Subaru Outback Wilderness

The Outback Wilderness, introduced for the 2022 model year, is Subaru's first dedicated overlanding trim and a meaningful departure from how Subaru historically positioned the Outback. Ride height moves from the standard Outback's 8.7 inches to 9.5 inches — more than the Toyota Tacoma TRD Off-Road. Approach, departure, and break-over angles all improve through stiffer springs, longer-travel dampers, and skid-plated bash protection up front.

Rolling stock changes too. The Wilderness ships with 17-inch matte-black alloys wrapped in 225/65R17 Bridgestone Dueler A/T mud-and-snow tires — a real all-terrain on a Subaru, not the touring tire the rest of the Outback lineup runs. The anti-glare hood treatment is a small detail copied directly from rally and overland trucks. A standard front skid plate and reinforced lower control arms cover most of the surfaces that would otherwise eat sheet metal on a forest road.

Powertrain is the 2.4L turbocharged H-4 paired exclusively with the CVT (no manual option), generating 260 hp and 277 lb-ft. The CVT has been retuned with shorter low-range simulation for low-speed crawling, and the X-Mode terrain controller adds Snow/Dirt and Deep Snow/Mud presets that hold first gear longer and dial back throttle response.

Limits are real and worth naming. This is still a unibody Subaru with permanent symmetric AWD, not body-on-frame with a transfer case. There's no low range, no front locker, no high ground clearance. What you get is a vehicle that handles graded forest roads, light dirt two-track, and mud / snow / rain weather with more capability than any other production wagon in its price band, and on-road composure that still works as a daily driver.