Takeaway: The 2024 Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness is a fun and compelling lightweight off-road capable adventure machine that’s easy to drive off the pavement but feels underpowered on the tarmac, especially when passing speed is needed. But off the road, the AWD system shines, and it’s enhanced by more ground clearance as well as Mud, Sand, and Hill Descent modes in the Wilderness trim. When it’s done playing, it works like a Subaru – which is to say it’s reliable, comfortable and very affordable.
Full disclosure: This author/reviewer currently owns a 2014 Subaru Forester (with a manual transmission!), and before that a 2004 Forester (also a manual), and before that a Subaru Brighton (with an automatic), the forerunner of the Outback.
Several of my friends have Subaru Crosstreks and swear they will never part with them, an odd level of devotion for the car and brand. I enjoy Subarus because they seem tailor-made for the widely varying weather and roads of the Pacific Northwest. There are four definite seasons, copious rain and snow, and an almost infinite number of off-road driving opportunities across millions of acres of public lands – and some private ones as well.
Subarus are so oddly popular in the PNW that the joke is people get one for free at the border when moving to the state. They are literally everywhere, the de facto Station Wagon of the Pacific Northwest. When contacted by the Japanese carmaker to take their newly updated 2024 Crosstrek slathered in top-spec Wilderness off-roading trim on a drive around Southern California, I did not hesitate.
2024 Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness Overview
Perhaps part of the popularity of Subarus in the Northwest is that they are a known quantity up and down the model line. Power for all models comes from a Porsche-like pancake opposed 4-cylinder “boxer” engine, either 2.5 liters or a more thrifty 2.0-liter version. The Crosstrek Wilderness I drove had the naturally aspirated 2.5-liter boxer as standard, which makes a claimed 182 horsepower and 178 lb-ft of torque. All Subarus include the company’s highly refined Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive (AWD) system and CVT transmission. The AWD system is on full-time and cannot be turned off or otherwise managed outside of turning off the traction control system. The Wilderness ups Suby’s off-road game somewhat with the “Lineartronic” AWD version featuring an 8-speed “manual mode” via paddle shifters. As is becoming more common, sadly, there is no three-pedal option offered for the Crosstrek.
While every other Crosstrek is rated for a paltry 1,500-pound towing, the Wilderness rates a 3,500-pound limit thanks to a transmission fluid cooler. Being the top-spec Crosstrek model, the Wilderness also includes Subaru’s X-Mode off-road driving modes for sand, mud snow, and… deep snow. There’s also Incline Start Assist, traction control, torque vectoring, auto vehicle hold, and Hill Descent Control. Subaru says the Crosstrek will pull 29 miles per gallon at the most while highway driving from the 16.6-gallon fuel tank, which maths out to over 450 miles of range.
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The Wilderness version of the Crosstrek is essentially Subaru’s version of a “trail rated” trim, and it does include some genuinely welcome perks, including a bump up to 9.3 inches of ground clearance, revised suspension bits, more aggressive Yokohama GEOLANDAR all-terrain tires, revised (stronger) rear differential, somewhat more shallow gearing for better climbing ability, front skid plate, stout roof rack rails (but no cross bars as stock), corner-peering LED headlights, LED fog lights, and the full Eyesight safety suite with lane keeping, auto stop, etc. The center of the hood is painted matte black to cut down on reflection into the cabin while driving.
Inside, the driver gets actual analog clocks instead of a digital representation, plus a small data window between the speedo and tach. To the right is a big 11.6-inch vertical touchscreen running the company’s Starlink UI with Apple Carplay and Android Auto. It will also show pitch and roll and driveline dynamics. Interior surfaces vary from tough plastic to bits of soft touch, and the seats are covered in clearly durable and washable StarTex material that isn’t leather and really doesn’t try to be. The seats, steering wheel, mirrors, and windshield wiper parking spots are all heated. A $2,300 tech package with a sunroof and sonorous 10-speaker Harman Kardon audio system also made the cut.
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There’s plenty of legroom up front and in the back for normal-sized humans (at 6 foot 1, I felt the back seats were plenty spacious), and putting five butts in the Crosstrek’s seats is reasonable for most shorter trips, while four is likely the max for longer journeys. The cargo area out back is less roomy than in a Forester but still has room for a large fur baby or a clutch of roller bags. Need to bring more? Add some optional crossbars to the top rack rails and mount up a cargo case, rooftop tent, or both. Fold the rear seats down flat and there’s enough room to slip a bicycle or two in if you can remove the front wheels.
Our 2024 Crosstrek Wilderness came in Geyser Blue with blacked-out bumpers and orange/gold-hued accents that seemed a bit out of place but also got a lot of compliments. Wilderness badges inside and out remind you of the need to part ways with the pavement when possible.
Hitting the Road, Trail, or Beach
When you do point the Crosstrek Wilderness down a dirt, gravel, or snow-covered passage, the most important thing to remember is to… slow down a bit, for safety’s sake, and let the multitude of sensors and driveline smarts in Subaru’s AWD system essentially do the work for you across the vast majority of low-traction scenarios. That point-and-shoot simplicity is a big part of the appeal of a Subaru but also somewhat of a limitation. Sure, you can turn off traction control and grab a paddle shifter to get a little crazy on a slick surface, but for the most part, the always-on, always evaluative Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive tech will keep all but the most intentional hooliganism in check.
Arriving at a public beach where vehicles were allowed to roam, I popped the drivetrain into Sand X-Mode and gave it some pedal. Down the hard sand, we shot past the signs advising drivers to leave the donuts at home. Fair enough, and slacking off the pedal and trying out some non-sliding turns again illustrated why people love these cars so much: it was easy. It was easy to get away from the crowds of minivans back at the beach entrance, easy to plow through some deeper sand that was giving some nearby pickups grief, and easy to enjoy thinking I was in the SoCal Beach Rally 500 (yards), gunning for the checkers. Laughter came from the passengers as the Crosstrek spit sand and revved. It was a highlight of the trip.
Later, we headed into the hills near CalPoly San Luis Obispo and found some tight dirt passages heading up to higher elevations. Crossing water bars and blasting through the occasional mud puddle had us grinning again, and once at the top of the grade, I realized I had not used X-Mode at all, I just turned up the muddy road and watched for obstacles. The car did the rest.
Coming back down, I activated Hill Descent assist, which spiked the tach a bit on steep sections but otherwise felt like normal driving. Not exactly rock crawling, but it did get us through some technical challenges that would have had drivers of some other crossovers looking for the AWD/4WD button, something Crosstrek drivers don’t need to remember. Soon enough, we were back on the curving 101 heading south to Los Angeles, the H/K stereo filling the cabin with 80’s New Wave beats (Note to Subaru: More bass, please).
How-to: Overland in a Subaru
Fast, it isn’t, and sadly, there’s no 2.0-liter turbo option to rectify that. When we bought our Forester years ago, we got one of the last ones with a stick shift because driving the CVT auto was a dismal experience, and it was really the only major complaint we had with the Forester. The six-speed manual, while not exactly sporting tight F1 ratios, lets the Forester set a brisk pace and makes for some fun winter driving. The Crosstrek Wilderness trim stirs in paddle shifters and “8-speed” shift points, but it’s not the same.
Joining I-405 traffic early on a weekend in L.A., I switched the tranny to “manual,” the drive mode to Sport, and nailed the throttle to the floor when the light at the onramp went green. The Wilderness’ 2.5-liter boxer – essentially the same plant as in my Forester – hurried up through the tach in first gear and cleanly hopped to second gear when I triggered the paddle as redline approached. Repeat, but more slowly, for third. By the time we joined freeway traffic in 4th gear, we were basically matching Mustangs and Beemers at 80 mph, which seemed to be the unofficial speed limit at the time. But creeping towards 90 mph with three people and their luggage aboard in 5th, throttle still pinned, the Crosstrek felt a bit gassed as the revs slowly rose. An STI it isn’t. A manual, it isn’t.
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Of course, if you forget to paddle the gears up or down, the CVT will remember for you, and it’ll never stall and embarrass you. But the CVT is a CVT no matter how they dress it up, and we understand that fewer people know or even want to know how to drive a stick these days. Pity that. When we demanded a manual for our Forester, the salesperson tried to talk us out of it, but my wife, a Texas native who was driving manuals in ranch pickups long before she had a license, insisted. I married well. A few years later, the manual option disappeared completely from most of Subaru’s lineup. It is unlikely to return.
Is It Wilderness Enough?
Subaru knows how to build fast cars – just ask ARA rally racing champ and Subaru STI driver Bendan Semenuk – but rally racing really isn’t in the Crosstrek’s portfolio, Wilderness trim or not. At its core, the Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness is a dependable daily driver reskinned with some increased off-road capabilities, including better suspension, a burly look, and a comfortable but tough interior you could probably hose out in a pinch. Can the Crosstrek Wilderness get out into the wilderness and overland? Absolutely, it can – to a point, as stock.
The priority of Subaru’s AWD system isn’t to entertain, it’s to get drivers and passengers to the ski resort, mountain cabin, remote lake, beach cabana or your own garage safe and sound, no matter the weather and with no special skills required. For experienced overlanders, that’s likely a buzzkill. For anyone contemplating their first forays off the beaten path or pavement, it’s an almost foolproof ticket to new adventures in life. And with the additional ground clearance, chunky tires, and X-Mode modes, overlanding fun – at least the beginnings of it – is within easier reach for rookies who opt for the Wilderness trim. Just add a rooftop tent, your required camping gear, and a way to navigate during your trip, and BLM lands are your new playground.
And judging by the number of Crosstreks I saw on the road in California and see in Oregon, drivers get it. Some are kitted up with RTTs, traction boards, bigger meats, and a bit of a chassis lift, but the majority are bone stock and covered in mud and stickers from the last trip to somewhere new. The Wilderness trim covers most of the mandatory off-road needs, and our fully optioned and blissfully comfortable review Crosstrek Wilderness was only $35,560, a true bargain for a trail-ready rig that’s also a great daily driver.
Switching up wheels and tires and tweaking suspension can get the Crosstrek further into the veld and probably far enough for the vast majority of those interested in trying this cool new thing called “overlanding.” And if a Wilderness owner gets the bug real bad, there’s an infinite Subaru overlanding aftermarket and an active Subie enthusiast community that plans plenty of meet-ups and trail rides.
But for anyone looking to get the tires dirty for the first time while retaining the reliability, economy, and daily driving utility of a small crossover, it’s difficult to find many faults with the fun, affordable, and more off-road capable Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness.
