[0:00] Today, we are driving the 2026 Subaru
[0:03] Outback Wilderness through an off-road
[0:06] course. So, we've got
[0:09] some time in the new Subaru Outback. We
[0:10] love the interior, we love the
[0:11] packaging. We're torn a little bit on
[0:14] the look and the aesthetic of it all,
[0:15] but the Wilderness is going to be the
[0:17] jam. We've got a bunch of ground
[0:19] clearance here. We've got a set of
[0:22] Bridgestone Dueler all-terrain tires.
[0:25] So, historically, these have had
[0:26] Yokohama Geolander. They've switched to
[0:28] a Dueler. We'll see how those do in the
[0:29] mud today. As you can see, it's very
[0:31] muddy, very dirty. Let's hop inside and
[0:34] get some off-road driving impressions on
[0:36] this Wilderness. Depending on when this
[0:38] video goes up,
[0:39] we have also booked a Subaru Outback
[0:42] Wilderness for some street driving
[0:44] impressions back home.
[0:45] Today, we're at Road America at the Mama
[0:47] Spring Rally.
[0:49] And as the seat goes all the way down,
[0:52] we will start this up
[0:54] and take you guys through the off-road
[0:56] course. I'm not sure which course this
[0:57] is slated to go through. The green is
[0:59] the easy course, the blue is the tough
[1:01] course. Probably the green.
[1:08] Oh, yeah. New infotainment works great,
[1:11] easy to use. Got heated and ventilated
[1:14] seats, physical buttons for everything,
[1:17] which is just the best.
[1:20] Quick access buttons for your camera
[1:21] view,
[1:23] your off-road modes. We'll see what they
[1:24] put us in
[1:26] for this drive today.
[1:29] Let's set off.
[1:31] There we go. There's another Subaru.
[1:34] Okay. Drive modes. Let's see.
[1:37] >> All right.
[1:39] Let's make sure go ahead to hit the X
[1:41] mode on the steering wheel right there.
[1:42] >> Got it.
[1:44] >> And believe that's all this one has.
[1:48] >> Okay. Cool.
[1:48] >> All right. So, you're on the green
[1:50] course?
[1:50] >> Oh, there's X mode and then X mode snow
[1:52] dirt deep snow mud. We'll do deep snow
[1:54] mud. yeah.
[1:56] >> All right. Green course?
[1:57] >> Green course, straight ahead.
[1:58] >> Great, thank you.
[2:06] All right, we will tiptoe our way
[2:08] through the green course. That makes
[2:09] sense given this doesn't really have
[2:13] all-terrain tires with stiff sidewalls
[2:15] and just can't quite handle the jagged
[2:19] rocks that we see in the blue course.
[2:22] Got a really nice
[2:24] camera layout here, 360 and forward
[2:27] facing.
[2:29] And this Wilderness is just a nice size.
[2:32] Easy to see out of, easy to place on the
[2:34] trail.
[2:38] This new Outback is just an excellent
[2:41] new product from Subaru. I think if they
[2:43] keep this interior design language and
[2:45] bring it to the rest of the lineup,
[2:47] they're in for a lot of good success
[2:50] going forward, at least in terms of
[2:52] their UI
[2:54] and their packaging.
[2:56] We'll get up stand up on this rock here.
[3:00] Oop.
[3:01] Excuse that lurch.
[3:06] Just taking it slow, tiptoeing our way
[3:08] through.
[3:11] Deep mud and sand mode has a pretty
[3:13] touchy throttle. So, let's go back into
[3:16] X-Mode snow and dirt, and that'll dull
[3:18] things down a bit.
[3:20] I don't know what
[3:22] Subaru is thinking sometimes with their
[3:24] throttle tuning. I don't know if they're
[3:25] thinking sometimes with their throttle
[3:27] tuning but
[3:29] that's okay.
[3:30] All right.
[3:32] Nice compression there.
[3:34] Green course.
[3:36] All right, now things are going to get
[3:37] muddy, so we're going to roll the window
[3:38] up eventually.
[3:46] Ride quality is excellent
[3:49] out here for
[3:51] a soft-roader crossover.
[3:53] Camera seems to turn off at about 12 to
[3:55] 15 miles an hour. That's good.
[3:58] I don't imagine these tires are going to
[4:00] be very good in the mud.
[4:01] But, we'll see what they do
[4:02] nevertheless.
[4:05] We're going to reactivate our
[4:08] camera view button. There we go.
[4:11] Easy sand to pause.
[4:20] Up we go, drama free.
[4:25] All right.
[4:28] Ooh yeah.
[4:31] Downhill control. Didn't have to do
[4:33] anything.
[4:35] I guess that automatically just engages
[4:37] in X mode.
[4:40] And then we're going to go through this
[4:41] water crossing.
[4:43] Which is as deep as the car bottoming
[4:47] out.
[4:48] >> [laughter]
[4:50] >> Nice.
[4:54] All right, through the mud.
[4:56] Green course here.
[4:58] Kicking it sideways.
[5:01] And this Wilderness just does
[5:04] a great job getting through it all.
[5:28] All right, it gets super mucky here. So,
[5:31] we might switch it into deep snow / mud
[5:34] mode.
[5:36] See what happens.
[5:45] Not much drama, honestly.
[5:47] Get our camera view back.
[5:51] It would be nice if that automatically
[5:52] came back on. I think if I press this
[5:54] auto button, it will. Look at that.
[5:56] Subaru auto that stuff.
[6:04] Little bit of noise from the suspension
[6:05] here today, but not terrible.
[6:30] Great maneuverability, great turning
[6:33] radius. And we're going to go back into
[6:37] first X-Mode, which we have to slow down
[6:39] to under 10 miles an hour to do.
[6:41] That's a little bit confusing, but at
[6:43] least your drive mode selection is on
[6:44] the steering wheel,
[6:45] and you can quickly change it up if you
[6:47] need to.
[6:55] Great turning radius, too. This is just
[6:59] really nice.
[7:04] I just drove a Ranger Raptor through
[7:06] this course. Actually, it was the blue
[7:07] course. It was the more challenging
[7:08] course but
[7:11] you know, a full mid-size truck compared
[7:14] to this, this feels so much more
[7:15] maneuverable. We also drove the Kia
[7:16] Telluride X-Pro, which is a massive SUV,
[7:19] through this green course.
[7:21] That felt big. It was very capable, too,
[7:24] but it was big. This Wilderness is just
[7:27] the right size.
[7:28] Even though it's a nice long wagon with
[7:31] tons of space inside, it doesn't feel
[7:33] too cumbersome to pilot around.
[7:36] And, you know, you got to imagine stuff
[7:38] like this is probably maxing out what
[7:40] most owners and buyers are going to be
[7:42] doing here.
[7:47] Camera is automatically kicking on there
[7:49] at around 5 to 7 mph. Look at that
[7:51] turning radius. That is just so easy.
[7:54] Awesome.
[7:56] And then turning off
[7:57] past 12.
[8:11] Cool. Pretty easy set it and forget it
[8:13] off-roading experience in the Outback
[8:15] Wilderness.
[8:24] See if anyone's coming. Don't see
[8:26] anybody. We're clear to go. All right,
[8:27] guys.
[8:28] Well, just a quick drive there.
[8:30] Hopefully enjoyed that. Nice to get some
[8:32] extra seat time behind the wheel of one
[8:33] of these.
[8:38] The smell of burnt wood under your
[8:40] Subaru.
[8:46] Feels like home.
[8:47] All right.
[8:49] That's going to be it for this one.
[8:49] Thanks so much for watching. We'll see
[8:50] you guys in the next video. Not sure if
[8:53] we'll do any more off-roading in an
[8:54] Outback Wilderness. This might be it.
[8:56] But at some point, either before or
[8:58] after this video is posted, we'll be
[9:00] giving you guys some street driving
[9:02] impressions on the Outback Wilderness
[9:04] and going a little bit more in-depth
[9:05] with the features, the specs, and all
[9:07] that stuff. But for now, that's it for
[9:08] this one. Thank you so much for
[9:09] watching. We'll see you guys later.
[9:24] These tires did surprisingly well in the
[9:26] mud. I'm impressed.
[9:38] Still lots of plastic cladding here to
[9:40] keep you protected from dirt.
[9:42] Little black wrap on the hood to reduce
[9:46] sunlight reflection.
[9:48] Beefier roof rails up here.
[9:51] Nice little step right there.
[9:53] I don't know if these are rated
[9:56] specifically for a weight on here, but
[9:59] they look a little bit or more raised
[10:01] than the non-Wilderness
[10:02] Outback.
[10:09] And of course, tons of space in the back
[10:11] of this thing.
[10:14] There's your spare tire. Fold down the
[10:16] rear seats.
[10:18] Yeah, a lot of room.
[10:21] Cool.