Review: Subaru Solterra Touring
What is it?
It’s no secret that the Solterra is the almost identical sibling to Toyota’s bZ4X, but before you have disparaging thoughts of a simple badge swap, it has to be noted that Subaru helped to develop the platform used by both cars, as well as the off-road settings.
On the road
Despite being a heavy car, around two-tonne-plus, it handles incredibly well. On the motorway it glides along nicely, and around town it handles speed bumps and potholes with ease. Get it on fast B roads though and it comes alive. That isn’t really surprising as the Solterra features permanent all-wheel drive as standard, courtesy of two electric motors (one on each axle). Throw it around tight corners and there’s barely any roll, and the grip is amazing - it’ll certainly put a smile on your face.
Like all large electric cars it can get a move on when you press the loud… er, quiet pedal, and although it may not be the quickest in its class, the 6.9 seconds it takes to propel you from 0-62mph is, in reality, more than adequate.
Overall the Solterra remained composed wherever and however I drove it, and the cabin is well isolated from road noise, no matter how broken the surface.
Real life range
The Solterra is offered with just one powertrain: a 71.4kWh battery, and according to Subaru, this combination is good for 289 miles on a charge in base trim cars, while Touring-spec models like the one we drove have a shorter 257-mile range. I’m going hazard a guess that that’s due to their larger 20” wheels.
However, after an afternoon at a friend’s house with the Solterra plugged into his home charger, it was showing 100% fully charged with a 210 mile range. The temperature was around 15-18º, so I switched the AC on and set off for home.
On fast country B roads at speeds between 40-60mph, which included some swift overtaking and a fair bit of braking, I reached the M65 after 21 miles. At this point the Solterra was showing 91% charge and 191 miles left.
From here it was 70mph blast on the M65 and M61 to Horwich for 35 miles, and that reduced the charge to 77% with 166 miles left.
The next part of the journey was 10 miles of mainly 30mph roads with some town centre stop/start traffic thrown in for good measure, and I arrived home with 60% battery life left and an indicated range of 140 miles.
So far not too bad, and if you add the miles up it comes to 66 miles driven, minus that from 210 and you end up with 144 miles, so it was only 4 miles out. However, I momentarily switched the Eco button on the heating controls and immediately lost 33 miles from the readout!
Off road
On my short but steep test hill with deep opposing holes and loose stones, the Solterra struggled to climb at slow speeds, but then there was a slight glitch with X-Mode as it wouldn’t switch on. Giving it a little more momentum and the Solterra managed it, just.
That said, elsewhere the Solterra found traction without any bother and felt quite capable with limited wheel spin. Sadly it hadn’t rained for a few weeks so there was no wet grass or muddy slopes to try it on.
Over rocky and undulating terrain, despite its length, the Solterra’s ground clearance and approach and departure angles didn’t give me cause of concern, and of course, don’t expect much in the form of articulation, but that’s the same with all SUVs these days.
Interior
If you’ve driven certain Peugeots in the past then the driving position will feel familiar, in that the steering wheel appears to sit quite low whilst the main binnacle sits above it. As for switchgear the Solterra receives full marks for bucking the trend of relying on touch-sensitive panels and sliders for heating control, and instead utilises buttons and physical controls for the most part. No more taking your eyes off the road searching a menu on a touchscreen to change the fan speed.
Visibility is really good with large windows and door mirrors, but the lack of a rear wiper spoils that. Amusingly, before I had realised the lack of wiper, I pushed the windscreen wiper stalk forward that would normally set the rear wiper in motion. On doing so you still activate a washer pump, you can hear it whirring away, but there’s no washer fluid, nor wiper! Weird that.
The rest of the dash is quite funky and covered in cloth, it worked for me, but Muddy Madam wasn’t keen.
I found the seats to be comfy for my 6” 2’, 18 stone frame and there’s plenty of room so you wont feel cramped. I particularly appreciated the high centre console on which to rest your left arm, this makes cruising very comfortable.
Rear seat passengers have enough room to swing multiple cats and aren’t short of both head and legroom.
The boot has between 452 (Limited)and 441 litres of apace with the seat upright.
Conclusion
Although I enjoyed my week with the Solterra it had a few annoyances. I mentioned the lack of a rear wiper, and when you’re reversing it has an annoyingly loud continuing bong. There are lots of other warning bings and bongs, too, which I understand are supposed to aid safety, but in reality can be quite a distraction.
Physically it’s much bigger than you think, and with excellent rear legroom and plenty of boot space this would be an ideal vehicle for our annual pilgrimage to Great Yarmouth, but with no charging points available it’s sadly out of the running.
Despite being fully electric I really quite enjoyed my week with the Solterra, it’s certainly much more practical in terms of range and space than the Volvo XC40 Recharge Twin.
price: from £49,995
more at » subaru.co.uk
Reviewed in Issue 49 - July 2023