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

[00:00] Today, we are driving the 2026 Subaru

[00:03] Outback Wilderness through an off-road

[00:06] course. So, we've got

[00:09] some time in the new Subaru Outback. We

[00:10] love the interior, we love the

[00:11] packaging. We're torn a little bit on

[00:14] the look and the aesthetic of it all,

[00:15] but the Wilderness is going to be the

[00:17] jam. We've got a bunch of ground

[00:19] clearance here. We've got a set of

[00:22] Bridgestone Dueler all-terrain tires.

[00:25] So, historically, these have had

[00:26] Yokohama Geolander. They've switched to

[00:28] a Dueler. We'll see how those do in the

[00:29] mud today. As you can see, it's very

[00:31] muddy, very dirty. Let's hop inside and

[00:34] get some off-road driving impressions on

[00:36] this Wilderness. Depending on when this

[00:38] video goes up,

[00:39] we have also booked a Subaru Outback

[00:42] Wilderness for some street driving

[00:44] impressions back home.

[00:45] Today, we're at Road America at the Mama

[00:47] Spring Rally.

[00:49] And as the seat goes all the way down,

[00:52] we will start this up

[00:54] and take you guys through the off-road

[00:56] course. I'm not sure which course this

[00:57] is slated to go through. The green is

[00:59] the easy course, the blue is the tough

[01:01] course. Probably the green.

[01:08] Oh, yeah. New infotainment works great,

[01:11] easy to use. Got heated and ventilated

[01:14] seats, physical buttons for everything,

[01:17] which is just the best.

[01:20] Quick access buttons for your camera

[01:21] view,

[01:23] your off-road modes. We'll see what they

[01:24] put us in

[01:26] for this drive today.

[01:29] Let's set off.

[01:31] There we go. There's another Subaru.

[01:34] Okay. Drive modes. Let's see.

[01:37] >> All right.

[01:39] Let's make sure go ahead to hit the X

[01:41] mode on the steering wheel right there.

[01:42] >> Got it.

[01:44] >> And believe that's all this one has.

[01:48] >> Okay. Cool.

[01:48] >> All right. So, you're on the green

[01:50] course?

[01:50] >> Oh, there's X mode and then X mode snow

[01:52] dirt deep snow mud. We'll do deep snow

[01:54] mud. yeah.

[01:56] >> All right. Green course?

[01:57] >> Green course, straight ahead.

[01:58] >> Great, thank you.

[02:06] All right, we will tiptoe our way

[02:08] through the green course. That makes

[02:09] sense given this doesn't really have

[02:13] all-terrain tires with stiff sidewalls

[02:15] and just can't quite handle the jagged

[02:19] rocks that we see in the blue course.

[02:22] Got a really nice

[02:24] camera layout here, 360 and forward

[02:27] facing.

[02:29] And this Wilderness is just a nice size.

[02:32] Easy to see out of, easy to place on the

[02:34] trail.

[02:38] This new Outback is just an excellent

[02:41] new product from Subaru. I think if they

[02:43] keep this interior design language and

[02:45] bring it to the rest of the lineup,

[02:47] they're in for a lot of good success

[02:50] going forward, at least in terms of

[02:52] their UI

[02:54] and their packaging.

[02:56] We'll get up stand up on this rock here.

[03:00] Oop.

[03:01] Excuse that lurch.

[03:06] Just taking it slow, tiptoeing our way

[03:08] through.

[03:11] Deep mud and sand mode has a pretty

[03:13] touchy throttle. So, let's go back into

[03:16] X-Mode snow and dirt, and that'll dull

[03:18] things down a bit.

[03:20] I don't know what

[03:22] Subaru is thinking sometimes with their

[03:24] throttle tuning. I don't know if they're

[03:25] thinking sometimes with their throttle

[03:27] tuning but

[03:29] that's okay.

[03:30] All right.

[03:32] Nice compression there.

[03:34] Green course.

[03:36] All right, now things are going to get

[03:37] muddy, so we're going to roll the window

[03:38] up eventually.

[03:46] Ride quality is excellent

[03:49] out here for

[03:51] a soft-roader crossover.

[03:53] Camera seems to turn off at about 12 to

[03:55] 15 miles an hour. That's good.

[03:58] I don't imagine these tires are going to

[04:00] be very good in the mud.

[04:01] But, we'll see what they do

[04:02] nevertheless.

[04:05] We're going to reactivate our

[04:08] camera view button. There we go.

[04:11] Easy sand to pause.

[04:20] Up we go, drama free.

[04:25] All right.

[04:28] Ooh yeah.

[04:31] Downhill control. Didn't have to do

[04:33] anything.

[04:35] I guess that automatically just engages

[04:37] in X mode.

[04:40] And then we're going to go through this

[04:41] water crossing.

[04:43] Which is as deep as the car bottoming

[04:47] out.

[04:48] >> [laughter]

[04:50] >> Nice.

[04:54] All right, through the mud.

[04:56] Green course here.

[04:58] Kicking it sideways.

[05:01] And this Wilderness just does

[05:04] a great job getting through it all.

[05:28] All right, it gets super mucky here. So,

[05:31] we might switch it into deep snow / mud

[05:34] mode.

[05:36] See what happens.

[05:45] Not much drama, honestly.

[05:47] Get our camera view back.

[05:51] It would be nice if that automatically

[05:52] came back on. I think if I press this

[05:54] auto button, it will. Look at that.

[05:56] Subaru auto that stuff.

[06:04] Little bit of noise from the suspension

[06:05] here today, but not terrible.

[06:30] Great maneuverability, great turning

[06:33] radius. And we're going to go back into

[06:37] first X-Mode, which we have to slow down

[06:39] to under 10 miles an hour to do.

[06:41] That's a little bit confusing, but at

[06:43] least your drive mode selection is on

[06:44] the steering wheel,

[06:45] and you can quickly change it up if you

[06:47] need to.

[06:55] Great turning radius, too. This is just

[06:59] really nice.

[07:04] I just drove a Ranger Raptor through

[07:06] this course. Actually, it was the blue

[07:07] course. It was the more challenging

[07:08] course but

[07:11] you know, a full mid-size truck compared

[07:14] to this, this feels so much more

[07:15] maneuverable. We also drove the Kia

[07:16] Telluride X-Pro, which is a massive SUV,

[07:19] through this green course.

[07:21] That felt big. It was very capable, too,

[07:24] but it was big. This Wilderness is just

[07:27] the right size.

[07:28] Even though it's a nice long wagon with

[07:31] tons of space inside, it doesn't feel

[07:33] too cumbersome to pilot around.

[07:36] And, you know, you got to imagine stuff

[07:38] like this is probably maxing out what

[07:40] most owners and buyers are going to be

[07:42] doing here.

[07:47] Camera is automatically kicking on there

[07:49] at around 5 to 7 mph. Look at that

[07:51] turning radius. That is just so easy.

[07:54] Awesome.

[07:56] And then turning off

[07:57] past 12.

[08:11] Cool. Pretty easy set it and forget it

[08:13] off-roading experience in the Outback

[08:15] Wilderness.

[08:24] See if anyone's coming. Don't see

[08:26] anybody. We're clear to go. All right,

[08:27] guys.

[08:28] Well, just a quick drive there.

[08:30] Hopefully enjoyed that. Nice to get some

[08:32] extra seat time behind the wheel of one

[08:33] of these.

[08:38] The smell of burnt wood under your

[08:40] Subaru.

[08:46] Feels like home.

[08:47] All right.

[08:49] That's going to be it for this one.

[08:49] Thanks so much for watching. We'll see

[08:50] you guys in the next video. Not sure if

[08:53] we'll do any more off-roading in an

[08:54] Outback Wilderness. This might be it.

[08:56] But at some point, either before or

[08:58] after this video is posted, we'll be

[09:00] giving you guys some street driving

[09:02] impressions on the Outback Wilderness

[09:04] and going a little bit more in-depth

[09:05] with the features, the specs, and all

[09:07] that stuff. But for now, that's it for

[09:08] this one. Thank you so much for

[09:09] watching. We'll see you guys later.

[09:24] These tires did surprisingly well in the

[09:26] mud. I'm impressed.

[09:38] Still lots of plastic cladding here to

[09:40] keep you protected from dirt.

[09:42] Little black wrap on the hood to reduce

[09:46] sunlight reflection.

[09:48] Beefier roof rails up here.

[09:51] Nice little step right there.

[09:53] I don't know if these are rated

[09:56] specifically for a weight on here, but

[09:59] 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.