These 225/60-series Geolandar all-terrain tires wrap Wilderness-specific 17-inch black wheels, and these Yokohamas can handle everything I throw at them on my test drive through the mud- and slush-covered roads of Oregon, even without having to air down. The tires, including a full-size spare, come from Yokohama. This is the 2022 Subaru Forester Wilderness. 2022 Subaru Forester Wilderness: At home on the dirt Those numbers fall behind the aforementioned Bronco Sport and Cherokee, mostly because of those SUVs' shorter overhangs, but the Forester Wilderness is still very capable for this crossover class. Because of the lift, the Forester's off-road geometry improves as well, with a 23.5-degree approach angle, 25.4-degree departure angle and 21.0-degree breakover. That's more than the Ford Bronco Sport Badlands and Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk. The Wilderness sits half an inch higher than a standard Forester, for 9.2 inches overall. Now, the company is giving its Forester SUV a similar treatment.Ī lot of the changes are familiar from the Outback: new grille, restyled bumpers, extra body cladding, copper accents and, crucially, more ground clearance. The first off-road-ready Subaru was the 2022 Outback Wilderness. Michael Shaffer/Subaruīuyers have been lifting and customizing their Subarus for years (a friend of mine even fabricated rock rails for his), but now the company is offering extra capability right from the factory - and with a warranty, too. Under ideal driving conditions (mild weather, no stop lights and choosing my own speed), the car gets about 52MPG.Geyser Blue is a Wilderness-exclusive color. In reality, my average is about 44 city, 40 highway, and I’ve never ever seen anything below 33MPG – a tank used up with a lot of short cold-start trips during a brutally cold winter with snow on the road. Among hypermilers, however, the opposite is true: “Thank goodness I don’t get those shitty mileage figures estimated by the EPA, or my gas bill would be ridiculous!”.Ĭase in Point: if I look up EPA estimates for my 2005 Scion xA here:, it tells me I will get 27MPG city, 34MPG highway, averaged to 30.
#Subaru forester forum usa drivers
The typical sentiment among drivers is, “Oh, EPA estimates are so optimistic, you’ll never get that mileage in real life”. The funny part about their rating system is that they have to keep changing it because the average US person drives so inefficiently that they end up using even more fuel than the EPA estimates. "The Environmental Protection Agency tests and rates each new car model to figure out its fuel consumption in typical use. Here is a quote from an article written by MMM If it gets to where it's too hard to take long car trips for vacation I'll just rent a car.) But I'm cheap and I simply cannot justify it. (Don't get me wrong I would LOVE a minivan, LOVE it. Someone mentioned that the backseat is like a Corolla/Civic (true! Civic is our other car!) But funny thing, the Civic/ Corolla these days is the size of an older Accord/ Camry. When I was a kid we went on long car trips to visit my older sisters, 2 hours each way, and we had a fiat for some of that time. (However, three carseats probably would not fit terribly well.) I think the older RAV4s are smaller.Īs far as when they get older, I dunno. But the carpooling was only home from school, so a short distance).Įven so, my kids are now 2 and 9, and the 9 year old is still short and still in a booster with a back, and there is plenty of space. We had a couple of years of having the baby/ toddler seat in the middle, and the boosters on the side (because I carpooled with another family, I had 3 kids in the back and one kid in the front in a car seat. I've got a Matrix and two kids, two car seats. Not saying to buy a car bigger than you may need now but just something to keep in the back of your mind. Not sure the age of your children (mine are 6/10/12) but situations may change in the future.
My thought is that if you want to keep the car long term as you said, think about what you may be doing in a few years. Another great car but the only issue is that it only seats 5. That being said.we also own a 2002 Subaru Outback. Put the third row down and the kids can sit comfortably in the second row. Didn't need to put bags on the roof like the Mazda. Just drove it on a long car trip over the long weekend and it was great. The mileage is not great but it was actually comparable to the Mazda5. Even the Mazda dealership wouldn't give us crap for it. What I realized is that the Mazda does not hold its value. The problems began when we started getting involved with carpooling for soccer practices/games. It's a 2 x 2 x 2 configuration so we always had one in the third row.
Loved the car- and it met our needs in most situations. I too have a family of 5 with one in a car seat (actually a booster). I was in the same situation just last fall.