Podcast Episode Details
Back to Podcast EpisodesSubaru’s More Capable Forester Wilderness Gets Hefty Price Bump Over Predecessor
The normal Forester range still starts at under $30k, thankfully
When Subaru launched the all-new Forester for the 2025 model year, it continued selling the previous-generation Wilderness variant at the same time. This is the most off-road capable version of the Forester, which competes against rivals like the Toyota RAV4 Woodland and Honda CR-V TrailSport. The new Forester Wilderness has now debuted for the 2026 model year, and while it packs in a lot more capability than other Forester trims, it has also been on the receiving end of a hefty price hike.
The Most Rugged Forester Yet
The 2026 Forester Wilderness starts at $38,385, or $39,835 when you include the destination charge. By comparison, the 2025 Forester Wilderness costs $36,285, which is $2,100 less. Honda charges $38,800 for its CR-V TrailSport, but that’s both more powerful and more efficient, thanks to its hybrid engine. For now, you can still get the outgoing RAV4 Woodland Edition for $35,820.
Much has improved for the new Forester Wilderness, though, and that goes beyond the more cohesive design for this generation of the crossover. The approach/breakover/departure angles for the Wilderness are 23.5/21/25.5 degrees respectively, up from 19/19.6/24.6 degrees on other Forester derivatives. It now has a healthy ground clearance of 9.3 inches, up marginally over the 9.2 of the older Wilderness.
Thanks to a new transmission cooler, the 2026 Forester Wilderness can tow up to 3,500 pounds. That’s much better than the Honda CR-V TrailSport, which can only tow 1,000 lbs as it’s limited to a hybrid powertrain. Like other Foresters, though, the Wilderness sticks with a 2.5-liter boxer four-cylinder engine that makes 180 horsepower and 178 lb-ft of torque, which is merely adequate. The Lineartronic CVT in the Wilderness has a shorter final drive ratio that boosts its performance in low-speed off-road conditions.
The X-Mode Dual Mode System in the Wilderness has Snow/Dirt and Deep Snow/Mud modes, which operate in tandem with standard all-wheel drive. Wider all-terrain tires further improve this Forester’s dirt-road capabilities.
While it edges its Toyota and Honda rivals with its off-roading figures, Subaru makes you pay for it.
Related: Some Compact SUVs Are Posers. We Tell You Which Ones
Other Foresters See Little Or No Pricing
Published on 1 day, 17 hours ago