It doesn't feel very agricultural: The 2026 Subaru Solterra review

After a slow start, Subaru’s electrification journey picked up a bit this year with the debut of a pair of new electric vehicles, the Uncharted and the Trailseeker. Neither is truly an in-house Subaru—like the Solterra EV before them, they use Toyota’s e-TNGA platform. The Solterra remains on sale alongside the two new EVs—it’s bigger than the Uncharted and less off-roady than the Trailseeker—and like the closely related Toyota bZ, the Solterra recently got its midlife update. And since it had been a while since Ars had last driven a Solterra, we decided to spend a week with one. The original Solterra was a rather underwhelming effort. It looked OK, and it was recognizable as a Subaru from the outside, even if the interior was pure Toyota. But it was inefficient and slow to charge, and in 2024, it was a tough value proposition compared to something like a Hyundai Ioniq 5. For Solterra version 1.1, there’s a new visage—does it remind anyone else of an Autobot?—and the tech specs look much improved. At 74.7 kWh, the battery capacity has increased by less than 2 kWh, but its EPA range estimate leaps from 227 miles (365 km) to 288 miles (463 km). Ironically, that extra refinement makes the Solterra feel less like a true Subaru, at least to me. Its distinctive boxer engines aren’t the most refined in the world, but they do add character, as does the mechanical all-wheel drive. Here, the drive experience is rather anodyne, albeit entirely acceptable for a daily driver.