Factory-Lifted: 2022 Subaru Outback Wilderness

Subaru continues to lead the charge in the everyday adventure vehicle and continues to push its own boundaries of off-road capability. The 2022 Subaru Outback Wilderness will hit dealers late this year, and be the most rugged and capable Subaru wagon yet.

The huge aftermarket for lifting, adding AT tires, blacking out the chrome trim, and adding a roof-top-tent has not gone unnoticed by Subaru. Soon, you’ll be able to get these features from the factory/dealer, with a warranty to back them up.

Step 1: Add Height & Aggressive Rubber

The 2022 Subaru Outback Wilderness will offer 9.5-inches of ground clearance. This is an increase of .8-inches over the standard Outback. With the taller ride, you also get longer off-road-tuned shocks.

Under the Outback Wilderness are Yokohama’s Geolander AT tires wrapped on exclusive 17-inch matte black wheels. The tires even have the raised white letters out, for a bit of old-school flair. A full-size spare is standard on the Outback Wilderness, something all off-road-oriented vehicles should have.

Step 2: Add Chunky Lines & Add Black Trim

Besides the black wheels, you also get black window trim, badges, grille, and hood decal. The big exterior changes are the redesigned front and rear bumpers, which offer increased entry and exit angles. You also get larger wheel arch body cladding, and of course, all this extra reshaped plastic is also black.

Up front you also get a skid plate, LED fog lights, and Copper colored tow hook anchor points. The Copper accents also carry over to the roof rail tie-down points. A fixed ladder-type roof rail system fits a wider range of rack accessories than the standard Outback rack system. On the Outback Wilderness, the roof has a static load limit of 700-pounds. This is specifically so it can better accommodate roof-top-tents (RTTs).

A new exclusive Geyser Blue paint is an option on the 2022 Subaru Outback Wilderness. The color is inspired by Subaru’s rally heritage and U.S. national parks. It does look good!

Step 3: Add Computerized Off-Road Tech

An advanced X-Mode, exclusive to the Outback Wilderness, allows the car to switch from low-speed managed driving to high speed without interrupting the power. This new X-Mode is in addition to the Snow/Dirt and Deep Snow/Mud modes already available in the Outback. The X-Mode display on the 11.6-inch infotainment screen also has a Roll-Angle indicator in the Outback Wilderness.

The 2022 Subaru Outback Wilderness does not offer things like Hill Descent Control or off-road cruise control, yet. We expect these common off-road-oriented SUV/crossover features to be in the pipeline, however.

Front View Monitor comes standard. It should come in quite handy on the trail, to see obstacles that are down low and close to the vehicle.

The Outback Wilderness gets Subaru’s tried and true 2.4L turbocharged boxer engine, symmetrical AWD system, and CVT. A revised rear diff and CVT calibration should increase low-end torque for tackling off-road terrain, like the claimed slope climb of “40 percent on a gravel surface.”

This driveline setup gets you a simulated 8-speed manual mode through steering wheel paddle shifters, 260hp, 277 lb.-ft. of torque, 3,500-pound towing capacity, and reasonable fuel economy (22 city/26 highway MPG).

Step 4: Darker Sporty & Ruggedized Interior

Inside the 2022 Subaru Outback Wilderness, you get seats covered in a water-repellant material, with embossed Subaru Wilderness logos in the headrests. Copper contrast stitching and accents are found throughout the interior. Gunmetal Grey replaces the chrome touchpoints, like ventilation grills and cupholders. Brushed aluminum pedals help with the sporty look.

Subaru Wilderness Family

Subaru announced in its promo video for the 2022 Subaru Outback Wilderness that this is the “First of our Wilderness family.” This means that more Subaru models will get the ruggedized treatment from the factory soon. The Subaru Crosstrek is the obvious first choice, with its considerable sales volume and huge aftermarket already giving them the “Wilderness” treatment.

Subaru will also build out its aftermarket accessory catalog for products available at the dealership. Already announced are additional full skid plates and a rear diff protector for the Outback. Expect more overland products, like more RTT options as well.

2022 Subaru Outback Wilderness Pricing & Availability

Subaru has not yet announced pricing on the Outback Wilderness. We expect it to come in just shy of $40,000. And as noted, it should hit the market sometime late in 2021. But we’ll keep an eye out for new announcements and update the story as more information becomes available.

Stay up to date on all things Subaru Wilderness HERE.