Subaru To Replace STI With STe For High-Performance Electric Cars

[19std]

Who did this?

https://www.solterraforum.com/

* Registered users of the site do not see these ads.

[Snow Drift]

Originally Posted by Goempie

The Solterra STe was launched yesterday in Germany. You van find pictures of it.

I don't see pictures. I only see this 1 month old video, which may or may not be real. They call it a concept car.

Subaru Solterra STe: Kommt nach dem WRX STI ein Zubehör-Paket für das Elektroauto? Review - YouTube

Subaru Solterra STe: Kommt nach dem WRX STI ein Zubehör-Paket für das Elektroauto? Review - YouTube

[dwf137]

Amazing how much better that car looks with fully painted front fenders...

[Snow Drift]

Originally Posted by dwf137

Amazing how much better that car looks with fully painted front fenders...

It's almost as if decades of painted designs were right.

[Goempie]

https://img.nasioc.com/i/QIWlh.jpg

[dwf137]

Originally Posted by Goempie

That's a pretty decent looking EV. In it's segment, probably 2nd in line to the Ionic5. The only thing I really don't like about it is the stupid little window on the front doors. And that front grill would look better painted a darker color - doesn't have to be black, just not white.

[SCRAPPYDO]

Originally Posted by Snow Drift

It's almost as if decades of painted designs were right.

OH my gosh, I spit out coffee... LOL..


worrrrrth it

[Snow Drift]

Originally Posted by SCRAPPYDO

OH my gosh, I spit out coffee... LOL..


worrrrrth it

Goodnight folks! See you tomorrow.

[SCRAPPYDO]

If one was a conspiracy theorist, one could say that they are making the ICE cars ugly on purpose (4 series BMW, WRX, and the list goes on)..

LOLOLOL

[SCRAPPYDO]

If one was a conspiracy theorist, one could say that they are making the ICE cars ugly on purpose (4 series BMW, WRX, and the list goes on)..

LOLOLOL

[Russ_G93]

If you ever see a Solterra, go flick those bulging front bumper pieces on the left and right. They're like paper thin plastic. And it costs how much? 50k? Lmfao

[Snow Drift]

I drove behind a black Solterra yesterday. It looked good, and the driver was certainly not taking their time. The road has a lot of stop signs and he had no problem putting a good distance between us while I properly stopped at each one. (There are too many, sigh). With some tweaks it would be a great product, as it sits nicely between Forester and Outback.

[mcarb002]

Are there any spec details on this Solterra STe or it’s just aesthetic upgrades?

[ismailkho]

I find moves like this to be perplexing. Subaru, as a brand, seems to be distancing itself more and more from enthusiast-focused offerings and instead prioritizing elevated family vehicles. While this may be disappointing to me personally, from a business standpoint, it makes perfect sense.

However, I fail to understand why they would invest any time or money in this distorted sub-brand. Every penny spent on some misguided pseudo-performance STe is a penny that could have been utilized to enhance their core lineup of vehicles.

Let's imagine they create a car that can match the speed of a Model 3 Performance. I highly doubt it would be significantly cheaper, so why would someone choose the Subaru? All-wheel drive (AWD) is not a unique feature among electric cars, and Subaru's interiors are not notably superior, especially considering their adoption of the same oversized screen that Tesla introduced. We all know Subaru isn't renowned for designing aesthetically pleasing cars. I simply cannot comprehend what motivates them to venture into the realm of "performance" labeled EVs.

However, if the STe were a hybrid similar to the Corvette ERay, where the battery is solely dedicated to enhancing performance, and the car is available with a manual transmission, then I would gladly retract my statements.

[rallly 4]

The EV solterra or whatever will bankrupt Subaru Eu. Nobody buying that garbage.

[SVX WRX]

Originally Posted by rallly 4

The EV solterra or whatever will bankrupt Subaru Eu. Nobody buying that garbage.

people with no garage won't buy EV's - nowhere to charge at home. there are also an amazing number of people who DO have garages, but they are filled floor to ceiling with junk and crap - also won't buy.

[Sid03SVT]

Originally Posted by SVX WRX

people with no garage won't buy EV's - nowhere to charge at home. there are also an amazing number of people who DO have garages, but they are filled floor to ceiling with junk and crap - also won't buy.

Our house is an older build, as such my wife's Sorento PHEV doesn't fit in the garage with enough room to get the kids in and out without dinging doors. We park it outside & charge it outside; bought an inexpensive cover like this one:

that prevents water/snow from getting into the cars charge port area, outlet & charger/cable rack/hook is under an overhang/shed roof, but is an outdoor/waterproof outlet anyways. We charge it daily as the battery is only large enough to handle a days worth of driving in EV mode (to/from work, errands on the way home, etc.)

My next daily is likely going to be an EV, cars are getting so big that fitting one in my garage is likely to be difficult, my IS350 fits, but anything much larger/longer than that is not going to fit comfortably; a current gen mustang is about as big as I'm comfortable stuffing in there without rearranging out shelving.

If I were to get an EV pickup truck, it would likely live outside; it's not difficult to weatherproof your charge port on the car & there are weatherproof outlets/chargers as well.

Street parking is a different story, but if you've got a driveway, parking an EV outside is not all that different from parking an ICE vehicle outside.

[dwf137]

Originally Posted by SVX WRX

people with no garage won't buy EV's - nowhere to charge at home. there are also an amazing number of people who DO have garages, but they are filled floor to ceiling with junk and crap - also won't buy.

Eh, I don't park my EV in my garage. I charge it in the driveway. My house was built with a pretty tiny garage just like Sid above, and it's just fine. They're capable of being charged outdoors rain or shine. I put a scrap deck board under the garage door so it doesn't pinch the cord when we close the garage door on it.

Street parking here in seattle, I've seen multiple people who have installed curbside chargers that are in locked boxes. Tough in a super densely occupied area, but most areas you can still get a spot outside of your house most of the time. Apartments are being built with chargers... it's coming together. It's not 100% there yet, but it's not bad and if someone wants to make it work, they definitely can.

[20WRX20]

Originally Posted by Sid03SVT

Our house is an older build, as such my wife's Sorento PHEV doesn't fit in the garage with enough room to get the kids in and out without dinging doors. We park it outside & charge it outside; bought an inexpensive cover like this one:

that prevents water/snow from getting into the cars charge port area, outlet & charger/cable rack/hook is under an overhang/shed roof, but is an outdoor/waterproof outlet anyways. We charge it daily as the battery is only large enough to handle a days worth of driving in EV mode (to/from work, errands on the way home, etc.)

My next daily is likely going to be an EV, cars are getting so big that fitting one in my garage is likely to be difficult, my IS350 fits, but anything much larger/longer than that is not going to fit comfortably; a current gen mustang is about as big as I'm comfortable stuffing in there without rearranging out shelving.

If I were to get an EV pickup truck, it would likely live outside; it's not difficult to weatherproof your charge port on the car & there are weatherproof outlets/chargers as well.

Street parking is a different story, but if you've got a driveway, parking an EV outside is not all that different from parking an ICE vehicle outside.

All that added weight and complexity (not to mention cost) to save 15 miles worth of gas in winter? Makes zero sense.

[Sid03SVT]

Originally Posted by 20WRX20

All that added weight and complexity (not to mention cost) to save 15 miles worth of gas in winter? Makes zero sense.

It's rated at 32 miles of EV driving, we typically exceed that. Again, she does her entire commute to and from work, and errands along the way in EV mode; it fits our use case. When we exceed the EV range it drops in to Hybrid mode, it's rated at 34c/34h, which is fairly accurate based on the vacations it has been used on.

We were originally looking at a Highlander hybrid, they just weren't available, after the six month of waiting for one, so we bought this. the Sorento PHEV was the same money as a highlander Hybrid, yes it cost more than a Sorento hybrid and obviously more than a Sorento w/ICE, but MSRP was $51,640 for the PHEV we got vs. $47,690 for a comparably equipped ICE version - that ~$4,000 difference in MSRP isn't a big deal considering the benefits of the PHEV.

Sorento PHEV is ~4,500lbs - about ~200lbs more than the standard hybrid version, and ~550lbs more than the ICE version. However, it weighs about the same as the Highlander V6 & less than the Highlander Hybrid we were initially looking at.

When we did the math it was originally between the highlander hybrid & the highlander V6 - 35c/35h and 21c/29h respectively, looked at fuelly and the V6 ones were seeing real world ~21 average, hybrids were seeing ~35 average. We briefly looked at the Rav4 Prime, but she didn't like it, and wanted a third row, which I'm glad we ended up with (hauling our kids friends around, carpooling, extra storage etc.). The only 3-row EV on the market at the time was the Tesla Model Y; Ignoring the Tesla issues, there was a massive MSRP difference and the third row is essentially useless if you have legs, so it was a non-starter. The ioniq7 and EV9 are coming, but weren't on the market at the time and our family trips are typically into the sticks with no/minimal charging along the way and no destination charging, outside of a 110v outlet; could we make it work? maybe, would we want to wait 4 days for our EV to charge on a 110V outlet? no.

We estimated she'd be doing about 1,250mi/mo 15k/yr as she would be picking up the family trip car duties, that would mean 59.5gal/mo in the ice, or 35.7g/mo in the hybrid; that's a difference of ~286 gallons of gas a year going from ICE to a hybrid. The Sorento PHEV was a no-brainer considering it was the same money as the Highlander Hybrid was, while being better equipped & driving better and also by actually being available.

Real world she actually does a little more than I estimated at ~1,375/mo. She fills up on average once a month, I have a spreadsheet tracking fill ups & miles driven, I was more anal about it when we first got the car, but after collecting and analyzing data she's getting about 137mpg average so far. We bought the car in October of 2022 so it's mostly winter data when the engine was getting used more for heat, now that it's summer, she's piling on more miles while using the engine less, getting gas less frequently.

She'll actually do about 16,500mi/yr, which means 786 gals/yr for an ICE highlander vs. 472 gals/yr for a hybrid vs. 121gal/yr that we're projecting in the PHEV Sorento based on ~9months of collected data.

We plan to keep it for 10 years, essentially until the warranty is up on the hybrid system & drivetrain; it makes sense for our use case (3-row family car/commuter), does it make sense in yours? I don't know, you can do the math for yourself, there is also the emotional aspect, which typically outweighs logic, hence her not being willing to look at a Sienna hybrid.

I also get gas about once a month, but I do significantly fewer miles than she does, like ~280/mo ~3,400/yr & I'm lucky if my car breaks 20mpg average on a tank as it's mostly short trips in-town; my "average speed" is 23mph as recorded by my car, but my use case is very different than hers as I WFH and rarely have to go into the office. I drive her car on long trips & weekends when we go places, but I wouldn't want to drive her car every day; it's comparatively big, comparatively slow, it handles like a CUV because it is a CUV; she likes it though, which is what matters. A prius, prius prime, leaf or bolt would have been a more logical choice for me, I almost bought a bolt, glad I didn't though as I do not like FWD cars, and the IS is a much nicer place to be.

[RexintheBurgh]

I knew this was coming since the discontinuation statement: "As part of that effort, Subaru Corporation is exploring opportunities for the next generation Subaru WRX STI, including electrification. In the meantime, a next generation internal combustion engine WRX STI will not be produced based upon the new WRX platform."

[MtnXfreeride]

Originally Posted by Snow Drift

Subaru Tecnica Electrical (I made that up)

This is real:
https://register.dpma.de/DPMAregiste...094/DE?lang=en

They should have done STD since STIs were relabeled as STD a while back.

[20WRX20]

If they make this a real performance hybrid like the McLaren P1 then they may have a winner on their hands. Honestly if they did that it wouldn’t even need a manual - BUT it would need a good dual-clutch trans and not some garbage CVT.

If this thing comes back fully electric (or even worse as a crossover) like the Mustang Mach-e then the car will be a complete fail and Subaru will have further cemented themselves as a crappy car company.

My guess is Subaru completely botches it. They’ll use the global platform and make an electric version of the current WRX that’s sedan only. It’ll be hyped up with STe garbage even though it’s just a WRX with an electric drivetrain and maybe some magnetic shocks and better brakes. And it’ll cost double what the WRX currently costs.

[JustyWRC]

Originally Posted by 20WRX20

If they make this a real performance hybrid like the McLaren P1 then they may have a winner on their hands. Honestly if they did that it wouldn't even need a manual - BUT it would need a good dual-clutch trans and not some garbage CVT.

If this thing comes back fully electric (or even worse as a crossover) like the Mustang Mach-e then the car will be a complete fail and Subaru will have further cemented themselves as a crappy car company.

My guess is Subaru completely botches it. They'll use the global platform and make an electric version of the current WRX that's sedan only. It'll be hyped up with STe garbage even though it's just a WRX with an electric drivetrain and maybe some magnetic shocks and better brakes. And it'll cost double what the WRX currently costs.

Maybe refer to them as a "crappy performance car company"?!?!?; cause customers and stats will disagree they are a crappy company.


Which would also be subjective since they were awarded the best performace car brand....

[20WRX20]

Originally Posted by JustyWRC

Maybe refer to them as a "crappy performance car company"?!?!?; cause customers and stats will disagree they are a crappy company.


Which would also be subjective since they were awarded the best performace car brand....

Right, crappy performance car company. Although I wouldn’t buy a single one of their current models. The WRX IMO isn’t even a performance car but rather an Outback in sedan form. If the WRX is a performance car then so is a Toyota Camry since they both have the same specs (actually the Camry is a bit faster.)