Subaru’s More Capable Forester Wilderness Gets Hefty Price Bump Over Predecessor

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via Subaru’s More Capable Forester Wilderness Gets Hefty Price Bump Over Predecessor

The normal Forester range still starts at under $30k, thankfully

When Subaru launched the all-new Forester for the 2025 model year, it continued selling the previous-generation Wilderness variant at the same time. This is the most off-road capable version of the Forester, which competes against rivals like the Toyota RAV4 Woodland and Honda CR-V TrailSport. The new Forester Wilderness has now debuted for the 2026 model year, and while it packs in a lot more capability than other Forester trims, it has also been on the receiving end of a hefty price hike.

The Most Rugged Forester Yet

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The 2026 Forester Wilderness starts at $38,385, or $39,835 when you include the destination charge. By comparison, the 2025 Forester Wilderness costs $36,285, which is $2,100 less. Honda charges $38,800 for its CR-V TrailSport, but that’s both more powerful and more efficient, thanks to its hybrid engine. For now, you can still get the outgoing RAV4 Woodland Edition for $35,820.

Much has improved for the new Forester Wilderness, though, and that goes beyond the more cohesive design for this generation of the crossover. The approach/breakover/departure angles for the Wilderness are 23.5/21/25.5 degrees respectively, up from 19/19.6/24.6 degrees on other Forester derivatives. It now has a healthy ground clearance of 9.3 inches, up marginally over the 9.2 of the older Wilderness.

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Thanks to a new transmission cooler, the 2026 Forester Wilderness can tow up to 3,500 pounds. That’s much better than the Honda CR-V TrailSport, which can only tow 1,000 lbs as it’s limited to a hybrid powertrain. Like other Foresters, though, the Wilderness sticks with a 2.5-liter boxer four-cylinder engine that makes 180 horsepower and 178 lb-ft of torque, which is merely adequate. The Lineartronic CVT in the Wilderness has a shorter final drive ratio that boosts its performance in low-speed off-road conditions.

The X-Mode Dual Mode System in the Wilderness has Snow/Dirt and Deep Snow/Mud modes, which operate in tandem with standard all-wheel drive. Wider all-terrain tires further improve this Forester’s dirt-road capabilities.

While it edges its Toyota and Honda rivals with its off-roading figures, Subaru makes you pay for it.

Other Foresters See Little Or No Pricing Changes

If you don’t require the off-roading capabilities of the Wilderness, you can save a lot by opting for one of the cheaper Forester trims, which all have the same engine and standard AWD.

The base model costs $29,995, exactly the same as last year. From there, pricing increases to $33,385 for the Premium, $36,105 for the Sport, $37,695 for the Limited, and $41,595 for the top-spec Touring. The Limited is cheaper than the Wilderness but gets nice features like leather upholstery and a heated, leather-wrapped steering wheel.

Subaru has bolstered the lineup’s safety credentials, as emergency lane-keep assist is now available on all models that have blind-spot detection and rear cross-traffic alert.

Subaru has not released pricing for the Forester Hybrid range just yet, which currently starts at $36,595 for 2025. These models make 194 hp combined and can travel up to 581 miles on a full tank.