Drive Notes: 2024 Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness

by Tim Healey

Published: March 20th, 2024

drive notes 2024 subaru crosstrek wilderness

Due to travel, I got a little behind on giving you the Cliff's Notes on what I've been testing, so you'll get two this week.

First up: The 2024 Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness.

The " off-road" version of the Crosstrek has 9.3 inches of ground clearance, all-terrain tires, an upgraded suspension, and slightly different interior and exterior design.

Pros

Like other Crosstreks, the Wilderness offers no-fuss utility. It's a bit boring, but it's easy to live with.
The raised ground clearance doesn't really hurt on-road/in-town ride and handling. It rides and handles like the other Crosstreks.
I still like Subie's big infotainment screen.

Cons

It feels a bit unrefined, and there are some cheap-feeling interior materials/plastics.
I'd like a skoosh more power.
It's a bit too loud, mostly in terms of engine noise, at times. Not obnoxious, mind you, but not as quiet as many modern cars -- even others at its price point.

The Crosstrek Wilderness is basically like the Crosstrek Premium*, just with some hiking boots. That's not a bad thing. It won't excite you, but it's easy to live with, and that counts for a lot these days.

*In terms of overall experience -- I forgot to point out that the Wilderness has the same 2.5-liter engine as the Sport and Limited, while the Premium has the 2.0-liter.

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Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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3 of 26 comments

EAM3 on Mar 21, 2024

After many, many years - and many German cars, mostly BMW - I sold my '08 335i and picked up a '24 Crosstrek Limited. Honestly? I love the car. The ground clearance is nice, since around here, when it rains, it pours and light flooding has become a regular thing. It's small enough that I can park it anywhere (spots are getting smaller in all the new plazas being built). The ride is fantastic and the seats are great. It has all the features, and more, that I want or need. I could not be happier.

3 Reply
- MeJ on Mar 21, 2024
  
  Exact model my wife bought. It's our third Subaru and I really can't understand the hate they get. It's a fantastic vehicle for the price and virtually unstoppable in snow. And as for the CVT, I think someone read one bad review in the past and everyone ran with it. I haven't had a single issue with any of our Subies.
  
  2
- FreedMike on Mar 25, 2024
  
  "...I really can't understand the hate they get."
  If you live here in Denver, you can usually find Subarus clogging up the fast lane of every freeway, particularly on 36 coming into Boulder. And I'm not sure what it takes to get them out of the left lane (Polite ask? Headlight flashing? Act of Congress? Sidewinder missile? ) but they NEVER move over. Ever.
  Explains a great deal of the anti-Subie hate.
  
  Like
Arthur Dailey on Mar 21, 2024

Have zero interest in off roading. But live in Canada so drive in the snow regularly. Am interested in a Crosstrek but what is the back seat like? What is headroom like? Does the 'boxer' engine inherently leak oil? What are Subaru dealers like to deal with? It seems that Subaru is almost a 'cult'. Much like Volvo was in the 1960's early 1970's.

3 Reply

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