This!...Is Doug DeMuro reviewing the Solterra.
Subaru Solterra Doug DeMuro Review
He didn’t give the RAV4 Prime a high Doug score so I wasn’t expecting him to love the Solterra and he doesn’t.
Still, the RWD Ioniq 5 and EV6 are dog slooow and the AWD Subaru is 1.5-2 second faster from 0-60 so he’s been blessed with the high performance AWD trims that automakers give him and not reality. Solterra owners will not care about sports car acceleration but honestly it’s not a slow EV either.
Still, the RWD Ioniq 5 and EV6 are dog slooow and the AWD Subaru is 1.5-2 second faster from 0-60 so he’s been blessed with the high performance AWD trims that automakers give him and not reality. Solterra owners will not care about sports car acceleration but honestly it’s not a slow EV either.
I just watched the vid. Didn't learn anything new. As with most reviewers, highly biased towards their own personal tastes and past car experiences. While he did acknowledge its off road capability, he didn't actually test it. All his comments and comparisons were mostly to regular EVs. Not very relevant or useful...
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He didn't mention the included heat pump that Tesla's claiming as their newest invention to revolutionize EV's. Also didn't mention charging time is intentional to promote long term battery health. Subaru says their goal is 90% remaining battery life after 10 years. Didn't mention that either. When you add in the whole horsepower thing many people, including him don't seem to understand, for an expert this guy doesn't seem to do his homework before making videos, Not about this vehicle anyway.
I usually don't mind Doug reviews, but he seems to place more priority on performance-related characteristics. Personally, I am not looking to have mind-melting numbers, I just want to efficiently get to/from work and haul the kids to all their activities on the weekend. The Solterra seems like it'll check my boxes.
While the 100 kW charging seems to be "inconvenient" - considering the way MOST of the EV's have their charge curves set, once you're at 50% state of charge, you're below 100 kW anyway. So, I don't care if it takes me an extra 5 minutes from 20-50% or whatever I need to get. This is not a road trip car for me, and our family has an option to take our three-row SUV as needed and avoid the whole charging stop issue as needed. If I'm by myself, I don't mind 5 minutes extra here-and-there.
While the 100 kW charging seems to be "inconvenient" - considering the way MOST of the EV's have their charge curves set, once you're at 50% state of charge, you're below 100 kW anyway. So, I don't care if it takes me an extra 5 minutes from 20-50% or whatever I need to get. This is not a road trip car for me, and our family has an option to take our three-row SUV as needed and avoid the whole charging stop issue as needed. If I'm by myself, I don't mind 5 minutes extra here-and-there.
Many (not all) EVs have heat pumps these days. It should be standard IMO.
"charging time is intentional to promote long term battery health. Subaru says their goal is 90% remaining battery life after 10 years" - will just anger consumers and is a bean counter move. Look at Ford and the Mach-E... they intentionally throttle DC charging above 80% to 9kW (yes L2 speeds) and throttle acceleration the GT performance edition after 5 seconds of acceleration. There is an government mandated 8 year / 100K battery warranty for a reason.
100 kW charging doesn't bother me because I don't even get that with V2 Tesla Superchargers (even though my Teslas support higher speeds) because every location is slammed these days and there's only so much power supplied to the location. DC charging will be a mess in the US the next few years until the $7.5B EV charging fund opens up and helps build more chargers (which BTW take up to a year to build a single location due to permits, adding power distribution, etc).
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Just watched the DeMuro video. The barker is alive and well in American culture. The enthusiasm of the presentation seems more important than the arguments. His bottom line seems to be if the car is inexpensive enough it will be a good seller. Cost is always a significant consideration but the argument not adequate. The Solterra is faulted for low performance in acceleration qnd range. The acceleration fault is correct. But it is also a clearly macho issue. I believe that the typical Subaru purchaser is female and qute possibly less demanding of speed perfprmance. We are a 5 consecutive Outback household with my wife the exclusive driver and chooser of each vehicle. All 4-cylinder. I stopped driving before she chose the first Subaru. There is no consideration of her priorities in this review. Her current one being a BEV for environmental reasons. Driving range is a minor issue for us. At our age ground clearance has nothing to do with off-roading but everything to do with comfort of entry and exit from our seats. And, we were decided on getting a Solterra begore any reviews. The market is far from mono-dimentional.
I think they talk about the things they can measure -- acceleration, range, battery size, charging speed, etc. I bet there are as many people who choose a vehicle based on color as on all of those. For me, the Solterra/bZ4X made compromises in the exact areas that I would have made them to get down to a reasonable price point -- medium-low range/battery, slowish L2 charging, slowish DC charging, less powerful motors, etc. Those are all the most expensive things in an EV and I was expecting those compromises to result in a nice price. Most reviewers seem to agree. However, now that the bZ4X prices are out, I'm not so sure. Still hopeful, though, and also hoping that we'll know the pricing sometime this week!
2023 Subaru Solterra with Technology Package, Platinum White with Two-Tone Black Roof
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493 Posts
This guys reviews are always dog shit. Not sure why anyone follows him
2023 Subaru Solterra with Technology Package, Platinum White with Two-Tone Black Roof
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493 Posts
All these reviewers are dumb in my opinion. They constantly talk about how “they expected better performance in acceleration like we come to except from other EVs”. Just because Tesla makes an insanely expensive rocket ship doesn’t mean all other EVs that are trying to be more affordable for more people must have insane power and insane range. Does a $40k gas car have the same performance as a $70k gas car? No. They are so dumb.
2023 Subaru Solterra with Technology Package, Platinum White with Two-Tone Black Roof
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493 Posts
He’s an absolute moron. I don’t know why people like him.
If you hear something enough times, you start to believe it’s true. He has a large influence.
I prefer Alex on Autos. Kirk Kriefels also had a good review of the Toyota BZ4X experience, along with TheTopher. I would be curious to hear what Savagegeese thinks.
I prefer Alex on Autos. Kirk Kriefels also had a good review of the Toyota BZ4X experience, along with TheTopher. I would be curious to hear what Savagegeese thinks.
But he‘s so animated and enthusiastic! How could he be wrong?
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He's painful to watch.
I, and I think people in the industry, define a "reasonable price point" as $25k. That was why Musk's promise of a $25k EV was lauded. Unfortunately, like most of the garbage that he spews, it was a lie.
Personally, I don't mind Doug, I know enough about automobiles - EV and ICE - to be able to weed out bad info. But yeah, he can be annoying, and since he's moved up in popularity he seems to have lost that "everyman" point of view that was the key to his success.
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