product planning manager, told us. “We didn’t want to go too far from what customers know.” But any sameness gets some light touches as there are Easter Eggs scattered throughout the Forester such as hummingbirds, a telescope, paw prints, a lantern, a boot sole, a map and a compass. When you visit your local Subaru dealer see how many you can find.
The exterior design has Wilderness-only cues of anodized copper accents on the body and roof rail tie-down points, new grille, redesigned side rocker panel protection and cladding, bespoke front and rear bumpers and dual front and rear tow points.
With 9.3-inches of ground clearance, the Forester Wilderness features fender brush guard cladding for protection when going off road or encountering a wayward shopping cart. Cladding is also found to a more normal degree across the front and rear fascia and along the rocker panels. The front, side and rear overhangs are short, and the 17-inch matte black-finish wheels looked sharp against the River Rock Pearl ($395 additional cost) exterior paint. There are six exterior color choices—Autumn Green Metallic, Crystal Black Pearl, Geyser Blue, Magnetite Gray Metallic, River Rock Pearl and Crystal White Pearl.
In the rear is the power hatch (optional), LED tail lights, a small lip spoiler and a wiper, roof rack rails and a shark fin antenna. The roof rack can handle 800 pounds of weight when the Wilderness is parked, which makes it perfect for a tent.
Safety and Convenience
The Forester Wilderness comes with active and passive advanced driver assist systems, or ADAS, that is all part of the EyeSight system. Safety technology includes multiple airbags, advanced adaptive cruise control, automatic pre-collision braking and throttle management, emergency stop assist, and lane departure warning. In the case of an accident or other emergency, the Starlink Connected Services feature will place a call to emergency services.
Safety features also include blind spot monitoring with lane change assist, a 360-degree camera, and Safety Exit Alert that notifies occupants, before exiting the vehicle, of obstacles and pedestrians with an audible and visual warning. There is also a rear seat reminder to check one more time before exiting if kids or dogs have been left behind.
Additional convenience features include dual zone automatic climate control, rear vision camera, push button start/stop, remote keyless entry, electric power steering, steering wheel with audio and Bluetooth control switches, a tire pressure monitoring system, an all-terrain spare tire and 4-wheel disc anti-lock brakes.
Pricing and Availability
The 2026 Subaru Forester Wilderness rolls into dealers beginning in late Fall 2025. These base prices include the $1,420 destination and delivery fee. There are several options that can be ordered through Subaru.
Standard $40,585
Sound Package $42,035
Observations: 2026 Subaru Forester Wilderness
The 2026 Subaru Forester Wilderness should be popular with loyal Subaru owners plus anyone waiting for Subaru to add a more rugged looking and performing SUV to the line-up.
The Forester Wilderness was first introduced in 2022 and built off the existing Forester platform. The 2025 Forester was designed knowing there would be a Wilderness version giving it more capability including an updated inner frame with three-times more structural adhesives, additional sound deadening, revised suspension tuning, a new dual-pinion steering rack and improved performance through a faster center differential for better torque distribution.
So what does all this mean? The Forester Wilderness owner is likely to participate in outdoor activities and hobbies such as camping, hiking, fishing and backpacking. They are into kayaking, biking, cross country and/or mountain biking, rock climbing, skiing and snowboarding. Does this sound like you?
In the end, the 2026 Forester Hybrid will fill the needs for those wanting a thoroughly capable weekend adventure SUV that can also handle a commute and family in-town errands.
All 2026 Foresters are assembled in Lafayette, Indiana, which is important as we head into a new tariff-heavy playing field.
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Story by John Faulkner. Photos by John Faulkner and Subaru.
Disclosure
Clean Fleet Report is loaned free test vehicles from automakers to evaluate, typically for a week at a time. Our road tests are based on this one-week drive of a new vehicle. Because of this we don’t address issues such as long-term reliability or total cost of ownership. In addition, we are often invited to manufacturer events highlighting new vehicles or technology. As part of these events we may be offered free transportation, lodging or meals. We do our best to present our unvarnished evaluations of vehicles and news irrespective of these inducements.
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