Subaru Forester Goes Wild And Electrified, But Not At The Same Time

In one Windy City announcement, Subaru has just fixed the two biggest problems with the latest Forester and corrected one of the biggest missing features. At the 2025 Chicago Auto Show, the off-road brand launched the 2025 Subaru Forester Hybrid and the 2026 Subaru Forester Wilderness trims of its popular crossover.

The first new trim added much-needed horsepower and torque and promised up to 9 mpg better fuel economy around town. With the second, Subaru has restored the balance to the Forester lineup. Dropping the old-generation Wilderness, which stood out against the all-new Forester like a sore thumb, for a brand new one and bringing all of that extra off-road capability to the latest version of the boxy CUV.

Forester Finally Gets More Horsepower

The 2025 Subaru Forester Hybrid might not be the more exciting of the two new Foresters, but it is the one that is going to end up in more driveways. The first Forester Hybrid in North America comes with a version of the company’s 2.5-liter boxer four that runs on the more efficient Atkinson engine cycle arrangement, with electric motors paired up to the Subaru CVT.

By itself, the gas engine makes 162 horsepower, 18 hp less than the standard Forester. The electric motors, though, add 118 hp and 199 lb-ft of torque. The total max output is 194 hp (Subaru doesn’t give a max torque number), and it should give the sluggish Forester at least a pleasant amount of extra zip.

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Fuel economy climbs from an estimated 26 mpg city, 33 highway to 35/34. That’s not quite at the level of the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid’s 41/38, but it’s a whole lot better than it was before.

The system keeps Subaru’s full-time AWD system. The hybrid system will be offered in Premium, Sport, Limited, and Touring trims for 2025. Pricing starts from $34,995, and it should arrive at dealers this spring.

2205 Subaru Forester Hybrid Pricing

Forester Wilderness Arrives A Year Late

Subaru has finally also launched the latest Forester Wilderness. Subaru’s badge with extra off-pavement capability didn’t make the jump to the new model at launch, and it took more than a year to get here. Like all Subaru Wilderness models, this one is designed for slightly tougher off-roading. It has longer shocks and springs to give it 9.3 inches of ground clearance, about half an inch more than the standard Forester. The height and new bumpers give it slightly better off-road clearance angles, and the suspension is a bit softer to help it better handle rough terrain.

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Wilderness means underbody skid plates and roof racks that can hold 800 pounds when you’re parked. The extra-capacity racks are designed for rooftop tents, which can damage cars with lesser capacity. Wilderness also includes a whole lot more cladding, including massive plastic overbumpers, fender flares, and other bits. 17-inch wheels with Toyo all-terrain tires are a basic off-road mod to give it more grip and should be more durable when you’re on rougher trails.

The Forester Wilderness will also add water-resistant seat covers and all-weather mats—all with the anodized copper accents that you’ll find on the rest of the Wilderness lineup. Like the Hybrid, the new Wilderness models will get a 12.3-inch digital dash cluster.

While there is now a Forester Hybrid and a soon to be arriving Forester Wilderness, there isn’t both. Subaru announced the Wilderness with the 2.5-liter 180-hp gas engine only, which feels like a big miss for its outdoorsy buyer. The 2026 Forester Wilderness is set to arrive at a forest near you this fall, and Subaru will announce pricing for the rugged model later in the year.