Posted Thursday, April 6, 2023 at 9:26pm
Subaru says the take rate for its Wilderness models is about 20 percent—one in five buyers going for the most off-road capable version of these generally off-road capable family cars. After looking at the newest Crosstrek Wildnerness, I am surprised the take rate isn’t higher.
The big deal with the car is that you only spend about two grand more than the next highest trim of Crosstrek to jump up to Wilderness level. For that you get a significantly beefier-spec’d car, raised, cladded and re-tuned.
The headline figure is that ground clearance is up to 9.3 inches, versus 8.7 for the regular Crosstrek and 5.1 for the ordinary Impreza. The whole car, effectively, is raised by around half an inch, and runs A/Ts on its 17-inch wheels. You get a more dirt-friendly interior with a good bit of plastic covering even on the back of the back seats for when you fold them down. I’ve seen the car in person and it’s chunky and cute. I dig it.
