Subaru has always been a company that’s never too shy about giving their customers the ability to explore nature and their immediate surroundings with moels like the Crosstrek. This is especially true if you’re a Wilderness owner with Subie always throwing everything but the kitchen sink at these versions to make sure they are trail ready.

However, a prominent problem was that while the Outback and Forester Wilderness models were very capable vehicles, they were also very expensive hits to the budget. Subaru is out to solve that problem with its newest Wilderness model, the 2025 Crosstrek Wilderness. But is this model one in name only? Or does it actually have some off-road chops to backup its ambitious mission in life.

Crosstrek attempts to make new gateway to fun

At first glance, you would be forgiven if you thought the Crosstrek was meant to be a street darling. It’s tall hatchback design is a stark contrast to the boxy look that many of its rivals have and the Crosstrek doesn’t have that instant look that screams its an off-roader despite its acres of plastic cladding.

But look closer and put away those initial doubts and you’ll see that the exterior styling of the Crosstrek Wilderness comes with plenty of function baked into it. Before we get into that though we might as well talk about some o the styling upgrades that buyers get with Wilderness models getting copper colored accents and the aforementioned bits of plastic cladding. The Wilderness also gets a 0.6-inch suspension lift but it hides it well and only the most observant of buyers will spot it.

The exterior design overall is rugged and handsome but we’ll admit, the Crosstrek’s rear end is still one of the oddest looking designs in the business and despite a minor update the model received a few years ago, the rear continues to be a prominent weakness for the Crosstrek. The knobby Yokohama Geolandar A/T G015 tires and Wilderness exclusive wheels on the other hand enhance the profile and contribute to the model’s distinct personality.

Functional interior lacks personality

Slip inside the Crosstrek Wilderness and you’ll find that while the cabin continues to be a functional place to spend time in, it suffers from one glaring problem, the lack of flair. The cabin in our tester came with what you would expect from a proper mud runner with rubberized floormats, trim exclusive seats with stain resistant fabric and it’s own fair share of copper accents.

But look past it and it becomes readily evident that the cabin lacks a discernible sense of flair. The rest of the color scheme is too muted and the black-out treatment can sometimes make you feel like your cruising around in a bland cubicle from the clearance bin at Office Depot.

That’s a shame since it also runs in contrast to the exterior styling which exudes rugged charisma. Some of the shintzy plastics in the cabin don;t help the cause either but we’ll give Subaru a nod for making the front seats very comfortable places to spend time in with just the right amount of bolstering. The Wilderness gets an 11.6-inch vertically mounted infotainment system that comes with standard Android Auto and Apple CarPlay capabilities. These systems also help reduce the amount of frustration we experienced with the native software which is still too slow to respond when processing inputs and navigating around certain menus.

Slow and steady wins the race

Performance for all Wilderness models comes from the same 2.5-liter flat-four that’s also seen in the Sport and Limited trims with this engine producing 182 hp and 178 lb-ft of torque. These figures are not the stoutest in the world and that’s evident in the sluggish acceleration our tester had. However, Subaru knows the Crosstrek is not a WRX and what it lacks in outright speed it makes up for in sheer capabiliy.

This is partially due to the X mode feature that the Wilderness gets (also seen in other Crosstrek models) with X mode altering the behaior of the CVT, throttle, and torque distribution for the all-wheel drive system depending on the terrain. X mode also activates hill desecent control but with the bulk of these models most likely staying on the strret, look for this particular feature to be seldom used by most folks. The steering in our tester was a bit too light on pavement but some of the rough dirt roads we took our tester on did reveal a suspension that’s still very compliant even when going through ruts and dips.

The enhanced capability does come at a price with the Wilderness getting noticeably poorer fuel economy numbers than other Crosstreks with the EPA saying the Wilderness gets 25/29/27 mpg in city/freeway/combined driving.

Value Quotient

Pricing for the 2025 Crosstrek linup starts at just over $26,000 for the base model with the bulk of the family being firmly in the $30,000 range. The Wilderness is the range-topper in the lineup with a base model starting at $33,360. This pricing allows the Wilderness to go toe to toe with several key rivals including the Jeep Cherokee, Ford Bronco Sport as well as the Toyota RAV4.

The Crosstrek WIlderness is also feeling the sting of tariffs with Subaru recently admitting that changing market conditions forced it to raise prices for the Crosstrek by $750. This increase does put the Crosstrek at a disadvantage when compared to the Jeep and the Ford with both of these models being produced domestically. However, the Subaru is placing all of its bets on reputation and it’s hoping adventure seekers will put their long-term dollar on the Wilderness badge versus the short-term burn their wallet will experience from beefed-up pricing.