Subaru's new electric subcompact SUV is called the Uncharted, and Car Question is blunt about what it is: another product co-developed with Toyota, built on the same e-TNGA platform, closely related to the Toyota C-HR EV. The reviewer says the family resemblance is obvious once you park them together, but that Subaru did enough with the front end, the lighting and the illuminated badge to give it a personality of its own. The numbers are the headline. The all wheel drive version makes 338 horsepower, the front wheel drive version around 221, and range is quoted at up to 496 km for front wheel drive and roughly 438 km with all wheel drive. If you have been waiting for an electric Crosstrek, this is the closest thing yet.
The tension worth examining is not the shared Toyota hardware, which this platform has already carried through the bZ4X and the Solterra. It is the front wheel drive model. Subaru built decades of brand equity on all wheel drive being standard, and a cheaper front driven Subaru asks the buyer to give up the one thing the badge reliably promised. The reviewer says the front wheel drive car is not exciting to drive, which makes the decision easier but the strategy stranger. Two ownership costs the video flags are worth budgeting for before you sign anything. Availability is described as very limited, with Toyota appearing to get better supply of the shared platform than Subaru does, and no Level 1 or Level 2 portable charging cable is included, which the video says matches current Toyota practice. Aftermarket cables cover it, but that is money the spec sheet does not show you. Range here is quoted in kilometres, so the figures appear to be for a market outside the United States.
The driving impressions are more positive than the shared platform might suggest. The reviewer describes the all wheel drive car as fast, quiet and strong under hard acceleration, with a driving position that feels loose rather than sporty and tires that give up grip early. There are three drive modes, Eco, Normal and Sport, and the video says the difference between them is small. The traction testing is the part worth watching. Car Question ran a diagonal traction test on pavement, then grass, then sand, and reports the X-Mode calibration sending power where it was needed almost instantly in each case. Pressing X-Mode twice engages a deep snow and sand setting, which the reviewer says works well as long as you are smooth with the accelerator. Complaints are specific: tight rear legroom despite generous cargo space, charging speed described as decent rather than class leading, and a low beam headlight vibration over potholes that the video says other owners have reported too.
Inside, the video says anyone who has sat in a bZ4X or a Solterra will recognise almost everything: the large central screen, the same centre console layout, dual wireless phone chargers, the X-Mode button and the grip control system, running Toyota's multimedia software. The reviewer singles out two things that take adjustment, a small steering wheel and a driver's display positioned where it takes time to get used to, and says both stop bothering you quickly. Exterior detailing gets credit: hidden rear door handles, less plastic cladding than Subaru usually applies, and a rear spoiler shaped to keep the glass clean, which is the stated reason there is no rear wiper. A camera mirror mode covers rearward visibility anyway. The video also raises an open question about heat pump reliability on this platform.
Bottom line: buy the all wheel drive one or buy something else. The 338 horsepower version with a traction system that shrugged off grass and sand is a real Subaru with a real argument behind it, and the low cabin noise and cargo space make it easy to live with. The 221 horsepower front driver is a Toyota C-HR EV with a different grille and a badge premium, and it gives up the exact thing that makes people choose this brand. If supply stays as tight as the video suggests, expect the ones that reach dealers to be spoken for quickly.
Commentary on a third-party video. Figures and claims are as presented in the source and have not been independently verified. Spotted an error? Tell us and we will correct it.