The electric car bandwagon subaru has been slower than most, but that gaping hole in the makers range is about to be sewn shut. With this, the all new subaru solterra Music, the solterra is yep. You guessed it an suv and if it looks a bit familiar theres, a good reason for that. This is a sister car to the toyota bz4x and while its not a straight badge, switch like toyota and mazdas yaris based super minis. The resemblance is clear to see. Unlike the bz 4x, the soltera will be all wheel drive only in keeping with subarus off road and rally heritage. Every version gets a 71.4 kilowatt hour battery good for up to 289 miles of range, while 150 kilowatt rapid charging should ensure a 20 to 80 charge. In as little as 19 minutes with 215 brake horsepower, performance should be strong. 0 to 62 takes less than 7 seconds, though top speed is limited to 100 miles per hour. We touched on styling just now, but even in isolation, theres, quite a lot to like about the solterra, its quirky, something a bit different in the sea of suvs that are about these days, theres quite a bit of cladding. For that rough and ready off road. Look. We maybe prefer the toyotas smoother front end and were not sure about where theyve put this charge port its kind of sliced in half, with a bit of the wheel arch trim coming away when you open the flap anyway at the back, is where this cars really Smart, this raised boot, lid and sloping window line, give it a jacked up, coupe like appearance and its got a two piece: spoiler split in the middle, like the lotus electra.

One thing that is a bit of a shame, though, is that, while the toyota gets a full width light bar this black bit here on the subaru doesnt, have any bulbs at all so stood back its a good looking car, but its big, almost 4.7 meters, long Thats, bigger than the nissan aria and the volkswagen id4. In fact, only the ford mustang mac e is longer overall subaru took the wraps off the standard soltera in november 2021, as well as being a sister model to the bz4x. The xero emissions suv also shares underpinning. With the lexus rz450e itll rival the likes of the id4 and mustang mackie, as mentioned as well as the tesla model y and kia ev6, when it arrives in the uk later this year now without getting too geeky weve high hopes for what this subaru might be. Like to drive, although well need to wait a little longer for the pleasure. The platform is specifically designed for electrification and the battery serves as part of the structure which promises, a low centre of gravity and strong rigidity. Permanent all wheel drive should give it plenty of grip, too fingers crossed inside its a bit more of a badge: re engineering jobby. If you compare the subaru and the toyota side by side, youre going to struggle to notice much difference but thats, not necessarily a bad thing, you get a fully digital instrument, cluster in front of you and a large central touch screen for infotainment its 12.

3 inches, and It has satnav as standard as well as wireless apple, carplay and android, auto its pretty responsive and has all the features that youd need theres. Also, a neat digital rear view, mirror loads of safety, features a subaru, strong point and heated everything. Heated front seats, heated, rear seats, heated steering wheel and a heat pump, which should extend range, and you know i quite like how the display merges into the high center console, even if im, not a massive fan of this touch sensitive panel for the climate controls. But generally its got a good, solid usable feel to it. A nissan area would be lighter and brighter and that cars electrically sliding console makes it feel more spacious. The subaru is probably more fighter jet than it is cafe. Lounge, thankfully, theres no cut off yoke style. Steering wheel like we saw in the toyota personally, i like my steering, wheels to have a top to them, as well as the standard all wheel drive model. Subaru has already given us a look at what could become a high performance version of its new electric suv. The soltera sti concept was unveiled in tokyo earlier this year with eye catching cherry red details, as well as a gloss black roof spoiler and black alloy wheels. Subaru is often quick to dismiss its illustrious sporting past, but heres hoping this could be the car to bring back that hallowed, sti name plate, but back to the matter in hand, any family, suv, thats worth its salt needs to be practical and its fair to say.

Sat in the back of the saltera is pretty spacious, theres no transmission tunnel, which adds to that feeling of space and the heated seats and quality of material make. It feel really luxurious in here. Moving round to the boot, we look once again to toyota, which has confirmed a 452 litre boot for the bz4x and thats the same here, but even without official numbers, we can see that its a pretty decent shape and size every model gets an electric tailgate and Theres space for the charging cables under the boot floor, prices for the soltera are set to start from a fiver under 50 grand expensive even compared to its toyota cousin. But remember this is all wheel drive only and the kit list is generous. You get 18 inch wheels electric heated everything and a load of safety kit as standard touring, cars, cost 3 000 pounds more and get bigger, wheels, a panoramic roof and a harman kardon stereo. So, based on this very brief nose around were pretty excited about the solterra and the toyota and lexus versions. We can see once again that starting from scratch with a bespoke platform, really makes such a difference to everything from space to styling. Pricing might be this cars sticking point. It looks expensive, but subaru are unlikely to cook things by half and that permanent all wheel, drive feature might be this cars usp for now well hold fire on a final verdict, but we really cant wait to drive it head to drivingelectric.

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