---
title: '2026 Subaru Outback Wilderness - How does it Handle Off-Road?'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=-Qs8f_dVd1I'
video_id: '-Qs8f_dVd1I'
date: 2026-07-01
duration_sec: 633
---

# 2026 Subaru Outback Wilderness - How does it Handle Off-Road?

> Source: [2026 Subaru Outback Wilderness - How does it Handle Off-Road?](https://youtube.com/watch?v=-Qs8f_dVd1I)

## Summary

The video provides a first-hand off-road driving impression of the 2026 Subaru Outback Wilderness at Road America's Mama Spring Rally. The reviewer highlights the vehicle's improved interior, user-friendly infotainment with physical buttons, and the effectiveness of its X-Mode off-road systems. The overall verdict is that the Outback Wilderness offers a capable, easy-to-drive off-road experience that is well-suited for most owners.

### Key Points

- **Interior and UI praise** [0:10] — The new Outback has an excellent interior with physical buttons, heated/ventilated seats, and a great infotainment system.
- **Tire change** [0:22] — The Wilderness trim comes with Bridgestone Dueler all-terrain tires (switched from Yokohama Geolander).
- **Course difficulty** [0:57] — The green course is the easy one; the blue course is tougher with jagged rocks.
- **X-Mode throttle tuning** [1:44] — X-Mode has snow/dirt and deep snow/mud settings; deep snow/mud mode has a touchy throttle, so the reviewer switched to snow/dirt for smoother driving.
- **Camera behavior** [3:53] — The camera view turns off at about 12-15 mph and automatically re-engages at low speeds.
- **Downhill control** [4:31] — Downhill descent control engages automatically in X-Mode.
- **Maneuverability comparison** [7:04] — The Outback Wilderness feels much more maneuverable than a Ford Ranger Raptor or Kia Telluride X-Pro on the same course.
- **Tire mud performance** [9:24] — The tires performed surprisingly well in mud, despite initial skepticism.

## Transcript

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