2026 Subaru Solterra First Drive Review + Video

Subaru’s taking a second shot at its first-ever electric vehicle (EV), with across-the-board improvements that make the Solterra significantly better in just about all the ways it used to come up short.

It follows a path previously staked by the recently renamed Toyota bZ — unsurprising given they’re all but identical, save for the badges. But where its corporate cousin is offered in a couple configurations, the 2026 Subaru Solterra skips straight to the good stuff: a bigger battery, better range, and more power. It can also charge faster than before, and has access to more stations, while the infotainment interface has been reworked for a more intuitive experience.

They’re the sort of meaningful changes that suddenly make the Solterra an appealing product after a few years of feeling a little underdone. While EV adoption rates have slowed across the country and beyond, Subaru has finally given the Solterra what it should’ve had from the start.

Simple Styling Tweaks

The Solterra has the same quirky shape as before, but it’s been transformed into something better suited to the city through a simple change to the fender cladding. Instead of the unpainted panels of old, they now match the rest of the body in black, white, and silver, while they’re painted black against a signature shade of blue known as Harbour Mist Grey. Together with its squinting six-element daytime running lights and newly flattened fascia, the Solterra is hardly recognizable except for its silhouette, with a tidier town-bound aesthetic this time around.

The cabin looks a little more familiar, although it’s home to some important updates of its own, the biggest one being the touchscreen on the dash. Borrowed from the Lexus lineup, where it serves in the best-selling RX as well as the RZ that’s closely related to the Solterra (as well as the bZ), the 14-inch unit is bigger than before, while the user experience is easier to navigate.

OK, there are still some quirks to come to terms with, like the radio’s tune functionality that’s just as complicated as it was last time. There are also some features hidden deep within menus, like the available driver monitoring system that takes some searching to find and disable. But the climate controls, while entirely integrated within the display, make more sense than the previous combination of tiny toggles and haptic touch icons, plus the temperature dials are enormous.

The console has also been reconfigured, with the same array of drive-related switches moved farther back and a pair of wireless chargers located just in front of them. While the gear selector is the same push-and-twist dial from before, it doesn’t take long to get used to the way it operates. Plus there’s a reshaped steering wheel — which isn’t much of a wheel at all, thanks to its flat bottom and top — that makes the high-mounted instrument display easier to see.

Updated EV Essentials

Beyond the way it looks, the Solterra’s fundamentals have been almost entirely overhauled. The battery is now bigger than before, with a 77-kWh capacity (compared to 72.8 last time), while the electric motors at either end of it are more powerful. Where the previous combination amounted to a paltry 215 hp, they together make 338 hp — a nearly 60 per cent increase. Beyond the extra output, the way the motors themselves work has been improved to optimize torque distribution across the all-wheel-drive system for quicker acceleration and better traction.

The bigger battery means more range, too — a class-competitive 450 km versus 359 km before. Of course, that’s more than the extra battery capacity can account for, and the new electric motors work more efficiently, too. And where the outgoing version was rated for a combined 20.5 kWh/100 km, this test along the rolling hills outside Denver saw the Solterra turn in a combined 14.8/100 km across a little less than 200 km of mixed driving, including on the trail. 

Charging speeds have finally been increased to the same 150 kW as the Lexus RZ, which means an estimated 30 minutes in ideal conditions to make the benchmark 10-to-80 per cent jump — significantly less time than the hour of old. Gone are the limits on fast-charging sessions, too; where the old Solterra could only be hooked up to a DC station twice per day in an overly cautious attempt to preserve battery life, there’s no cap with this updated model.

Subaru is among the automakers to adopt Tesla’s North American Charging System (NACS) port, which allows the Solterra to access that brand’s public chargers — although as with other non-Tesla EVs, the number of compatible stations is limited to the newest ones in the network. Meanwhile, there’s now a preconditioning system to optimize the battery before hooking up, plus the onboard charger has been upgraded to an 11-kW unit (from 7.2) for faster Level 2 sessions.

A Better Drive Experience

The Solterra has been a smooth operator from the start, but that didn’t stop Subaru from making it more refined this time. Tweaks to the suspension and steering mean it’s more composed and responsive on the road or the trail — not that this is some sort of rough and rugged crossover, but it can easily manage more than most others regardless of the way they’re powered. Ground clearance is a little less than the rest of the brand’s crossovers at 210 mm (8.3 in), which means more care is required when negotiating obstacles, but the electric traction is always at the ready.

Back on the road, the suspension is tuned for a soft-yet-stable ride, while nose pitch and dive — the sensation that sees the front end rise and fall when accelerating and braking, respectively — is better controlled. Of course, this EV is quicker than before, and its instantaneous torque delivery is at odds with the laws of physics. That means there’s some inevitable lift with generous throttle play, but the Solterra remains poised even with the pedal pressed to the floor.

The regenerative braking system can be adjusted using paddles on the steering wheel, with four levels to choose from (or it can be switched off entirely). However, even the most aggressive setting isn’t especially strong, and the system is a bit inconsistent. It also can’t bring the vehicle to a complete stop through one-pedal driving that does the job simply through easing off the accelerator. It’s perhaps the lone drive-related shortcoming that’s unaddressed from before.

Final Thoughts

Pricing for the 2026 Subaru Solterra was not yet available at the time of this writing, although in a rare move for a new or updated vehicle, the cost in Canada isn’t expected to increase. That means the entry-level trim should ring in near the same $56,495 before freight and taxes as the 2024 model (Subaru skipped a year in the lead-up to this 2026 version), while the optional Luxury package cost $4,500 more and the Technology pack was worth an extra $7,000.

That’s not exactly inexpensive, although the changes this time around mean the Solterra is significantly more appealing. The added power and range, as well as the faster charging speeds, make it more competitive than ever, while the user experience is more intuitive than it was before. While it took a few extra years to finally get sorted, the Solterra suddenly looks good in more ways than one. And with federal subsidies for zero-emission vehicles poised to return after being suspended back in January, its arrival later this year looks ideally timed, too.