New Subaru Solterra electric SUV walkaround – the best EV off-road? | What Car?

But first, if you want to see our review of this car as soon as weve driven it and to see all of our other new car reviews, make sure you subscribe to our Channel and for a great deal on your next car go to whatcar.com foreign. So first lets explain a bit about how Toyota has played quite a big part in the existence of the soltera back in 2012, Toyota and Subaru, jointly developed the Toyota GT86 and the Subaru BRZ two sports cars that were basically identical. Then, in 2019, the two Japanese manufacturers announced another new joint venture, this time to share resources to develop electric car platforms. The first results of this partnership are the Toyota bz4x and the Subaru soltera, two electric SUVs that will rival other EVS, like the VW, id4 skoda. Enyak and Kia ev6 its said to be a true 50 50 collaboration with the driving Dynamics and Chassis done by Subaru and the battery and electric motors taken care of by Toyota and as youd guess, the two cars are very similar. Indeed, in terms of the design. The only real difference is to point out are, of course, the badge on the nose of the car, but also the soltera gets a slightly different front end with a different bumper and different headlights, while at the back of the car, the two cars again are very Similar and the main difference in the look is that the Toyota gets a full width light bar foreign Music, the Subaru and the Toyota are very, very similar.

In fact, the only thing to point out, thats different is the badge that you have on the steering wheel. So that means that both cars have the same driving position the same layout, the same materials in here, and that also means that the driving position itself is something thats kind of new for Subaru and for Toyota. So theyve gone for a driving position that puts the driver display above the steering wheel. So in most cars you look through the steering wheel to see all the driver dials, but now in the soltera and in the bz4x that driver display, which is seven inches and fully digital as standard is above the steering wheel, which is similar to what you get With peugeots eye cockpit, now weve seen with Peugeot that it took them years to get that driving position right and even on their latest models. Its still not perfect, and the problem that people have is that, depending on where you want to have your seat and your steering wheel, theres a pretty high chance that the top of the steering wheel here here cuts off some of your view of the driver display. So again, with the soltera with the bz4x, that is going to be something that wont be perfect for everyone. So, depending on where you want to have this set up, you might just be blocking some of your view of that driver display. So just like with any car really you want to make sure that you sit in this car and check that the driver display the driving position works for you before you go ahead and buy it now in terms of the tech thats on offer in the soltera.

Its the same as the bz4x, where you get this 12.3 inch touchscreen infotainment system, but with the Toyota on the lower trim levels, you can get a smaller screen. You cant actually get that with the Subaru. You only get this bigger screen as standard which also gets Wireless Apple, carplay and wired Android auto. Now the screen itself is Big. Obviously, its got really nice graphic, its pretty clear its responsive. Some of these icons are a bit small, but on the whole, this is a pretty decent infotainment system with a simple layout. Of course, it would be better if you she had more physical controls to help operate it safely, while youre driving but its good, that you do at least have these rocker switches to control the air conditioning. Now the build quality and the materials in here is the same as it is in the bz4x, so it feels pretty robust. It doesnt feel like its going to fall apart at all feels solid, well put together. Durable, not all of the materials are amazing, so these gloss black Plastics look quite nice, and this cloth on the dashboard helps lift things a bit as well. Youve also got some soft touch materials here as well, but some other Plastics like down here on the center console just feel a bit Hollow and cheap and Scratchy. Really you do get quite a lot of storage up front in the soltera. So youve got this big Central armrest here with a removable compartment underneath it and even more space underneath that in front of there, youve got two cup holders and more storage under this.

This is where the wireless phone charging is and then under this floating center console bit, youve got even more storage and the door bins are fairly good size as well, but its lucky. You do have all this storage because there isnt, actually a glove box space in the back – is really pretty good by electric car standards. So you can see theres, absolutely loads of leg rooms. So, even if youre, especially tall with very long legs, youll have no problem whatsoever in that department. Theres also a flat floor back here. If you go for the panoramic sunroof, then it does eat into the Headroom available, but still even if youre, just under six foot. As I am, you can sit up straight and still have a little bit of clearance above your head there, although we suspect versions without the panoramic sunroof, will feel a bit more open, but its a very wide interior back here and if youre going to be regularly Carrying adults in the back, then this is pretty good and pretty big by electric car standards. Although a Kia ev6 a skoda, eniac theyre, not exactly small, are they now these rear seats they dont slide, but you can choose to have them in one of two positions to recline them. You can either have them here or very slightly different, a little bit further back, but they only fold down in two chunks, so they split fold 60. 40, where some other Rivals like the Tesla Model y, allow you to fold each rear seat down individually.

So they fold 40. 20. 40.. You cant get that with the soltera and you cant also get a ski hatch, either with the rear seats in place, you get a 452 liter boot with the soltera now compared to an ev6 that gets 490 liters and a skoda eniac gets a massive 585 liters Of storage in its boot, and also if you go for the range topping version of the soltera, then because you get an upgraded sound system. The subwoofer is in the back and takes up some extra storage space that youd have on the lower model, which you can see you do get on this side of this upgraded range, topping version that weve got here. So the fact is this car is up against other electric Rivals that are a similar size and similar money, but have bigger boots if the solteras boot is big enough for you, though, then there are good things about it, because you get a high adjustable boot floor As standard – and you can see in this highest setting here, theres no loading lip at the front. You also have underfloor storage for the charging cables and because its height adjustable, you can move it down to free up a bit of extra space in the boot. Although you can see that its not the whole of the boot floor, that is height adjustable because in the lowest setting there youre left with a bit of an awkward step right at the back of the boot.

Another handy feature, though, is the fact that you can take the parcel shelf out and store it in the boot itself. Now lets talk range next, and the soltera gets a 71.4 kilowatt hour battery, which gives it a claimed wltp range for the entry level model of 289 miles. Now that isnt terrible, but it also doesnt necessarily Stand Out compared to the other EVS, that this cars up against and with those wltp ranges for this core and every other electric car always remember. You wont actually be able to achieve that figure in genuine real world driving conditions and the clean figure for this car also isnt. As far as the maximum range available in the bz4x, which is partly down to the fact that every version of the soltera gets an all wheel, drive system as standard now, Subaru has a very rich Heritage. When it comes to all wheel, drive cars, and if the soltera is anything like its other new products, then it stands a pretty decent chance of being quite good off road, at least by electric car standards. So, as weve said, every version gets all wheel drive as standard you get a 210 millimeter ground parents, you get Hill descent control as standard as well and theres. Also an off road focused driving mode. The maximum charging speed of the soltera is 150 kilowatts. So if you can find a charger fast enough, youll get a 20 to 80 charge in 19 minutes and by the way the charging port will always be on the drivers side of this car, so weve got a left hand drive car here.

The charging port is, on the left, hand side, but if youre in the UK and you buy a right hand, drive version of this car, then the charging port moves over to the right hand side as well, Music. But how much does the soltera cost well, depending on spec? You will pay 49 995 pounds or 52 995 pounds by comparison. The bz4x starts around 42 000 pounds and tops out at 51 000 pounds. The reason the Toyota has a much lower starting price is because you can get a version of that car with two wheel drive, whereas youll only get a soltera with all wheel, drive Subaru explained that it sees Toyota catering for the lower end of the market. With the soltera aiming for sales at the high spec top end, but that is some pretty Punchy pricing, which is above even the most expensive version of the enyak and a gt line. S version of the ev6 is only a little more money. You do get a lot of equipment as standard, though so that includes heated front seats, heated rear seats, a heated steering wheel, heated, windscreen wipers and thats all, partly because lots of Subarus end up in cold parts of North America and other standard equipment includes adaptive cruise Control and this digital rear view mirror where, if you flip this switch, it becomes a screen to go with the reversing camera. You get a standard as well. So that means there are two cameras at the back and theres, also a washer back there to mean that they wont get covered in muck and impossible to use.

If you go for the range topping touring model, then as well as the 20 inch Alloys that we spoke about earlier, you get leather seats, you get electric adjustment for the passenger seat and you get the panoramic sunroof as well Music. So that is everything we know about the Subaru soltera. What do you think of this? All new EV tell us in the comments below and if you want to see our review of the car as soon as weve driven. It then make sure to subscribed to our Channel, and you can see all of our other new car reviews as well.