By Jeff Glucker
Subaru launched its Wilderness line with the Outback. Now it’s extending that trim family over to the Forester. And I’m on my way to Bend, Oregon to see what it’s all about. So what do you want to know about this thing?
As a refresher on the Wilderness as it applies to the Outback, here’s my video review of that one:
That one is a surprisingly fun machine that goes a bit over the top on the cladding. But at least it’s there to serve a purpose. I expect more of the same with the Forester except in a tighter yet taller package. What I’m really hoping Subaru does someday is create a mash-up of the STI and Wilderness ideals… and give us a Crosstrek STI Wilderness that puts capability and performance under the skin of that lifted pseudo-wagon.
There are a lot of nice areas around Bend, so it should be a good time. If you get a chance to visit Big Obsidian Flow, you’ll find it is indeed a big obsidian flow.
I hope you get to MTB in Bend. The trails there are sick.
I mean the wildest Wilderness™ these will see is the Whole Foods parking lot. Is all of the painted surface protected from dings and dongs of shopping carts and other movable objects, with plastic cladding? I believe I see an opening or two.
Can Subaru PLEASE offer a nice wagon (like this) with a manual transmission!? Or at least without a CVT?