FORESTER WILDERNESS vs MODIFIED SUBARUS OFF ROAD
We wanted to try out our new 2022 Subaru Forester Wilderness.
So we did. (:
Vehicles:
2022 Subaru Forester WIlderness.
MODS:
Primitive Front Skid Plate. Factory Tires.
2017 Subaru Outback 3.6 Limited.
MODS:
2" Ironman Lift, 1" ADF Lift, Primitive Front and Mid Skid Plates, 245/65/17 Falken Wildpeak AT Trail, Terra 4500 Winch, custom bumper, LP Aventure Cannister Filter Bypass, more mods I'm probably forgetting
2015 Subaru Outback 2.5 Premium
MODS:
2" Ironman Spec C Lift, primitive plates, Toyo Open Country AT3 225/65/17, LP Aventure Cannister Filter Bypass
2006 Chevy Suburban Z71 4X4
MODS:
Cooper Discovery 285/70/17 AT3
2004 Subaru Baja 2.5 4EAT.
MODS:
2" Lift, 215/75/15 Falken Wildpeak AT3W
Skid Plates
Location: Canaan Loop, Davis, WV.
Special thanks to Earl, Melissa, Nic, Nita, and Steve.
00:00 Teaser
00:20 Intro
1:13 Cars and Build
2:35 Creek Crossing
4:09 Small Ledges
7:05 Puddle
8:29 Rock Ledge
13:04 Hill Climb
16:20 Rock Crawling
26:27 Doing dumb things
27:23 Outro
Researched this car segment for the last 2 months, my findings, - 5th gen forester rated #1 in safety and readability over all others including RAV, trial hawk, honda and bronco sport. That said, it has been a long road for Subaru from the CVT tranny , oil consumption, head gasket issues of past generation vehicles. At 6'3, CR just announced the Forester is #1 with tall drivers as well, no surprise as the "green house" visibility is very attractive. All the safety dings can be disabled permanently, with the exception of engine on/off at stop. After market solution will solve that as well. So, I will be picking up my Subaru Forester Wilderness / pearl white next week. Comfortable driving on and off road, safety and readability, looks, honest service advisors that I have visited with during this time, all have pushed me this direction. And finally driving my daughters 2017 Forester premium, sold me on being a Subie owner. Suggested maintenance to ensure long life; 30k diff (F/R) service, 40k CVT Transmission service, and oil changes every 4k. Compared to the Outback, Off road analysis/videos show the turbo in the Outback gets totally in the way of performance when climbing, as the Forester's new gearing and software changes bring much more to the equation over the turbo, in my opinion. kzhead.info/sun/jaqYetifgWmXfok/bejne.html HAPPY TRAILS but MIN ROCK CLIMBING for this cowboy. 🙂
love that the baja quietly followed along and kicked ass. can’t wait to get mine ready for the trails 💕
Yeah, that Baja is sweeeetttt!
Can’t wait to bring my Outback Wilderness out with you guys!
Wow the Forester Wilderness it's amazing, definitely seems to have the best combo diff transmission!
Such a cool video! Thanks for posting! I just bought a 2022 Forester Premium 2 weeks, and now I kinda wish I bought the Wilderness model! No worries, maybe that'll be my next Forester! Liked and subscribed! Love what y'all do to your Foresters and where you drive them.
Me and my mother took her new wilderness mudding, down the gnarliest muddy road that ive gotten stuck on before. But it did amazing, didnt skip a beat. Stock tires too.
Recently got a Forrester Wilderness and took it on a trail in the CA desert. It was the only SUV out there; we only saw ATV buggies and full-sized 4x4 trucks but the forester made it with no problems!
I have the 22 Subaru Forester Wilderness and I LOVE!!!
I've watched several Forester Wilderness videos trying to get a handle on its capabilities and limits. This is definitely the most hardcore, so thank you. Plus, it looks like you've got a good mob. Kudos!
That Baja was a beast!
Great video. Thanks for sharing. I'm getting my Forester this week down here in Brazil, just shipped from Japan.
Would love to have a Baja to work (coffee farm)
Awesome video @Bruceyyyyy ! This video dropped when I was on a 4 night /4 day trip on the Mojave road overlanding trail. Looks like I missed the party! The Forester Wilderness did pretty darn good for stock! Interesting that they now have a rear diff temp warning. I wonder if the rear diff is any different than the outback wilderness. Looking forward to more videos! If I may, I like to request a where you make a ramp out of bricks and and make it increasingly steeper. I’d like to see both the outback 3.6R and the forester wilderness drive straight up it (no cross axle) and see which one encounters torque converter speed stall first. This episode was awesome! The trail was legit!
I have a sketchy ramp V2 built. I have concluded testing for the Ironman standard and just need install the flatout coil overs, run the same tests, install the Ironman Spec C, run the same tests, gather all the data, edit the video and write the post. No big deal.
what is the significance of the rear diff temp warning label? genuinely curious lol..
I'm not sure. The Outback wilderness does not get one. The thought that comes to my mind is the Foz Wildy has double the towing capacity of the standard model even with the same engine and (revised) transmission.
Thank you for actually airing down tires for offroad stuff. So many channels say stuff like, "Well this is how it comes from the factory so this is how we're gonna test it," and that just doesn't hold up offroad with vehicles that are factory setup for street riding and meet MPG/emission requirements.
I always air down for comfort.
pretty impressed with the forester. Alot of this stuff is way beyond what it's intended use is, and it handled it really well. But, that Baja...I miss the old quirky and bulletproof Subaru's.
The Wilderness Forester is really awesome - that´s SUBIE performance at it´s best !!!
nice review. the dogs 🐕 on the trail were the cutest.
They love getting dirty with us!
The Baja proved to have a better on the surface than the newer cars with technology other than the tank. I own a manual Baja and I’ll never get rid of it because it’s old school even with temp controls😂😂. Awesome video watching you guys having fun🤙🤙
I wanna lift my 2020 Forester and put A/T tires after seeing this cool video.
We have some videos about the Ironman lift on our outback. kzhead.info/sun/f8euda6blmSYeZ8/bejne.html We are also working on another series with a new product Ironman sent us that addresses the sag problem discussed in this video. Stay tuned!
You had me at the bumper coming off
Looks like a bunch of fun.
That’s it. My next off road vehicle is going to be a motorcycle.
Love the Forester and that Wilderness owned it, but the Baja is my dream car 🥴
Sorry it’s taken me months but what a great vid
Nice videos. If you are ever in the pa area let me know we can hit some of the offroad parks
I'm game! Where in PA are y'all?
Came for the Forester stayed for the chevy lol
When that step rail came off I laughed too, that's exactly how I took mine off
I bought a ‘24 base model that I ordered from the factory. I ordered mine though with about $4K worth of options. Curious if I could get skid plates for mine and curious what mine or if you all had a similar base model (non X-Mode) what it could do on the trails you all were on. 👍🏼👍🏼 on the video. Kinda gives me an idea of what mine could do.
Having just picked mine up, thinking a 3/4 strut tower lift (or half inch, keep away from any potential driveline/steering issues) and slightly bigger tires. I’m not even sure I want the 235/65r17, maybe a touch smaller. It’ll be some years before I even get there though, let it be new for a while.
The Suburban made it look easy. Those suckers are very capable off roading in stock form even. Yes the length of those things can be an issue with humps or tight spaces but at the same time the length can be a plus because you are able to get one set of wheels past a slippery patch or over an obstacle for grip whereas a shorter vehicle may have all 4 wheels in a slippery patch or stuck in a rut or something. Great video though showing several different vehicles taking on the terrain and also showing different angles and such. Some people show video from the cabin driving through stuff which is useless because you can't see what is going on outside the vehicle with wheel spin and clearance and such.👍
Ya the Suburban is easily the most capable vehicle in the convoy even though it's also the size of a bus. If you want to check out more similar videos, you might like the Union Springs video we have.
What a beautiful trail! Where is this at? I’m in Southern WV, and I’d just like to test out my Cherokee more thoroughly. So far it has impressed me with just the base 4x4 (ADI). Always great seeing WV peeps. Take care!
It's Canaan loop near Davis. A stock Cherokee shouldn't have much trouble assuming it's got a good set of tires.
@@bruceyyyyy did you all enter from the entrance closest to the resort or the other way?
I believe from the resort side.
@@bruceyyyyy by chance do you know of any groups that may be going there soon? I’ll likely go in mid August. My local Jeep group seems to not be fond of anything that’s not a Wrangler.
@@jeremystout412 Shoot me an email. I could always run this again. bruceygastation@gmail.com
Brucey being Brucey never gets old 😄
I do alright huh?
Hey Bruceyyyyyyyy… think my 2015 wilderness outing front driver’s side cv assembly is going out at 117k. Have you had to replace yours yet?
Haven't had the pleasure. Actually need to make a video showing everything that's gone wrong in 100k.
I love my Wilderness. best Subaru Ever.
I loved it as well.
I can't seem to find any stockists in my area - is this available in Australia?
that baja is the best
That's exactly where those steps belong I just hope nothing else was messed up while removing it.
The outback wildernesses doesn’t have the sticker on the door bust is the diff the same?
I do not believe it has the sensor there.
What about switching to manual transmission if you have a outback wilderness with turbo? Would that disengage the turbo?
No
Is there any situation where the manual transmission be helpful with out turbo in the Outback
Hey bruceyyyyy what’s your take on fitting 225 65 17s on the stock Forester wilderness suspension? Thinking about it for mine. thanks in advance!
I could be mistaken but I believe that's the stock size for the wilderness models?
Stock is 225 60 17…
@@stevem4438 I think that should be safe. The Stock Gen 5 Outback size is 225/65/17.
Thanks for your take!
Impressive. How does your buddy like those AT3’s? Been looking at those, wildpeaks, nitto, and Cooper been thinking about getting those for my 19 forester. Tires can make all the difference I know, there’s just so many options out there.
I have had the AT3W's before and love them. I'm kinda meh about the AT Trail. THE KO2's were great on rocks and mud and meh everywhere else.
@@bruceyyyyy yeah I’m in Wisconsin and we get a lot of snow lol. I’m more concerned about snow and mud and general forest service road conditions than rock crawling. I’m not the type to bash up my car on rocks 😆. Although I’ll eventually get a mild lift I suppose just not right now.
In your case why not get dedicated snows?
@@bruceyyyyy I thought about it. I had some on my old legacy and it was a beast in the snow. Of course the downside being you can’t run them in the summer time because the compound is too soft. Less aggressive tread too compared to a dedicated AT. But amazing on road performance and breaking is great.
I was thinking run snows in winter then switch. Having one tire that can do EVERYTHING is going to make it pretty compromised.
19 00 - that's the best forester ad ever, especially after the outback on the same trail. OB is cool but those angles, Forester wins for sure. Question - I heard a rumor that in manual mode you can get more torque in Forester, because you set it to 1 gear when by default is starts from somewhat more equal to 2 gear (it's CVT of course but still). Do you know if it's true or just a rumor? Great video, helped to choose my next car))
I know the gear ratios can change versus locking them in. I'm only aware of it for the opposite side though, that leaving it in auto it can get a longer gear than manual mode. I personally appreciate the control that comes from manual mode.
@@bruceyyyyy Thank you!
This canaan loop? Been out it many times in my 08 forester without spinning a tire.
Sounds cool. Would love to see video!
Those are all pretty damn capable cars besides a little more ground clearance some meatier tires and they would go anywhere.
Nice color, like my 20 OB Onyx, are you planning on putting on the IM ATS or Flatout?
No current plans beyond the primitive plates.
The car at 22:15 looks like AWD wasn't locking the spinning wheel(s). What year is that outback? Seems like it should have been able to go up that first route without too much trouble.
It is a 2015. However, due to a bad coil it threw a check engine light on this trail. After that, ABS and X Mode disabled itself which resulted it in driving like the older pre VDC Subaru.
@@bruceyyyyy That makes sense, thanks for the reply!
Great 😀
It could be that color from rust, but it's more likely that it's tannins from leaves and other detritus.
About how far down in pressure do you guys go when airing down the smaller profile tires of the Subarus. I'm always conscious that I have less sidewall height than some other cars because there is a physical limit on how small of wheels I can put on my new Subaru. So I don't want to go down too low, also because you might lose some clearance height. On the other hand I want to make sure I go down enough. And looking at the video here it looked like you guys were aired down perfect for those rocks. Just enough not to tear up the tires, but still a ways from bottoming out or pinching rims. I am guessing about 15-18? But honestly I've never aired down much. I've got the valves and compressor to do it now on my new rig, but haven't tried it much yet. Like I said, I would start at around 18 as a guess, but I don't know. And Im guessing on super fine soft dry sand I might be able to get away with like 12 without losing a bead. But again, I am guessing. What says the community? BTW this would be for 245/65/17's which are about 29.5" tall At cruising PSI. so not too shabby, but If I could have I would have got a smaller wheel. I have the Wilderness too but the Outback version. The taller tires give it a bit more clearance which hopefully makes up for it being pretty long for rough terrain roads. Databyter
We didn't air down for this trail but we could have. I usually go for 15-20 PSI
@@bruceyyyyy Wow, I saw a lot of deformation. I thought you did. I guess it was just due to the rocks. I wonder if airing down would have helped traction a lot in that last slippery obstacle and saved that tire? Thanks for the answer, thats about the area I was thinking psi wise also.
I think it would have helped with traction. But I was worried about clearance. Except for what's here it was basically a dirt road. (:
@@Databyter looked to me like the red (possibly 2015) outback was airred way down. (before the puncture )
You think you can also test a Toyota and jeep suv , off road style
nice video again brucey, what camera are you using? Im looking to upgrade mine.
GoPro 5, my phone (S21), and my old phone with a bad battery and cracked screen (S9).
@@bruceyyyyy ok thanks, I was looking at a GoPro 8
The wilderness has a good spotter
Call me biased, but Foresters are the best Subarus! 😆 At lease delete the rear sway bar. I’m selling my KO2s and black wheels if you wanna drive up to Dayton and pick them up, but I’m moving in two weeks so you’d need to do it pretty soon.
Shoot me a message! My email is listed. I think you're on my Facebook too.
Awesome video! That definitely looks like a fun trail to test the various rigs on.
Love the video I'm currently working on building my 08 tribeca into a soft roader/overlander
11:04 laughed at their laughs. Proper verification of all the Subaru claims. Well done!
i agree with you Brucey, that Forester Wilderness is great from the factory. Not much modifications needed, cant wait to get one!
Hey how would you rate the Subaru after two years in reliability? Thank you
Excellent
@@bruceyyyyy how many miles have you put on it?
@@michaelptm2269 Around 15k. We sold it to Carvana because they paid us more than we paid for it. The 3.6 Outback shown here we also bought new and still have. I have a full list of what has failed on it but it's also been minimal.
These Subaru drivers are crazy 😂
Brucy, my wife would kill me if I took her Outback off road like that. But I’d be happy to do it to my X wife’s 🤣
I think the wilderness options are great soft roaders but people are thinking these are real 4WD like Landcruisers, Patrols etc and the transmissions won't cope well with that kind of punishiment long term. They just aren't designed for it
exactly. just because you can doesn't mean you should. pushing these Subies this hard, on trails like this is far beyond their design parameters or what 98% of Subie owners will do. This was Jeep/4Runner/Tacoma terrain. i love them and we have an Outback, wouldn't even consider doing this with it. that's what the truck is for.
The Forester however does come with a transmission cooler.
11:15 lol you hear a crunch!... most would stop, I loved that you just kept going like nothing wrong. haha
...if you stop when you hear a crunch, you get stuck. You have to go against instinct and drive through the crunch. Metal skid plates are meant to take a small beating...step rails are not.
Is the wilderness a temporary replacement for the bronco?
We're not sure yet. Ford is still dragging their feet.
No wonder you wanted to give me those Wild Peaks, LOL! Y'all get intense with your off-roading, LOL! I think I'll stick to the forest roads here in Kentucky, thank you... 😂🤣
Yeah see why I was kinda meh about them? LOL
Wait a minute, i never saw that rear Diff sticker on my girlfriend wilderness
Why do the Subarus do 3 wheels a lot?we have a Wilderness coming.
Lack of suspension travel.
Unless you’re doing it for kicks, y’all should turn VDC off when off-road.
Yup. I had forgotten to do so up until I needed it. (:
That Forester Wilderness is a beast! They really look awesome. But, everybody knows that CVTs can’t off-road because the explode LOL! I love those tools that hate on CVTs and new Subarus.
No, the CVT is very good.
It still amazes me that I have all kinds of videos of CVT's doing amazing things but half the comments are still "CVT FAIL"
@@bruceyyyyy hello Bruceyyy. Fisrt, thank you (from France !!!), for this amazing vidéo ! Very interesting to watch ! And more with the Suburban. I am Ob 2.5 owner of 2008. Except the problem of head gasquet, very good and beautiful car. Mine is with à manual gear box. Everybody Who says CVT is not good, doesn't really know this gear box. Of course if you don't change the oil you will have problems. Of course if your gear box is 15 years old or more than 200 000 kms, you will may have problems if you make off road... Otherwise, very very good gear box. Used by a lot of brands.
@@jeannice3475 I was kidding about CVTs exploding. So many people seem to like to coment about how older Subarus are better and how they would never own a new one because of the CVT. I'm pretty sure people leaving those comments have no experiance with a newer Subaru. Personally, I have a 2025 Outback 3.6r with a CVT and I've had 0 issues so far. I'm not a fan of automatic transmissions in general but these CVTs are very smooth and seem to find the correct ratio 99% of the time.
@@bruceyyyyy I know and I couldn't resist making a joke about that. People just need to experiance the CVT for themselves. I do realize that some CVT do suck but not the ones from Subaru. Having a chain driven system makes a big difference.
awesome vid!! new subscriber.
Welcome aboard!
The CVT is in constant save mode and cuts power to save itself. That one thing I hate with my MY17 OB. It really needs momentum or a regular Auto... Owner of MY 17OB, in 2inch Ironman lift on 17inc Yokohama Geolanders.
I still think it's a programming thing. Look at the difference between the Red Outback and the Forester on the climbing areas. The Forester took a harder line and went right up. Then when the red car started acting up it started acting just like the old school Subaru as a double open diff wonder.
Wilderness forester is a beast
Been waiting for a video like this. Awesome content! Getting my FW next month and will surely put it to the test.
you know why the baja had an easier time? 4EAT, not the crappy CVT
I think the wilderness did the best of the Subaru if I'm honest.
Oh what a strain on those CVTs.
“Special sticker” isn’t meant for serious off roading.
The forester is the most capable subaru in off road
This Forester wilderness might be the best off-road Subaru yet. The TR580 transmission on the forester seems much less prone to the dreaded CVT stall on the TR690s. The forester also has naturally better angles than the outbacks due to the shorter overhangs. Excited to see what mods you will be doing to yours.
Yup. Agreed on all points. It's worth noting here that the red Outback and the FW both have the FB25 and TR580. But seeing the difference been the two climb, I can't help but feel they've done more to the programming than just change the gear ratios.
And still, classical tg5 series or tv-serias subaru automatic transmission is much better for off-roading than CVT. :)
I wouldn't have taken ANY of those vehicles on that trail, let alone the Subaru (my current vehicle, however, is another story)! To me it's not worth the trail-damage (the risk of it or actually damaging something). Subarus are very capable (I had a 2014 CrossTrek XV) but they lack the needed ground-clearance...AND rock-rails! -- BR
Where's the fun in that?
@@bruceyyyyy Never mind...sorry for the intrusion. ;-) -- BR
@@billredding2000 Well hope you enjoyed watching us take ours out at least!
@@bruceyyyyy I take mine out but do my "off-roading" differently. -- BR
Everyone has different ideas of off road. Same with on road driving really. (:
these subarus are cool and all, but these 'obstacles' are literally not even that for something like a stock 4runner or xterra
They seem pretty gnarly for any vehicles really.
Great video guys, good job all around! I have had my new SFW for 2 weeks now and am crazy about it. I noticed you put a tow hitch on it. What kind/brand did you go with? Did it cause any ground clearance/departure angle issues for you?
I don't think we have a hitch on the FW yet. We plan on getting one but it's back ordered from Subaru. So we will likely get aftermarket.
You almost ran over your dog man
They know to get out of the way.
That Wilderness out wheeled the entire convoy. Good momentum too - crawling and Subarus don't mix well. That 2015 was way out of its comfort zone though.
The Suburban outwheeled them all.
@@bubbalo3388 And died shortly after.
Minute 17:21 the lady partner could have communicated a bit better.
Best 4x4 were the dogs, easily. Put everyone else to shame. Now I *really* I don't wanna wait until July for our Forester Wilderness to come in. But I have to.
I've been impressed with what the Forester Wilderness can do! Keep bringing us more videos like this 👍. The red Outback in limp mode really showed how bad open differentials can be with no traction control.
The Wilderness made it look easy. Nice to see one put to use.
That Baja is sweet!! I wish they still made those!
You missed it in full dress form! Check out the video I linked to see what it looked like then!
the real stars are dogs
They out climbed every car here!
Should have used a 4 runner
Not with cvt
I think 3 of them had a CVT.
i think the forester is a lot nicer to sit in. Did you see any of my off road scooter videos? or snow scooter playlist?
Ya I checked it out. I have an E Bike now that I would love to take on trails like that but I'm just using it as a commuter.
Cringed the whole way. 😂
cool hat
Thanks. I tend to wear free clothes when getting dirty so they tend to have logos
Very... crunchy video haha. Nice to finally see what the new FW is capable of. Taken mine out on one trail so far, but nothing more than gravel and the slightest bit of mud. I'm thinking with beefier tires, and a lift, it'll be a real beast out on the trails. At least in terms of being a Subaru.
Also made me glad I also decided to stick with my primitive skids from my '19 instead of going for the oem. After seeing how messed up your skid got on your outback, just think what it'd do to the oem full aluminum skid on the Forester if that ever got hit.
My wife's 2018 OB only seen real dirt once at Big Bear lake. We... Well I was hoping for snow. We really don't know the true capabilities after 30,000 miles (except videos like this). OH... I just installed Falken Wildpeak A/T so I'm really itching to test.
@@sonandsanford4963 Oh, that's just for my forester wilderness, I went from a modified '19 forester sport to that, and did some proper trails in that.
guy in the red outback needs a bit of practice.
Thanks for sharing man! I love the wilderness and would get one in a heartbeat if my wife didn’t make me promise to keep my SK for 5 years 😂 I’ve got two more years to go
Make the switch! She won't notice. lol It's a lovely little vehicle. Doubt we'll do much modding since it's not necessary and it is the wife's daily now.
@@bruceyyyyy 😂 “it always looked like this, what are you talking about”
These transmissions aren't made to do all that
Ya the transmission went out in the Suburban shortly after this video.
@@bruceyyyyy I'm talking about the Subarus man
They seem to do good for me.
@@bruceyyyyy hopefully it lasts awhile man
I've got 100k miles on the 3.6 Outback. I'm pretty satisfied.
one word: Jeep.
We didn't want to buy an Italian vehicle so we bought a Bronco.
@@bruceyyyyy there ya go. another appropriate vehicle for this trail.
Check out our new stuff. We took it on this same path.
off road with a CVT Transmision is a very bad conbination!!!!!
Correct me if I'm wrong here but aren't most modern off road vehicles using a CVT?
@@bruceyyyyy not real off road cars, Like bronco, wrangler, tacoma,raptor,fj200,samurai, suzuki jimmy, ETC.
I was thinking actual dedicated off road vehicles like the Polaris Razor, Yamaha YXZ, John Deere, etc.
@@bruceyyyyy yes , all those cars weigh is less than 1 ton. , the principal CVT problem is the towing. Or deal with a weigh higher than a 1000 kilograms. Remenber are not pinions it is an adaptive belt chain....
@@gerardoantonio9001 Iunno. The Subaru TR690 CVT is the highest rated Subaru transmission for towing. In the Ascent it's rated for towing 5000 lbs. Plus the weight of the Ascent. So like 10000+ lbs. The little Forester Wilderness here is rated for towing 3000 lbs with a CVT. More than any Subaru traditional automatic. Either way, the car is great off road for what it is and I don't feel the CVT is what holds it back. It will have clearance/travel issues long before the CVT will not be able to keep up. Come out with us sometime, you might change your mind. (:
The lady is the spotter of the year! I want her on my team.
I'm living vicariously through your Subaru videos. Keep up the great work.
Can not beat a suburban.
I love that thing way more than I should.