Subaru Solterra

In our first moments driving the 2026 Solterra, we immediately noticed its significantly better ride comfort. According to the automaker, the EV is based on a new platform with a retuned suspension, along with numerous other improvements, including new control arms and bushings, a new front subframe, and sound insulation. All of this works in harmony, effectively absorbing larger single impacts (such as when one wheel hits a large pothole), and remaining mostly composed over repeating impacts (such as a washboard road surface). One tester said the EV feels “less jumpy” over more significant bumps.

While the ride is good overall, it’s far from sporty. We found that on uneven roads, the EV’s body will rock side to side, and multiple bumps in a row can cause front-to-rear pitching, similar to a seesaw.

The XT’s powertrain

The Solterra will be available with two dual-motor powertrains. The Premium and Limited trims are rated at 233 hp, while the Limited XT and Touring XT have 338 hp. Both figures exceed the 215 hp of the first Solterra. In our road test of that first Solterra, we said it “has enough speed to get around slower vehicles in a two-lane passing zone, (but) there are times you’ll wish you had a bit more grunt at your disposal.

”That grunt is definitely present in the XT version, at least. The EV still can’t be considered a speed demon, but it’s very quick when making a pass at highway speeds. The strong power comes on smoothly, and traction management is very effective at eliminating torque steer. In most cases, power is easily modulated using the accelerator pedal.

As one tester put it, the Solterra is “pretty much a hop in and go EV, with enough range for my life.”

Subaru equipped the Solterra with a Tesla-style NACS port on the front right fender, so drivers can pull right up to a Tesla Supercharger and plug in without blocking two parking spaces.

That two-space problem occurs because Tesla’s chargers have short power cables on the right side of the charger. This is because Teslas have their charge port at the driver’s-side rear of the vehicle and can back right up to the charger. However, it’s problematic for non-Teslas to charge without blocking another charger. Our testers found that drivers will have to pull up very close to V1, V2, and V3 generation chargers; it should be easier with the new V4 charger, which features a longer cable.

We appreciated the standard dual Qi wireless mobile phone charging pads up front. They’re a good use of space rather than just a flat spot to hold “stuff.”

It’s fortunate that the Solterra comes with Toyota’s larger 14-inch touchscreen, which is used in most Lexus vehicles. It’s easy to quickly read the screen and make selections while driving. This means the driver can adjust ADAS settings, such as lane departure warning, on the center screen rather than having to use steering wheel controls to navigate through tiny, acronym-laden menus in the instrument cluster.

The Solterra’s hatchback design and boxy shape give it a relatively generous cargo area. Folding down the 60/40-split rear seatbacks opens a very large space that can easily accommodate two bicycles lying flat.

It’s odd for a new or freshened EV to lack a true 1-pedal driving mode, but somehow Subaru left it off the Solterra. There are five different regen levels, which the driver can adjust using the paddles mounted behind the steering wheel. But as one tester said, “they barely change anything. I can really only tell the difference between coast and max regen, but max isn’t even all that much.” There isn’t enough power to significantly slow the Solterra, so the driver still needs to use the friction brakes to come to a stop.

Unlike most modern EVs, the navigation system lacks route-planning features that can help the driver find DC fast chargers during their trip. This forces the driver to use third-party apps to help guide them. While we advocate for automakers to include Android Auto and Apple CarPlay capabilities, it’s essential for an EV to at least come with mapping software that incorporates real-time battery data so that the driver doesn’t get stranded, stuck at a broken charger, or forced to use an AC charger during a long trip. The Solterra’s system will alert the driver if the destination they select exceeds the battery range.

Further complicating matters is the Solterra’s slow charge speed. Although it’s up from 100 kilowatts, the maximum acceptance rate is still just 150 kW, which isn’t particularly competitive because it doesn’t let the EV take advantage of speedier DC fast chargers. It’s good that the L2 rate has increased from 7 kW to 11 kW, for faster at-home charging.

However, there isn’t any real information about the charge status at the port itself. There is a small light that is solid when charging and then blinks when the battery is fully charged—the opposite of the conventionally accepted display for charging any battery. There’s limited information displayed on the in-car screens when charging, and the “door ajar/window open” alert covers any charging-related information shown in the instrument cluster. This means that to see its progress, any public charging must be done with the doors closed and windows raised.

Several testers noticed a delay with quick throttle inputs, such as when pulling out from a side street to merge into moving traffic. That pause is followed by an abrupt onset of power, which makes it a little challenging to accelerate smoothly. While there is no need for the EV to have neck-snapping acceleration, this hesitancy was very apparent. Placing the Solterra into its “Power” drive mode noticeably lessens this delay.

The refreshed Solterra uses the same steering wheel and gauge cluster as the initial model . . . and we’re still not fans. The instrument panel is placed far forward, nearly at the base of the windshield, and is still difficult to get used to. Because the driver looks over the top of the steering wheel (rather than through it) to see the instrument panel, it requires tilting the steering wheel down to a lower position than feels normal for many drivers. This is the only way to prevent the steering wheel rim from cutting off any of the readouts that are on the bottom portion of the panel, such as the small predicted range display. The steering wheel itself is a squared-off circle, which many testers disliked..

Not much has changed with the rear seat since we first tested the Solterra. There’s fairly flush padding and some contouring. Like we said in our testing, knee room is plentiful, but headroom is bound to be tight for taller adults, and the seat is situated so low to the floor that there’s barely any under-leg support. The foot space underneath the front seats is also tight. The seatback has some reclining ability, but the lever to adjust it is placed behind the passenger on top of the seatback, which makes it an awkward reach when sitting. The end result is that the Solterra’s rear seat is unlikely to be a comfortable place for most adults during long trips.

While we like the large center screen borrowed from Lexus vehicles, the infotainment system in the Solterra has the same annoyances, such as a long boot-up time, the lack of a home button to change settings when using Android Auto or Apple CarPlay, and requiring users to dive deep into multilevel menus to complete simple tasks. We also miss having a dedicated tuning knob for audio selections.

While the updated Solterra received a significant increase in range—up 61 miles to an EPA-estimated 288 miles—less-expensive competitors such as the Chevrolet Equinox EV can easily travel more than 300 miles on a single charge. Several drivers saw significantly less range than the estimated 288 miles, with one able to travel only 229 miles on a full charge. We’ll conduct a full, instrumented highway-range test when we purchase our own Solterra.

Most drivers said that the Solterra was noisy for an EV. “Wind noise on the highway stood out to me,” said one, while another said, “wind noise dominates at highway speeds, but it’s decently subdued.” Tire noise was noticeable on coarser surfaces, coming through strongly on some roads more than others. We are happy to note that the Solterra was free of the electric motor sounds that plague some EVs.

The brakes on the Solterra we drove elicited varied responses. Our testers found the pedal to be soft, but in a good way. Instead of being soft to the point of scary, where the driver doesn’t really know whether the brakes are working until they suddenly grip, the Solterra’s soft pedal gave feedback about what was going on. The driver had a good “feel” of the braking process. Still, it’s an odd sensation, even in a vehicle with regenerative braking.

There were mixed opinions on how linearly the braking power came on, with one driver saying it was intuitive enough to the point that “the average non-EV driver could easily get used to it even if this is their first EV.” However, another tester felt that the brakes needed more modulation, as braking power varied throughout the stroke, with the brakes aggressively clamping down just as the Solterra was about to come to a stop. This could be attributed to being an early production press vehicle, which is why CR conducts instrumented testing on the production version we purchase.

We had a variety of opinions on the front seats. “Not a bad seat, but just kind of average for me,” said one tester, adding that the lumbar “is placed too low for me. Overall bolstering is a little weak.” “They were pretty decent for me, but after a while, I started to feel pressure points from both cushions,” said another tester.

Still, there were people who not only didn’t have problems but also liked the seats. Another tester said that they “felt like a good Toyota seat, with side bolsters that hold you in place, along with comfy padding.” “The seatback pocket was just the right width for me, and the bolstering was effective but not too aggressive,” said another.

Given feedback like that, we will have additional testers drive the Solterra we buy, allowing us to gather a wider range of opinions.

The freshened Solterra comes standard with the same level of active safety features as its predecessor. Marketed under the EyeSight name, this package includes automatic emergency braking with pedestrian, cyclist, and motorcyclist detection; automatic emergency braking that operates at highway speeds; blind spot warning; rear cross traffic warning; reverse automatic emergency braking; lane centering assistance; lane departure warning; lane keeping assistance; adaptive cruise control; and automatic high beams.

It also comes standard with a rear occupant alert system that’s designed to help prevent kids and pets from being unintentionally left behind in hot vehicles.

The Solterra also features auto lane change, which, when conditions permit, allows the EV to move to an adjacent lane by activating only the turn signal indicator. This is done by using the turn signal to indicate which lane to move to. Our drivers found that the lane change was slow to execute. In some cases, the car would refuse to make the lane change and then refer the driver to the owner’s manual because “conditions” weren’t met. One tester said, “It was just too difficult to get it to actually make a lane change. And then when it would, it would really overshoot the centering.”

One tester also found the direct driver monitoring system (DDMS) camera overly sensitive. It would issue alerts at low speeds when they were looking for a parking space, or when looking down to find a button on the very cluttered steering wheel.

We’d go for the mid-tier Limited trim (like our test car). It brings some welcome features that aren’t on the base Premium, such as a 10-way power driver’s seat, faux-leather upholstery, a heated steering wheel, heated rear seats, a wireless phone charger, and a power-operated liftgate.