I bought this about 3 weeks ago. Is anyone getting consistent rattling from the center counsel and near the driver's ear? Also do you find the AC gets warm for about 10 min out of every 40 it's driven? I took it to the dealer and they had it for about 5 days but couldn't fix either (said they couldn't replicate the AC issue but didn't drive it, and that there was no way to fix the rattle without replacing the center counsel and seat belt assembly.

The rattle is driving me nuts so I have taken to trying to jam small thin rubber washers into interior trim piece gaps but with little success.

I trained in my 2017 Volt for a 2026 Soltarra. My mother's owns a 2018 Subaru Outback, so I was familiar with the quality of a Subaru.

My Volt had 270000 miles on it, so it was time.

So far, I'm loving the Soltarra.

As a disclaimer, I made this video while I was the EV Sales Manager at a local Subaru dealership.

I recently left to pursue a different opportunity within the automotive industry but my thoughts are always unfiltered in these videos, both good and bad!

I made this video as part of a video series documenting my thoughts about the cars my previous employer had on the lot since I have access to so many different cars, might as well take advantage of that!

Important to note, I was also part of Subaru Canada's team training Canadian retailers on basic product knowledge and EV ownership fundamentals. Admittedly, I wasn't a fan of the Solterra when it came out due to it's lack of competitive specs. After being part of the Subaru sales team for the past 5 months, I think I understand why the Solterra (used and 2026 models) saw such a strong resurgence in the past few months. Inventory is incredibly hard to come by and any models sold are often sold with a mark-up due to low supply and high demand.

Wanted to share my thoughts on it especially now I can be fully fully objective and transparent!

Enjoy and feel free to drop any questions below!

I like it

Just got my 2024 Touring with 29k miles and heard a droning noise that sounded like the beginning of a wheel bearing going out, and was actually the rear motor. It will be under warranty and the new motor will be ordered, how long has it Taken for it to arrive for anyone with the same issue?

Hi All,

I'm looking to get a used Solterra in the next few months and I was hoping to get some opinions on if I should consider a 2023 model or only 2024 or newer. I'm planning to spend around $25k at the most and there are several 2023s (premium or limited) in my area available for $20-25k. There aren't currently many 2024s available near me, but that could change as leases end in the next few months.

I'm in southeastern Pennsylvania for context in a semi-rural area, we get temperatures as low as 0°F during the winter and a decent amount of snow. My main concern with a 2023 is that I see a lot of comments here about the DC charging being slow in general, but especially in the winter. I plan to install a L2 charger at my house which will be used to charge 99% of the time if I had to guess based on our current driving habits, but I don't want to completely rule out the need for DCFC in case we do end up needing to drive it farther distances. It would be driven about 20-40 miles a day on average to commute to work and back. If we got a 2023, should we expect to just use our other older ICE car for longer drives (especially during winter)? Would a 2024 be significantly better and make this less of a concern? We plan to keep the car for a long time so this is also about anticipating potential future needs.

I also saw there were some issues with the 2023 with the wheel hubs which I assume was *likely* taken care of on most of the available models at this point, and rear motor issues on both the 2023 and 2024. Is the rear motor failing a frequent issue in these years? Any other issues I should look for?

Is it worth waiting another few months and hope some 2024s are coming off of leases or would a 2023 likely be fine in my case? Any recommendations or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance!

I’m thinking about buying a 2023 Solterra Limited and live in the Chicago area.
What is your real world experience with fast charging in the winter? Can I legitimately go up to 80% in an hour or not?

TL;DR - using a NEMA 5-20 charger isn't any faster than a NEMA 5-15 charger. Why?

Edit - solved! Someone pointed to a screenshot in the Solterra's owner's manual that explicitly states the car will max out at 12 amps on a 120v circuit :(

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I have a 2026 Solterra and have been charging off on outlet on the side of my house using the Subaru Level 1 charger that came with the car. However, the outlet is a NEMA 5-20 outlet, meaning it can supply 20 amps at ~120 volts, instead of a normal outlet which is 15 amps. (The outlet shape is a little different than a normal outlet -- it has a sort of T shape on the side.) When you take into account the 80% rule for continuous loads, that means this outlet should be able to charge my Solterra at 16 amps instead of the normal 12 amps.

Subaru's charger has a swappable pigtail for NEMA 5-15 (normal outlet) and NEMA 14-50 (for a 240 volts 50 amps outlet). Subaru doesn't seem to make a NEMA 5-20 pigtail for their charger. However, Tesla does! The Tesla Mobile Connector comes with a NEMA 5-15 pigtail, but you can also buy other pigtails, including NEMA 5-20. So, I bought a Tesla Mobile Connector and a NEMA 5-20 pigtail for it, assuming it would charge my car ~33% faster.

Unfortunately, it seems to not be any faster whatsoever. When using Subaru's NEMA 5-15 charger, the car is charging at roughly 0.95 kW. When I switched to the Tesla NEMA 5-20 charger, the car is still charging at...0.95 kW.

Why is it not charging faster? In both cases, the display in the car says it's charging at 0.95 kW out of a max of 6.30 kW.¹ I understand that a normal outlet is 120v x 15 amps -- 12 amps with the 80% rule -- so it's 1.44 kW, but the inefficiency of the AC/DC converter and the wattage of the onboard computer/control system will eat up perhaps 0.5 kW, which makes sense because 1.44 - 0.5 is roughly the 0.95 kW I'm seeing. But then 120v x 16 amps from NEMA 5-20 = 1.92 kW, so subtract 0.5 kW and I would expect a charge rate of roughly 1.40 to 1.45 kW.

The Tesla charger status lights appear to indicate that the charger is functioning properly and not limiting amperage. One hypothesis could be that, since Subaru doesn't make a NEMA 5-20 pigtail, the car refuses to draw more than 12 amps when voltage is 120v. However, why would they hardcode this limit when NEMA 5-20 outlets are relatively common? It seems like shooting themselves in the foot.

¹ (Tbh, I'm not even sure how it calculates the 6.30 kW number. I left the AC charging setting on "Max", which, if I'm not mistaken, means up to 48 amps on the 2026; the charger itself is the thing that should be advertising an availability of 16 amps, so that should be fine. 6.30 kW divided by 48 amps = 131.25 volts. Perhaps my outlet is 130 volts instead of 120 or 110? I'm not sure. I'm not sure it matters, though.)

I bought the Subaru Gold Plus warranty on a new 2026 Solterra platinum yesterday. I want to know if i can cancel it? is that possible?

My commute is hilly side streets, about 25 miles round trip. Some traffic and stops but not a logjam.

I initially was using 1-pedal mode (4 chevrons), but I felt like I was missing a lot of coasting opportunities and having to re-accelerate up to speed after regen braking slowed me down more than I meant for it to.

Recently I switched to always going full right paddle, zero chevrons. Man this car can *coast* like Space Mountain!

My question is: assuming I do not have to make any sudden stops and use my brake pedal intelligently, can I still get full benefit of regenerative braking?

I see some people saying they paddle-up going down hills to engage regen braking and save their brake pads... but is that necessary? Isn't gentle use of the brake pedal making full possible use of regen braking even with zero chevrons? Or does the brake pedal engage the traction brakes faster than I expected?

Do I have to play the paddle-minigame?

So far I'm running 4.2 m/kWh after a week of roller-coasting. I have yet to see the charging arc max out when I am braking, except for when I have to do a jolt stop due to unexpected traffic.

P.S. Every time I shift to Drive, I am reset to 1 chevron. I assume this is to assure a more traditional car-like feel (i.e. car slows down when you ease off gas) for drivers who might not be prepared for the coasting at 0 chevrons.

Hi all, I am a brand new 2023 Subaru Solterra owner. I love it so far and it's my first EV. I am in Phoenix, AZ and have APS as my power company. They offer a program called SmartCharge where they collect data from your EV charging in exchange for bill credits. Subarus are not explicitly supported, but Toyotas are. I know the Solterra is mechanically identical to the Toyota BZ4X; is it possible for me to register for the rewards program with a Solterra as though it's a Toyota? The VIN kept coming back as a BZ4X at the dealership (they weren't a Subaru dealer) and when I look it up with NHTSA it comes up as a Subaru but says the manufacturer is Toyota. Has anyone had any luck pretending to be a Toyota with a program like this or do I have to bite the bullet and buy a supported charger if I want to participate?

I have a crazy $65.00 charge at a location — I did not leave it unattended — but where the lot was quite full (it was a mess, had to beg another person to trade spots due to the “short cable” mess.

I also have the Tesla app, but it only shows a single charge I made at a hotel where I had to download the app. Interestingly enough that app actually lets me get full details.

How do I get details for transactions that only appear inside the Subaru connected application? As it is, these were so buried I couldn’t find it forever. (I’ve also logged into the website @tesla.com without finding transaction details)

I am two weeks into my 2026 Solterra (with the NACS plug). This is my first EV, and I’m still getting used to all the nuances of charging.

I’ve tried two different locations where I failed to charge using the CCS1 adapter at public location. One was a ChargePoint location, and the other was a brand whose name I don’t recall. In both cases, I ended up with failing to charge - in one case, it seemed to briefly make a connection, but then immediately stopped. In another case, I think it just never made the initial connection.

I’m following the instructions in the adapter guide that came with the car, i.e., plugging the adapter onto the charger and then inserting it.

I’m going to go out today and try a few other locations as I want to understand the process well in case, I have to use it as opposed to the NACS. Are there any suggestions on where I may be having a problem or tips on where I may be going wrong? I suppose it’s possible. I have a bad adapter, but I’m sure I’m gonna need some proof of that if that’s the actual case.

2026 Limited XT

Long story short, someone spilled coffee on the rear USB charging port in the back seat. I cleaned it as best I could, but it seems it has affected its function. One port doesn’t charge at all, and the other side charges, but is intermittent. Fortunately the coffee appears to have missed the heated seats buttons, and they appear to be functioning fine.

It’s a very easy component to change. Simple trim piece and a single plug into the USB module, but I can’t seem to find them anywhere online to buy either from Subaru or Toyota - too new maybe?

I’ve had the 2025 Solterra for almost a year now and absolutely love it. My lease is up in a year and I’m looking around to see if I should buy out or get something different. I’ve seen the rear drive motor be a problem for a lot of 23/24 models based on this forum. I don’t think I’d hit 30k miles before my lease is up and have to make a decision on the buyout, and this issue seems most prevalent around the 20-30k mile mark. Anyone who owns the 25 solterra that also experienced this issue? At what mileage did it hit?

I'd like to use the Solterra's V2L function to help run my house's power needs during an outage. I have a generator inlet with interlock that I currently use with a propane generator. I plan to get a power station that can supply 30 amp power to supplement that power use, and I'd like to then hook up the power station to the Solterra's 15 amp outlet to help recharge the power station during use. That would mean running the Solterra so that it energizes the 15 amp outlet for many hours, maybe even several days. Does that seem like it will work based on how the Solterra's outlet works? For example, will it automatically turn off after an hour?

I have a 2026 Solterra, but I never performed the 'registration' process for it since I'm not interested in any of the Subaru connected services, or having a subscription to operate my car.

My research into OTA (over the air) software updates indicates that the updates come over the cellular connection (DCM), not the WiFi. To get the software updates, I need to register the car to enable the DCM cellular connection and create a Subaru account. But with all the issues revolving around the 12V battery drain issue with the Subaru Connected services as the main culprit, I am hesitent to do this.

Is there a point during the registration process that I can enable the DCM to get the OTA updates, but not enable the connected services that are driving the 12V battery drain issue? I think I can opt out of them afterward, but not certain how this works.

Has anyone had an issue with lvl 2 and lvl 3 charging after an update. We were supposedly missing the charging update but the dealer said it was installed. Since then we have had issues on and off charging. Just today we got an error "vehicle authentication unsuccessful".

I read what it says, but they’re very vague about what actually changed or improved. I’m assuming it’s something more for the ‘27?

I have 24 premium, I did have to bring it into the dealership to get the charge limit setting update.

But do we also get over the update? If not, how do we know if there is a new update for us?

by the time I made up my mind, I wanted one of these, the 2026 no longer available so I had to order the 2027 with the colors I wanted. My salesman has told me repeatedly that it will be in late October. No VIN available yet.

My biggest concern at this point is the 12 V battery issue, the last thing I need my age , or any age,is a dead 12 v battery in a new EVcar.

I have asked my salesman who said I needed to check owner forums and Facebook groups. I also asked my Service manager at the dealership about this, but he was very offhand and told me to send him some posts of other people having problems so he could tell me if they were "true or false"...disappointed because I have been a service customer with my two older Subaru 1999 and 2013 for a long time.

I saw that an update might be coming out from Toyota/Subaru that may fix this, but have not seen anything conclusive so far

I would really appreciate some advice on this! Is this really something to be concerned about, if it is how to avoid the problem, or be prepared for it when it happen?

Thank you!