DONT DROWN your Subaru like THIS. 

Was driving my 02 outback solo through some mud puddles in a state forest in southwest Australia. They started getting deeper so I thought I would call it quits and turn back. I missed my previous line by a tyre width and ended up dropping into some deep ruts and the bonnet of the car disappeared... Made it out of the hole but the airbox sucked in an insane amount of mud. Turns out the air filter works pretty effectively as a water filter. It blew steam for a few minutes but couldn't find any mud on the engine side of the filter :)

My heart skipped a beat when the water went over the grills!!😬

Awesome seeing your new acquisition, that FJ cruiser. It’s too bad I never tried offroading mine. Good job on the water crossing with the subie. In the first camera angle it looked like your hood just dipped into the water, but in the 2nd camera angle you can see that you actually created enough of a wake and followed it out. Good stuff Bruce Bruce!

We've got a 2023 Subaru Ascent we are slowly building into an overlander. Currently have wheels/tires and skid plate done and are getting a 2" lift in 2 weeks. That should put us up to 10.7" of ground clearance (higher than a stock FJ cruiser). I'm not sure how deep of a water crossing we can do though, but I've heard as long as it doesn't go over the hood we should be ok (so roughly up to the subaru logo on the grill). My only gripe about the Subaru Ascent as an offroad/overlander is the poor approach angle. I'm trying to find an aftermarket front-end/bumper to help gain some of that approach angle back. So far no luck, but I'm determined to figure it out. I do intend to carry a stick with depth markings on it though in the future. So far the deepest water we've crossed was around 6 inches. (Deepest snow we've been in is about 18 inches without issues of course).

I was impressed by the air intake height on my stock 2018 Forester. I've usually seen the air intake down by the wheel, for some reason, but the Forester has it at the top of the radiator. I have no reason to test it, but good to know.

Love the color on that FJ 😍

I had a 2016 Outback in the UK. There is a really nice tidal road in the north west of England and decided to cross it while the tide was partially in, although it was on its way out. A dangerous bit of road as there are deep channels either side which are not visible underwater. There are vague marker posts but they run out before you get to the steep pebble beach ahead. Ive done green laning in a Panda 4x4 and crossed a lot of water but that was nerve wracking simply because you have no idea whats underneath or how deep it is once the marker posts end. All you can see it open water with the beach about 100 yards away ! The car managed it though. Id really like the new version.

Glue a plate over that intake & make another intake at the top part, the plate could stand up proud to act as a splash shield for new higher intake hole.

Love the vid!

Still very impressive! I think you've pushed the limits of the CVT quite far. Subaru should hire you to test their products lol.

Knowing where the air intake is, I cringed HARD, when the water went over the hood, LOL! I cringed even harder, when I saw you'd taken the intake off! LOL!

What if you tried going in reverse? Just a thought. Probably a bad one lol

I had a similar situation in Mojave when i did water crossing:)

That was close! I'm curious about your CVT comment, how is it relevant to the water crossing? Do you just mean that it hobbles the Subaru in general off-road due to lack of a power gear?

If I wanted to do this to a base Impreza. I would need raised coils and a snorkel? I live in south Florida it’s only as a hobby I ask

Snorkel time man! Cody King has done the DBB a couple times in his outback but I'm not sure he's ever done this part lol

yo where did ur friend find the bumper for his outback? really trying to get one for my 2019 outback. that’d be awesome if u could provide a link..cool video to with all ur buds

So the Bottom Line and common sense is to know where the Air intake level and How deep the water is.....

Easy peasy, ECU squeezy

I'ma go get my rocks off there!

If you want to drive through rivers & stuff, you should just get a real 4x4. Oh wait, you did. :-)

The Japanese design a good car, the European vehicles seem to have very low inlets, especially the vans.

What was the ground clearance on that subaru? if you dont mind me asking

Think @softraodingthewest water crossing had more of a Pucker factor.

I really want a Subaru but every time I see one of these wading-depth videos I change my mind. I go to Iceland a lot and I get my vehicle shipped there and ideally, if I had a Subaru, I'd do the same. The problem is the wading depth issue. There are a lot of rivers to ford in the Highlands and some that are clearly at the 2.5 ft mark. The last thing I want is to be stranded out there. Is there a way to guarantee a wading depth of 2.5 feet or maybe at the 800mm to 900mm mark in a Subaru via mods? Though to be fair, I was once in the Highlands crossing rivers and a Crosstek drove by me going the opposite way. I've always wondered if they were successful in driving through the Highland or if they were spooked by the deep waters and turned back around.

You only sent it because you know I've got a spare ez36 for ya

Bet you’ve decided to not do water crossings now

Dude you’re so crazy. Lol.

Did the car take any damage ?

Disperse the water with WD-40

yup. nope.

Skubaru.

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