THE HIGH PRICE OF PROGRESS
SUBARU’S FIRST EV IS PERFECTLY PLEASANT – UNLIKE ITS PRICE TAG
SUBARU has had a couple of great eras. The first, very low-key, was the 1980s, when it supplied simple and rugged 4x4s to farmers.
Vehicles that included the brilliant Brat pick-up that’s almost a cult motor today.
And then, in the 90s, Subaru got into rallying and started producing incredible rally-derived road cars like the Impreza turbo.
We owned a Subaru once – but it wasn’t the sort that you’d expect a petrolhead to have.
It was a 1983 1800 GL estate. Rusty, but very competent. Now Subaru is entering another era: electrification. This week we’re driving Subaru’s first EV, the Solterra – a combination of the Latin words for sun and earth, as I’m sure you already knew.
Describing the car as Subaru’s first EV is not quite accurate because the Solterra is a joint project with Toyota, just as the two companies collaborated on the BRZ/GT86 sports cars.
The Toyota with which the Solterra shares a platform and much else is the annoyingly named bZ4X. I prefer the easier to remember Solterra.
Because Subaru is famous for 4x4s, and that’s what its loyal customers expect from it, the Solterra is only available with twin motors and 4WD. There’s a 107bhp motor at each end of the car and they’re powered by a 71.4kWh battery. You can charge the car at up to 150kW DC which means a 20-80% charge should take about half an hour. Range is up to 288 miles.
Are the Solterra and Toyota bZ4X identical? Almost, but the Subaru has a different grille design and round foglamps.
Also, the tailgate is different, although I don’t understand why they went to the trouble and expense of making it so.
Our test car looks very distinctive in its dark blue paint. It’s actually the best-looking Subaru since the days of the hot Imprezas. The interior is appealing, too.
The quality is good and in our topspec Touring model you even get a panoramic sunroof and faux leather.
The most noticeable feature is the driver’s instrument binnacle, which is set quite a long way back from the steering wheel.
It’s good because you can read the instruments easily, barely taking your eyes away from the road.
The Solterra is very hot on you maintaining focus and any peering at the infotainment screen prompts a bonging noise and a written warning to pay attention – a bit like my mum telling me not to slouch at the table when I was a kid.
The infotainment system is easy to use and works well, and there are still plenty of physical buttons for oftused features.
There’s lots of room for tall adults in the back and a generous boot that holds 441 litres, but it’s smaller than the 452-litre boot that you get in the entry-level Limited trim.
Lift a lid and there’s storage for the charging cables. There’s no frunk or front boot. For a twin-motor EV the Solterra isn’t particularly fast, at least compared to many rivals.
That said, there’s not too much to complain about with 0-62mph in 6.9 seconds.
The ride is comfortable and the handling secure. There’s little wind and tyre noise – to sum up, the Solterra is a perfectly pleasant electric SUV.
Perfectly pleasant, however, might not be quite enough for a car which in this specification costs £55,495 (Limited comes in at £52,495).
I doubt the Solterra will become a common sight on our roads.