Zander Drives Cars

So, let’s talk very briefly about Japan’s relationship with electric vehicles: it is contneious, at best. Yes, Nissan has the Leaf and the Ariya, and the Honda Prelude is somehow the 3rd or 4th best-selling EV in the U.S (which, sidenote, is insnae because I have seen no more than three, ever), but aside from those two ventures, Japanese automakers have shied away from full electric offerings in lieu of traditional hybrids. Now, Subaru (and by extension Toyota) DO have their own EVs, the Toyota bZ4x, and the Subaru Solterra, both of which are more or less half-baked, rushed-to-market offerings built to appease a growing EV demand. There was little thought put into these cars, specifically the Solterra, which sold 12,447 cars in 2024; that’s less than half of what the aforementioned Honda Prolouge sold in just nine months.

However, as EV sales surge Stateside, and as Japanese automakers start losing marketshare to brands like Kia and Hyundai, they had to kick it into high gear. So, I now present to you the first full-sized, electric, Japanese offering: The Subaru Trailseeker.

The Outside

This thing is Solterra meets previous generation Outback. I’ve never considered Subaru to have a very “angular” design language, I mean, it’s basically a larger Solterra given how the fronts of both cars are exactly the same. Aside from the general 90-degree-ness of the Trailseeker, I don’t have any big objections to its styling. I think Subaru’s trademark blue helps the Trailseeker look a bit more interesting than every other midsized crossover (even though this looks like it could be a three row) on the market today, looking at you, VW Tiguan, but I think that’s for the best.

The Solterra, Subaru’s other full EV, looks like a description of a Jetson’s craft, and while it is cool (maybe), it certainly doesn’t bring in the casual market, one in which Subaru has deeply invested itself, so it’ll be interesting to see how this “grown up” EV looks in a dealer window. It’s like Patagonia. Be interesting enough for people to notice you, but also don’t screw with my crewneck.

The Inside

Like the exterior, the interior looks like a Solterra. So, good news, this is familiar to those who’ve driven a Solterra. The bad news? The dash. Why are we still doing this gauge cluster? Why? I hate to be mean, even though I will be, but it is the single most awkward feature of any new car to deal with. You can never see it correctly, and if you’re able to get your eyes to meet its sight line, you can’t see out the windshield. At least they got rid of that little tunnel thing, that’s nice. Still don’t like it, though.

The rest of the interior is fine, though. Some scratchy Subaru plastics, but again, playing on familiarity, it isn’t anything we haven’t seen before. Nice amount of space inside too, much more so than the Solterra.

The Specs

The Subaru Trailseeker is powered by a 74.7 kWh battery producing over 350 hp, giving the crossover “more” than 260 miles of range. The most interesting part? The 4.4 second 0-60 time means that this family hauler is officially the quickest Subaru ever built. Yes, even more so than the Impreza WRXs and all that jazz. AWD comes standard, of course, and has over 8 inches of ground clearance. So, this thing isn’t screwing around, supposedly.

The Verdict

I mean, look, Subaru’s previous EV attempts have been interesting at best. I’ll hold my breath, I’m cautiously optimistic, the CEO of Subaru seemed like it, and while I’m not one to blindly trust companies, something about this whole shebang leaves me with a less bitter taste in my mouth than I though. But, only time will tell.