Motor Trend Takes Their Crosstrek Wilderness to the Wilderness

Iconic automotive magazine Motor Trend was intrigued enough with the Crosstrek Wilderness Subaru launched for 2024 that they decided to add one to their long-term fleet, where they keep the car for about a year to get an in-depth experience.  

While the Crosstrek proved itself well on road trips and commuting to their Southern California office, they realized that during the closing months of the car’s stay, it hadn’t encountered much well…wilderness.  They decided to change that and report on it, and this Subaru of Rochester blog post highlights what they found. 

What is “Wilderness”  

While we all have something in mind when we hear the word “wilderness,”  it turns out that there is an official government definition found in The Wilderness Act of 1964: “A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.” 

This excludes parks, camping grounds, and other outdoor locations with an ongoing human presence. It could also exclude many established off-road parks. The Crosstrek Wilderness has a 9.3-inch ground clearance, all-terrain tires, and some slick off-pavement technology, making it one of the most off-road capable vehicles in its class. However, it still falls short of dedicated off-roaders like the Jeep Rubicons, Ford Raptors, and Toyota TRD Pro models.  

 The model’s editor/caretaker first took the Crosstrek to Joshua Tree National Park, an 800,000-acre that features the park’s namesake trees as well as lots of big rocks on lots and lots of desert. 595,000 acres of the park are officially designated as “wilderness,” and as such, you are not allowed to drive on it.  The park does have plenty of unpaved backroads, though none of them posed any real challenge to the average passenger car, much less the Crosstrek Wilderness. 

Testing X-Mode 

Plan B was Geology Tour Road, described as “a sandy, bumpy 17-mile route through Pleasant Valley with several miles of gentle climbs and descents.” It is rough enough that the National Park Service (NPS) requires high ground clearance and four-wheel drive. While the author suspected the NPS would not distinguish between  

four-wheel drive and all-wheel drive, they, in fact, do.  Fortunately, he was able to take the route anyway and found it not all that challenging either, adding: 

 “I decided to activate the Crosstrek’s snow/dirt setting in X-Mode. This adjusts throttle mapping, keeps the CVT in “lower gears,” and alters the reaction time of the limited-slip diff to enhance traction in low-grip, low-speed environments. It also activates hill descent control. The result was … interesting. Even though the terrain definitely didn’t require an off-road mode, snow/dirt mode nonetheless gave an immediate sense of sure-footedness. Every move felt somehow a little more purposeful. A little more confident. The kind of subtle security a child might feel being carried in his or her dad’s arms instead of pushed in a stroller.” 

Great On-Road 

While challenging the Crosstrek Wilderness turned out to be a challenge itself, Motor Trend repeatedly mentioned how ideal the car was for getting to the locations. It was comfortable.  The climate system made three-digit ambient temperatures irrelevant, and on interstates, they averaged 29.9 mpg, a hair above the EPA’s estimate of 29 on the highway.  

“Wilderness” is likely easier to come by in Minnesota than several driving hours around Los Angeles, and obviously, a Minnesota winter can out-challenge a Southern California summer. If a rugged, capable crossover that is also a great daily driver appeals to you, the Crosstrek Wilderness from Subaru of Rochester is a must for your shipping list.