Electric car Subaru Solterra put to the test: Electrically disappointing
The Subaru Solterra lacks several features that are self-evident for electric cars. It has no preconditioning, charges slowly, and it consumes too much.
(Bild: Christoph M. Schwarzer)
- Christoph M. Schwarzer
(Hier finden Sie die deutsche Version des Beitrags)
Subaru stands for all-wheel drive and for boxer engines. I also think a Subaru should have this wonderful WRX blue. In Germany, the Japanese brand is a niche product for rally maniacs and all those for whom all-wheel drive was important even before SUVs were available. These are not just foresters. Subaru is popular in Switzerland and in the U.S. - and with me, because I was able to try out an Impreza intensively at some point. Now comes the Solterra, an electric car. A good car, but one with shortcomings in the electric part.
Solterra identical in construction with Toyota bZ4X
The Subaru Solterra and the Toyota bZ4X are identical in construction. The emblems differ, as do a few details. Subaru didn't miss the opportunity to set an accent on all-wheel drive with the X-Mode: There's drive control for deep snow and mud, as well as hill-climbing and hill-descent assistance for off-road trails. Ground clearance is 21 cm, ramp angle is 18.2 degrees, and the manufacturer also publishes front (17.7 degrees) and rear (25.4 degrees) slope angles as a matter of course. The Subaru Solterra is designed for safety in every respect. The Toyota bZ4X, on the other hand, had a false start: actual or supposedly incorrectly designed wheel studs delayed its market launch. In Japan, safety thinking is high.
Ergonomic operation
My first and lasting impression is that a first-class car has been constructed here. The Solterra fits. The Peugeot-style steering wheel layout also works very well for me. I look over the relatively small steering wheel at the speedometer, which is slightly offset towards the windshield. The controls are clear and uncluttered. There is no head-up display, and I don't miss it. In fact, the redundancy of the displays in many modern cars makes me uncomfortable.
The Subaru has quite a few pushbuttons, but I can get used to this just as well as the pure touch control in a Tesla. The Solterra's voice control is also pretty good. More importantly, the radio navigation system in the center is as responsive and refined as you could hope for in an ID-series Volkswagen, especially at first. This is unusual when I think of the inertia I know from Toyota, where they almost obsessively install systems that already seem like yesterday's introduction.
Subaru Solterra exterior (5 Bilder)
A short insertion on the structure of the cooperation: Fuji Heavy Industries has been called Subaru Corporation since 2017. In 2008, Toyota increased its minority stake in the then Fuji Heavy Industries from 8.7 to 16.5 percent. Now there is the joint SUV based on the e-Subaru Global Platform.
Agile
The steering wheel with its rather small diameter and direct transmission makes the Subaru Solterra feel agile. For an electric car in this segment, it even tends to be light with the 2013 to 2057 kg stated in the press text. This is still true even if I add the 75 kg that is always added according to the EU standard. Yes, the winter tires lack the last precision, but it is still fun to drive this Subaru through curves.
In principle, I'm mostly gliding with an electric car like this. There is the option of one-pedal drive. Alternatively, the recuperation can be adjusted in four stages via rockers on the steering wheel; in such cases, I always choose the lowest. After all, when I brake, it's done via the electric motor at the beginning either way.
When accelerating, the Subaru Solterra is subjectively snappy because the characteristic curve of the electric pedal is not designed as conservatively as in a VW ID.4. 6.9 seconds to 100 km/h are not slow objectively either. 160 kW of system power may not be record-breaking in an electric car comparison. Everyone should ask themselves what they actually need in everyday life. The Solterra already pushes quite well.
Fine assistance systems
Everyday life in general: Here, the lane centering was strikingly good. An important factor for me is that I don't switch off the driving assistance. I rarely or never did that in the Solterra on the highway. Perhaps this assistance system is better than in some competitors because there are two cameras per side under the exterior mirrors at once. I assume that one is responsible for the 360-degree camera and the other "watches" the shoulder. The all-around view works at a high resolution when parking and is standard on all trim levels. I now get along much better with the cameras than the ultrasonic sensors that the Subaru has in addition.
Whether Comfort, Platinum or Platinum Plus, the Subaru Solterra is completely to over-completely equipped. The test car in Platinum Plus has a panorama roof that cannot be opened and has a roller blind. It completely blocks out the sun and effectively suppresses wind noise. The medium Platinum version sets itself apart from the basic equipment with, among other things, the skillfully tuned Harman/Kardon audio system.
Complete equipment
The Comfort line starts at 57,490 euros, and Platinum also remains just below the tax threshold of 60,000 euros gross list price at 59,990 euros. Below this value, the assessment basis for company car tax is reduced to a quarter, above it it is still half. In plain language: if you buy a car with an internal combustion engine for this price, you will have to pay tax on private use for just under 600 euros a month. For an electric car, the taxable imputed income drops to around 150 euros. This pull effect remains even without purchase subsidies.
Cutbacks almost universally concern the electric driving. The fact that the Solterra does not have a rear window wiper is okay, because the visibility is amazingly long, and a Hyundai Ioniq 5 and a Tesla Model Y also have to manage without wipers. Instead, Subaru relies on the interior mirror, which is either digital or analog. In digital mode, high-resolution cameras show what's going on. This works well during the day, but not yet at night and in the rain. I find it more annoying that there is no glove compartment.
Subaru Solterra interior (5 Bilder)
However, Subaru should urgently improve many aspects of the actual electric car. The software, for example, lacks a percentage display for the battery's charge level, and I additionally want to see the power in kilowatts when charging. Instead, there is only a range display in kilometers, which works reasonably well for what is common in the industry, but is ultimately far too inaccurate for the needs of e-mobilists.
278 km medium range
The average power consumption of 25.7 kWh/100 km is in the upper third of this segment and thus too high. The 71.4 kWh energy content of the traction battery results in a calculated average range of only 278 km. In adverse winter conditions, the consumption can easily rise to 30 kWh at target speed, and I only got below 20 kWh in isolated cases. Perhaps the 18-inch tires in the basic Comfort trim - the legal standard range here is 466 instead of 416 km as in the test car - can be used to get a few kilometers out of the car. Compared with the competition, that's not enough.