Subaru continues to market to a highly active consumer base that genuinely enjoys traveling, camping, hiking and biking, and its vast array of vehicles consistently delivers for every single one of them.

While traditional commuters usually focus entirely on their basic needs, Subaru hits those marks and addresses some of their “wants” as well, bringing out the best in utility and rugged aesthetics.

Entering Grasso’s Garage this week is the redesigned 2026 Subaru Outback Wilderness, a raised wagon that pushes the outdoorsy envelope even more than before.

Our Wilderness tester came wrapped in the familiar Geyser Blue, heavily contrasted by unique plastic body exterior. The boxier, larger exterior footprint provides great curb appeal while loudly demonstrating its brawny self to onlookers.

Notable exterior touches included signature copper accents, unique LED fog lights, and a matte-black hood decal. It rode on 17-inch matte-black alloy wheels wrapped in chunky all-terrain tires, which looked sharp and brought plenty of grip to easily handle the rough roads encountered on weekend escapades. Up top, the heavy-duty copper-trimmed roof rack can support a massive static load, making it ideal for full-on rooftop camping.

Powering our tester was Subaru’s ever-popular 2.4-liter dual overhead camshaft turbocharged four-cylinder Boxer engine, outputting 260 horsepower and 277 pound-feet of torque. Paired with a high-torque Lineartronic continuously variable transmission, the powertrain provided plenty of get-up and go.

The Wilderness package jacks the standard ground clearance up to an impressive 9.5 inches. On the blacktop, the ride is remarkably smooth and compliant — a direct benefit of new electronically controlled adaptive dampers that set this specific subcompact layout apart from standard crossovers.

On the interior, we found comfortable seats wrapped in durable, easy-to-clean StarTex water-repellent upholstery. The layout is highly intuitive, greeting the driver with a large, vertical 11.6-inch tablet-style touchscreen infotainment system that shows a lot of Toyota similarities. Symmetrical all-wheel drive comes completely standard, managed by a dual-function X-MODE traction management system. Back seat passengers have plenty of headroom and legroom similar to previous generations.

2026 Subaru Outback Wilderness

MSRP: $44,995

MPG: 21 city / 27 highway / 23.4 As Tested

As Tested: $48,400

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