I agree 👍🏽 That's why it's our number 1 most hated thing about this car. I hate having to take my eyes off the screen to do anything and how unresponsive it is! Hopefully, Subaru fixes this with a software update.
So if you are using the infotainment while driving and you get into an accident, you will tell the responding officer that it’s the fault of the infotainment? It’s dangerous.
Transmission: Do you go into manual mode and choose 1st gear as needed when offroading? If you go offroad, be sure to drain & fill your CVT fluid at 36K intervals. [And change your PCV at 36K] MPG: we get mid to high 20s, 24-28mpg, on a consistent basis, as high as 32-34 sometimes between fill-ups. The roof box may really be putting a dent in your MPG.
The roof box kills our MPGs for sure. The CVT doesn't have real gears. It only simulates them. Keeping it in gear 1 doesn't give you any more crawl ratio. The car is great on light dirt trails and maintained forest roads but once you into any situation where you have to go slow or use momentum or risk damaging your car, you'll see that the CVT can't pull you up. It has a slight delay in laying down the power. Try this if you can. Pull your car right up in front of a curb with the wheels touching the curb, fully stop, and then try to crawl up that curb, you'll see what I mean. Now, imagine that on a dirt road with only one rear wheel having grip and the other up in the air. We wanted to keep this car but traded it in at 27000 miles. After adventuring with it for 27k miles, our adventures have evolved, and so have the trails we want to go on. So we decided to get a 4x4 with lockers and it has been night and day with the trails we go on. Not saying the Subaru wasnt capable but we knew we wanted something more capable for all the times we had to turn around because of trail conditions. See what we replaced it with here! th-cam.com/video/3sS31GQ8yD8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=_Ge-GfhQP9Dbaudp
@@ryanb8736 true, but there are gear ratios that the CVT can be held at using the Manual function, just like the gear ratios of "actual" gears in an AT or MT. The logical difference is minimal, and it is a worthy thing to try. The computer will try to start at as high a ratio as possible for fuel economy, but forcing it into a low ratio may produce better results.
One thing i dont understood the "wilderness" model is why would they put their HVAC function in the tablet. If im out in the wilderness with dirty hands or in the cold with gloves on trying to mess with the HVAC controls in the tablet is just backwards thinking. And yes, I've already heard many complaints about the touchscreen working poorly in cold weather condition.
I agree with you 👍🏽 I think most car companies are adapting to the modern look of a big touch screen in their cars. I don't mind the touch screen as long as they have physical buttons that I can memorize and use while driving so I don't have to take my eyes off the screen while im driving. It's nice to have a big screen for navigation and notifications, but for this car in particular, it was just unresponsive at times. We had the 2022 Subaru Outback Wilderness so maybe they updated it in the 2023 and 2024 models?
It definitely did. But since we car camped inside the car, we needed a cargo box for all of our gear. Of course it still got better gas mileage than a truck or suv but we didnt mind trading MPGs for more capability.
@ your average Joe I have a 22 and I have the same complaints as well. I wonder if the 24 is any better? I haven’t actually heard from anyone that has one. What year is yours?
Ours is the 22 as well. We bought it when the wilderness model first came out. I've seen some of the 2024 reviews and to me, it looks the same. It'll be another couple of years before a new redesign, especially with this version only coming out 2 years ago. We've since gotten rid of ours and upgraded to a new overland/offroad car at the start of this year. If you haven't seen it, I uploaded that episode on my page as well 👍🏽
The screen can be updated mine responds instantly take it to the dealership and get the update unless you are computer savvy then you can do it yourself updating it will fix most of your dislikes but the cvt is what it is and my thermo control valve failed at 35000 miles thankfully it was covered by the factory warranty if not it would be an expensive repair
@gabejf1 we updated the software on the infotainment and I even made a video of it on my page to help other people out. You can find that video on my page. It is still slow for us unfortunately. To us, it feels like they went backwards and cheaped out on the screen. Before this car we had a 2019 Subaru Forester Sport with a touch screen that responded as fast as an IPhone. So to have a newer car (we had the 2022 Subaru Outback Wilderness) with a slower screen than one of their older cars is a little disappointing. There are even older cars than that that has a better responding screen. Like I said in the video, most cars nowadays have integrated most of the functions on a touchscreen, it should be something that works well because other than the steering wheel, it is the thing you interact with every single time you drive your car. Not everyone off roads but we definitely do.The CVT transmission stall during a steep climb of an easy dirt trail forces you to have to use momentum which isnt always easy to do depending on the trail and momentum might lead you to damage your car. Seeing the advertisement for this car going up Imogene Pass in Colorado made it seem like it's ready to take on those kind of trails but lesson learned for us. This is mostly a softroader which is ok. This car is great if it lives on the pavement but to us, we needed more capability for our specific needs. This will be a great car for most but we have since gotten rid of this car for a 4x4 because some of the trails we wanted to do required it. If you haven't seen it yet, check out what we traded it for here. th-cam.com/video/3sS31GQ8yD8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=sLthBLgNiyjfPatv
I have a 2000 forester and i average 23 to 24 and thats fully loaded with gear and thats with a 4 speed with overdrive, but mpg bad or not still love subaru's
It's meant as a "soft roader" not an off roader. It's for pulling a horsebox along the dirt path or driving across the pastures. I think You're asking/expecting too much
@gibbykirwan7788 Subaru has this specific car advertised going up Imogene Pass in Colorado, so I guess we did expect too much. We fell for the false advertisement. But lesson learn, we needed more capability and this car just isnt for us. We have since gotten rid of it for a true 4x4. If you haven't seen it, check it out here. th-cam.com/video/3sS31GQ8yD8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=4i4PpkuI4SOYomFW
@@youraveragejoeadventures Which video does SUBARU advertise a stock car going up Imogene pass.???? There are videos of the gen 5 Subaru Outback making it up there is REAL!!!! videos from JonDZ th-cam.com/video/SCOy7mKiyN4/w-d-xo.html
@lgstylo3124 it's the video they play at the dealership. And JonDZ is a friend of mine. We just camped by Hwy 395 this summer. This is him behind me and even he got rid of his Subaru for the same reasons I did. th-cam.com/users/shortsLKK7jrQsiGI?si=fdvz1QuDxBbFgx51
I also hate the auto stop/start and the obstacle avoidance function. I’ve turned mine off in my CR-V because it had almost caused accidents by turning my steering wheel back into the lane when I was changing lanes or getting off the freeway. It thinks you’re wandering out of the lane and corrects for you. So you have to pull the steering wheel really hard in the direction you want to go. Or it will hit the brakes for no reason like when you’re turning or parallel parking. I was thinking of switching to the outback this year. Do you know if you can turn that function off in the Subaru like you can in the Honda?
@shayzoo2 yes you can, you can turn both functions off completely. But it resets everytime you turn the car off/on, so you just gotta turn it off everytime before you start driving. 👍🏽 Let me know if you end up getting another car.
@shayzoo2 unless you plan on going off road or on trails, it might be better to stick with your Honda. We had to get rid of our Subaru because we wanted to do more extreme trails that the Subaru is just not made for. We learned that we needed a 4x4 and so we had to trade it in. If you haven't seen it, check out what we got to replace it for our off road adventures here. th-cam.com/video/3sS31GQ8yD8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=DbAF1VnCyz6-0IIX
@@youraveragejoeadventures yeah I saw that one. We have a ford F-350 crew cab that can go pretty much anywhere we want to go. But I like to car camp and the new CR-V I would HAVE to get a hybrid to they the trim level I want, but the bigger issue is it no longer has a flat cargo area when you lay the seats down. WHY OH WHY HONDA???? So annoying. Sucks for car camping and also for moving my kids in and out of their dorms. I will no longer be able to slide their fridge and furniture right into the Honda. I’m so bummed. Maybe I just need to start over from scratch and look at some brands I usually don’t. I just really don’t need a third row anymore. My kiddos are all grown so I’m interested in better mileage now.
I think this is a very important video and I appreciate you making it. I don't think you should down play your experiences by saying "This is just me nitpicking" because some of that stuff is seriously important. Lagging infotainment system is completely unacceptable in 2024 and it's a serious safety risk. It should not be doing that. Stopping on the highway? OMG that is SOOOO VERY DANGEROUS!!! Most people don't even realize this but there is a minimum speed limit on the highway of 40 MPH. You can actually get a ticket for going too slow on a highway. WHY?! Because the closing speed between 70 MPH and 40 MPH might be only 30 MPH but that's A HUGE difference in speed and with people that are simply driving on the highway, their reaction times are lowered. So coming to a complete stop is unacceptable and is a MASSIVE safety risk. It's unconscionable that Subaru does this and doesn't allow it to be turned off. WOW! Talk about setting the company up for a HUGE lawsuit....this is it. Anyway thanks for the feeback. I'm definitely avoiding subaru until these things are addressed.
@jontnoneya3404 @jontnoneya3404 thank you for the positive feedback! We really wanted to love this car but after the honeymoon phase with it, you definitely notice some things that need to be improved. Since we do off road more than the average person, we have since gotten rid of this car and replaced it with a true 4x4. Check it out here if you haven't done so🙂 th-cam.com/video/3sS31GQ8yD8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=qAuthtlJTtjMKfsM
@@youraveragejoeadventures - will do.I'm interested to learn what you got instead and how you like it. I'm currently in the market and the Subarus were looking pretty good but not not. Holy crap.
@jontnoneya3404 for us, off road capability was high on our priority list so unless you off road a lot, it might not make sense for you. But let me know what you think whenever you have time to watch it. 👍🏽
@@youraveragejoeadventures - haha Raptor huh? Well not what I expected at all but that's a proper off road vehicle for sure. I think I saw where you said you're giong to look for a camper but you might want to check out Project Farm, I think it was their channel that said "Why you should never buy a camper" and it was an enlightening video. You might want to look around for it cuz it might not have been his. He was saying just the sheer management of it all made it the worst option for him. Obviously might NOT be the worst for you but definitely do some research as I was surprised what it's like to live with a truck camper. he said basically there are way better options. Anyways - hope y'all have fun and I'm about to dump my 2013 Ford Explorer sport cuz of tranny issues at 78k miles. HINT Don't ever get a tranny flush and fill EVER. Just do drain and fill at the recommended mileage. Flushing pushes particles up into the TCU which clogs it and causes lack of fluid issues. NOT GOOD. Anyways - good luck and your baby is adorable! Cheers
@jontnoneya3404 @jontnoneya3404 thank you sir! We've been in the market for a truck camper for 6 months now and can't really decide on one. We're kind of stuck between the Bruin XL by Orudesign or the Tune M1 by TuneOutdoors but I don't know why I get this unsure feeling about it. I really like the box style truck campers and being able to stand up in it in any weather to rock the baby to sleep, stretch my legs, and cook whether it's raining or snowing. If you haven't seen either camper, I would just google to see what they look like and you'll know what I mean. That being said, none of them is making me want to jump the gun, even though they all look decent. I don't think there is a perfect one out there but I wanna hear someone with an honest review vs people that just bought them and are in love with their "new" camper. Thank you for the recommendation. I will definitely check him out to further help me decide if this is what we really want because none of these options are cheap! Most of the decent ones are about $12-15k and can get even pricier once you add your own customizations to them. So we really want to be sure before we throw down the funds for them. I'll let you know what we decide, if we even get one, in the future. Here is our first adventure in the Raptor that I KNOW the Subaru would have gotten stuck in because we took the Subaru here too and scrape the front bumper and back bumper so many times and it was during the dry summer season. Cheers! th-cam.com/video/Dgpg8hHi5zI/w-d-xo.htmlsi=wVh1oVqomcPjB9gw
I’m just going to keep fixing my 2007 Outback, 2.5L manual transmission. I love the car. Despite some mechanic woes. Has modern luxuries without the nannying safety features and lack of physical controls. I find it to be a worthy platform to fix. I have not been impressed at all with our local dealership. Me and many people I know have had issues with their service. And the lounge area is just very worn down and dingy compared to VW, Ford or Toyota dealerships I’ve been to.
@zanesutherland406 I agree 👍🏽 I prefer the manual transmission and even the 6 speed auto compared to all the CVT transmission all these cars are getting nowadays, especially for going off road.
you know there are updates for the infotainment? Subaru sends messages to you about an update being available, and if you thought about taking it to Subaru they would fix it for you; and you do know there are paddles and a manual mode that you could change into, not to mention that it is a turbo car, the turbo doesnt begin to spool until about 3k, so the “lag” you experience is because of the engine
we updated iit all the time. I even made a video here on my channel on how to update the infotainment system to help other people out. here is a link to that video here th-cam.com/video/67tzoM-Efk8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=qwmbE68RyJntHrNg the paddles dont really do anything. it has a CVT. it only simulates gear changes. i think this issue is more how the car is tuned and programmed. it gears hunts all the time. maybe this isnt true for everyone but im only giving my own personal experience. maybe i got a lemon? but if i got a lemon then so be it but thats what we experienced owning this car from 0 miles brand new to over 25000 miles. If you have a Wilderness and didnt experience any of this that i envy you. i wish ours worked well but it just didnt.
dont forget without HVAC you will get those advertised MPG numbers that what i noticed at least. any reason why you change from good mpg with forester to outback?
@legion1630 we car camp in the back of the car because we camp during all 4 seasons. The Outback gave us just a little more room for my wife and I to sleep in the back of the wagon. I had to sleep diagonally in the forester. The MPGs just surprised us because it was a 4 cylinder but the turbo and the higher ground clearance plus out cargo box on top really killed the MPGs. It was getting as much as a 4Runner or a 4x4 truck but at least those are more capable off road which for us, was really important. But we have since gotten rid of the Outback too because we needed a more capable vehicle with the trails we were trying to do. If you haven't seen it, you can check out what we replaced it with here. th-cam.com/video/3sS31GQ8yD8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=54LkBG7YKGwoYWWE
Never had an issue with gas mileage averaging 20+ and that’s including going on some pretty easy trails here. Car is lifted with an Iron Man lift, some HD bars on top and fallen at4ws with a higher side wall. Start system is a non-issue it can be avoided by not depressing the brake all the way. Or disabling it once the entertainment comes up not a big deal.
@@youraveragejoeadventures no box 2 adults and one child in car seat. I get about 24 to 26 MPG. With the Subaru branded cargo box I get about 21 on a trip up to Maine from NJ. Granted the elevation is nothing extreme so there’s that. It’s only when driving through the Adirondacks that I might see dips into the 19 MPG range fully loaded. As someone who owns multiple Subaru vehicles, the wilderness is the second worst Subaru? I’ve owned only behind the Tribeca in terms of gas mileage. A buyer has to understand that although it has a 2.4 L turbo charge engine, it’s also pushing up heavier weight and it’s gearing, final drive is also different than that of the normal outback.
@Locutus720 I agree. Our 2019 Forester Sport was getting 28-30 mpgs. In my area, we do a lot of off roading. So we thought the OBW would be perfect but it still struggled on the trails we attempted. The MPGs isn't as important to us as the capability is. Everyone has different needs and uses but we off road more than the average. It was just a surprise that for us with all our cargo, it was averaging close to what a 4x4 SUV or truck was getting. So we have since gotten rid of this car for more capability. If you haven't seen it, this is what we replaced it with. th-cam.com/video/3sS31GQ8yD8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=7zbNn-Q7iVXR2U22
Nice! I’ve been toying around with the idea of either going Gladiator Rubi or Bronco, prob is both manufacturers reliability ratings are horrible, with ford leading the way in total recalls (citation might be needed as I haven’t looked in 6 months) and Stellantis still pricing their vehicles as luxury brands (they’re absolutely not!) and the northeast mid Atlantic region isn’t exactly known for its super technical trails with great views makes makes it a hold for my adventure dad wagon😅
@Locutus720 Suprisingly, Toyota is leading recalls right now with all their new redesign 4runners, land cruisers and even the Lexus LX models all in recall. Over 100,000 cars recalled so far. Our Ford Raptor not only has more interior space and of course more cargo with the truck bed, but of course it's been way more capable which is what we needed. I can't wait to test it out in Pismo beach to see it in Baja mode. But even harder trails have been easy. Of course we're getting 16 MPGs but compared to 18-20 in our Subaru, I would easily trade some MPGs for what this truck can do. I've had 4 subarus as well and it's just been night and night in terms of capability. I know for sure the Subaru would have struggled on this trail. It can do it but maybe with some body damage lol. th-cam.com/users/shortsjMQ7etx6D58?si=4-L64hmurmNy-LLv
I feel fortunate that in my 2024 Forester Wilderness I have the older 10" infotainment system, so I rarely need to mess with the infotainment system. I also only average 17-20 MPG, but I'm more aggressive with my driving. I haven't had any issues with the OAS causing me to stop for no reason, but it does like to yell at me when I'm going around a corner and there are vehicles parked on the side of the road. I also agree about wishing I could turn off the auto start/stop permanently...
@KyutaSyuko we had a 2019 Subaru Forester Sport before this car and the 8 inch infotainment screen in that car was really good. No lag, super responsive and it still had all the physical buttons for the things you need to control while driving. I wouldn't mind the newer bigger screen but having a laggy screen in 2024 is kind of not acceptable, especially when everything is integrated into it. Hopefully they fix this when they do a redesign in a couple of years.
@@youraveragejoeadventures I apologize, I meant 8", not 10". The only downside is that the front cam is displayed on the smaller screen on top of the dashboard.
@KyutaSyuko oh ya, I remember that as well. I also remember my Forester getting almost 30 MPGs! Crazy how much a one inch lift and all terrain terrain tires can do to the fuel consumption. We have since gotten rid of both of our Subarus because they just couldn't keep up on some of the more challenging trails we wanted to do. If you haven't seen it, check out what our current adventure vehicle is here. th-cam.com/video/3sS31GQ8yD8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=vWAmmAbXI2he4MMR
@@Mike-vd2qt i saw that. 👍🏽 Unfortunately, we have since gotten rid of this car for a 4x4. Our adventures needed more capability that this car just wasn't meant for. We loved it when we had it though👍🏽
@@youraveragejoeadventures Yep, I have a 2022 Outback, was thinking of a new Tacoma or Tundra for camping, but the current 2024 Toyota problems scared me off. Keeping the Subie for now. ☮
@@Mike-vd2qt good call. The last generation might be the one to go to since they were out for a while and refined all the problems with it. It'll probably be a couple of years until they do the same with all the new generation Toyota cars.
@aarontrotter5188 it might of been the XL cargo box we had on top. We kept it on for a majority of the time. But we have since gotten rid of our OBW and replaced it with our Ford Raptor. It's been lifted, 35 inch mud tires and custom front bumper to give us better approach angles. We have 16in of rocker clearance and sits over a foot off the ground. Were getting 15 mpg in it lol but we are happy to trade the mpgs for how much more capable our Raptor is. And it's been way more fun than our OBW. Check out the latest episode on my channel to see it in action 👍🏽 th-cam.com/video/Dgpg8hHi5zI/w-d-xo.htmlsi=t_tOjNa_4YxQ_uj7
Never had an issue with gas mileage averaging 20+ and that’s including going on some pretty easy trails here. Car is lifted with an Iron Man lift, some HD bars on top and fallen at4ws with a higher side wall.
Hi, I am in Australia and have purchased a 2023 Subaru Outback XT Tourer 2.4L. Can you tell me if your car is turbo or naturally aspirated engine? I find my car awesome in most environments. Cheers!
It is the 2.4L turbo engine as well. The 2 cars are pretty identical but the Subaru Outback Wilderness has a slightly higher ground clearance and different gearing for the Xmode functions. Congratulations on your new car! 👍🏽
You need to update the infotainment software. The video shows a very old version of it. They’ve been at least 3 updates since that screen layout addressing many of your complaints
I updated it. I made a review on how to update the software on your infotainment system on my channel. Ours is still laggy even after the software update. Maybe we're the unlucky ones who just have a dud ? 🥲
I don't know what TCV is. In this video, I'm definitely talking about the CVT (Continously Variable Transmission). It's all under warranty, but I only mention it in this video because this car is advertised as an outdoor, offroad capable car but its CVT, in my opinion, holds it back in some offroad scenarios.
@goneoutside1011 congratulations on the new car! Let me know how it is now. Hopefully Subaru addressed some of the issues we were having with it. We also traded our Subaru Outback Wilderness in but not for another Outback. We overland and go offroad a lot so we had to get something with more off road capability. Whenever you have a chance, check out what we traded for here! th-cam.com/video/Dgpg8hHi5zI/w-d-xo.htmlsi=OJf_s6EZUb2mdeHx
@@youraveragejoeadventures Ok thx, we have not noticed the Infotainment screen lag issue as you describe in our 2024 Outback Wilderness - perhaps they improved it - not sure. Other issues you mention we agree on the MPG, we hoped to get better - for us here in Sitka, Alaska not a big use, only 14 miles of road available - ha!
@neillee3793 nice! Yes, i heard they've improved a lot of the issues we were having with the newer models. That's what we get for getting a brand new model on the first year on production! Haha!
I'm glad they have such a system in place because in the event of a real crash, it could be the difference between crashing at full speed and maybe reducing the impact of such crash. I'm sure it will improve with time which will be good for all of us. 👍🏽
Don't have any glitchy situations to report on my Outback (non-wilderness) and I average about 30 mpg consistently. I don't do off-road other than the occasional unpaved road. I am curious about whether my outback could go where yours has gone. In other words, given what you said about not risking it, I wonder what the advantage of the wilderness is for you. the touch screen is not phone-quick but it's not unusable either. I have no complaints there.
@altairjb we did a lot of off roading and so I would say the ground clearance and the gearing. We have since gotten rid of it for a 4x4 because at the end of the day, we needed more capability. It just couldn't do some of the trails we were trying to go on. I know everyone's needs are different but for our situation, I would rather have more capability than good MPGs. The MPGs were just a little shocking to us becuase it was only a 4 cylinder engine like a civic, but the turbos and height of this car made it eat gas like it was a v8 or something. The 4runner got about 15 MPGs but at least that car has a true 4x4 and better wheel articulation. Great car while we had it though. If you wanted to see what we traded it in for, check it out here. th-cam.com/video/3sS31GQ8yD8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=3w0rxJxWwtu0l9lW
@@youraveragejoeadventures that makes sense. I just came across that one video by chance and I was honestly curious. People have different needs for sure. I did not buy my outback for offroading, that's for sure, and I had my mind set on the atmo engine. But I am cheap, ahahah. The extra space (compared to my Mazda 3), the AWD and wanting a wagon that was decent on gas, that's what sold me on the outback.
@altairjb yes, having a wagon that could get us through the snow and dirt was awesome. It also let us car camp in the back with all the space you get when the seats are folded. A really good value and a lot of car for the price. It was the jack of all trades kinda car. Not really the best at anything but can do a little bit of everything.
I have a 2020 Outback Onyx. And I totally agree with the unsafeness of the infotainment screen. It blackout on me while I was driving in heavy rain in the cold season and lost access to my defroster. Causing me to pull off some random exit and waiting for it to turn back on.
Oh wow! That sounds bad! It almost makes the car unusable if it goes out like that. The worse we ever had it was during a really bad fog and I was trying to adjust the climate control. We already couldn't see let alone trying to look down to adjust things. But yours sounds way more scary! Glad you're ok though👍🏽
I agree 👍🏽 We also have a lifted Ford Raptor that we take on more technical trails. Also the outback has a really long nose that gives it a pretty poor approach angle as well. But it does ride well in light forest roads and light trails.
I was getting around 20-22 MPGs when we took off our cargo box. We do live up in the hills though. So that kills our MPGs having to drive up to go home everyday.
Keeping it in low gear doesn't give the car more crawl ratio. That, along with the sway bar, doesn't give the wheels much travel when you need more articulation. When our Subaru is on uneven terrain, it'll have one tire in the air because it lacks that wheel articulation vs in our Ford Raptor or any other body on frame truck, the wheel will stay planted on the ground even on uneven surfaces because of better wheel articulation. Look up wheel articulation while off-roading, and you'll see what I mean. Also, a CVT transmission just simulates gears, it doesnt actually use "gears." You can look that up as well. The crawl ratio in our Subaru Outback Wilderness is about 15:1 vs 52:1 in our Raptor. You can have all the power, but it's useless if you can't put it down. With that being said, our Outback Wilderness has been great on all different road conditions like I mentioned (snow, dirt, mud etc..) but when when it comes to rock gardens and bigger rock shelves, it just can't do as easily as a 4x4 with a rear locker. Also the Subarus long nose in the front gives it a very poor approach angle as well. Regardless of all that, we love both our Subaru Outback Wilderness and our Ford Raptor equally 👍🏽
My highest average gas mileage that I have got on my OBW 2024 is 28mpg. But that was the highest. But on the same trip I was consistantly averaging around 27 mpgs. But when i drive in the city, it is 21 mpgs. That cargo box makes a lot of drag for you.
It definitely does but since we sleep and car camp in the back, we needed a cargo box to store all of our gear. Is your infotainment laggy on your 2024 OBW? We had the 2022 version.
@@youraveragejoeadventures @youraveragejoeadventures Yea, sometimes, it is! But not terrible so far. I have noticed that it is laggy just after i start the engine for around a minute. Then the response improves. But generally it is not a fast infotainment system.
@@youraveragejoeadventures Not yet. But yes, I want to take it for camping and trails soon. Not for too much off roading as I am kinda aware of its limitations as an off roader. Also the rig is in its stock condition completely.
@mapletreerocker We left ours completely stock too. It's pretty capable for what it is. It's been great in sand, snow and mud for us as well. Have fun on your adventures! 👍🏽
with so many physical buttons missing from older models, i just cannot land my foot down on the current subaru models... personally, offroading without sufficient physical buttons in the cabin is like a perfect steak grounded into a patty and served as a fastfood burger...
I agree 👍🏽 We were so mesmerized by it at first because it was the first car we owned with a large display but after using it, especially while overlanding, it got old real quick!
Oh nice! The screen on our raptor is way more responsive. Maybe we just had bad luck because we really wanted to love this car. what year is your Wilderness?
@ericahearn9604 nice. Ours was 2022, the first year they came out. I'm glad they fixed it because a lot of ppl that I knew that had the 2022 had the same issues we experienced.
I heard many, many negative opinions regarding the info system. How bad can it be I thought? I had to find out because I'm considering the Outback as a next car. I rented an Outback for a whole week, it had 4-5k on the clock. People were saying it takes ages to boot up. Nope. It was booting up fairly quickly. When driving not once I had to press twice something on the screen to achieve what I needed/wanted. To make sure this wasn't an exception to the rule I took another one for a test drive for ~2hrs. Same thing - responsive, no glitches. It took me a while to pair my phone but it was down to the fact I'm not used to that particular system. Besides, once you pair your phone how often do you need to do it again? The are much worse infotainment systems on the market. Starting with the way they look - there are literally tablet sized screen bolted to the dashboard. It looks ugly AF and it ruins the aesthetics of the car. The Outback (and the new Forester) are nicely fitted and look like a complete package.
@mando1337 i can't speak on the newest ones, but our 2022 Outback Wilderness was really bad. It was ok once it was warmed up, but in the video, I even showed how slow it was to respond. It could be bad luck, and we just had one that was like that? We were actually excited when we saw the infotainment for the first time because of the aesthetics, but after living with it, it was just not good for us. I've been hearing that the 2024 models have improved but I'm just giving people our experience before dropping that kind of money when there are other options in that price range that are better, in our opinion. We wanted to love this car but after the honeymoon phase, you start to see a lot of its flaws. We had a 2019 Subaru Forester Sport before this car and that car had a better infotainment system that was responsive and never gave us issues. We thought upgrading to a newer model, it would just work like the older model but it was worse. We tried everything we could and even made a video on how to help with the lag. If you haven't done so, you can check it out here. th-cam.com/video/67tzoM-Efk8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=Za3YT-CB-BdBz1nz
Yeah I saw the lag in your video which I found bizarre because none of this happened in the two Outbacks I had. Have you been to the dealer with it to have a look and upgrade it? I'm not aware of any hardware changes to the system in the past couple of years as Subaru have been working on the new generation Outback and year-on-year changes have been close to nothing
@mando1337 we never took it to the dealer but we did a software upgrade from home and it didn't do much, still laggy for us. We originally bought this car so we can do our overlanding and offroad adventures but found out that we needed something more capable. So we got rid of it for a more off road oriented 4x4. If you don't intend in going off road, than this car is a good all around car but we had to turn around on some trails. If you haven't seen it, check out what we traded it in for here. th-cam.com/video/3sS31GQ8yD8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=Lgva-hBZ-SrBPfYX
We did have an XL Thule cargo box on our roof rack that ruined our MPGs as well. The higher ground clearance, all terrain tires, and small 2.4L engine with twin turbos was overworked at higher speeds and off the line from a complete stop. You are right though, a CVT is supposed to be good on gas, but it just wasn't in our experience. They advertised this car as an off-road ready car, but, in our opinion, a CVT is not very good off road, especially with slow uphill climbs and if the road is uneven. A Toyota 4runner gets 15MPGs, but at least that car is more capable. Not everyone takes their car offroad, but since we do, it would be worth it for us to sacrifice MPGs for more capability. We have since traded this car in to fit our specific needs. Check out what we replaced it with here. th-cam.com/video/3sS31GQ8yD8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=KXyv4IEz4P2Je9mW
After being a 7-time Subaru owner, I recently traded my '22 Outback Wilderness because of several of the things you mentioned... predominately the CVT. Not only is it unsuitable for anything other than moderate trails, but it also performs poorly on-pavement, too. The lag after throttle tip-in from a stop is incredibly annoying. And it's 100% the CVT programming. If I went into manual mode, it behaves like I expect... but in auto mode, it upshifts waaaaay too early. In fact, it'll be in "4th gear" when I'm doing 20 MPH. I got so tired of it that I traded it on on a truck... A TRUCK! Subaru, I hope you read comments like this - performance MATTERS. Anyway, back to the video - thanks for the content.
I agree 👍🏽 This car would be so much better with a traditional 6 speed auto. We wanted to love this car but we also had to trade it in after this video. We ended up getting a Ford Raptor and definitely much more happy with it. Plus we're in the market for a truck cap camper as well! Maybe a GFC, Harker, or Orudesign. But it has been night and day with the Raptor.
My #1 issue is the camera system. The screen is too small, the picture is super grain and too dark and it's even worst at night. For the money you pay for this car, Subaru should do much better. Agree with the MPG, I average around 20 combined city/highway driving in my 2024 but I'm driving like my granny much of the time.
I agree, I don't like how you have this massive screen and the camera only uses half of it. I definitely think they could have put a higher resolution camera for the price of the car as well.
@will_in_texas they just released the 2025 model and it looks exactly the same. Ours was a 2022 when they first released it. So it might be another 2-3 years for the redesign but will be worth it for you.
Im glad they updated it. Our 2022 definitely lagged as I showed in this video. Our 2019 Subaru Forester didnt lag at all either which is why i was confused on why our newer model infotainment did... Maybe we just had bad luck and got a lemon for a screen.
Sad to say, the infotainment system is just not very good for a 2022 car. Our 2019 Subaru Forester had a really good infotainment system that was responsive and worked well. It sucks that a newer car would have a worse screen. I'm hoping they fix this minor issue because the car, overall, was a really great car for road trips and going on light trails. Thank you for watching!
What year is your OBW because mine is a 2024 and the infotainment system is not laggy at all. You showed proof so I get yours may be but I think in 2024 they updated the system a little
We had the 2022, the first year it came out. lve seen the newer ones have better screens and not as laggy from reviews here on TH-cam but I still think having to take your eyes off the road to adjust things is still dangerous. Even after the update, it was still laggy for us unfortunately. We had a 2019 Subaru forester sport before this car and that screen was fantastic. A newer 2022 model shouldn't go backwards in my opinion but I'm glad they fixed it for the 2024 models 👍🏽
@@youraveragejoeadventures your point is very valid. I agree with everything in your video. Love my 2024 and the screen is gorgeous but it is super dangerous
I have a 2024 and my infotainment is laggy. Mostly at startup, that's when it's most noticeable when I'm trying to click accept on the first popup and turn my auto start/stop off.. usually a delay of several seconds, even if I let the car warm up first. It's not frequent, but sometimes while driving it gets laggy too and won't skip radio stations for a few seconds. I've also had it freeze on start up once where I had to turn the car off and walk away for a minute and restart. It's garbage.
@saintless I agree 👍🏽 A car that was around $45k (in my area) shouldn't come with issues like this in the first place. You can get something more capable, better infotainment, and all around more capable for the same price range. Something like a 4runner, any 4x4 midsized truck (tacoma, frontier, or zr1) just to name a couple. But it really depends on what you intend to use your vehicle for. Most people I know only see the malls and grocery store with their rigs, for us, we definitely needed capability because we overland a lot in our car.
No worries, bro. The regular Outback is rated for 26mpg city and 33mpg highway 👍🏽 That will go down depending on how much gear you are carrying, though.
I like almost everything about the 3 Wilderness options : crosstrek, forester & outback, except the one transmission choice offered. To me, pairing the Wilderness trims' ground clearance, with it's more capable tires and exceptional AWD system with a CVT, makes no sense. Subaru's CVT is probably the best version of "that type" of transmission made to date. And as a daily driver or snowy part of the country vehicle, I think it's actually a good choice of vehicle. But on the Wilderness trims...I don't get it. I'd buy one of the 3 Wilderness platforms for sure if they offered more than the one transmission option. Thankyou for your first hand, personal experience based and non homer/fan boy thoughts on this vehicle.
Thank you for watching 👍🏽 It was a really good car and I think it would be great for most people but if you plan to go offroading, you are always going to be limited by the CVT. Too bad too because we were so excited when we got this car. But as our adventures are getting more difficult, we knew we had to upgrade to a more capable car sooner or later.
My 2024 doesn’t lag NEARLY as bad as your infotainment system. Have you taken it into Subaru to see if there’s some auxiliary programs in the background or something that’s making it this bad?
@PineTreePal besides the infotainment, we also wanted a more capable vehicle. So we traded it in for a 4x4. We go off roading a lot so it was worth it for us to switch out vehicles. That being said, I had a 2019 Subaru Forester Sport before the Outback Wilderness and that one had a great responsive system with physical buttons for the things I use while driving. I don't get how a newer model would go backwards in terms of infotainment. No cars in 2024 should have a slow infotainment especially when they equip all the cars with touch screens. Even our older 2010 prius has a responsive infotainment screen. This could just be our experience but I've seen a lot of people complain about this. For the price of the car, it should work properly.
is there any other vehicle you would recommend that offers the space/storage that the outback has with better MPG (25+) for around the same price? I have tried looking online but it seems like the best option.
The Wilderness may be the best option if MPG is what you are looking for. For us, we wanted more capability. The Wilderness is definitely capable enough, but our adventure needs have evolved over the years and wanted to hit more trails that this car had a hard time doing. So if you never go offroad, then this car might be the best option for you. It all depends on what you're going to use it for. For example, if we were hitting more difficult offroad trails but still wanted the space and storage, we would get something like a 4runner or a truck with 4x4 and lockers but if we barely went off road and mostly drive on pavement, then we would have kept the Wilderness because its a very comfortable and safe road trip car thats great on all seasons (snow, rain, dry and even light forest roads). You have to trade some MPG for capability or vice versa. Hope that helps👍🏽 Also if you haven't done so, I made a video on what we traded our Wilderness in for if you haven't seen it yet 🤙🏽 check it out if you can!
@@youraveragejoeadventures looking for something for space. Car camping is a big feature. The length of the space with rear seats folded is the most important. I’m not sure how much of the wilderness features we will use. They are basically bonuses or maybe depending on how bad the winter is here in NY might come in handy. My only other idea is a rav4 but I think it’s smaller.
@gravediggermordekai7032 if you're barely going to use it for the Wilderness features and looking for great car camping space, I might look into an AWD Honda Pilot or a Toyota Grand Highlander. Both are have more interior space and also AWD for different weather conditions. We also use to camp in a minivan van that had lots of space to sleep us plus our 2 dogs comfortable inside by removing the middle seats while car camping. Some minivans also have AWD systems. When we car camped in our Wilderness, we had to add a Thule cargo box on top to store all of our things but it killed our MPGs(16-18MPGs). If you car camp inside, you won't have much room to put all your gear unless you don't mind putting everything in the front seats. We always had a rule to keep the driver seat empty in case we needed to leave in an emergency or in a hurry(say bears are outside getting our food and trying to come in, it's more common here in CA in some areas). For reference, I'm about 5'11 200 lbs and my wife is 5'3 and we are pretty snug in the back of the Wilderness. I couldn't sit up but she could while laying in the back.
It handled all of our gear plus our cargo box on top of the roof rack pretty well. Plenty of power from the 2.4L turbo engine to handle all the things you pack in the car. Suspension was really comfortable on the highway. 👍🏽
@Widebody20 Same. Depending on what you need your vehicle for will determine the perfect car for you. This car was great while we had it but definitely needed an even more capable car for our adventures.
Agree on all points except the last.. I don't love my car. I'll likely keep it until it's paid off and then eat the loss on a car I wanted to drive for 250k + miles. I've only had the auto brake thing happen once at a crawl as a friend walked up to the window, took me off guard but I was barely moving; can't imagine what that's like at highway speed. The collision sensor is always giving false positives though. Definitely getting the auto start/stop eliminator, it almost never kicks in at a light but without fail my car turns off when I'm trying to merge into traffic if I forget to disable. Gas mileage is currently around 23mpg combined so a bit better than you but still well below advertised. CVT is always hunting around 2500 RPM but might be improving with use? Creeps forward at below 5mph which is annoying. Infotainment is pure hell, I hate it with a passion... mine is just as laggy on a '24 with current updates.
And they also advertise it as off road ready vehicle but it's only good on maintained forest roads and some light trails. As our adventures have gotten more difficult, so have the trails. That's why we went with 4x4 with lockers and even more ground clearance. If you're not doing any offroading, then this car is ok, but the infotainment is so laggy, it's almost dangerous to use while driving. It doesn't make sense because our older 2019 Subaru Forester Sport had a really good response infotainment with physical buttons for the main things you use while driving (radio, climate control, driver settings, heated seats, etc..) They somehow went backwards making everything on the touch screen and having it be so laggy. Hopefully it'll be better after their new redesign.
I am a former Outback owner, liked my Outback and I still like Subaru's - I'm just waiting until they can get some Hybrids in the lineup before I will consider another. Most of the things that you mentioned are gripes with tens of thousands of owners who completely agree with you and have voiced them on many Subaru forums over a period of YEARS - but the forums are highly controlled by Subaru. Mention one possibly negative thing and you are ganged up on by Subaru "Ambassadors", fanboys or operatives - closing down any discussion on the matter. None of what you mentioned is new to any Subaru owner of a late model Subaru. And Subaru KNOWS of all these issues and refused to address them. Subaru has a problem with being proactive and even reactive. They have been resting on their laurels for years and do not respond well to or give respect to their customers who acknowledge the insufficiencies or issues with their vehicles. I think they believe that ignoring a certain percentage of customers will not affect their growth and bottom line, and thus it is justified. Sad.
We still love the car for camping and overlanding but for the price of this car, these basic issues should be addressed. Thank you for your comment and for watching! If you haven't done so, I also made a video on the things that we love about this car. I'll always be honest because as a consumer, I always want to make sure I get my money's worth! 🤙🏽
That touchscreen may suck but at least it looks cheap and now they've completed the rollout of installing it into every model they have. The exact same one no less. 🙄 Just in time for the upcoming redesigned 2026 Outback to go back to more physical controls, strong credible rumors say.
@RareGenXer I don't mind the touch screen as long as it works properly. I can understand maybe 10 years ago but in 2024, most touch screens are pretty responsive. Of course, physical buttons are still safer because it doesn't require you to take your eyes off the road. We have since gotten rid of this car at the beginning of this year for a 4x4 since we go off road more than the average person.
2024 Outback XT. I disagree about the infotainment system. Mine is quite fast and i experience no lag at all. Have you had it updated? My system was just fine the day I picked the car up. I received an update over the air and it improved even more. // CVT transmissions are here to stay. It is what it is an all companies are moving this way. Subaru has been using them for years. // Auto Start-Stop can be turned off on the display in '24. If not, there are a few sellers offering a small device which goes into the mirror housing that will disable the system. About $100 and needs 5 mins to install. // I do recommend a BANKS Pedal Monster. It removes all the lag and delay that most cars seem to have nowadays. Instant throttle and better acceleration. No other system is as well engineered as the BANKS with a default-to-factory in the unlikely event of a failure. // And, get the XT model. The extra power and torque really elevates these cars to a new level.
@bikefixr oh nice! They must have updated the infotainment for the 2024 model. Our 2022 was beyond laggy, especially when first starting the car (as shown in the video). We did all the system updates and i even did a video on my channel here to show people how to do it. We went from a 2019 Forester Sport that had a really good infotainment system with no lag. So I guess when we upgraded to our 2022 Wilderness, we were expecting it to be the same, if not better. We loved this car when we had it but we had to get something a little more capable for our own adventure needs and to tackle some of the harder trails by us. If you haven't seen what we replaced this adventure car with, you can check it out here. th-cam.com/video/3sS31GQ8yD8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=OSPlJBAvAvpyACv5
Cargo box is a wind sock. Will kill mpgs. Or your fuel system needs a tuning. As an “overlander” it’s good but not 4Runner or similar class. Information center SUCKS! Also Subaru, put seat heaters and AC on knobs and switches.
I agree with everything you said 👍🏽 If you haven't seen it yet, I just uploaded a video on what we replaced this Subaru Outback Wilderness with. Be sure to check out our new overlanding rig!
A CVT doesn't have real gears like a traditional transmission. You can lock it in 1 or 2 but your crawl ratio is still non existent. Unlike a traditional 4x4, when you use a rear locker and put it in 4L, you exponentially increase your torque. The CVT just simulates fake gears.
Thanks for your honest review, I believe you. I was interested in a Crosstrek but had some doubts, The infotainment system, CVT, auto start stop and MPG’s don't cut the cheese and are deal killers. Good review!!!
Thank you! After the honeymoon phase with the car, you start seeing all the things wrong with it. Be sure to also watch my video on the things I love about this car because it's still a great car for camping and overlanding! 🤙🏽
I have a 2023 and average 25MPG I do 45mi per day to and from work straight on a 45-55mph road. The laggy screen is annoying but mine doesn’t seem as bad (yet). Only having wireless CarPlay is so annoying. I hate using Bluetooth much rather have wired. The collision avoidance always reacts way too aggressively when a car is turning into a parking lot ahead of you. Often times there’s no need to stop or even slow down but the collision avoidance will slam on the brakes. Very annoying. Other than those 3 things I absolutely love the car and have no real complaints. It’s been super great, very comfortable on road trips. The smart cruise and lane centering are amazing. I love my Outback
We love this car too! We made a video on the things we love about it, check that out if you haven't done so. Other than the laggy screen, the other 4 things I mentioned are just me nit picking at small details. This car has been awesome for us in all of our overland and camping trips👍🏽 I don't know how everyone is averaging better MPGs than me lol I know our huge cargo box probably has something to do with it. Ours was the 2022 model so we didn't even have the wireless carplay yet, it still needed to be plugged in via USB.
@Booster6969 yes you can but it defeats the purpose to turn it off when you actually need it. I think a small calibration or software update can fix it. 👍🏽
I made a video on the things that we love about this car too. But we have a lifted Ford Raptor as well that we take on more extreme trails. This Subaru is just our family car 🤙🏽
We actually really love this car for what it is, but the adventures we go on are starting to require a more capable vehicle. We already replaced it, stay tuned for what vehicle we traded it for! 😎
All Subarus have average to below average fuel efficiency relative to their engine size. Fanboys love to blame it on the AWD, but there are tons of cars that have AWD now with significantly more horsepower that do much better than any Subaru engine. That's why Subaru puts such large fuel tanks in such small cars, because if not, you would constantly be running low on fuel and in some cases, one day, you may get stuck in the........Wilderness. 😏
it's not blame, its a feature, lol. subaru's AWD system is not like other AWD systems. It is not an "on demand" system where it runs 2wd and transfers power to the rear when something slips...it sends power front and back at the same time no matter what the conditions. It would be like running a pickup truck on 4-hi all the time. Not that drastic, but similar idea. I went from a 2010 STI to a 2018 Ram 1500 v8 hemi and I was at the pumps pretty much the same amount for both. The Forester got better gas milage because it has less power and they are non-turbo if I am not mistaken. Adding a turbo changes a lot because the fuel maps are completely different than an NA engine. More power requires more gas, more gas requires more air....Turbo...tu-tu-tu! (turbo noise). That being said, the Wilderness is like a "Jack of all trades, but master of none" kind of deal..it falls in between multiple categories. But comparing to a more capable off-roader like a 4runner or a jeep is only looking at half the picture, because its also a car. When you take into account the full spectrum of vehicles between pavement-only and hardcore off-roader, it's right in the middle. Way more ground clearance than a sedan, not quite a jeep on 40s, lol. Great on-road behavior, decent on trails. It's not a fuel sipper like a prius but its also not a complete hog like the Raptor you just said you got. It's like a city Dad that wears hiking boots everywhere.
@botcrack I agree 👍🏽 I think the "jack of all trades but master of none" sums this car up perfectly. We do love this car but for the people really looking to go off the beaten path, there are better choices. You gotta sacrifice capability for comfort or vice versa. People seem to be more drawn to this video but I also made a video on the things we love about this car. Of course this car vs our lifted raptor is night and day but I still think this car would be great if you take a road trip across the country and hit all four seasons. It's not a 4x4 but the AWD system in this car is the best, in my opinion, out of all the other AWDs out there. Hondas IVTM AWD system is another great AWD system as well. Everyone else's AWD is just a glorified FWD.
@@youraveragejoeadventures I like that Hyundai allows you to lock AWD 50/50. Even in my friend's lowly little Kona, you can lock the AWD. Some say it only works below 25mph, but I haven't found any info pertaining to that. I swear, it seems to stay locked at all speeds. Yes, it's not a very basic AWD set-up, but the option to lock it is nice. Most people probably never, ever use it, like the hill decent option the Kona has as well.
@fp5495 I have no experience with Hyundais. I've only seen reviews on them here on TH-cam, but a majority of them say that it's just not as good off road as other options. Most people don't take their off-road cars off road, but we definitely do. The more we go out, the more we realize we need more capability. The Subaru was great for us, but even with that car, we hit its limitations. At the end of the day, it's going to depend on the person and what they are trying to do with their car. 👍🏽
@@tigerjessi nice! That 2018 Subaru Outback 3.6R had a regular 6 speed transmission before they switched everything to the CVT. That was a great car! 👍🏽
I'm surprised it's been 2 years and it still hasn't been recalled. For the price of this car, it should have a proper working infotainment. Even our older 2019 Subaru Forester Sport had a very responsive touchscreen with physical buttons for the main functions you need to adjust while driving! They kinda went backwards with this one. They traded screen functionality just so it looks better in my opinion.
I had 2022 Outback Wilderness and as much as I liked the car, I hated....Hated that CVT, so after 2 years, I sold that subaru. All that stuff on your "I hate list" was also on my list too.
@peterchamala1525 we wanted to love this car but at the end of the day, we needed more capability for off roading that the CVT struggled in at more moderate trails and that touchscreen was really awful to use. If you haven't seen it yet, check out what we traded it for here. th-cam.com/video/3sS31GQ8yD8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=L7W-wObQGE1qy0ay
@peterchamala1525 nice truck! That was one of the trucks we had on our list too. After trading it for our Ford Raptor, we haven't looked back since. 😎 It's been night and day going off road now. No CVT and a proper 10 speed transmission!
@peterchamala1525 Toyota recalled over 100,000 vehicles across all their cars newer than 2023, so we both dodged a bullet there. The ranger is nice but after test driving the Raptor, that full size cab was hard to get away from. It felt way too small after coming from the bigger car. Do you off road a lot too or you just wanted a truck?
Apparently that, soft roading ability limitation "IS", the case. But all the marketing, reputation, praise by so many and typical get off the beaten path and "rough it" fandom tell a much different story. You don't hear, "buy this vehicle to ONLY stay on smooth and level unpaved surfaces and roads." Honestly admitting what it's made to best travel on is fine and I'm OK with that. But that isn't what so many say, claim and market this vehicle for.
@Chubbydippin the commercials did make it seem like it was made to handle the harder trails but I personally had to turn around at some mid level trails. I will say it did handle gravel, dirt, snow and mud really well when it was flat. It all depends on the driver too and we just liked to play it safe because we didn't want to be stranded in the middle of nowhere if we pushed the car too hard.
If it was me: 1) Next oil change, Valvoline Restore and Protect 2) More frequent oil changes, with Turbo, 5,000 MAX 3) Remove Cargo Box 4) Keep highway speeds at 70 mph MAX I think you will get much better milage.
@geraldf.1222 unfortunately with all the overlading gear we have, a cargo box is necessary. Of course i know it kills the MPGs but when going dispersed camping, you have to bring everything with you. No running water, no electricity, no bathrooms, means you gotta bring it yourself. And we keep the trunk space open because we sleep in the back. We always changed it at 5000 miles but that doesn't make this car more capable. It's very good on soft trails, dirt roads, mud, rain but the trails we want to do required a little bit more capability. But we did love this car while we had it. 👍🏽
@Totalyrediclous998 We went a totally different route and picked up a Ford Raptor. The Subaru was great but as our adventures grew, so did our needs for more capability. We enjoyed it while we had it though. 👍🏽
@spencermorrow2899 I agree. Which is why we got rid of it when our adventures got a little more technical. Check out what we replaced it with here and tell me what you think. th-cam.com/video/3sS31GQ8yD8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=Iu448F2FmGFcQw2e
If that was you pushing the button on the info center at the start of this video I can understand why its so laggy hell if I do that to my home computer it goes ape shit and dosnt no what to do.
It just didn't make sense to us because our older 2019 Subaru Forester Sport had a great touch screen that was quick and responsive! I don't know how a newer subaru would have a worse screen responding screen. And you have to deal with this while driving😮
I like my OBW but looks like I’lll be buying the new Audi Q5 redesign in 2025. Looks nice. Spy shots of new Outback out there now and not liking what I see. Boxy. Not my style.
Sounds like you didn’t research it in depth. You need to trade it in. Those things you ABSOLUTELY HATE about it aren’t going away. Like you said, you should probably get a 4Runner
We did do our research and still liked the car for what it is. Our adventure needs just evolved and wanted something more capable after htting the trails for a couple of years now. But we're way ahead of you. We traded it in back in January almost 6 months ago. I made a video of what traded it in for on my page. Check that out if you haven't seen it yet and let me know what you think 🤙🏽
You mentioned some good points but this is not the best video. Why did you pipe in that moaning music in the background? And you don’t show any images of what you’re talking about it’s just a close-up of the face of this guy talking into a microphone.I made it about three minutes and then I had to bail.
@cubehire3653 sorry about the music if it's not to your liking. It's just the style of videos I make. I'm kinda new to making videos so I really appreciate the feedback so i can continue to improve. But what point do you want me to show you pictures of? I'll be happy to show you. In terms of the infotainment screen, i showed a video of the screen literally being laggy. We really wanted to love this car but after owning it and discovering how it actually is to live with, I'm just trying to share my personal experience because, in our opinion, for the price of this car, we think there are better options. I know everyone's experience will be different which is why I also made a video on the things we loved about this car. This is still a really good car for the average person but we just needed more capability for our own needs. If you haven't seen it, this is the link to that video. Things we LOVED about the Subaru Outback Wilderness after 25,000 miles - th-cam.com/video/-mEVKUfmxJY/w-d-xo.htmlsi=8DmO_yKMc7ApRR0d
I agree 👍🏽 but we already replaced this car. After overlanding with it in the last year and a half, we knew we needed something just a little bit more capable. As we grew in our adventures, the trails have also elevated in difficulty. If you haven't done so, I did an episode of what we replaced it with here. th-cam.com/video/3sS31GQ8yD8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=tc2IF5XPI6amU9Ep
Automobile infotainment system in general is trash and risks trashing cars because of it. The general architecture of Subaru trying to be an electronics manufacturer is the central problem. Instead of an infotainment system, Subaru should have developed an app that interfaces with the car and let the user BYOT (bring your own tablet) like days of the past when one could change radio heads. Manufacturers keep coming up with ideas to tie up the user to the company product to the point of ignoring user’s needs. It’s ridiculous.
I agree 👍🏽 We wouldn't mind this system as long as it works properly but for this particular system, it's just way too laggy. Everything requires you to take you eyes off the road to adjust anything too. Hopefully they fix it for future cars. We have gotten rid of this car already and replaced it with a Ford Raptor. The screen in that is like an Ipad when it comes to how responsive it is. I remember how everyone used to buy their own decks and build their sound system. Now companies make it harder to do that because the entire cars functions are integrated into it. For the price of this car, in my opinion, the screen should have been better and more user friendly.
@@youraveragejoeadventures Raptor? Looking forward to seeing it in the future videos! I have an old 4EAT trans right before they phased them out and am glad to have it. But the early FB25 is another story with their poorly done piston rings and no low oil sensors, just bad combination. Subaru is probably sticking with their CVT but really should add a low gear before the CVT kinda like what Toyota has with their CVT or just go with something like 8-speed auto.
@hyojoonus they will probably stick with CVTs because they're cheaper and supposed to be more efficient. Luckily, they still work great in the sand and snow, though.
Sorry, horrible idea. Software and hardware engineer here and that's the worst idea I've heard in a while. Letting you pull out the whole unit and replace it should still be around, but bringing your own tablet doesn't even make sense
@@fuglong Why? You think you can make a better iPad or Samsung tablet, cellphone, etc? You’d have less things to mess up. You should get another line of work instead of making people’s lives harder.
Subarus have always been a point A to point B car, save for the STI (which they no longer make). They are all safe, practical, but don't really excel in any specific area. They are the jack of all trade, master of non type car. I had a '17 OB 3.6L, loved the motor but the MPG sucked.
@LeftenantMalachi this car would have been better with a regular 6 speed auto. Since we go off road a lot, the CVT really let us down. We love Subarus though and I know this won't be the last one we get. We have since traded this car in for our Ford Raptor and it's been night and day for us, especially on more technical trails.
Sounds like you guys bought the wrong car vs your expectations. Should have researched it better. Dont bash it because it cant do super difficult off roading. It wasn't designed for where you want to go. 😅
@kennybinns6279 I'm not bashing it. I'm just giving my honest experience with the car to make sure people know what they are getting. The commercials for this car had them going up imogene pass as a stock car lol So im making sure someone thats looking for a more off road oriented car can learn from our mistakes. It was overall a great car while we owned it. If you havent seen it, we also made a video of the things we loved about the car after 25,000 miles. Watch that and see if you still think I'm bashing it 🫡 Everyones got different needs and we have since traded it for a more off road capable car to fit our personal needs. 👍🏽
Mr 25 thousand miles review of Subaru outback,listen all cars are not 💯,but cars with issues of Engine and Transmission are cartigorised with main issues. But these small shortfalls are in every car,just be happy to be having this outstanding performing car , especially with the best Symmetrical all wheel that beat,and is beating all Toyota, Chevrolet,Honda etc
@rufaimuhammadaminu6873 I also made a video of the things I love about this car after 25000 miles. You should check it out if you haven't done so. But I'm also not sponsored and like to give my honest opinion about the good AND the bad with my reviews. Like you said, all cars have their faults and I'm just sharing my experience while I had this car. We have since gotten rid of it because we off road a lot and for us, it was worth it to get a true 4x4. I made a video on what we replaced it with if you want to check it out. 👍🏽 Also if you haven't heard, Toyota has released a huge engine recall on all their cars. Ive owned toyotas 4 in my lifetime too and currently own a prius prime right now and never had issues with them but all their 2023 and newer cars are are having engine problems. Even one of the most reliable known company's can have a catastrophic recall. Look it up.
Of course we loved this car when we first got it but after some real world experience with it, it just wasn't what we wanted for our overlading adventures. Maybe when/if they put a regular automatic transmission in this, we will give it another chance. The infotainment looks nice from a aesthetic point but I also hope they put back the physical buttons for the things you need to control while driving (radio/music, climate control, etc..) but they also need to fix/update the software so it's not so laggy. Very unusable when it's so slow to respond to touches.
What year Outback Wilderness do you have? We have the 2022 which is the first year they released it. I've seen the 2023 and 2024 have a better responsive screen. Either that or we got a dud in ours lol 😆
Maybe it's because I really hate certain things about this car. Really hate it. Really Really hate it. Really hate it. Really hate it. 😎 Thanks for watching though. 👍🏽
@BarakTheWonderer I agree, some people have told me that I'm not thorough enough with my explanations. Didnt mean to take it out on this person. Sorry about that sir! 🤙🏽
Can’t stress how bad ( unsafe) infotainment is.
I agree 👍🏽 That's why it's our number 1 most hated thing about this car. I hate having to take my eyes off the screen to do anything and how unresponsive it is! Hopefully, Subaru fixes this with a software update.
Is there anything that can be done? Am I really going to avoid a car because of a $400 android tablet?!
So if you are using the infotainment while driving and you get into an accident, you will tell the responding officer that it’s the fault of the infotainment? It’s dangerous.
Taking your eyes off the road for any reason is not safe (officer).
Transmission: Do you go into manual mode and choose 1st gear as needed when offroading?
If you go offroad, be sure to drain & fill your CVT fluid at 36K intervals.
[And change your PCV at 36K]
MPG: we get mid to high 20s, 24-28mpg, on a consistent basis, as high as 32-34 sometimes between fill-ups. The roof box may really be putting a dent in your MPG.
The roof box kills our MPGs for sure. The CVT doesn't have real gears. It only simulates them. Keeping it in gear 1 doesn't give you any more crawl ratio. The car is great on light dirt trails and maintained forest roads but once you into any situation where you have to go slow or use momentum or risk damaging your car, you'll see that the CVT can't pull you up. It has a slight delay in laying down the power. Try this if you can. Pull your car right up in front of a curb with the wheels touching the curb, fully stop, and then try to crawl up that curb, you'll see what I mean. Now, imagine that on a dirt road with only one rear wheel having grip and the other up in the air. We wanted to keep this car but traded it in at 27000 miles. After adventuring with it for 27k miles, our adventures have evolved, and so have the trails we want to go on. So we decided to get a 4x4 with lockers and it has been night and day with the trails we go on. Not saying the Subaru wasnt capable but we knew we wanted something more capable for all the times we had to turn around because of trail conditions. See what we replaced it with here!
th-cam.com/video/3sS31GQ8yD8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=_Ge-GfhQP9Dbaudp
There is no gears.
@@ryanb8736 yup, only fake simulated gears in a CVT.
@@ryanb8736 true, but there are gear ratios that the CVT can be held at using the Manual function, just like the gear ratios of "actual" gears in an AT or MT. The logical difference is minimal, and it is a worthy thing to try. The computer will try to start at as high a ratio as possible for fuel economy, but forcing it into a low ratio may produce better results.
I get 24 mpg with my f150 4x4 5.0 poor mileage for a wagon
One thing i dont understood the "wilderness" model is why would they put their HVAC function in the tablet. If im out in the wilderness with dirty hands or in the cold with gloves on trying to mess with the HVAC controls in the tablet is just backwards thinking. And yes, I've already heard many complaints about the touchscreen working poorly in cold weather condition.
I agree with you 👍🏽 I think most car companies are adapting to the modern look of a big touch screen in their cars. I don't mind the touch screen as long as they have physical buttons that I can memorize and use while driving so I don't have to take my eyes off the screen while im driving. It's nice to have a big screen for navigation and notifications, but for this car in particular, it was just unresponsive at times. We had the 2022 Subaru Outback Wilderness so maybe they updated it in the 2023 and 2024 models?
Honestly, the box probably takes a good chuck of mpg. With my crossbars exposed I noticed 1-2mpg drop.
It definitely did. But since we car camped inside the car, we needed a cargo box for all of our gear. Of course it still got better gas mileage than a truck or suv but we didnt mind trading MPGs for more capability.
You're underrating how much drag the Thule adds to MPG
You're right, I'm sure that thing is definitely killing my mpgs.
Absolutely
Take it off when you’re not using it
@@troyesch6203 we do 👍🏽 averaged around 21mpgs with the cargo box off.
Try looking out the windsheild and pay attention to driving
👍
@ your average Joe I have a 22 and I have the same complaints as well. I wonder if the 24 is any better? I haven’t actually heard from anyone that has one. What year is yours?
Ours is the 22 as well. We bought it when the wilderness model first came out. I've seen some of the 2024 reviews and to me, it looks the same. It'll be another couple of years before a new redesign, especially with this version only coming out 2 years ago. We've since gotten rid of ours and upgraded to a new overland/offroad car at the start of this year. If you haven't seen it, I uploaded that episode on my page as well 👍🏽
I'm a '24 owner. Same shit.
@saintless the software could be fixed but it's up to Subaru. I'm sure they are aware of the problem because it's all over the forums online.
The screen can be updated mine responds instantly take it to the dealership and get the update unless you are computer savvy then you can do it yourself updating it will fix most of your dislikes but the cvt is what it is and my thermo control valve failed at 35000 miles thankfully it was covered by the factory warranty if not it would be an expensive repair
@gabejf1 we updated the software on the infotainment and I even made a video of it on my page to help other people out. You can find that video on my page. It is still slow for us unfortunately. To us, it feels like they went backwards and cheaped out on the screen. Before this car we had a 2019 Subaru Forester Sport with a touch screen that responded as fast as an IPhone. So to have a newer car (we had the 2022 Subaru Outback Wilderness) with a slower screen than one of their older cars is a little disappointing. There are even older cars than that that has a better responding screen. Like I said in the video, most cars nowadays have integrated most of the functions on a touchscreen, it should be something that works well because other than the steering wheel, it is the thing you interact with every single time you drive your car. Not everyone off roads but we definitely do.The CVT transmission stall during a steep climb of an easy dirt trail forces you to have to use momentum which isnt always easy to do depending on the trail and momentum might lead you to damage your car. Seeing the advertisement for this car going up Imogene Pass in Colorado made it seem like it's ready to take on those kind of trails but lesson learned for us. This is mostly a softroader which is ok. This car is great if it lives on the pavement but to us, we needed more capability for our specific needs. This will be a great car for most but we have since gotten rid of this car for a 4x4 because some of the trails we wanted to do required it. If you haven't seen it yet, check out what we traded it for here. th-cam.com/video/3sS31GQ8yD8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=sLthBLgNiyjfPatv
Definitely agree with the laggy infotainment system and Auto Start/Stop. I've had my Wilderness for about two years and have consistently got 24 mpg.
Maybe I have a heavy foot with the gas and just don't know it 😅 We just traded ours in for a Ford Raptor!
Install an auto stop eliminator. Works like a dream
@fazo4353 too late, we already traded it in for a Ford Raptor 👍🏽
I have a 2000 forester and i average 23 to 24 and thats fully loaded with gear and thats with a 4 speed with overdrive, but mpg bad or not still love subaru's
We love our Subaru too, which is why this is our second one. We came from a 2019 Forester Sport.
Try using the cruise control as much as possible. Major change in mileage.
I remember that did help for sure. 👍
It's meant as a "soft roader" not an off roader. It's for pulling a horsebox along the dirt path or driving across the pastures. I think You're asking/expecting too much
@gibbykirwan7788 Subaru has this specific car advertised going up Imogene Pass in Colorado, so I guess we did expect too much. We fell for the false advertisement. But lesson learn, we needed more capability and this car just isnt for us. We have since gotten rid of it for a true 4x4. If you haven't seen it, check it out here. th-cam.com/video/3sS31GQ8yD8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=4i4PpkuI4SOYomFW
@@youraveragejoeadventures Which video does SUBARU advertise a stock car going up Imogene pass.???? There are videos of the gen 5 Subaru Outback making it up there is REAL!!!! videos from JonDZ th-cam.com/video/SCOy7mKiyN4/w-d-xo.html
@lgstylo3124 it's the video they play at the dealership. And JonDZ is a friend of mine. We just camped by Hwy 395 this summer. This is him behind me and even he got rid of his Subaru for the same reasons I did. th-cam.com/users/shortsLKK7jrQsiGI?si=fdvz1QuDxBbFgx51
@@youraveragejoeadventures NICE HE GOT AWD HONDA
@@lgstylo3124 yup, his Honda build is pretty nice.
I also hate the auto stop/start and the obstacle avoidance function. I’ve turned mine off in my CR-V because it had almost caused accidents by turning my steering wheel back into the lane when I was changing lanes or getting off the freeway. It thinks you’re wandering out of the lane and corrects for you. So you have to pull the steering wheel really hard in the direction you want to go. Or it will hit the brakes for no reason like when you’re turning or parallel parking. I was thinking of switching to the outback this year. Do you know if you can turn that function off in the Subaru like you can in the Honda?
@shayzoo2 yes you can, you can turn both functions off completely. But it resets everytime you turn the car off/on, so you just gotta turn it off everytime before you start driving. 👍🏽 Let me know if you end up getting another car.
@@youraveragejoeadventures omg. Every time. That sucks. In the CR-V it stays off until you turn it back on. Hmmm. That may change things.
@shayzoo2 unless you plan on going off road or on trails, it might be better to stick with your Honda. We had to get rid of our Subaru because we wanted to do more extreme trails that the Subaru is just not made for. We learned that we needed a 4x4 and so we had to trade it in. If you haven't seen it, check out what we got to replace it for our off road adventures here. th-cam.com/video/3sS31GQ8yD8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=DbAF1VnCyz6-0IIX
@@youraveragejoeadventures yeah I saw that one. We have a ford F-350 crew cab that can go pretty much anywhere we want to go. But I like to car camp and the new CR-V I would HAVE to get a hybrid to they the trim level I want, but the bigger issue is it no longer has a flat cargo area when you lay the seats down. WHY OH WHY HONDA???? So annoying. Sucks for car camping and also for moving my kids in and out of their dorms. I will no longer be able to slide their fridge and furniture right into the Honda. I’m so bummed. Maybe I just need to start over from scratch and look at some brands I usually don’t. I just really don’t need a third row anymore. My kiddos are all grown so I’m interested in better mileage now.
@shayzoo2 i hear that. We have a plug in Toyota Prius Prime as our everyday commute car. Both have their purposes👍🏽 any other cars you thinking off?
I think this is a very important video and I appreciate you making it. I don't think you should down play your experiences by saying "This is just me nitpicking" because some of that stuff is seriously important. Lagging infotainment system is completely unacceptable in 2024 and it's a serious safety risk. It should not be doing that.
Stopping on the highway? OMG that is SOOOO VERY DANGEROUS!!! Most people don't even realize this but there is a minimum speed limit on the highway of 40 MPH. You can actually get a ticket for going too slow on a highway. WHY?! Because the closing speed between 70 MPH and 40 MPH might be only 30 MPH but that's A HUGE difference in speed and with people that are simply driving on the highway, their reaction times are lowered. So coming to a complete stop is unacceptable and is a MASSIVE safety risk.
It's unconscionable that Subaru does this and doesn't allow it to be turned off. WOW! Talk about setting the company up for a HUGE lawsuit....this is it. Anyway thanks for the feeback. I'm definitely avoiding subaru until these things are addressed.
@jontnoneya3404 @jontnoneya3404 thank you for the positive feedback! We really wanted to love this car but after the honeymoon phase with it, you definitely notice some things that need to be improved. Since we do off road more than the average person, we have since gotten rid of this car and replaced it with a true 4x4. Check it out here if you haven't done so🙂 th-cam.com/video/3sS31GQ8yD8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=qAuthtlJTtjMKfsM
@@youraveragejoeadventures - will do.I'm interested to learn what you got instead and how you like it. I'm currently in the market and the Subarus were looking pretty good but not not. Holy crap.
@jontnoneya3404 for us, off road capability was high on our priority list so unless you off road a lot, it might not make sense for you. But let me know what you think whenever you have time to watch it. 👍🏽
@@youraveragejoeadventures - haha Raptor huh? Well not what I expected at all but that's a proper off road vehicle for sure. I think I saw where you said you're giong to look for a camper but you might want to check out Project Farm, I think it was their channel that said "Why you should never buy a camper" and it was an enlightening video. You might want to look around for it cuz it might not have been his. He was saying just the sheer management of it all made it the worst option for him. Obviously might NOT be the worst for you but definitely do some research as I was surprised what it's like to live with a truck camper. he said basically there are way better options. Anyways - hope y'all have fun and I'm about to dump my 2013 Ford Explorer sport cuz of tranny issues at 78k miles. HINT Don't ever get a tranny flush and fill EVER. Just do drain and fill at the recommended mileage. Flushing pushes particles up into the TCU which clogs it and causes lack of fluid issues. NOT GOOD. Anyways - good luck and your baby is adorable! Cheers
@jontnoneya3404 @jontnoneya3404 thank you sir! We've been in the market for a truck camper for 6 months now and can't really decide on one. We're kind of stuck between the Bruin XL by Orudesign or the Tune M1 by TuneOutdoors but I don't know why I get this unsure feeling about it. I really like the box style truck campers and being able to stand up in it in any weather to rock the baby to sleep, stretch my legs, and cook whether it's raining or snowing. If you haven't seen either camper, I would just google to see what they look like and you'll know what I mean. That being said, none of them is making me want to jump the gun, even though they all look decent. I don't think there is a perfect one out there but I wanna hear someone with an honest review vs people that just bought them and are in love with their "new" camper. Thank you for the recommendation. I will definitely check him out to further help me decide if this is what we really want because none of these options are cheap! Most of the decent ones are about $12-15k and can get even pricier once you add your own customizations to them. So we really want to be sure before we throw down the funds for them. I'll let you know what we decide, if we even get one, in the future. Here is our first adventure in the Raptor that I KNOW the Subaru would have gotten stuck in because we took the Subaru here too and scrape the front bumper and back bumper so many times and it was during the dry summer season. Cheers!
th-cam.com/video/Dgpg8hHi5zI/w-d-xo.htmlsi=wVh1oVqomcPjB9gw
I’m just going to keep fixing my 2007 Outback, 2.5L manual transmission. I love the car. Despite some mechanic woes. Has modern luxuries without the nannying safety features and lack of physical controls. I find it to be a worthy platform to fix. I have not been impressed at all with our local dealership. Me and many people I know have had issues with their service. And the lounge area is just very worn down and dingy compared to VW, Ford or Toyota dealerships I’ve been to.
@zanesutherland406 I agree 👍🏽 I prefer the manual transmission and even the 6 speed auto compared to all the CVT transmission all these cars are getting nowadays, especially for going off road.
you know there are updates for the infotainment? Subaru sends messages to you about an update being available, and if you thought about taking it to Subaru they would fix it for you; and you do know there are paddles and a manual mode that you could change into, not to mention that it is a turbo car, the turbo doesnt begin to spool until about 3k, so the “lag” you experience is because of the engine
we updated iit all the time. I even made a video here on my channel on how to update the infotainment system to help other people out. here is a link to that video here th-cam.com/video/67tzoM-Efk8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=qwmbE68RyJntHrNg
the paddles dont really do anything. it has a CVT. it only simulates gear changes. i think this issue is more how the car is tuned and programmed. it gears hunts all the time. maybe this isnt true for everyone but im only giving my own personal experience. maybe i got a lemon? but if i got a lemon then so be it but thats what we experienced owning this car from 0 miles brand new to over 25000 miles.
If you have a Wilderness and didnt experience any of this that i envy you. i wish ours worked well but it just didnt.
dont forget without HVAC you will get those advertised MPG numbers that what i noticed at least. any reason why you change from good mpg with forester to outback?
@legion1630 we car camp in the back of the car because we camp during all 4 seasons. The Outback gave us just a little more room for my wife and I to sleep in the back of the wagon. I had to sleep diagonally in the forester. The MPGs just surprised us because it was a 4 cylinder but the turbo and the higher ground clearance plus out cargo box on top really killed the MPGs. It was getting as much as a 4Runner or a 4x4 truck but at least those are more capable off road which for us, was really important. But we have since gotten rid of the Outback too because we needed a more capable vehicle with the trails we were trying to do. If you haven't seen it, you can check out what we replaced it with here. th-cam.com/video/3sS31GQ8yD8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=54LkBG7YKGwoYWWE
Never had an issue with gas mileage averaging 20+ and that’s including going on some pretty easy trails here. Car is lifted with an Iron Man lift, some HD bars on top and fallen at4ws with a higher side wall. Start system is a non-issue it can be avoided by not depressing the brake all the way. Or disabling it once the entertainment comes up not a big deal.
@@Locutus720 Did you have an XL cargo box on top as well? I also live up in the hills where my commute is.
@@youraveragejoeadventures no box 2 adults and one child in car seat. I get about 24 to 26 MPG. With the Subaru branded cargo box I get about 21 on a trip up to Maine from NJ. Granted the elevation is nothing extreme so there’s that. It’s only when driving through the Adirondacks that I might see dips into the 19 MPG range fully loaded. As someone who owns multiple Subaru vehicles, the wilderness is the second worst Subaru? I’ve owned only behind the Tribeca in terms of gas mileage. A buyer has to understand that although it has a 2.4 L turbo charge engine, it’s also pushing up heavier weight and it’s gearing, final drive is also different than that of the normal outback.
@Locutus720 I agree. Our 2019 Forester Sport was getting 28-30 mpgs. In my area, we do a lot of off roading. So we thought the OBW would be perfect but it still struggled on the trails we attempted. The MPGs isn't as important to us as the capability is. Everyone has different needs and uses but we off road more than the average. It was just a surprise that for us with all our cargo, it was averaging close to what a 4x4 SUV or truck was getting. So we have since gotten rid of this car for more capability. If you haven't seen it, this is what we replaced it with. th-cam.com/video/3sS31GQ8yD8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=7zbNn-Q7iVXR2U22
Nice! I’ve been toying around with the idea of either going Gladiator Rubi or Bronco, prob is both manufacturers reliability ratings are horrible, with ford leading the way in total recalls (citation might be needed as I haven’t looked in 6 months) and Stellantis still pricing their vehicles as luxury brands (they’re absolutely not!) and the northeast mid Atlantic region isn’t exactly known for its super technical trails with great views makes makes it a hold for my adventure dad wagon😅
@Locutus720 Suprisingly, Toyota is leading recalls right now with all their new redesign 4runners, land cruisers and even the Lexus LX models all in recall. Over 100,000 cars recalled so far. Our Ford Raptor not only has more interior space and of course more cargo with the truck bed, but of course it's been way more capable which is what we needed. I can't wait to test it out in Pismo beach to see it in Baja mode. But even harder trails have been easy. Of course we're getting 16 MPGs but compared to 18-20 in our Subaru, I would easily trade some MPGs for what this truck can do. I've had 4 subarus as well and it's just been night and night in terms of capability. I know for sure the Subaru would have struggled on this trail. It can do it but maybe with some body damage lol. th-cam.com/users/shortsjMQ7etx6D58?si=4-L64hmurmNy-LLv
I feel fortunate that in my 2024 Forester Wilderness I have the older 10" infotainment system, so I rarely need to mess with the infotainment system. I also only average 17-20 MPG, but I'm more aggressive with my driving.
I haven't had any issues with the OAS causing me to stop for no reason, but it does like to yell at me when I'm going around a corner and there are vehicles parked on the side of the road.
I also agree about wishing I could turn off the auto start/stop permanently...
@KyutaSyuko we had a 2019 Subaru Forester Sport before this car and the 8 inch infotainment screen in that car was really good. No lag, super responsive and it still had all the physical buttons for the things you need to control while driving. I wouldn't mind the newer bigger screen but having a laggy screen in 2024 is kind of not acceptable, especially when everything is integrated into it. Hopefully they fix this when they do a redesign in a couple of years.
@@youraveragejoeadventures I apologize, I meant 8", not 10". The only downside is that the front cam is displayed on the smaller screen on top of the dashboard.
@KyutaSyuko oh ya, I remember that as well. I also remember my Forester getting almost 30 MPGs! Crazy how much a one inch lift and all terrain terrain tires can do to the fuel consumption. We have since gotten rid of both of our Subarus because they just couldn't keep up on some of the more challenging trails we wanted to do. If you haven't seen it, check out what our current adventure vehicle is here. th-cam.com/video/3sS31GQ8yD8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=vWAmmAbXI2he4MMR
Re Auto Start-Stop. You can buy a chip online that wires into the Eyesight camera and permanently turn off Auto start stop.
@@Mike-vd2qt i saw that. 👍🏽 Unfortunately, we have since gotten rid of this car for a 4x4. Our adventures needed more capability that this car just wasn't meant for. We loved it when we had it though👍🏽
@@youraveragejoeadventures Yep, I have a 2022 Outback, was thinking of a new Tacoma or Tundra for camping, but the current 2024 Toyota problems scared me off. Keeping the Subie for now. ☮
@@Mike-vd2qt good call. The last generation might be the one to go to since they were out for a while and refined all the problems with it. It'll probably be a couple of years until they do the same with all the new generation Toyota cars.
I love the infotainment as far as usung the gps but in florida it gets so hot the screens wear out quick
@afox9000 i did like how you can send directions from your phone straight to your cars infotainment with the Subaru app too.
Hey bro. Im picking this car up next friday. What roof rack and cargo box do you have?
@mlmora09 I have the Thule roof rails and a XL Thule cargo box. They worked great on ours and highly recommended 👍🏽 Congratulations on the new car!
Thank you! This is my first big car buy. I'm very excited to have the wilderness!
@@mlmora09 You will love it! 👍🏽 Are you planning on taking it on the trails?
Mine with at4s, lift and diff locker gets 24mpg. It averaged 27 prior to mods. Something is wrong with your obw. Forrester way more capable?? lol
@aarontrotter5188 it might of been the XL cargo box we had on top. We kept it on for a majority of the time. But we have since gotten rid of our OBW and replaced it with our Ford Raptor. It's been lifted, 35 inch mud tires and custom front bumper to give us better approach angles. We have 16in of rocker clearance and sits over a foot off the ground. Were getting 15 mpg in it lol but we are happy to trade the mpgs for how much more capable our Raptor is. And it's been way more fun than our OBW. Check out the latest episode on my channel to see it in action 👍🏽
th-cam.com/video/Dgpg8hHi5zI/w-d-xo.htmlsi=t_tOjNa_4YxQ_uj7
Never had an issue with gas mileage averaging 20+ and that’s including going on some pretty easy trails here. Car is lifted with an Iron Man lift, some HD bars on top and fallen at4ws with a higher side wall.
Do you change the cvt fluid every 30k ?
I sold it before I hit 30k 🥲
Subaru recommends that you never change it unless you are doing heavy towing or a lot of off roading.
@@StevenShepard-z7r hilarious 😆 that just means they want you to buy a new one soon after the warranty expires.
Hi, I am in Australia and have purchased a 2023 Subaru Outback XT Tourer 2.4L. Can you tell me if your car is turbo or naturally aspirated engine? I find my car awesome in most environments. Cheers!
It is the 2.4L turbo engine as well. The 2 cars are pretty identical but the Subaru Outback Wilderness has a slightly higher ground clearance and different gearing for the Xmode functions. Congratulations on your new car! 👍🏽
You need to update the infotainment software. The video shows a very old version of it. They’ve been at least 3 updates since that screen layout addressing many of your complaints
I updated it. I made a review on how to update the software on your infotainment system on my channel. Ours is still laggy even after the software update. Maybe we're the unlucky ones who just have a dud ? 🥲
Can't complain about MPG with a cargo box up top.
@marcusvaldes true, but even without the cargo box, we would get around 20 mpgs. We do love in a hilly area though.
Are you talking about TCV or CVT issues. I heard of TCV problems -- under extended warranty now, I do believe.
I don't know what TCV is. In this video, I'm definitely talking about the CVT (Continously Variable Transmission). It's all under warranty, but I only mention it in this video because this car is advertised as an outdoor, offroad capable car but its CVT, in my opinion, holds it back in some offroad scenarios.
I just traded my 2019 for a 2025 wilderness, i hope those problems are fixed. i did expect the gas milage to drop .
@goneoutside1011 congratulations on the new car! Let me know how it is now. Hopefully Subaru addressed some of the issues we were having with it. We also traded our Subaru Outback Wilderness in but not for another Outback. We overland and go offroad a lot so we had to get something with more off road capability. Whenever you have a chance, check out what we traded for here!
th-cam.com/video/Dgpg8hHi5zI/w-d-xo.htmlsi=OJf_s6EZUb2mdeHx
2024 Model?
@neillee3793 nope, ours was the 2022 model.
@@youraveragejoeadventures Ok thx, we have not noticed the Infotainment screen lag issue as you describe in our 2024 Outback Wilderness - perhaps they improved it - not sure. Other issues you mention we agree on the MPG, we hoped to get better - for us here in Sitka, Alaska not a big use, only 14 miles of road available - ha!
@neillee3793 nice! Yes, i heard they've improved a lot of the issues we were having with the newer models. That's what we get for getting a brand new model on the first year on production! Haha!
I had the same expierence with the cliision avoidance system it evem did it in the fog with noone around..crazy
I'm glad they have such a system in place because in the event of a real crash, it could be the difference between crashing at full speed and maybe reducing the impact of such crash. I'm sure it will improve with time which will be good for all of us. 👍🏽
Don't have any glitchy situations to report on my Outback (non-wilderness) and I average about 30 mpg consistently. I don't do off-road other than the occasional unpaved road. I am curious about whether my outback could go where yours has gone. In other words, given what you said about not risking it, I wonder what the advantage of the wilderness is for you. the touch screen is not phone-quick but it's not unusable either. I have no complaints there.
@altairjb we did a lot of off roading and so I would say the ground clearance and the gearing. We have since gotten rid of it for a 4x4 because at the end of the day, we needed more capability. It just couldn't do some of the trails we were trying to go on. I know everyone's needs are different but for our situation, I would rather have more capability than good MPGs. The MPGs were just a little shocking to us becuase it was only a 4 cylinder engine like a civic, but the turbos and height of this car made it eat gas like it was a v8 or something. The 4runner got about 15 MPGs but at least that car has a true 4x4 and better wheel articulation. Great car while we had it though. If you wanted to see what we traded it in for, check it out here. th-cam.com/video/3sS31GQ8yD8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=3w0rxJxWwtu0l9lW
@@youraveragejoeadventures that makes sense. I just came across that one video by chance and I was honestly curious. People have different needs for sure. I did not buy my outback for offroading, that's for sure, and I had my mind set on the atmo engine. But I am cheap, ahahah. The extra space (compared to my Mazda 3), the AWD and wanting a wagon that was decent on gas, that's what sold me on the outback.
@altairjb yes, having a wagon that could get us through the snow and dirt was awesome. It also let us car camp in the back with all the space you get when the seats are folded. A really good value and a lot of car for the price. It was the jack of all trades kinda car. Not really the best at anything but can do a little bit of everything.
I have a 2020 Outback Onyx. And I totally agree with the unsafeness of the infotainment screen. It blackout on me while I was driving in heavy rain in the cold season and lost access to my defroster. Causing me to pull off some random exit and waiting for it to turn back on.
Oh wow! That sounds bad! It almost makes the car unusable if it goes out like that. The worse we ever had it was during a really bad fog and I was trying to adjust the climate control. We already couldn't see let alone trying to look down to adjust things. But yours sounds way more scary! Glad you're ok though👍🏽
Defroster is not on the infotainment screen. It's a button you push.
If the CVT isn't up to the trails you drive , you're in the wrong car, rather buy a vehicle with a low range
I agree 👍🏽 We also have a lifted Ford Raptor that we take on more technical trails. Also the outback has a really long nose that gives it a pretty poor approach angle as well. But it does ride well in light forest roads and light trails.
What is your MPG when you remove the skybox??
I was getting around 20-22 MPGs when we took off our cargo box. We do live up in the hills though. So that kills our MPGs having to drive up to go home everyday.
Why can’t you use the manual paddles to keep the car in a lower gear? What am I missing?
Keeping it in low gear doesn't give the car more crawl ratio. That, along with the sway bar, doesn't give the wheels much travel when you need more articulation. When our Subaru is on uneven terrain, it'll have one tire in the air because it lacks that wheel articulation vs in our Ford Raptor or any other body on frame truck, the wheel will stay planted on the ground even on uneven surfaces because of better wheel articulation. Look up wheel articulation while off-roading, and you'll see what I mean. Also, a CVT transmission just simulates gears, it doesnt actually use "gears." You can look that up as well. The crawl ratio in our Subaru Outback Wilderness is about 15:1 vs 52:1 in our Raptor. You can have all the power, but it's useless if you can't put it down. With that being said, our Outback Wilderness has been great on all different road conditions like I mentioned (snow, dirt, mud etc..) but when when it comes to rock gardens and bigger rock shelves, it just can't do as easily as a 4x4 with a rear locker. Also the Subarus long nose in the front gives it a very poor approach angle as well. Regardless of all that, we love both our Subaru Outback Wilderness and our Ford Raptor equally 👍🏽
My highest average gas mileage that I have got on my OBW 2024 is 28mpg. But that was the highest. But on the same trip I was consistantly averaging around 27 mpgs. But when i drive in the city, it is 21 mpgs. That cargo box makes a lot of drag for you.
It definitely does but since we sleep and car camp in the back, we needed a cargo box to store all of our gear. Is your infotainment laggy on your 2024 OBW? We had the 2022 version.
@@youraveragejoeadventures @youraveragejoeadventures Yea, sometimes, it is! But not terrible so far. I have noticed that it is laggy just after i start the engine for around a minute. Then the response improves. But generally it is not a fast infotainment system.
@mapletreerocker 👍🏽 Are you going to be using it to go on trails or off road?
@@youraveragejoeadventures Not yet. But yes, I want to take it for camping and trails soon. Not for too much off roading as I am kinda aware of its limitations as an off roader. Also the rig is in its stock condition completely.
@mapletreerocker We left ours completely stock too. It's pretty capable for what it is. It's been great in sand, snow and mud for us as well. Have fun on your adventures! 👍🏽
with so many physical buttons missing from older models, i just cannot land my foot down on the current subaru models... personally, offroading without sufficient physical buttons in the cabin is like a perfect steak grounded into a patty and served as a fastfood burger...
I agree 👍🏽 We were so mesmerized by it at first because it was the first car we owned with a large display but after using it, especially while overlanding, it got old real quick!
My screen works better than the one on my 2017 raptor that I traded in....guess we went opposite directions
Oh nice! The screen on our raptor is way more responsive. Maybe we just had bad luck because we really wanted to love this car. what year is your Wilderness?
@@youraveragejoeadventures 2025
@ericahearn9604 nice. Ours was 2022, the first year they came out. I'm glad they fixed it because a lot of ppl that I knew that had the 2022 had the same issues we experienced.
I heard many, many negative opinions regarding the info system. How bad can it be I thought? I had to find out because I'm considering the Outback as a next car.
I rented an Outback for a whole week, it had 4-5k on the clock. People were saying it takes ages to boot up. Nope. It was booting up fairly quickly. When driving not once I had to press twice something on the screen to achieve what I needed/wanted.
To make sure this wasn't an exception to the rule I took another one for a test drive for ~2hrs. Same thing - responsive, no glitches. It took me a while to pair my phone but it was down to the fact I'm not used to that particular system. Besides, once you pair your phone how often do you need to do it again?
The are much worse infotainment systems on the market. Starting with the way they look - there are literally tablet sized screen bolted to the dashboard. It looks ugly AF and it ruins the aesthetics of the car. The Outback (and the new Forester) are nicely fitted and look like a complete package.
@mando1337 i can't speak on the newest ones, but our 2022 Outback Wilderness was really bad. It was ok once it was warmed up, but in the video, I even showed how slow it was to respond. It could be bad luck, and we just had one that was like that? We were actually excited when we saw the infotainment for the first time because of the aesthetics, but after living with it, it was just not good for us. I've been hearing that the 2024 models have improved but I'm just giving people our experience before dropping that kind of money when there are other options in that price range that are better, in our opinion.
We wanted to love this car but after the honeymoon phase, you start to see a lot of its flaws. We had a 2019 Subaru Forester Sport before this car and that car had a better infotainment system that was responsive and never gave us issues. We thought upgrading to a newer model, it would just work like the older model but it was worse. We tried everything we could and even made a video on how to help with the lag. If you haven't done so, you can check it out here. th-cam.com/video/67tzoM-Efk8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=Za3YT-CB-BdBz1nz
Yeah I saw the lag in your video which I found bizarre because none of this happened in the two Outbacks I had. Have you been to the dealer with it to have a look and upgrade it?
I'm not aware of any hardware changes to the system in the past couple of years as Subaru have been working on the new generation Outback and year-on-year changes have been close to nothing
@mando1337 we never took it to the dealer but we did a software upgrade from home and it didn't do much, still laggy for us. We originally bought this car so we can do our overlanding and offroad adventures but found out that we needed something more capable. So we got rid of it for a more off road oriented 4x4. If you don't intend in going off road, than this car is a good all around car but we had to turn around on some trails. If you haven't seen it, check out what we traded it in for here.
th-cam.com/video/3sS31GQ8yD8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=Lgva-hBZ-SrBPfYX
18 mpg? What the point in a CVT transmission. The whole point with a CVT is mpg.
We did have an XL Thule cargo box on our roof rack that ruined our MPGs as well. The higher ground clearance, all terrain tires, and small 2.4L engine with twin turbos was overworked at higher speeds and off the line from a complete stop. You are right though, a CVT is supposed to be good on gas, but it just wasn't in our experience. They advertised this car as an off-road ready car, but, in our opinion, a CVT is not very good off road, especially with slow uphill climbs and if the road is uneven. A Toyota 4runner gets 15MPGs, but at least that car is more capable. Not everyone takes their car offroad, but since we do, it would be worth it for us to sacrifice MPGs for more capability. We have since traded this car in to fit our specific needs. Check out what we replaced it with here.
th-cam.com/video/3sS31GQ8yD8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=KXyv4IEz4P2Je9mW
After being a 7-time Subaru owner, I recently traded my '22 Outback Wilderness because of several of the things you mentioned... predominately the CVT. Not only is it unsuitable for anything other than moderate trails, but it also performs poorly on-pavement, too. The lag after throttle tip-in from a stop is incredibly annoying. And it's 100% the CVT programming. If I went into manual mode, it behaves like I expect... but in auto mode, it upshifts waaaaay too early. In fact, it'll be in "4th gear" when I'm doing 20 MPH. I got so tired of it that I traded it on on a truck... A TRUCK! Subaru, I hope you read comments like this - performance MATTERS. Anyway, back to the video - thanks for the content.
I agree 👍🏽 This car would be so much better with a traditional 6 speed auto. We wanted to love this car but we also had to trade it in after this video. We ended up getting a Ford Raptor and definitely much more happy with it. Plus we're in the market for a truck cap camper as well! Maybe a GFC, Harker, or Orudesign. But it has been night and day with the Raptor.
My #1 issue is the camera system. The screen is too small, the picture is super grain and too dark and it's even worst at night. For the money you pay for this car, Subaru should do much better. Agree with the MPG, I average around 20 combined city/highway driving in my 2024 but I'm driving like my granny much of the time.
I agree, I don't like how you have this massive screen and the camera only uses half of it. I definitely think they could have put a higher resolution camera for the price of the car as well.
I think I’m going to wait until the redesign to buy this suv
@will_in_texas they just released the 2025 model and it looks exactly the same. Ours was a 2022 when they first released it. So it might be another 2-3 years for the redesign but will be worth it for you.
Redesign for 2026 confirmed. Your going to be very surprised
@@beezzyy1175 I can't wait to see it 👍🏽
2023 Outback Wilderness…infotainment system works perfectly.
Im glad they updated it. Our 2022 definitely lagged as I showed in this video. Our 2019 Subaru Forester didnt lag at all either which is why i was confused on why our newer model infotainment did... Maybe we just had bad luck and got a lemon for a screen.
Good info, thanks!
@@tiffinicrum589 thanks for watching!
Literally the biggest reason I’m turned off by new cars is the infotainment… I just want buttons
I agree 👍🏽 Not having buttons to feel while driving is dangerous too! It forces you to take your eyes off the road.
Yep I have no interest in paying extra for reduced functionality in my car.
A CTV is a weakness on ANY vehicle that has a CVT lol
Lol! I agree. This was the first car I owned that had a CVT.
Thanks for this video. Sounds like until Subaru recalls and fixes that main computer this car is a no-go.
Sad to say, the infotainment system is just not very good for a 2022 car. Our 2019 Subaru Forester had a really good infotainment system that was responsive and worked well. It sucks that a newer car would have a worse screen. I'm hoping they fix this minor issue because the car, overall, was a really great car for road trips and going on light trails. Thank you for watching!
What year is your OBW because mine is a 2024 and the infotainment system is not laggy at all. You showed proof so I get yours may be but I think in 2024 they updated the system a little
We had the 2022, the first year it came out. lve seen the newer ones have better screens and not as laggy from reviews here on TH-cam but I still think having to take your eyes off the road to adjust things is still dangerous. Even after the update, it was still laggy for us unfortunately. We had a 2019 Subaru forester sport before this car and that screen was fantastic. A newer 2022 model shouldn't go backwards in my opinion but I'm glad they fixed it for the 2024 models 👍🏽
@@youraveragejoeadventures your point is very valid. I agree with everything in your video. Love my 2024 and the screen is gorgeous but it is super dangerous
@@joshuarivera3617 we miss our Subaru Outback Wilderness 🥲 But we had to upgrade to accommodate for our new baby boy. Enjoy yours!
I have a 2024 and my infotainment is laggy. Mostly at startup, that's when it's most noticeable when I'm trying to click accept on the first popup and turn my auto start/stop off.. usually a delay of several seconds, even if I let the car warm up first. It's not frequent, but sometimes while driving it gets laggy too and won't skip radio stations for a few seconds. I've also had it freeze on start up once where I had to turn the car off and walk away for a minute and restart. It's garbage.
@saintless I agree 👍🏽 A car that was around $45k (in my area) shouldn't come with issues like this in the first place. You can get something more capable, better infotainment, and all around more capable for the same price range. Something like a 4runner, any 4x4 midsized truck (tacoma, frontier, or zr1) just to name a couple. But it really depends on what you intend to use your vehicle for. Most people I know only see the malls and grocery store with their rigs, for us, we definitely needed capability because we overland a lot in our car.
that mountain lion footage was wild!
@fhblackston it came out of nowhere on that dark highway! Luckily the eye sight system in the car hit the brakes for me🙏🏽
Thank you!
You're welcome 👍🏽
Thank you bro I almost bay i Wilderness 18-19 it’s to much for me do you know regular outback mpg ?
No worries, bro. The regular Outback is rated for 26mpg city and 33mpg highway 👍🏽 That will go down depending on how much gear you are carrying, though.
There's no gears in a CVT, so there's that.
Yup, someone told me to put it in manual mode and use the paddle shifters but it's still just simulates fake gears.
I like almost everything about the 3 Wilderness options : crosstrek, forester & outback, except the one transmission choice offered. To me, pairing the Wilderness trims' ground clearance, with it's more capable tires and exceptional AWD system with a CVT, makes no sense. Subaru's CVT is probably the best version of "that type" of transmission made to date. And as a daily driver or snowy part of the country vehicle, I think it's actually a good choice of vehicle. But on the Wilderness trims...I don't get it. I'd buy one of the 3 Wilderness platforms for sure if they offered more than the one transmission option. Thankyou for your first hand, personal experience based and non homer/fan boy thoughts on this vehicle.
Thank you for watching 👍🏽 It was a really good car and I think it would be great for most people but if you plan to go offroading, you are always going to be limited by the CVT. Too bad too because we were so excited when we got this car. But as our adventures are getting more difficult, we knew we had to upgrade to a more capable car sooner or later.
My 2024 doesn’t lag NEARLY as bad as your infotainment system. Have you taken it into Subaru to see if there’s some auxiliary programs in the background or something that’s making it this bad?
@PineTreePal besides the infotainment, we also wanted a more capable vehicle. So we traded it in for a 4x4. We go off roading a lot so it was worth it for us to switch out vehicles. That being said, I had a 2019 Subaru Forester Sport before the Outback Wilderness and that one had a great responsive system with physical buttons for the things I use while driving. I don't get how a newer model would go backwards in terms of infotainment. No cars in 2024 should have a slow infotainment especially when they equip all the cars with touch screens. Even our older 2010 prius has a responsive infotainment screen. This could just be our experience but I've seen a lot of people complain about this. For the price of the car, it should work properly.
is there any other vehicle you would recommend that offers the space/storage that the outback has with better MPG (25+) for around the same price? I have tried looking online but it seems like the best option.
The Wilderness may be the best option if MPG is what you are looking for. For us, we wanted more capability. The Wilderness is definitely capable enough, but our adventure needs have evolved over the years and wanted to hit more trails that this car had a hard time doing. So if you never go offroad, then this car might be the best option for you. It all depends on what you're going to use it for. For example, if we were hitting more difficult offroad trails but still wanted the space and storage, we would get something like a 4runner or a truck with 4x4 and lockers but if we barely went off road and mostly drive on pavement, then we would have kept the Wilderness because its a very comfortable and safe road trip car thats great on all seasons (snow, rain, dry and even light forest roads). You have to trade some MPG for capability or vice versa. Hope that helps👍🏽
Also if you haven't done so, I made a video on what we traded our Wilderness in for if you haven't seen it yet 🤙🏽 check it out if you can!
@@youraveragejoeadventures looking for something for space. Car camping is a big feature. The length of the space with rear seats folded is the most important. I’m not sure how much of the wilderness features we will use. They are basically bonuses or maybe depending on how bad the winter is here in NY might come in handy. My only other idea is a rav4 but I think it’s smaller.
@gravediggermordekai7032 if you're barely going to use it for the Wilderness features and looking for great car camping space, I might look into an AWD Honda Pilot or a Toyota Grand Highlander. Both are have more interior space and also AWD for different weather conditions. We also use to camp in a minivan van that had lots of space to sleep us plus our 2 dogs comfortable inside by removing the middle seats while car camping. Some minivans also have AWD systems.
When we car camped in our Wilderness, we had to add a Thule cargo box on top to store all of our things but it killed our MPGs(16-18MPGs). If you car camp inside, you won't have much room to put all your gear unless you don't mind putting everything in the front seats. We always had a rule to keep the driver seat empty in case we needed to leave in an emergency or in a hurry(say bears are outside getting our food and trying to come in, it's more common here in CA in some areas). For reference, I'm about 5'11 200 lbs and my wife is 5'3 and we are pretty snug in the back of the Wilderness. I couldn't sit up but she could while laying in the back.
Does it handle extra weight with the suspension it comes with?
It handled all of our gear plus our cargo box on top of the roof rack pretty well. Plenty of power from the 2.4L turbo engine to handle all the things you pack in the car. Suspension was really comfortable on the highway. 👍🏽
I've many cars in my lifetime but never ever had a perfect one.
@Widebody20 Same. Depending on what you need your vehicle for will determine the perfect car for you. This car was great while we had it but definitely needed an even more capable car for our adventures.
Agree on all points except the last.. I don't love my car. I'll likely keep it until it's paid off and then eat the loss on a car I wanted to drive for 250k + miles. I've only had the auto brake thing happen once at a crawl as a friend walked up to the window, took me off guard but I was barely moving; can't imagine what that's like at highway speed. The collision sensor is always giving false positives though. Definitely getting the auto start/stop eliminator, it almost never kicks in at a light but without fail my car turns off when I'm trying to merge into traffic if I forget to disable. Gas mileage is currently around 23mpg combined so a bit better than you but still well below advertised. CVT is always hunting around 2500 RPM but might be improving with use? Creeps forward at below 5mph which is annoying. Infotainment is pure hell, I hate it with a passion... mine is just as laggy on a '24 with current updates.
And they also advertise it as off road ready vehicle but it's only good on maintained forest roads and some light trails. As our adventures have gotten more difficult, so have the trails. That's why we went with 4x4 with lockers and even more ground clearance. If you're not doing any offroading, then this car is ok, but the infotainment is so laggy, it's almost dangerous to use while driving. It doesn't make sense because our older 2019 Subaru Forester Sport had a really good response infotainment with physical buttons for the main things you use while driving (radio, climate control, driver settings, heated seats, etc..) They somehow went backwards making everything on the touch screen and having it be so laggy. Hopefully it'll be better after their new redesign.
I am a former Outback owner, liked my Outback and I still like Subaru's - I'm just waiting until they can get some Hybrids in the lineup before I will consider another. Most of the things that you mentioned are gripes with tens of thousands of owners who completely agree with you and have voiced them on many Subaru forums over a period of YEARS - but the forums are highly controlled by Subaru. Mention one possibly negative thing and you are ganged up on by Subaru "Ambassadors", fanboys or operatives - closing down any discussion on the matter. None of what you mentioned is new to any Subaru owner of a late model Subaru. And Subaru KNOWS of all these issues and refused to address them. Subaru has a problem with being proactive and even reactive. They have been resting on their laurels for years and do not respond well to or give respect to their customers who acknowledge the insufficiencies or issues with their vehicles. I think they believe that ignoring a certain percentage of customers will not affect their growth and bottom line, and thus it is justified. Sad.
We still love the car for camping and overlanding but for the price of this car, these basic issues should be addressed. Thank you for your comment and for watching! If you haven't done so, I also made a video on the things that we love about this car. I'll always be honest because as a consumer, I always want to make sure I get my money's worth! 🤙🏽
They keep patching the software so hopefully overtime it’ll get better
@@oxirosmusic hopefully!
Yeah, the cargo box would cause bad gas milage.
@setoman1 it definitely did. But since we car camp inside the car, it was worth having. 👍🏽
That touchscreen may suck but at least it looks cheap and now they've completed the rollout of installing it into every model they have. The exact same one no less. 🙄 Just in time for the upcoming redesigned 2026 Outback to go back to more physical controls, strong credible rumors say.
@RareGenXer I don't mind the touch screen as long as it works properly. I can understand maybe 10 years ago but in 2024, most touch screens are pretty responsive. Of course, physical buttons are still safer because it doesn't require you to take your eyes off the road. We have since gotten rid of this car at the beginning of this year for a 4x4 since we go off road more than the average person.
2024 Outback XT. I disagree about the infotainment system. Mine is quite fast and i experience no lag at all. Have you had it updated? My system was just fine the day I picked the car up. I received an update over the air and it improved even more. // CVT transmissions are here to stay. It is what it is an all companies are moving this way. Subaru has been using them for years. // Auto Start-Stop can be turned off on the display in '24. If not, there are a few sellers offering a small device which goes into the mirror housing that will disable the system. About $100 and needs 5 mins to install. // I do recommend a BANKS Pedal Monster. It removes all the lag and delay that most cars seem to have nowadays. Instant throttle and better acceleration. No other system is as well engineered as the BANKS with a default-to-factory in the unlikely event of a failure. // And, get the XT model. The extra power and torque really elevates these cars to a new level.
@bikefixr oh nice! They must have updated the infotainment for the 2024 model. Our 2022 was beyond laggy, especially when first starting the car (as shown in the video). We did all the system updates and i even did a video on my channel here to show people how to do it. We went from a 2019 Forester Sport that had a really good infotainment system with no lag. So I guess when we upgraded to our 2022 Wilderness, we were expecting it to be the same, if not better. We loved this car when we had it but we had to get something a little more capable for our own adventure needs and to tackle some of the harder trails by us. If you haven't seen what we replaced this adventure car with, you can check it out here. th-cam.com/video/3sS31GQ8yD8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=OSPlJBAvAvpyACv5
Bring back the manual transmission
I agree 👍🏽 or even a standard 6 speed automatic would be better than the CVT transmission it has now!
@@youraveragejoeadventures much better, I hate these CVT’s they use now.
@jimscarnivorekitchen4731 that's why we switched to a 4x4. It's night and day when it comes to off roading!
wait how much did you get this car for brand new?
We got it brand new back in 2022 when the Wilderness model first came out for about $43,000.
Cargo box is a wind sock. Will kill mpgs. Or your fuel system needs a tuning.
As an “overlander” it’s good but not 4Runner or similar class.
Information center SUCKS!
Also Subaru, put seat heaters and AC on knobs and switches.
I agree with everything you said 👍🏽 If you haven't seen it yet, I just uploaded a video on what we replaced this Subaru Outback Wilderness with. Be sure to check out our new overlanding rig!
Can't you just use your paddle shifters to get around the CVT? Lock it into 1 or 2?
A CVT doesn't have real gears like a traditional transmission. You can lock it in 1 or 2 but your crawl ratio is still non existent. Unlike a traditional 4x4, when you use a rear locker and put it in 4L, you exponentially increase your torque. The CVT just simulates fake gears.
Thanks for your honest review, I believe you. I was interested in a Crosstrek but had some doubts, The infotainment system, CVT, auto start stop and MPG’s don't cut the cheese and are deal killers. Good review!!!
Thank you! After the honeymoon phase with the car, you start seeing all the things wrong with it. Be sure to also watch my video on the things I love about this car because it's still a great car for camping and overlanding! 🤙🏽
I have a 2023 and average 25MPG I do 45mi per day to and from work straight on a 45-55mph road.
The laggy screen is annoying but mine doesn’t seem as bad (yet). Only having wireless CarPlay is so annoying. I hate using Bluetooth much rather have wired.
The collision avoidance always reacts way too aggressively when a car is turning into a parking lot ahead of you. Often times there’s no need to stop or even slow down but the collision avoidance will slam on the brakes. Very annoying.
Other than those 3 things I absolutely love the car and have no real complaints. It’s been super great, very comfortable on road trips. The smart cruise and lane centering are amazing. I love my Outback
We love this car too! We made a video on the things we love about it, check that out if you haven't done so. Other than the laggy screen, the other 4 things I mentioned are just me nit picking at small details. This car has been awesome for us in all of our overland and camping trips👍🏽 I don't know how everyone is averaging better MPGs than me lol I know our huge cargo box probably has something to do with it.
Ours was the 2022 model so we didn't even have the wireless carplay yet, it still needed to be plugged in via USB.
You can turn off the collision avoidance system
@Booster6969 yes you can but it defeats the purpose to turn it off when you actually need it. I think a small calibration or software update can fix it. 👍🏽
Seems like you’d be happier in a 4Runner.
I made a video on the things that we love about this car too. But we have a lifted Ford Raptor as well that we take on more extreme trails. This Subaru is just our family car 🤙🏽
Sounds like you dont need a outback you may need to look for like a 4 runner or something else lol
We actually really love this car for what it is, but the adventures we go on are starting to require a more capable vehicle. We already replaced it, stay tuned for what vehicle we traded it for! 😎
All Subarus have average to below average fuel efficiency relative to their engine size. Fanboys love to blame it on the AWD, but there are tons of cars that have AWD now with significantly more horsepower that do much better than any Subaru engine. That's why Subaru puts such large fuel tanks in such small cars, because if not, you would constantly be running low on fuel and in some cases, one day, you may get stuck in the........Wilderness. 😏
Lol! We have since moved on and traded it in for our Ford Raptor! If I'm going to get terrible gas mileage, might as well be in a more capable car! 🤙🏽
it's not blame, its a feature, lol.
subaru's AWD system is not like other AWD systems. It is not an "on demand" system where it runs 2wd and transfers power to the rear when something slips...it sends power front and back at the same time no matter what the conditions. It would be like running a pickup truck on 4-hi all the time. Not that drastic, but similar idea. I went from a 2010 STI to a 2018 Ram 1500 v8 hemi and I was at the pumps pretty much the same amount for both.
The Forester got better gas milage because it has less power and they are non-turbo if I am not mistaken. Adding a turbo changes a lot because the fuel maps are completely different than an NA engine. More power requires more gas, more gas requires more air....Turbo...tu-tu-tu! (turbo noise).
That being said, the Wilderness is like a "Jack of all trades, but master of none" kind of deal..it falls in
between multiple categories. But comparing to a more capable off-roader like a 4runner or a jeep is only looking at half the picture, because its also a car. When you take into account the full spectrum of vehicles between pavement-only and hardcore off-roader, it's right in the middle. Way more ground clearance than a sedan, not quite a jeep on 40s, lol. Great on-road behavior, decent on trails. It's not a fuel sipper like a prius but its also not a complete hog like the Raptor you just said you got. It's like a city Dad that wears hiking boots everywhere.
@botcrack I agree 👍🏽 I think the "jack of all trades but master of none" sums this car up perfectly. We do love this car but for the people really looking to go off the beaten path, there are better choices. You gotta sacrifice capability for comfort or vice versa. People seem to be more drawn to this video but I also made a video on the things we love about this car. Of course this car vs our lifted raptor is night and day but I still think this car would be great if you take a road trip across the country and hit all four seasons. It's not a 4x4 but the AWD system in this car is the best, in my opinion, out of all the other AWDs out there. Hondas IVTM AWD system is another great AWD system as well. Everyone else's AWD is just a glorified FWD.
@@youraveragejoeadventures I like that Hyundai allows you to lock AWD 50/50. Even in my friend's lowly little Kona, you can lock the AWD. Some say it only works below 25mph, but I haven't found any info pertaining to that. I swear, it seems to stay locked at all speeds. Yes, it's not a very basic AWD set-up, but the option to lock it is nice. Most people probably never, ever use it, like the hill decent option the Kona has as well.
@fp5495 I have no experience with Hyundais. I've only seen reviews on them here on TH-cam, but a majority of them say that it's just not as good off road as other options. Most people don't take their off-road cars off road, but we definitely do. The more we go out, the more we realize we need more capability. The Subaru was great for us, but even with that car, we hit its limitations. At the end of the day, it's going to depend on the person and what they are trying to do with their car. 👍🏽
New subscriber here
Hello! Thanks for subscribing 👍🏽
@@youraveragejoeadventures you’re welcome
I own a Subaru 2023 Outback Wilderness, I agree with all points in your post, especially the first one, thanks for sharing.
These are the points we hate about the car, but be sure to also watch the things we love about it! Overall, we really like this car 👍🏽
@@youraveragejoeadventures I love Subaru Outback for sure, this one is my second Outback, the first one is 2018 Outback 3.6R Limited, thanks.
@@tigerjessi nice! That 2018 Subaru Outback 3.6R had a regular 6 speed transmission before they switched everything to the CVT. That was a great car! 👍🏽
The infotainment should be recalled. Ridiculously slow.
I'm surprised it's been 2 years and it still hasn't been recalled. For the price of this car, it should have a proper working infotainment. Even our older 2019 Subaru Forester Sport had a very responsive touchscreen with physical buttons for the main functions you need to adjust while driving! They kinda went backwards with this one. They traded screen functionality just so it looks better in my opinion.
I had 2022 Outback Wilderness and as much as I liked the car, I hated....Hated that CVT, so after 2 years, I sold that subaru. All that stuff on your "I hate list" was also on my list too.
@peterchamala1525 we wanted to love this car but at the end of the day, we needed more capability for off roading that the CVT struggled in at more moderate trails and that touchscreen was really awful to use. If you haven't seen it yet, check out what we traded it for here.
th-cam.com/video/3sS31GQ8yD8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=L7W-wObQGE1qy0ay
@@youraveragejoeadventures I traded my outback for Chevy Colorado Trail Boss, I love that truck and 8 speed transmission.
@peterchamala1525 nice truck! That was one of the trucks we had on our list too. After trading it for our Ford Raptor, we haven't looked back since. 😎 It's been night and day going off road now. No CVT and a proper 10 speed transmission!
I wanted a Ranger Raptor but the prices were unreal, Toyota Tacoma was on the list too but 10k more for the same stuff I've got I had to pass.
@peterchamala1525 Toyota recalled over 100,000 vehicles across all their cars newer than 2023, so we both dodged a bullet there. The ranger is nice but after test driving the Raptor, that full size cab was hard to get away from. It felt way too small after coming from the bigger car. Do you off road a lot too or you just wanted a truck?
THEY ARE SOFT ROADERS. NOT OFF ROADERS/ROCK CRAWLERS
I agree 👍🏽
Apparently that, soft roading ability limitation "IS", the case. But all the marketing, reputation, praise by so many and typical get off the beaten path and "rough it" fandom tell a much different story. You don't hear, "buy this vehicle to ONLY stay on smooth and level unpaved surfaces and roads." Honestly admitting what it's made to best travel on is fine and I'm OK with that. But that isn't what so many say, claim and market this vehicle for.
@Chubbydippin the commercials did make it seem like it was made to handle the harder trails but I personally had to turn around at some mid level trails. I will say it did handle gravel, dirt, snow and mud really well when it was flat. It all depends on the driver too and we just liked to play it safe because we didn't want to be stranded in the middle of nowhere if we pushed the car too hard.
❤
Your episode is coming out soon!
👍
If it was me:
1) Next oil change, Valvoline Restore and Protect
2) More frequent oil changes, with Turbo, 5,000 MAX
3) Remove Cargo Box
4) Keep highway speeds at 70 mph MAX
I think you will get much better milage.
@geraldf.1222 unfortunately with all the overlading gear we have, a cargo box is necessary. Of course i know it kills the MPGs but when going dispersed camping, you have to bring everything with you. No running water, no electricity, no bathrooms, means you gotta bring it yourself. And we keep the trunk space open because we sleep in the back. We always changed it at 5000 miles but that doesn't make this car more capable. It's very good on soft trails, dirt roads, mud, rain but the trails we want to do required a little bit more capability. But we did love this car while we had it. 👍🏽
Oh good. As of this video. You are 5000 miles away from transmission fluid change. Every 30k. Your talking points all lead to a Honda Pilot.
@Totalyrediclous998 We went a totally different route and picked up a Ford Raptor. The Subaru was great but as our adventures grew, so did our needs for more capability. We enjoyed it while we had it though. 👍🏽
A Subaru is not a real overland rig you need a legitimate 4wd
@spencermorrow2899 I agree. Which is why we got rid of it when our adventures got a little more technical. Check out what we replaced it with here and tell me what you think.
th-cam.com/video/3sS31GQ8yD8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=Iu448F2FmGFcQw2e
If that was you pushing the button on the info center at the start of this video I can understand why its so laggy hell if I do that to my home computer it goes ape shit and dosnt no what to do.
It just didn't make sense to us because our older 2019 Subaru Forester Sport had a great touch screen that was quick and responsive! I don't know how a newer subaru would have a worse screen responding screen. And you have to deal with this while driving😮
@@youraveragejoeadventures It is exactly the same touch screen maybe you got a dud.
@allangurr we had the smaller 8 inch touch screen on the forester.
@@youraveragejoeadventures Got you
I hate my Outback. Can’t wait to trade it in. Subaru owner for 20 years. Done.
We traded ours in for a Ford Raptor. What were you trying to trade it for?
What are you going to?
I like my OBW but looks like I’lll be buying the new Audi Q5 redesign in 2025. Looks nice. Spy shots of new Outback out there now and not liking what I see. Boxy. Not my style.
@scott48 the Audi Q5 is nice. Will you be trading your OBW in for it?
@@youraveragejoeadventures we shall see after it launches in the US and I’m able to to test drive it and kick the tires
@scott48 nice, good luck with that car👍🏽
Sounds like you didn’t research it in depth. You need to trade it in. Those things you ABSOLUTELY HATE about it aren’t going away. Like you said, you should probably get a 4Runner
We did do our research and still liked the car for what it is. Our adventure needs just evolved and wanted something more capable after htting the trails for a couple of years now. But we're way ahead of you. We traded it in back in January almost 6 months ago. I made a video of what traded it in for on my page. Check that out if you haven't seen it yet and let me know what you think 🤙🏽
You mentioned some good points but this is not the best video. Why did you pipe in that moaning music in the background? And you don’t show any images of what you’re talking about it’s just a close-up of the face of this guy talking into a microphone.I made it about three minutes and then I had to bail.
@cubehire3653 sorry about the music if it's not to your liking. It's just the style of videos I make. I'm kinda new to making videos so I really appreciate the feedback so i can continue to improve. But what point do you want me to show you pictures of? I'll be happy to show you. In terms of the infotainment screen, i showed a video of the screen literally being laggy. We really wanted to love this car but after owning it and discovering how it actually is to live with, I'm just trying to share my personal experience because, in our opinion, for the price of this car, we think there are better options. I know everyone's experience will be different which is why I also made a video on the things we loved about this car. This is still a really good car for the average person but we just needed more capability for our own needs. If you haven't seen it, this is the link to that video. Things we LOVED about the Subaru Outback Wilderness after 25,000 miles - th-cam.com/video/-mEVKUfmxJY/w-d-xo.htmlsi=8DmO_yKMc7ApRR0d
Sounds to me like you’ve got some glitches that need to be dealer addressed. Updates included.
I agree 👍🏽 but we already replaced this car. After overlanding with it in the last year and a half, we knew we needed something just a little bit more capable. As we grew in our adventures, the trails have also elevated in difficulty. If you haven't done so, I did an episode of what we replaced it with here.
th-cam.com/video/3sS31GQ8yD8/w-d-xo.htmlsi=tc2IF5XPI6amU9Ep
Manufactures cannot offer a permanently OFF on auto stop/start. It is governments in action, being your adversary.
They can't offer it but it's not too hard to program it yourself with a small mod.
Subaru mileage doesnt kick in until at least 50K miles.
@KernsJW too bad for us, we traded it in at 30K miles lol
Automobile infotainment system in general is trash and risks trashing cars because of it. The general architecture of Subaru trying to be an electronics manufacturer is the central problem. Instead of an infotainment system, Subaru should have developed an app that interfaces with the car and let the user BYOT (bring your own tablet) like days of the past when one could change radio heads. Manufacturers keep coming up with ideas to tie up the user to the company product to the point of ignoring user’s needs. It’s ridiculous.
I agree 👍🏽 We wouldn't mind this system as long as it works properly but for this particular system, it's just way too laggy. Everything requires you to take you eyes off the road to adjust anything too. Hopefully they fix it for future cars. We have gotten rid of this car already and replaced it with a Ford Raptor. The screen in that is like an Ipad when it comes to how responsive it is.
I remember how everyone used to buy their own decks and build their sound system. Now companies make it harder to do that because the entire cars functions are integrated into it. For the price of this car, in my opinion, the screen should have been better and more user friendly.
@@youraveragejoeadventures Raptor? Looking forward to seeing it in the future videos! I have an old 4EAT trans right before they phased them out and am glad to have it. But the early FB25 is another story with their poorly done piston rings and no low oil sensors, just bad combination. Subaru is probably sticking with their CVT but really should add a low gear before the CVT kinda like what Toyota has with their CVT or just go with something like 8-speed auto.
@hyojoonus they will probably stick with CVTs because they're cheaper and supposed to be more efficient. Luckily, they still work great in the sand and snow, though.
Sorry, horrible idea. Software and hardware engineer here and that's the worst idea I've heard in a while. Letting you pull out the whole unit and replace it should still be around, but bringing your own tablet doesn't even make sense
@@fuglong Why? You think you can make a better iPad or Samsung tablet, cellphone, etc? You’d have less things to mess up. You should get another line of work instead of making people’s lives harder.
Subarus have always been a point A to point B car, save for the STI (which they no longer make). They are all safe, practical, but don't really excel in any specific area. They are the jack of all trade, master of non type car. I had a '17 OB 3.6L, loved the motor but the MPG sucked.
@LeftenantMalachi this car would have been better with a regular 6 speed auto. Since we go off road a lot, the CVT really let us down. We love Subarus though and I know this won't be the last one we get. We have since traded this car in for our Ford Raptor and it's been night and day for us, especially on more technical trails.
NOPE! NOT TDAAAAY!
@@patrick-rb3ul were you trying to buy one?
Sounds like you guys bought the wrong car vs your expectations. Should have researched it better. Dont bash it because it cant do super difficult off roading. It wasn't designed for where you want to go. 😅
@kennybinns6279 I'm not bashing it. I'm just giving my honest experience with the car to make sure people know what they are getting. The commercials for this car had them going up imogene pass as a stock car lol So im making sure someone thats looking for a more off road oriented car can learn from our mistakes. It was overall a great car while we owned it. If you havent seen it, we also made a video of the things we loved about the car after 25,000 miles. Watch that and see if you still think I'm bashing it 🫡 Everyones got different needs and we have since traded it for a more off road capable car to fit our personal needs. 👍🏽
Mr 25 thousand miles review of Subaru outback,listen all cars are not 💯,but cars with issues of Engine and Transmission are cartigorised with main issues.
But these small shortfalls are in every car,just be happy to be having this outstanding performing car , especially with the best Symmetrical all wheel that beat,and is beating all Toyota, Chevrolet,Honda etc
@rufaimuhammadaminu6873 I also made a video of the things I love about this car after 25000 miles. You should check it out if you haven't done so. But I'm also not sponsored and like to give my honest opinion about the good AND the bad with my reviews. Like you said, all cars have their faults and I'm just sharing my experience while I had this car. We have since gotten rid of it because we off road a lot and for us, it was worth it to get a true 4x4. I made a video on what we replaced it with if you want to check it out. 👍🏽
Also if you haven't heard, Toyota has released a huge engine recall on all their cars. Ive owned toyotas 4 in my lifetime too and currently own a prius prime right now and never had issues with them but all their 2023 and newer cars are are having engine problems. Even one of the most reliable known company's can have a catastrophic recall. Look it up.
Bad infotainment
Bad transmission
Of course we loved this car when we first got it but after some real world experience with it, it just wasn't what we wanted for our overlading adventures. Maybe when/if they put a regular automatic transmission in this, we will give it another chance. The infotainment looks nice from a aesthetic point but I also hope they put back the physical buttons for the things you need to control while driving (radio/music, climate control, etc..) but they also need to fix/update the software so it's not so laggy. Very unusable when it's so slow to respond to touches.
Disagree about the touch screen, but CVTs suck big donkey balls.
What year Outback Wilderness do you have? We have the 2022 which is the first year they released it. I've seen the 2023 and 2024 have a better responsive screen. Either that or we got a dud in ours lol 😆
@@youraveragejoeadventures ‘23
@DavidS94938 it may just be the 2022's then. I wished it worked a lot better, but for us, that simply wasn't the case. 🥲
You repeat yourself a lot.
A lot.
Maybe it's because I really hate certain things about this car. Really hate it. Really Really hate it.
Really hate it.
Really hate it.
😎
Thanks for watching though. 👍🏽
No reason to be nasty. Don't like the content? Just move on. Silence is golden.
@BarakTheWonderer I agree, some people have told me that I'm not thorough enough with my explanations. Didnt mean to take it out on this person. Sorry about that sir! 🤙🏽