Testing the Upper Limits of Our 2024 Subaru Crosstrek on Mountain Trails
Subaru's subcompact SUV does so many things well. But how inclined is it to tackling steep off-road trails?
If you need to test a vehicle’s off-road chops, America has no shortage of options. Privately owned off-road parks offer plenty of dirt fun ranging from accessible to extreme. State and national parks offer hundreds of millions of acres to explore, ensuring there’s some unpaved fun to be had close by no matter where you live. When we wanted to see what our yearlong review 2024 Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness could do off-road, we went the public route, but frankly, the roads we found were a bit tame.
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So we decided to find something a bit more adventurous.
And if you’re looking for adventurous off-road driving, few places offer the breadth of options available in southwestern Colorado, where you’ll find America’s highest concentration of fourteeners and hundreds of peaks that fall just short of that. You’ll also find relative solitude; the rugged terrain isn’t conducive to modern living for most folks, ensuring those trails remain sparsely populated. So with time running out on our Crosstrek loan, we hit the road and headed for the mountains.
Climbing Mountains in the Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness
This isn’t new ground for our long-termers. Our long-term 2017 Jeep Renegade Sport made the trip years ago, and the little budget Jeep performed admirably in the mountains. We took a 2019 Hyundai Kona, which spent most of its mountain time sitting at a campsite, woefully unprepared for off-road driving. And last year we made the trek in our long-term 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning, proving even an EV newbie can make long-distance electric trips work.
Our Crosstrek would present an interesting test. On paper, it should be capable of tackling anything that Renegade could. (Why compare the Crosstrek Wilderness to a discontinued Jeep? Few if any consumers will cross-shop these two, but some 600,000 Americans bought a Renegade before its demise, and many of those might soon be in the market for a new vehicle; our Crosstrek checks many of the same boxes as a subcompact SUV with off-road aspirations.)
Both are subcompact vehicles with similar specs, though the Crosstrek is 9.8 inches longer overall with an extra 3.7 inches of wheelbase. The Crosstrek edges our old long-term base-model Renegade in ground clearance by 1.3 inches (8.0 versus 9.3), and they’re within a degree of each other in approach and departure angles (21.0 approach and 32.1 departure angles for the Renegade, 22.0 and 33.0 for the Crosstrek Wilderness). The Renegade Trailhawk was the most capable; it sported 8.7 inches of ground clearance and 30.5/25.7/34.3-degree approach/breakover/departure angles. The Renegade’s power output of 180 hp and 175 lb-ft of torque aligns neatly with our Crosstrek’s 182 hp and 178 lb-ft.
One major difference this time: We weren’t alone. When my wife and I took the Renegade, I could foolishly tackle trails a smarter man wouldn’t, knowing I’d face only her judgment. This time, though, we had in-laws in tow. And they knew what they were doing.
Combined, my father-in-law and his brothers have a century or more of experience exploring the region, both on foot and behind the wheel. If my Crosstrek made one wrong move, I’m sure they’d notice.
Despite the on-paper similarities between the Renegade and Crosstrek, from behind the wheel, the two couldn’t feel more different. Had I approached a steep incline on a rough-looking trail in that Jeep with my father-in-law riding shotgun, I’d gulp and say a little prayer. In the Crosstrek? I let out an audible, “This won't be a problem at all.”
I made that utterance, or some close approximation of it, on my second trip up to the Crystal Lake trailhead, so I already knew what the Subaru could do. The drive itself isn’t long—less than a mile weaving through aspen groves—but it is steep, with several brief stretches that will make even the most capable factory off-roaders pause and pick a line carefully. (We had to take several trips because his new Chevrolet Colorado Z71, MotorTrend’s 2024 Truck of the Year, had an electrical issue, temporarily losing power steering, so we thought it wise to leave it at the parking lot below should the problem flare up again.)
Rocky inclines proved no problem. Patches of mud? X-Mode expertly redistributed torque to ensure traction. Deep ruts? Boulders jutting into the middle of the path? A walk in the park. Once at the top, my father-in-law and his brother—driver of a full-size pickup and not a sort of man you'd expect to issue praise for a subcompact SUV lightly—both voiced how impressed they were with what the Crosstrek could do.
The only critique they could muster: They’re not big fans of the Wilderness trim’s copper accents.
They sure look good when the aspens turn, though.
Long-Distance Travel in the Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness
As previously covered, the Crosstrek is a wonderful road-trip vehicle, but a subcompact SUV is inherently light on cargo space. That’s fine for two people on a typical trip, but when you’re heading to a campsite or traveling with more people (or both), cargo space might be a real concern.
That’s a concern my wife and I have become more mindful of lately. As we near the Crosstrek’s departure from MotorTrend’s long-term fleet, we’ll be exploring rooftop cargo options to ease the burden.
A Note on Sleep
In our previous Crosstrek update, we noted the Crosstrek might be a little small for folks who planned to camp in their vehicle. As it turns out, it might not be as implausible as we thought. Reader Don Schulz “couldn’t help but laugh” when he saw our claim.
Several years ago, Schulz said, he decided he was “done being a part of the earth race, so to speak,” so he sold all his major possessions and moved into his Crosstrek full-time. “I live in Utah where off-road opportunities abound, where hundreds of prime fishing holes can be found and car camping on BLMB-managed campgrounds is almost a daily way of life,” he said. “I’ve driven the snowy roads of the Sierras in winter through storms with almost zero visibility. I’ve hauled kids, snowboards, skies, groceries, items from the hardware store, and loaded boxes to the roof and have seldom if ever been disappointed. While this is my first Subaru vehicle, I am a Subaru fan for life.”
And crucially, he finds the Crosstrek a comfortable place to lay his head each night. With the seats pushed fully forward and a mattress designed specifically for in-car use, the 5-foot-11 Shulz has been sleeping like a baby ever since—fully stretched out.
More on Our Long-Term 2024 Subaru Crosstrek Wilderness
- Ready for Adventure?
- An Unplanned Road Trip and Surprise Snow Present Learning Opportunities
- On-Road Compromises?
- Interior Pros and Cons
- Over-the-Air Updates Add a Feature We Won’t Use
- Contemplating the Meaning of Wilderness
Most of us at MotorTrend grew up loving cars. I grew up just loving good stories. Whether those stories were about a boy and his dog, shape-shifting aliens, or Spanish bullfighters didn’t really matter. At the heart of all good stories, though, is something that connects us all. And that’s what cars do.
I’m blessed to get to wake up every day, go to work, and help tell the story of America through our love of the automobile. I was born and raised in Missouri, not vehicle-averse but not exactly an automotive enthusiast, either. When I was little, my dad had a ’79 Fiat 124 Spider, and top-down summer drives were always a treat, but he sold it long before passion set in, and from that point forward, cars were mere tools in our household. I spent my early adulthood teaching high school English, a default option for someone who loved good stories and wanted to inspire similar feelings in others.
When I decided I wanted to tell stories myself instead of teaching them, I enrolled in the University of Missouri School of Journalism, where I quickly fell in love with working behind the scenes. It wasn’t until after I started as a copy editor at MotorTrend, though, that cars and I finally clicked. I still occasionally write, but these days I mostly find myself thriving in the background, helping the rest of our staff refine their words to give our readers all the entertaining and informative stories they want and need about the motoring world.Read More
