2024 Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness Review: All Dressed Up With Nowhere To Go

To be perfectly transparent, I am not totally clear on what type of vehicle the 2024 Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness is. It's mechanically identical to the Subaru Impreza RS that I drove and reviewed earlier this year, as higher trim Crosstreks are. A regular Crosstrek is not quite a hatchback and not quite a crossover SUV. Yet, the Wilderness package gives it a different look altogether. The very aggressive cladding, big goofy tires, and overall meanness of the Crosstrek Wilderness set it apart entirely. Is it now a bonafide SUV? Is it a tall station wagon that crashed into an off-road parts store? Is it something else? 

But, by examining what the Crosstrek Wilderness consists of, perhaps we can come closer to a conclusion. The Wilderness treatment is new for the Crosstrek for 2024. It gets a significant lift, giving it 9.3-inches of ground-clearance. That look is enhanced by matte-black 17-inch wheels wearing knobby Yokohama "Geolandar" tires. 

You also get a number of Subaru Wilderness badges and more cladding than you could possibly conceive. Think of the normal amount of cladding on any car in 2024 and double it, then you have an idea of how much cladding Subaru added, to give the Crosstrek Wilderness the most off-roady look possible this side of a Ford F-150 Raptor R leaping over Death Valley. There's a lot going on. It doesn't quite look like a regular Crosstrek, more like a gritty reboot.

Under the Crosstrek Wilderness' hood is a 2.5-liter boxer four cylinder that churns out 182 horsepower and 178 foot pounds of torque. It's not a speed demon by any means, with its "Lineartronic" CVT, but it's definitely enough. Power delivery never became an issue during my week with the Subaru.

While the vehicle itself certainly looks like it's capable of tackling any trail imaginable, my time with the Crosstrek was decidedly more pavement-focused. I did, however, go on a few adventures with the Subaru. The most notable of which was a last minute run to the airport to pick up a friend who was returning from a disastrous vacation with his wife and in-laws in tow. I am pleased to report that the Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness fit all passengers and their carry-on bags without a hitch, granted it was a little bit snug. Trips like that are definitely within the normal use case scenario of just about any vehicle, the lifted Subaru just made the "Arrivals" lane at the airport look just a tad more silly. 

It was by far the most "interesting" car on the Baltimore-Washington International airport's system of roads that I refer to as the "BWI Grand Prix." Author C.S. Lewis says in the Chronicles of Narnia series "Adventures are never fun while you're having them." If that's any metric through which to measure my trip to the airport, it was certainly an adventure. Although that blame could be more associated with the airport itself than the Subaru.

With the lift and huge knobby tires, you may suspect that the ride quality suffers a bit, and you'd be right on the money. It's not a hateful vehicle to drive by any means, but it's very evident that this vehicle was very much not designed to be a highway cruiser taking you to and from the office. You can hear and feel every single imperfection on the road. It yearns to be hopping along a dirt path somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, looking for Bigfoot. 

Despite having identical internal guts and a nearly identical interior to the Subaru Impreza RS that I drove a short time ago, fuel economy left much to be desired. While the Impreza achieved an average of 29 miles per gallon, the Crosstrek Wilderness could only manage around 25 miles per gallon. Efficiency isn't its strong suit, even if it does have a naturally-aspirated four cylinder as its heart. I partly blame the tires and lift as it doesn't do any favors for aerodynamics.

As with any car, it's worth exploring who the Crosstrek Wilderness is for, and I believe it may be a very small subset of Subaru fans: hardcore Crosstrek (and Crosstrek only) enthusiasts who absolutely need to go off-roading every minute of every day. In fact, I'm struggling to think of another demographic who would gravitate towards this car when all of the other options are laid out.

If you want an entry level crossover, the regular Crosstrek might be your car of choice within Subaru's lineup. If you wanted something bigger and a little more capable than the Crosstrek with a 2.5-liter powerplant as standard, the Forester is a wise option. The Crosstrek Wilderness I drove starts at $31,995, significantly more expensive than a base model Forester that starts at $27,095. If you want the Wilderness treatment for the Forester, that will set you back $34,920, only a little more expensive than a car that's much smaller on the inside for both passengers and cargo. 

The Crosstrek Wilderness has a maximum cargo volume of 54.7 cubic feet with all of the seats folded down, and 99 cubic feet for all of your passengers. I used every single cubic foot of that volume when picking up my friend, three other people and their cargo from the airport. On the other hand, the Forester, with all the seats folded down, can hold 69.1 cubic feet of cargo and the passengers can enjoy 107.6 cubic feet of room. All of the Crosstrek's lifted aggression can't get over the fact that the Forester seems like a much better deal.

Unfortunately, the Crosstrek Wilderness seems to me like a car in search of an audience. If you want a serious off-roader to get you all over the cliffs of Moab or through the snow drifts of Colorado, the Jeep Wrangler has been around for decades and there are likely better deals to be had if you go that route. If you are a Subaru acolyte, the rest of the lineup, and even the base model Crosstrek will likely serve you well for years on end.

With a $2,270 options package that consisted of a power moonroof, Harmon Kardon sound system, and a 10-way power driver's seat, the 2024 Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness totaled up to $35,560 when you add in the destination charge. At that price, it is more expensive than the base model of every model in Subaru's lineup, with the sole exclusion of the EV Solterra (Subaru's version of the Toyota bZ4X).

Every car has an exact purpose, and I'm having a hard time finding the exact use case scenario of the Crosstrek Wilderness. That might not be the car's fault, and you can't blame Subaru for expanding the Wilderness package to other members of the Subaru family, but it seems to be a solution in search of a problem. That said, in a few years when used models start showing up on the market and the price is reasonable, it might not be a bad option if you just absolutely need a compact off-roader.

The 2024 Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness is a fine car. There's nothing objectively wrong with it (although the styling is an acquired taste). It's just really expensive for what it is, and that's a lifted Crosstrek that gets worse gas mileage. If you absolutely need to fit into a compact parking space at the Thunderdome, then the Crosstrek Wilderness might be the very car for you. For everyone else that doesn't have to commute through the desert and over a mountain, there might be other more sensible choices, not least within Subaru's own lineup.