Subaru Solterra 2024 Review

First revealed in November 2021 and then confirmed for Australia in May 2022, the 2024 Subaru Solterra was originally priced from $77,990 plus on-road costs when order books finally opened in November 2023.

But seven days before its official launch last week – on the same day as its Toyota bZ4X sister model and about six months later than Subaru Australia had planned to release the Solterra, in mid-2023 – pricing was slashed by $8000, to $69,990 plus ORCs for the entry-level AWD variant and $76,990 plus ORCs for the AWD Touring flagship.

At the time Subaru said it would honour that price for existing pre-orders but at the launch it wouldn’t say how many of those it had received, nor whether it plans to sell more than the 1500 bZ4X vehicles Toyota has ordered for the first 12 months.

The Solterra’s new sub-$70K starting price still places the first Subaru EV at the bottom end of the luxury ($60,000-plus) mid-size SUV market and within $4000 of its Japanese twin’s base price ($66,000 plus ORCs). But both EVs remain pricier than the dominant Tesla Model Y (from $65,400 plus ORCs) and much more expensive than another Chinese-made mid-size electric SUV, the BYD Atto 3 (from $48,011 plus ORCs).

Other rivals include the Korean-made Hyundai IONIQ 5 (now from $65,000) and upcoming Kia EV5 (price TBC), plus Volkswagen’s first EV – the upcoming VW ID.4 and ID.5, which are expected to be priced even higher than the Kia EV6 (from $72,590), and Ford Mustang Mach-E (from $72,990).

The 2024 Subaru Solterra comes well-equipped and both model grades line up closely with the bZ4X range – although both Toyota EV variants come with 20-inch wheels.

Entry-level Solterra AWD variants come standard with 18-inch alloy wheels with wheel caps, automatic self-levelling LED headlights, LED tail-lights, auto wipers, powered/auto-folding door mirrors with puddle lamps, a powered tailgate and roof rails.

For an extra $7000, the Solterra AWD Touring adds 20-inch alloy wheels and auto-dipping door mirrors (in addition to interior extras – see below). Two-tone paint options are available for an additional $1200.

Like all Subaru Australia vehicles, the Solterra is covered by a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, plus an eight-year/160,000km high-voltage battery warranty.

Also as per the bz4X, the Solterra’s service intervals are 12-month/15,000km, but as an added bonus Subaru is offering a free five-year/75,000km scheduled service plan – whereas Toyota will charge $180 per service, effectively marking a $900 saving for Solterra buyers.

Subaru also includes five years of roadside assistance for free – something Toyota charges at least $99 for each year, saving Subaru buyers a further $495.

There’s a puncture repair kit as standard, rather than a space-saver spare wheel – let alone a full-size spare – but Subaru says it will make the latter available as an option, which would make the Solterra the first EV to do so.

The 2024 Subaru Solterra has been awarded a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating following crash testing in 2022, with solid scores in all areas including adult occupant protection (88%), child occupant protection (88%), vulnerable road user protection (79%) and safety assist (93%).

Standard safety equipment includes twin front, front-side and full-length curtain airbags, plus a head clash-mitigating centre airbag. Active safety kit extends to autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with car-to-car, vulnerable road user and backover detection plus junction assist, as well as Lane Tracing Assist, Lane Departure Alert, Emergency Steering Assist and Low-speed Acceleration Suppression.

Other Subaru Safety Sense functions include Dynamic Radar Cruise Control, Road Sign Assist, Speed Limiter and a Pre-Collision System, while a driver monitoring system comprises distraction warning and drowsiness warning.

Subaru Vision Assist functions include Adaptive High-Beam System, Blind Spot Monitor (BSM), Front View Monitor, Panoramic 360-Degree View Monitor, Parking Support Brake, Rear Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA), Safe Exit Assist and front and rear parking sensors.

And of course both variants have a reversing camera, traction/stability control, anti-lock brakes, electronic brake-force distribution and brake assist, plus active cornering assist, auto vehicle hold, tyre pressure monitoring, three rear top-tether and two ISOFIX child-seat anchors and an electric parking brake.

The Touring flagship adds Subaru Vision Assist including Advanced Park Assist.

All 2024 Subaru Solterra vehicles come with a 7.0-inch digital instrument cluster and a 12.3-inch central infotainment touch-screen with satellite-navigation, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, Bluetooth voice control and audio streaming, AM/FM/DAB+ radio, digital rear-view mirror, smart key, push-button start, all-auto power windows, 12V/120W outlet and both USB-A and USB-C ports (two each front and rear).

But while the base model gets a six-speaker sound system, the top-spec Touring adds 10-speaker Harman Kardon sound with subwoofer and amplifier, plus a wireless smartphone charger.

The AWD-only 2024 Subaru Solterra employs an 80kW/168.5Nm permanent magnet synchronous motor on each axle, for total modest outputs of 160kW/337Nm – just like its sister model, the Toyota bZ4X.

Eco, Normal and Power drive modes are available, but Subaru doesn’t claim a 0-100km/h acceleration time.

However, the Solterra is based on Toyota’s e-TNGA EV platform and virtually identical to the all-wheel drive version of the bZ4X, which is claimed to reach 100km/h from standstill in 6.9 seconds, which is reasonably quick for a mid-size SUV but leisurely for an EV.

The 2024 Subaru Solterra is powered by a 71.4kWh lithium-ion battery that’s claimed to offer an NEDC range of 485km (no figures are available according to the more pessimistic WLTP standard) and consume energy at the rate of 14.1kWh/100km (also NEDC).

However, Toyota Australia says the AWD bZ4X (on 20-inch wheels) has a WLTP range of 411km and on the extensive and varied launch drive we recorded efficiency of 15.4kWh/100km, starting with a full battery charge and 430km of range showing on the trip computer.

That means the Solterra has a shorter range than the cheapest all-wheel drive versions of both the IONIQ 5 ($80,500 plus ORCs for the Dynamiq AWD), which packs a 239kW/605Nm dual-motor powertrain and a 454km WLTP range, and the Model Y Long Range AWD ($78,400 plus ORCs), which is claimed to hit 100km/h in 5.0sec and has a 533km range (WLTP).

The Solterra’s 355.2-volt battery has a maximum DC fast-charge rate of 150kW, at which it’s claimed to take 30 minutes for a 0-80% charge via a CCS2 plug. But on AC power via the supplied 2kW (8-amp) Type 2 cable the Solterra takes as long as 35 hours to charge from 0-100 per cent, falling to 9.5 hours via an optional ($2200) 7kW AC wallbox charger and 6.5 hours at its 11kW maximum via a three-phase AC charger.

Once again, those charging times are as per bZ4X and slower than the fastest-charging, higher-voltage EVs from Audi, Hyundai, Kia, Porsche and Tesla.

The 2024 Subaru Solterra is a thoroughly modern mid-size electric SUV that offers the kind of comfort, refinement and connectivity we expect from any new Subaru – and an even better ride/handling package.

Despite a relatively firm suspension set-up that keeps body roll well in check – no mean feat for a vehicle weighing 2015kg, or 2060kg in Touring guise – ride quality remained plush (and certainly much plusher than the rock-hard Tesla Model Y) on the launch drive that included about 250km of urban, suburban and country roads in southeast Queensland.

That’s partly attributable to a 90mm-lower centre of gravity than Subaru’s popular existing medium SUV, the Forester, and the only real dynamic gripe is numb steering (electric power-assisted rack-and-pinion) that offers enough agility but little in the way of feel or feedback.

As you’d expect with any EV, there’s plenty of instant thrust available – at all speeds including those well into licence-losing territory – from the twin-motor powertrain that can shuffle up to 50 per cent of torque to either axle, providing plenty of cornering traction and stability but not the rear-biased driving dynamics of the Model Y or IONIQ 5.

Four levels of brake regeneration are available via the steering wheel shift paddles that do a good job of mimicking those in ICE cars – providing various levels of ‘engine’ braking – and the well-calibrated S Pedal Drive mode offers true and effortless one-pedal driving with strong deceleration from all speeds, though it doesn’t bring the car to a complete stop and doesn’t work if the battery is above 75 per cent of capacity.

And well-metered low-speed throttle calibration makes parking the Solterra a breeze with its acceptable 11.2-metre turning circle.

All of the functions in the Solterra’s extensive drive assistance suite work discreetly but effectively, including the faithful speed sign recognition and lane keeping systems, but like many new cars designed to achieve a full five-star safety rating today, it suffers from a driver monitoring system that – ironically – can be distracting.

The attention monitor triggers an audible and visual alert when the driver looks anywhere but straight ahead for five seconds, for example, and the drowsiness monitor couldn’t detect my eyes with sunglasses on, leading to an annoyingly persistent warning telling me so.

Of course, the Solterra rides on the same 2850mm wheelbase as the bZ4X and also shares its 4690mm overall length, 1860mm width, 1650mm height and MacPherson strut front and double-wishbone rear suspension set-up, right down to its spring and damper rates.

That makes the Solterra, which is differentiated from the bZ4X (alongside which it’s built in Japan) only by its front bumper/grille, the most identical Toyota twin we’ve seen so far from Subaru, given the BRZ coupe also offers a different suspension tune to the 86.

The 2024 Subaru Solterra most certainly can go off-road, as demonstrated by the boggy and reasonably hard-core hillclimb we subjected it to at the Scenic Rim 4x4 Adventure Park.

Yes, several of the six Solterras at the launch did touch down their front chins and flat underbodies – without damage – but the low-speed traction (both uphill and down) afforded by the two-setting X-Mode, Grip Control low-speed cruise and downhill assist control systems was genuinely impressive.

Although it cocked many wheels on the off-road test, a decent 212mm of ground clearance, clever cross-axle torque distribution and the ability to send up to 50 per cent of torque to either axle provided surprising levels of off-road ability, making it at least as suitable for unsealed road adventures as the Outback once the full-size spare option comes online.

Like the Tesla Model Y, the Solterra can also tow – up to 750kg with or without trailer brakes, with a 75kg down ball weight.

The 2024 Subaru Solterra is a great place to spend time inside, offering generous and comfortable seating for five within a relatively spacious cabin, great driver ergonomics, high levels of refinement, good vision in all directions and all of the technology and connectivity you’d expect.

That said, there was some wind noise from driver’s A-pillar at 100km/h and there were minor rattles at both ends of the dashboard and both front doors in the first car we drove (but not the second), and the rougher the road the louder they became.

Nor is there a glove box of any type under the strange woven fabric dash-top, which is exacerbated by the lack of a ‘frunk’ (instead the ‘engine’ bay is crammed full of electric motor and power control module), but there are four generous door pockets including oversized bottle holders.

The digital instrument cluster is well-presented and easy to read – even if you have to look over the flat-topped and flat-bottomed steering wheel to see it and there’s no traditional hooded binnacle, though it was never obscured by reflections even on a summer's day in Queensland.

The digital rear-view mirror also takes some getting used to, but thankfully you can see a faint analogue view through it. And while there are some hard plastic surfaces around the centre console, which is topped by a big sliding arm rest, there are soft-touch materials almost everywhere else.

And the large horizontal touch-screen is supported by push-buttons for audio volume and the like – and separate hard buttons for the dual-zone climate-control system’s temperature, fan and air-flow settings – but there are no old-school knobs and, unlike the bZ4X, the infotainment system does not support over-the-air (OTA) software updates.

The base variant comes with black cloth seat trim, eight-way power adjustment for the driver’s seat, a heated leather steering wheel, heated front and outboard rear seats, ambient LED lighting, carpet mats and both 12V/120W and USB-A and USB-C ports.

Flagship Touring variants adds a big panoramic glass roof, black synthetic leather seat trim, eight-way power adjustment for the front passenger and driver’s door mirror memory.

The rear bench seat is a little flat and knees-up due to the floor-mounted battery pack, but offers good legroom and outward vision, plus effective air vents and both USB-A and USB-C outlets.

Cargo space is a relatively small 410 litres but can be extended by folding the 60/40-split rear seat, behind which is a luggage blind, tie-down points, rubber cargo tray and tyre repair kit (no space-saver or full-size spare – yet).

After a long wait and plenty of hype, the 2024 Subaru Solterra has arrived with competitive pricing, generous aftersales provisions and an even more compelling ride/handling package.

Indeed, driver-monitoring nannies aside, it should be an attractive and easy-to-live-with proposition for any of the Japanese auto brand’s legions of loyal customers looking to make the leap to an electric car.

There are some oversights like the lack of a glove box and frunk, and the Solterra’s driving range and fast-charging capability falls short of its established competitors, especially the top-selling Model Y.

But not everyone wants a mid-size electric SUV that looks like a caricature and rides like a dray. Even if it’s a carbon-copy of its Toyota sister model, Subaru’s first EV is now another great alternative.

2024 Subaru Solterra at a glance:
Price: From $69,990 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Powertrain: Dual permanent magnet synchronous motors
Output: 160kW/337Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic with reduction gear
Battery: 71.4kWh lithium-ion
Range: 485km (NEDC)
Energy consumption: 14.1kWh/100km (NEDC)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2022)