There’s power in knowing when not to mess up a good thing, so the fact that Subaru made a commitment to maintaining largely the same formula with the 2026 Subaru Forester Wilderness as it delivered for the impressive outgoing model is commendable. As the crunchiest Forester you can buy, the new Wilderness still guarantees solid off-road performance while being even more agreeable to live with in the daily grind.
More of the Same, but Better Engineered
The last Forester Wilderness was built on the bones of the already developed 2019 Forester, so there were some retrofit compromises, according to Subaru. But the current, sixth-generation Forester was engineered from the ground up with the knowledge that the Wilderness model would be part of the lineup, so touches such as extra sound deadening were added in anticipation of the increased noise its more aggressive all-terrain tires would make.
As for the tires on the 2026 Forester Wilderness, they’re slightly wider than before. There’s also an improved transmission cooler, an increased towing capacity of 3,500 pounds, and a smidge more ground clearance (9.3 inches, up from 9.2) thanks to longer springs and shocks. And of course, its clad-tacular exterior details and water-resistant cabin set it off from other Foresters.
A Can-Do Attitude On-Road or Off
The Forester has always offered great outward visibility, and not much has changed from the outgoing model. You can adjust the supportive driver’s seat to be nice and high, further improving its commanding view over the hood. In addition, its low beltlines and big windows ensure you can see just about everything around you, something that’s an ever-increasing rarity in modern cars. As a bonus, the Forester’s compact steering wheel feels excellent in hand.
Be it rolling on the open highway, cruising around town, or hustling along sweeping, curvy roads, the 2026 Forester Wilderness rides comfortably and confidently. You wouldn’t think this thing has the off-road chops it does, given that those kinds of chops usually result in on-road compromises. The suspension does a fabulous job of soaking up harsh pavement impacts, and there’s surprisingly little body roll despite the taller shocks. As for that improved sound deadening, the cabin of the Forester Wilderness also seems to be quieter than before, but you can still hear the hum of those meatier tires and wind noise at higher speeds.
The steering is rather slow but fairly accurate overall, painting a good picture of what the front wheels are doing. There’s a dead spot at the top of the brake pedal, so you need to press in a bit further to engage the brakes, although once you do, they bite progressively. As for its continuously variable transmission, while it’s caught a lot of online hate, from our perspective at least, it did its job invisibly.
So, the Forester Wilderness proved more than solid on-road; as for how the Wilderness handled the wilderness, we began our evaluation drive on some washboard gravel paths that evolved into scree-covered trails punctuated by some pretty significant dips. You don’t need lightning-quick steering on low-speed trails, and we found wheel of the Forester Wilderness to be an extension of our own hands, letting us feel out the trail with the front wheels. Putting the Wilderness in its most off-road-focused X-mode gave us the added benefit of hill descent control. Subaru’s tried and true all-wheel drive system worked to pull us out of steep grades as the transmission kept the engine in the brunt of its powerband.
There were certain low-speed, low-traction uphill sections where we could hear and feel it struggling for purchase, though that might have been more from us picking a suboptimal line than anything else. That said, more low-end grunt would have been appreciated in spots, but we used momentum as our best friend to make sure we didn’t get stuck.
Overall, we were very impressed by the Forester Wilderness’ body control. It made everything feel like it was happening progressively and by extension was easy to predict. There were bits of the route’s trails we wouldn’t have felt confident tackling on our own, but the Subaru reps just waved us through, no spotters needed.
There Are Some Wilderness Weak Points
This wouldn’t be a Subaru review without asking for more power. Yes, the 2.5-liter, 180-hp boxer-four powering the 2026 Forester Wilderness is perfectly adequate, but you do have to do a little planning ahead if you’re merging or passing in higher-speed situations. We’d love to see what the 194 hp in the Forester Hybrid would be like if it were ported over to the Wilderness for off-road use.
We’re not holding our breath, though. Maybe it’ll show up in the next-gen Wilderness, but we don’t see Subaru sacrificing the necessary underfloor trunk space for a hybrid powertrain over keeping a full-size spare tire.
The biggest weakness by far, however, is the Forester’s infotainment system. The portrait-oriented screen responds sluggishly, there are no hard buttons for climate (save for temperature adjustments), and the whole thing feels distinctively dated. Footage from the helpful, 180-degree front view monitor could be higher-res, as well.
