Subaru Solterra : a quick review

[MrOrange]

Long story short, but my wife has been looking to replace her lease Qashqai (due to go in Oct this year), so I dropped a speculative deposit on a Subaru Solterra I test drove back in late Nov. Fast forward a month, and a car became available (I think it was due to be a demo car) so picked it up just before Xmas.

It's my wife's first BEV, I have had an i8 for seven years so she was used to the serene, easy-to-drive thing that comes with leccy powertrains. It's a lovely car to drive, and I now drive it as often as she does.

Pros:

• Wife likes it. Not too wide (a complaint with lots of other RVs tried out) and has gotten used to it. Dog likes it too.
• Pre-warming on cold days, heated seats (4) and heated wheel. The heater kicks out usable heat after 30 seconds.
• Good tech, uses buttons where it should and a massive screen for Airplay
• Personalised keys/phone connections so configured for both of us without faffing with settings
• More compliant ride than others, quite luxurious really
• Fully optioned (bought the touring model) with a huge pano roof, LCD RVM (epic invention), lots of cameras with really good views for parking and slow speed manoeuvring
• Good turning circle, despite the longish wheelbase and overall length
• Grip and surefooted in all this ice and snow we've recently had
• It's not a Tesla (loads and loads around us, so nice to be different)
• Good range for her needs (200+ real miles)
• 100% WDA in year one gets a big lum of money back, so real cost is just over £30k (plus balancing charges)
• Great ground clearance and clever snow/mud traction modes
• Almost one-pedal driving
• Can fit a towbar
• Cheap insurance
• Quite huge inside, I suppose because of dedicated EV platform
• Rare, not seen another one yet

Cons:

• Range seems to drop 50 miles if you have the full AC on this time of year so only shows 210 miles when fully charged vs 260 plus when you switch it off and rely on heated seats and wheel
• Pricey to buy (£54k)
• Quite tall
• Not quite one-pedal driving
• Three-year warranty vs the Toyota 10-year one for essentially the same car
• It's a more expensive Toyota Bz4e
• We still have the Qashqai and will need to pay for that for a while yet
• Bought cash as 9.9% interest and zero dealer contribution made for quite large repayments

It's been one of our better car purchases over the years, and I can see it becoming a keeper.

[Pistonheadsdicoverer]

What's WDA BTW?

[PBCD]

Pistonheadsdicoverer said:

What's WDA BTW?

Writing Down Allowance - a form of capital allowance:

https://www.gov.uk/capital-allowances/business-car...

[Snow and Rocks]

Thanks for that - interesting that it rides "properly", definitely something that's important to me as is the ground clearance and fact that the underpinnings seem relatively tough.

How is the performance and handling - ride should obviously be the most important thing on this type of car (Tesla take note!) but I do drive mostly on quiet Northern Scottish b roads so it's sometimes nice to have some fun.

I wonder if the Subaru is set up sportier than the Toyota?