Subaru Solterra 2024 review: Touring long-term | Part 3

Well, that was quick. Three months with the 2024 Subaru Solterra Touring have come and gone. Will I miss ‘owning’ the fully electric mid-size SUV? Mostly yes.

But before I deliver my final verdict on the Solterra, I first need to discuss my driving impressions of the zero-emissions vehicle, as promised in the first two instalments of this EV Guide long-term review.

As a reminder, the first chapter detailed the Solterra’s value equation, including its pricing, specifications and running costs. And the second explored its design and practicality in detail. Click on the links below to check them out if you haven’t read them already.

Driven to success?

Is the Subaru Solterra good to drive? In short, it is pretty good – better, in fact, than most of its rivals.

You see, the Solterra is a cohesive package, owing to the Toyota e-TNGA platform it’s based upon, which Subaru calls e-SGP. For reference, the closely related internal-combustion TNGA architecture has been wildly successful for Toyota, making models like the Corolla small car and RAV4 mid-size SUV genuinely fun to drive. And this Subaru is no different.

What makes the Solterra (and its Toyota bZ4X twin) stand apart from the rest of the TNGA family, though, is its strong but smooth acceleration, which comes courtesy of its single-speed reduction-gear automatic transmission and dual electric motors that combine to produce a hearty 160kW of power and an instant 337Nm of torque. As a result, the 0-100km/h sprint takes 6.9 seconds, which was hot-hatch territory not that long ago.

Being an EV, regenerative braking is also in tow, with drivers given the choice between four different levels of regeneration via the steering wheel’s paddle-shifters, with Level 1 akin to ‘coasting’ in an internal-combustion vehicle with your right foot off both pedals.

Level 4 is my preference, though, as it allows you to decelerate to a walking pace by simply disengaging the accelerator pedal. While not quite a full one-pedal driving mode, it does go most of the way, even if you do need to engage the competent friction brakes in the end to bring the Solterra to a full stop. Not quite perfect for me.

Either way, grip is plentiful thanks to the Solterra’s all-wheel-drive system, ensuring the car remains sure-footed in the poor wet-weather conditions Melbourne served up this Winter. And yes, that stays true under hard acceleration, which isn’t something you can say about all EVs.

When it comes to handling more generally, the Solterra shows composure when cornering with intent, with overall control on the stronger side. As such, body roll is rarely a problem, which is impressive given the relatively high 212mm ground clearance and resulting high centre of gravity – SUVs aren’t renowned for being tied down, especially the taller ones.

The Solterra’s electric power steering system offers relatively good feel and is well-weighted, but it might be too hefty for you if you don’t like a bit of meat. That said, it is on the slow side, requiring 2.5 turns lock to lock along the way. This is particularly prevalent when parking, when adjustments may be required if you misjudge your movements.

Other than that, the Subaru is relatively easy to park, with its size (4690mm long, 1860mm wide and 1650mm tall) playing nicely within the confines of a standard Australian car space. Visibility is also good when doing so, be it via the windows and mirrors, or the high-quality surround-view cameras.

On the road, the Solterra’s independent suspension (MacPherson struts at the front, and double wishbones at the rear) delivers a rather comfortable ride, be it around town or on the highway. As you’d expect, the Touring flagship’s 20-inch wheel and tyre package does pick up some of the sharper road imperfections, but it’s nowhere as firm or as harsh as some of its best-selling rivals (looking at you, Model Y).

Comfort is further aided by the Solterra’s impressive noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) levels. Being an EV, it doesn’t have an internal-combustion engine labouring away in the background, but the serenity is taken to another level with little to no tyre noise and only high-frequency road noise heard from 80km/h. Wind noise is more prominent from 100km/h, but overall the Subaru is among the best when it comes to peace and quiet.

There is some disturbance, though, when it comes to the Solterra’s active safety systems. In my experience, its high-beam assist is among the most poorly calibrated, as it incorrectly triggered constantly to the point that I just permanently turned it off.

The driver attention monitoring system is also quite active, but its beeps and bongs are warranted as they’re only heard when your eyes aren’t on the road, as they should be. Either way, it’s fair but not overbearing. All of the other advanced driver-assist features work well, steering assist and adaptive cruise control included.

In terms of miscellaneous thoughts, it continues to irk me that the auto-hold functionality for the Solterra’s electric park brake resets to off each time you switch the ‘ignition’ on. Why can’t it just maintain the previously selected setting? It’s so annoying for auto-hold fans like myself!

Charging ahead?

In my third and final month with the Solterra Touring, my average energy consumption was 16.7kWh/100km over 695km of driving, a much higher proportion of which was spent in and around the city, which is where EVs are at their most efficient. That’s a real-world driving range of 449km from the 75.0kWh battery, by the way.

It’s no surprise, then, that result was a personal record, comfortably eclipsing my 18.6kWh/100km and 18.8kWh/100km efforts in a highway-heavier month one and two, respectively.

Combine all three months, though, and I averaged 18.1kWh/100km over 2278km of driving the Solterra Touring, which equates to a real-world driving range of 414km. For reference, its WLTP-rated driving range is 414km, so that’s bang on, but to be fair I spent more time overall doing more efficient city driving as opposed to the WLTP standard’s even split with less efficient highway driving. Either way, that number itself trails the 500km+ claimed by many rivals.

 

Acquired: June 13, 2024

Distance travelled this month: 695km

Odometer: 6793km

Average energy consumption this month: 16.7kWh/100km