Subaru has introduced the outback wilderness in a new family of off-road and overlanding intended vehicles. It is said to be the first member of their Wilderness lineup. The standard Outback has received some exterior, interior as well as performance upgrades, for the new wilderness trim. It is meant to compete against one of the bestselling crossovers in USA such as the Toyota RAV 4 and the Honda CRV. Subaru has worked on making the outback a more capable vehicle off-road by adding some necessary upgrades all around the vehicle.
The Exterior Changes
On the outside, you will see a noticeable 1-inch bump in ground clearance from 8.7 inches to 9.5 inches. The Crossover receives matte black plastic cladding all around the doors and fenders, to protect the paint from being chipped away by gravel. Both the front and rear bumpers have been redesigned to better contain themselves which improves the vehicle’s approach angle to 20 from 18.6 degrees and departure angles to 23.6 from 21.7 degrees. The breakover angle also receives a bump to 21.2 degrees due to a raise in car’s height. The car also receives a skid plate on the front for protection against minor nicks and bumps against gravel and off-road obstacles. It also receives a roof rack as standard which can be used to carry extra luggage or to mount a roof tent for ultimate overlanding.
The exterior changes mostly are functional and practical for a crossover intended for overlanding and off-roading.
The exterior also receives a new front grill and Led fog lights on the front to aid visibility in the dark. The Window trim and car badges receive a matt black finish to provide a rugged look to the car. The new wilderness badges are displayed on the front fenders and the truck. It also receives copper accents on the outside on functional points such as tow hooks and roof rack anchor points.
The Interior Upgrades
The interior also receives some minor changes. You receive wilderness branded mud mats and an upgraded seat design. The car just like the standard model has a huge cabin for lots of storage. It also gets the large 11.6-inch touchscreen that supports seamless integration with android auto and apple car play. The interior also receives copper finishing on the seat stitching and some copper accents on the gear knob and steering wheel.
The Performance Upgrades
The Outback wilderness also receives some performance upgrades. Some serious work has been done on the car’s X-Mode as it had some flaws in the previous generations. X mode is Subaru’s off-road mode for this cross-over that brakes on the unloaded wheel to shift torque on the loaded wheels to move the car under tough situations. Now you receive a dual-mode X mode for light and deep snow and mud mode exclusive to the outback wilderness. The Subaru X mode reacts quickly to detect and brake the unloaded wheel. It is really effective on off-road courses.
The new X-Mode also displays the car’s roll and pitch angles on the main display to better aware the driver of the ongoing situation. The Outback wilderness comes with Yokohoma Geolander all-terrain tires now from the factory, to provide a better performance off-road without sacrificing much on road noise and comfort. The tires are mounted on 17-inch matt black alloy wheels that blend well with the overall rugged styling on the vehicles.
Conclusion
Subaru has made an attempt to facilitate their buyers that were interested in the Outback but had to rely on aftermarket solutions to better equip their outback to make it a complete package for overlanding. Subaru’s Outback wilderness is a much more capable vehicle right from the factory with all necessary bells and whistles an overlander would like to have.