- 17 days
Key word is Europe. Because us north-americans are stuck 30 years in the past in terms of transport, but with cars twice as big.
- 17 days
even Mexico is building affordable vehicles, I’m driving a 20 year old car
Affordable vehicles are everywhere. The problem is that people want a massive chunk of affordable metal— and a multi ton electric powered piece of machinery is a bit questionable to expect to be affordable if you still want to pay workers right.
It’s easier to build affordably in countries that have lower costs of paying workers.
- 17 days
I’m very happy with my 24 solterra, it’s pretty much Toyota, but it’s the best performing Subaru I’ve ever had. A shame there aren’t more Americans interested in buying them.
We had a loaner vehicle for a weekend, the Crosstrek wilderness, and I was talking with the car brained boss about getting the solterra back, I told him I miss the power, he heard “I’m going to miss the power” thinking the internal combustion engine was in any way an improvement to the all electric, I told him besides the engine noise there is nothing the ice does higher numbers in than the all- electric.
It’s half the price of most new cars, and it blows everything but the highest performing cars (and other electric vehicles) out of the water.
17 daysI like and completely support the idea, but i was under the impression that the only reason that they’re still a bit relevant in europe is the aficionados to the boxer engine. If they only sell rebadged toyota EVs, can they survive? I’m not a CEO but it doesn’t seem smart to rebadge half-assed EVs from a company that doesn’t believe in EVs.
- protist@retrofed.comEnglish17 days
I’m interested to know from where you glean this, since “Subaru hasn’t disclosed battery capacity, charging speed, or real-world range for this prototype. The company stresses that the test mule’s wagon body has nothing to do with what a production vehicle will look like.”
- CheesyFingers@piefed.socialEnglish17 days
Do car companies usually use “test mules” in their marketing imagery on their website 🤔
No
- CheesyFingers@piefed.socialEnglish17 days
Yes, turns out when you create a system where everyone must have an appliance, appliances sell well.
lol Subaru’s absolutely do not fall apart within the first week of ownership. Year after year they’re rated amongst the most reliable vehicles. I regularly take my outback wilderness offroad and it does fine, and this vehicle performs better in the winter than anything else I’ve ever driven- and my job has me in different rental cars for 1-3 days biweekly.
- betanumerus@lemmy.caEnglish17 days
Last time I test drove a Subaru, I said to the dealer: “perfect car for me, except that it uses gasoline”, and I left. So I like to think I contributed to this new “EV only” strategy.
- Zamboni_Driver@lemmy.caEnglish17 days
You needed to test drive a car to learn that it was a gasoline car? You’re brave for admitting that.
- 17 days
You test drove the car famous for exactly two things, one of which is its boxer engine. What exactly were you expecting if not the famous boxer engine?
- betanumerus@lemmy.caEnglish16 days
I was expecting a fair comparison between 5 different cars having features I liked, so that I could choose one to purchase.
- 16 days
Sure, in 20+ year old engines. What was the last modern non-wrx Subie you had a head gasket go in?
- betanumerus@lemmy.caEnglish16 days
I’ve had my Hyundai for 5 years so I guess Subaru was 1 year too late.
- mrgoosmoos@lemmy.caEnglish17 days
I would hope that the dangerously blinding headlights were also a detractor
- 17 days
I thought lots of European countries had upcoming bans on the sale of new ICE cars. So surely this is just getting ahead of that.
- SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.caEnglish17 days
Those bans were all dropped due to industry pressure. Subaru is following sales projections and consumer demand.
- APinkOrange@piefed.socialEnglish17 days
The industry lobbied hard against that only to realize that with the current has prices people actually start to prefer EVs and people are still wondering why the European auto manufacturers are falling even more behind.
- 16 days
they are in process of ditching that. Merz and UVDL are pushing hard for it
- 17 days
Define ‘lots’.
Because around half of the EU (and an even larger share of Europe) has next to zero EV infrastructure in place. Banning ICE cars would be banning cars, period.
If ‘lots’ is France, Germany, and Switzerland, then yeah, maybe.
- 17 days
Banning ICE cars would be banning cars, period.
good policy
- 17 days
That’s false. Infrastructure quality varies but it is no problem to drive electric across all of the EU.
- 17 days
I’m Norwegian, and I’ve had two rowdtrips to the northern part of Italy with two different ECS, a Hyundai Kona some five years ago and a Tesla Model 3 two years ago. No stress, only Italy was a little bit weak five years ago. So things are definitely improving
- 16 days
they passed that law in 2022 with a ban for 2035. that is more than enough time to build infrastructure.
- 18 days
If only the TNGA platform offered 20-30kWh more, the E-Outback would be really compelling
- hendu@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish18 days
Agreed. I generally like the Trailseeker, but its battery seems way too small.
- 17 days
It’s pretty efficient, too actually! But attach a trailer or put anything on the roof, and the small battery and slowish charging become real limits. Camping and winter driving are also big factors for these vehicles.
It still is a very promising product, I hope it will improve further, its platform came a long way but is not there yet.
- nilloc@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish17 days
Yeah I have a 1.5 hour freeway drive to our weekend ski area and we use a low profile roof box on a crosstrek and get about 26-27 mpg.
Without the roof box and snow tires it gets 31-32 mpg. So I lose at least 15%.
It’s often between -10 to +15°F as well. I don’t think I could make it round trip in the winter. At least with the skis on the roof.
As of last season there was no charging at the mountain. There was a regular Deplorean and one Lightning in the parking lot, but I’m pretty sure the Lightning guy was local.
Side note. The parking lot is probably 40% Subarus. Never seen a B4Xwhatever there.
- lemming741@lemmy.worldEnglish17 days
My mach e gt has similar quoted range, and i find it perfectly adequate. I know subaru owners take their dogs on camping trips every single weekend, but i didnt realize the camp sites were all 2 hours from home.
- 17 days
That’s a bold move, considering they’re only just now getting around to making their own EV - their earlier models are all basically rebadged Toyotas, iirc.
- 17 days
Which own EV? All their offering is based on Toyotas platform, or am I missing some news?
- theparadox@lemmy.worldEnglish17 days
Last I saw, Toyota owns like 20% of Subaru and they are “strategic partners”.
- 16 days
arent these all rebadged Toyotas Bz4x and C-hr+ ? did they stop making their own cars?
- 17 days
Its for the best. Their company has been stuck without innovation on extremely outdated powertrain platforms since the early 2000s.
- 17 days
I’ve leased a couple of Imprezas the past 5 years. I love the car, it’s so small but capable. A couple of years ago when my last lease was up, I wanted to get an EV or hybrid from Subaru but there were no options at the time. Now I’m torn on going with an EV or buying out my current lease (I don’t want interior cameras).
- 16 days
Impreza is almost 4.5 meters long. How is that a small car? Are you a lorry driver?
- 16 days
Unfortunately I am in America and that is a compact car. Most vehicles here are 4.75 meters in length or more. I do have to haul an equipment set for work.
- FE80@lemmy.worldEnglish16 days
Lose the screens, put back the buttons, and return the Outback to a station wagon and we’ll talk.
- MrSulu@lemmy.mlEnglish17 days
I used to drive a forester, what a lovely car. Now driving an EV 4WD. The advent of EV cars has changed the paradigm. A low down battery plus two or four motors for the wheels. The advantages of superior engine placement, transmission, drivetrain is all irrelevant now. I’m likely to stick with Japanese or Chinese simply because of the extra toys that not additional extras.
Yeah, 4 of them built on the joint subaru-toyota platform.
Subaru Solterra = Toyota bZ
Subaru Uncharted = Toyota C-HR
Subaru Trailseeker = Toyota bZ Woodland
Subaru Getaway = Toyota Highlanderyeah, bz7 didn’t make it, I bet they could do a nice Legacy EV out of it
- im_fine_sandy@nord.pubEnglish17 days
What were you expecting?
Uninspired SUVs are what people will buy. Once they’ve sold a few million of those then you can expect something “inspiring”.
They literally make them, sharing a platform isn’t like badge engineering. Collaborating with Toyota is why they could make their BRZ so cheap, probably the same thing applies here.
They’re working on an in-house platform though, if you want something with more Subaru involvement.
https://www.subaru.co.jp/news-en/2026_02_04_173507/
edit: solterra is built by toyota, but they aim to make all their own stuff in 2027
