The revamped 2025 Subaru Forester was presented at the last Los Angeles Auto Show, in November 2023.
At the time, we asked company executives about the Wilderness variant, which did not appear in the catalog for 2025. Unsurprisingly, we received the classic answer, to the effect that company policy was not to comment on future products.
That was in 2023, however, and we knew a lot could change before the new version arrived on the market.
Here we are six months later, and with the next-gen 2025 Forester having just been launched in the United States, the same questions regarding the absent Wilderness trim were back on the table. This time, Subaru has confirmed that there will be no Wilderness version of the new 2025 Forester.
Buyers will still be able to get a new Forester Wilderness this year, however. Wait, how’s that? That’s because the automaker will continue to offer the Wilderness edition of the current, 2024 Forester.
Asked whether a new Wilderness is on the horizon, Subaru declined to confirm or deny. We can guess that it is, though, given the popularity of the Wilderness variants in the brand lineup. If demand was weak, Subaru wouldn’t continue to offer the 2024 Forester Wilderness. But the automaker is, so that’s an answer in so many words.
Still, for the moment there’s nothing official; just the same we're betting on the addition of a Wilderness variant for 2026.
The Forester Wilderness
Introduced in September 2021 for the 2022 model-year, the Forester Wilderness offers higher ground clearance, off-road tires and skid plates, among other features.
See: 2022 Subaru Forester First Drive: Let’s Get Wild(erness)
Subaru may want to do more with the next Wilderness edition, for example by giving it a different suspension or other more advanced off-road features.
At the end of May, we'll be in British Columbia to carry out a first test drive of the 2025 Subaru Forester 2025 for a test drive. With this new generation, the changes to the model are fairly significant, so stay tuned for our review.
