The Subaru Forester Wilderness will grow even more off-road capable for 2026. The trail-ready model gains more ground clearance, wider tires, and more towing capacity.
Subaru’s Wilderness editions, if you haven’t encountered them, are the bacon cheeseburgers of Subaru. A cheeseburger is already delicious, and a Subaru is already off-road capable. But, in both cases, you can order one with something extra that just enhances its best qualities.
Wilderness editions typically come with enhanced off-road suspensions, tires that trade a little on-road quiet for better grip in the mud, body cladding to protect from scratches, and orange accents inside and out to distinguish them visually. They’re more expensive than base models, but Subaru often charges a surprisingly fair price for the upgrade.
Subaru hasn’t revealed pricing for any 2026 Forester yet. But the 2025 Forester starts at $31,320 (including a $1,420 destination fee). We’d estimate about a $6,000 premium for all the added Wilderness gear.
For 2026, Subaru will turn up the dial on many of those ideas. Compared to the last Forester Wilderness, a 2024 model, the new one gets an extra tenth of an inch of ground clearance — it’s now 9.3 inches — from longer coil springs and shock absorbers. “The suspension has been tuned for improved stability and comfort on- and off-road,” Subaru says.
New all-terrain Yokohama Geolandar tires are wider for better grip. An upgraded transmission cooler helps it tow 3,500 pounds. The prior Forester Wilderness was rated to tow up to 3,000 pounds, while the regular 2025 Forester maxes out at 1,500 pounds. The transmission is still a continuously variable setup, but Subaru has shortened the final drive ratio for more effective low-speed crawling. The Wilderness gets two new drive modes — Snow/Dirt and Deep Snow/Mud — to take advantage of the capability.
A standard roof rack supports up to 800 pounds stationary and 176 while driving.
As before, those metallic orange accents (Subaru calls them Anodized Copper) inside and out tell everyone you’ve bought a Wilderness model. The 2026 Subaru Forester Wilderness is slated to hit dealerships this fall. Yesterday, Subaru also announced another new Forester model — the 2025 Forester Hybrid.
