RIP IONIQ5? 2023 Subaru Solterra Promises To Be A Different EV. Review

Am I missing something or like this is like definitely theres, no theres, no glove compartment in this huh. This is the 2023 Subaru soltera. It is the first time that Subaru has introduced a fully electric SUV and it is probably the first time theyve used the name soltera, which I think, and you guys can correct me or confirm without even looking online. I can bet that soltera means Saul. The sun Tera the Earth. I could be wrong, but you can correct me. Good news is that Subaru got the name right and thats a great start. Why do I say that dont forget? Toyota is also making very similar platform SUV. The only problem with that I cant remember the bloody name, I would guess probably bz4 x y m, something this video is made possible. Things are great friends at buds, Subaru, a Subaru dealership located in Oakville, Ontario Canada. They were kind enough to allow us to borrow this for the day test, drive it and show you what its all about, but whats, also important is the fact that this video is not sponsored by that dealership and is not sponsored on none of my videos by Any dealership, but if you want to reach out to them, guess what check the link in the description below. If you want to take this for a test drive, because it is a demo. Therefore, you can go and take it for a spin and see how you like it after this video someone who has been very slow in rolling out EVS now like Ford GM Hyundai Hyundai, for example, the a15 came out a year ago, so super has been taking Their time because they wanted to make something that is very different, of course, and to give you something that you love and heres the thing, though this does not look like your average Subaru.

So lets start first with the exterior. It still has that Subaru signature design, for example, the front end the side profile. Look at this Fender. This is plastic in case. If you want to go off road because you can take this off road, it goes all the way around at the bottom over here. The same thing we have beautiful, LED headlights very, very skinny. We got LED fog lights at the bottom in case again, if you want to go off road and then, if you look at this theres no Grille here, because this is an EV, we have the sensors at the front. We got the camera. Of course, then you look at the bottom. The chrome finish lip at the bottom part, which I absolutely love. The design is very, very, very different overall about 90 percent does not look like a Subaru very futuristic. I love that, but again, look at this. We got the side profile here, for the fender gives a bit of an aerodynamic for the air to flow through absolutely love the design. Now the question is probably thinking. Does this thing have a frunk? Well, let me open it and show you and its very easy. Like a standard vehicle, nothing crazy, you have a lever located right in here, pull that and lets see if there is a frunk in this car wow, look at that. We dont actually have a front because we have the battery the motors and everything else.

So at least unlike BMW, where you dont have access to the hood here, you do you have your windshield Reservoir theres, the brake liquid and all the rest of them. Unfortunately, theres no frunk, then we move on to the side profile again the rugged exterior design, absolutely love that the skirt at the bottom plastic. In case. If you go off road, we got the rails at the top, which in case, if you want to put more stuff on top of this vehicle, maybe a storage unit or something like that. But if you look at it the entire profile on the side, its very boxy, same thing with the rear tire, the fender, the c pillar. Here, as you see, the seat cover floor, the tires thats in plastic, Iran that Subaru design that rugged exterior then well move on to the back side, which I think looks a bit like the model X or the model y its. The theme now with the electric SUVs to have that sort of like curvy at the top and then flat all the way through at the bottom. We have the blacked out finish. There is one lip on top, then we have another design at the top over here. For the tailgate, which is very different than what Ive seen out there, Bureau, aerodynamically friendly and more aggressive, very different than a standards Subaru. Then we have the soltera on the right side, badge its as EV, so you know on the road.

This is an EV. It has the symmetrical all wheel, drive Subaru, yes, thats, why I said before you can take this off road. We got this beautiful finish diffuser at the bottom. Aggressive look very, very different. I absolutely love that. But if you come close here, the tail lights are my favorite thing, the way theyre finished and the way theyre extended. Yet they fit perfectly with this body shape. Absolutely love that, most importantly, you do got power tailgates fine. We have the Harman Kardon audio system inside a subwoofer tons of cargo space because you dont get a front theyre, giving you at least some space in the trunk. Music. Foreign Music Applause lets jump into the interior second row because its also pretty cold out there freezing here I got heated seats. Yes, each passenger in the back. Well, the right passenger in the left, one, the middle one, doesnt get the same treatment, but we have a three level heated seat, which I absolutely love: nice, leather, interior, Beautiful, Finish, space, wise, Ill, say: Headroom well Ill. Let you judge that Im 62, so that just gives you an idea. Beautiful panoramic roof all the way across its not uncomfortable, but it is a bit tight in the second row for me specifically, so that just gives you an idea how much space you get. Overall, the sitting position is nice. The door finish this glossy finish black. I like that gloss black all around for the door panels, the front ones as well other than that very standard here, nothing crazy.

We got a light arm. Rest in the center were good lets. Jump in the front because thats, where this thing is very different from any Subaru that youve driven so far to some, this may not be very, very different. Why do I say that? Well because this actually shares the same platform as that Toyota EV, which again I cant remember the name. It has very much the same interior, the same user interface, because these are built under the same platforms, its not rocket science, to figure that out but heres. One thing I love about is the design is very different from Miami Subaru if youve never bought a Toyota so far, 2022. Maybe the steering wheel thats like a fire jet look at this. The entire thing just moves. I feel like Im flying a US fighter, jet its so interesting the way theyve designed this. We have the clustered moved so so far away from the steering wheel, but its higher comparison to some Vehicles. It is a digital cluster, absolutely love that I dont seem to have an actual heads up display with this package, but even if it did theres no way to fit one, because the actual cluster is so much far further from the steering wheel. We have paddle shifters here, which are for regeneration other than that left side gloss finish. We got memory seats. The entire design here is very much that EV theme, including the dashboard. We have this cloth cover for the dashboard behind the massive screen that you see here.

This massive massive screen, then, in the center it has the shift knob, which is very different from any EV that Ive seen, for example, to go into drive. You do that and then goes up to go into neutral. You press down to go into park. There is a button theres a brake assist as well theres many things, but one thing that I noticed is the wireless charging pad. So, where is the wireless charging pad well its right here and let me demonstrate that, take your phone, you slide it in, and one thing I love about is the fact that theyve hidden the actual phone so that the massive screen doesnt obstruct you, while youre driving, Which is nice, but then again, there is a a massive screen over there underneath the screen. We have the climate units, we got heated seats, ventilated seats, heated steering wheel and what I love the most is that youre still getting buttons, not everything is in the screen. There you dont have to look for it, everythings right here, the climber unit, the fan, speed and so on the volume, so many options underneath here that you can work, which I absolutely love, theres the button here for the power when you get into the center area. We have the gear knob, which is not the same as every gear, not what youve seen out. There is actually very different. They had to go in their own way. We have different driving modes button on the side.

Then there is X mode, of course, because it is a Subaru, so youre getting all that Subaru treatment. If you want to take this off roads, different settings there is park, assist as well. It will help you with parking and park out something that a lot of EVS have in a lot of modern cars, have it but its nice to see it in this car. Specifically, one thing I love about this is the 360 camera. So if were going to reverse then were going to drive and we move look at that. You get its such a like, a ghost style that you can see everything underneath and around the vehicle. Look at that and you can see that you turn so. This is great if you go off road, its a great feature to have, and of course it has a full camera as well. You can adjust a lot of things. You can change the view mode as well love this design. The good news is that my camera guy is not complaining about the position of the cluster, its pretty easy to actually film this thing, because the way is lifted up and its so much far away from the steering wheel. I, like that theres a lot of things that you can play around theres, a full digital. It gives a lot of information that you can change from here. It does have full driver assistant package as well its very much like a Toyota for most people, especially if you have a new model Toyota.

This is pretty much the same design. The actual range is located right here and right now it shows 264.. We left the dealership with 360 kilometers, but we do a lot of shooting and we still have 264 kilometers, which would be about 100 180 miles or so or under that. So its still not bad. Well talk about the range overall. Once we go for a test drive Music, the 2023 Subaru soltera is offered with three trims in the US in Canada, theyre kind of like packages, but its kind of the same thing underneath this is powered by a 72.8 kilowatts lithium battery pack, and it has two Electric motors it makes 215 brake horsepower and 249 pound feet of torque well, do 0 6 in about 6.5, which is not the fastest out there, but these kind of vehicles are not really meant for lets, say speed. The good news is that this is across all the trims, so there is no such thing as like front wheel. Drive all wheel drive only its basically all symmetric, all wheel drive for all the trims, which is great its a huge help, so youre not paying extra. Now lets talk about the price, because that is very important in Canada. The base stream starts at about fifty four thousand dollars Canadian thats for the base model. Then you keep adding it more and more so each trim adds more to the package, the middle one. You go plus forty one hundred dollars Canadian and then you have the technology package, which is the higher one youre looking at seventy eight hundred dollars, Canadian, so theyre kind of like packages in Canada, the highest one.

If you do the calculation youre over and looking over, sixty thousand dollars, Canadian, which is sort of in line with other competitors, now with this package that we also have today, this has this little thing that I absolutely love has the rear view mirror, which is something That I mentioned for the BMW i7. I should have had that kind of feature. I love this because I can see a little bit better than I can with a standard mirror in the US. We have the three trips you have the premium. That starts at forty five thousand dollars. You have the limiteds that starts at forty eight thousand dollars, and you have the luxury which starts at fifty one thousand dollars. This ultera can charge anywhere with its level 2 Charging and DC fast charging very quickly. It does up to 80 percent, with approximately about an hour 56 minutes or so now that is not the fastest charging out there in terms of a range well, Subaru says that in terms of Miles youre, looking about 228 mile range, which is actually not the best Fully charged, the one that we picked up was about 380 kilometers or so its not very competitive in terms of range and thats. One thing that I will complain about this vehicle is that I wish it had a bit more range to compete with other vehicles like, for example, the ionic 5. With the all wheel drive you can get up to 256 miles, then you have the id4 pro all wheel drive at about 241 miles.

Then you have the Mustang Mach e select e, all wheel drive at about 224, but the Maki also has a GT version, which is of course a very fast EV from what Ive read Toyotas Subaru, because this is actually a Toyota underneath its a its a its A partnership between the two Brands – technically, not necessarily a full Toyota. I think its a good start for Subaru to introduce this to the market range should be next. Maybe they can bring more range to the market because people still have their range anxiety, especially if youve never owned an electric vehicle thats. The first thing that I get asked all the time, but what about the range youre, not driving 360 kilometers a day unless, if you are then yes, its different, but most people will be doing maybe 200 a week. 300 depends and a lot of people now working from home. I like this thing and I think its a great start for Subaru, but we need more for the next model.