The 2022 Subaru Forester Wilderness Gets Beefier — With One Disappointing Omission: News

There's still one reason you may want an Outback over this

2022 Subaru Forester Wilderness
The Subaru Forester Wilderness brings in more off-road ruggedness and adds another option to the refreshed 2022 model range. (Images: Subaru)

Meet the Subaru Forester Wilderness.

The automaker’s been teasing it right on the heels of the Outback Wilderness — but now we get to see it for real. This Wilderness model arrives as part of the refreshed 2022 Forester lineup, which includes six total trim levels with a redesigned front fascia, new and tougher roof rails and an available Automatic Emergency Steering feature.

While the base 2022 Subaru Forester starts off at $26,320 including destination, the Wilderness sits right in the middle of the range at $33,945. The more rugged version bumps up the car’s ground clearance to 9.2 inches, and adds in exclusive Yokohama Geolandar all-terrain tires, standard X-Mode and a host of unique exterior and interior touches, à la Outback Wilderness. In addition to the half-inch clearance improvement, the Forester Wilderness sits 1.4 inches taller than a standard model. All your important off-road angles, from approach (23.5 degrees) to breakover (21.0 degrees) and departure (25.4 degrees) all improve as well.

While you get longer travel suspension and exclusive chassis tweaks to handle the rough terrain, what you don’t get is a turbocharged engine. You still get the same 2.5-liter, naturally-aspirated boxer unit, putting out 182 horsepower and 176 lb-ft of torque. Subaru did tweak the final drive ratio to 4.11:1 (up from 3.7:1), so it should feel a bit punchier at the low-end. Nevertheless, if you wanted that 2.4-liter turbo-four, you’ll have to stick with the more expensive Outback Wilderness. Dual X-Mode is available on the Sport model, but the Wilderness does get standard Hill Descent Control.

2022 Subaru Forester trim walk

Subaru’s fourth-generation EyeSight driver assist system comes standard across the entire 2022 Forester lineup. As for that Automatic Emergency Steering function, that’s only available on the Premium as part of an $1,165 option package.

Base 2022 Subaru Forester models start at $26,320, with the only option being roof rails and alloy wheels for $625. The Premium is one step up, starting at $29,320. The aforementioned option package adds in blind spot detection and rear cross-traffic alert, in addition to the added EyeSight capability.

The more youthful (mind you, no more powerful) Sport trim kicks off at $30,890, with black-finish 18-inch wheels and orange exterior accents. Above the Wilderness, there are the $33,000 Limited and $36,420 Touring trims.

While we haven’t checked out the Forester Wilderness, check out our video on the Outback Wilderness below: