New Subaru Uncharted EV! My First Look & Full Tour
For some reason, I left Boulder, Colorado, which is practically the Subaru capital of the world. At least based on how many Subarus I see wandering the streets. Yet, for some reason, I was brought here to New York City, to see the unveiling of a new Subaru. This is the new Subaru Uncharted. And well, you can’t spell Uncharted without CH and R. That’s right. This is basically the new Toyota CHR, which really kills the excitement around an unveiling. But I’m still personally very excited. I thought the original CHR was dope. And then Toyota went and made it electric. Gave it 338 horsepower, 0 to 60 time, and 5 seconds. Standard all-wheel drive. Oh, you might want to know the Subaru version comes in a front-wheel drive option. What? This video is brought to you by Ayana, North America’s premier charging network. With unmatched commitment to elevating the customer experience, Ayana is opening America’s roads to all EVs, giving drivers the coverage they need, the reliability they deserve and the amenities they crave. So, like I said, the CHR is cool, but the name is a bit iffy. So, let’s get back to Subaru, who actually uses real words for names. For example, we have this really sick Trail Seeker right here. This is like what people wish the Outback was. And I guess it kind of could be. If you’re an Outback person, you could just buy one of these if you want the EV version. And then there’s the Sultterra, which is kind of a maybe madeup word. I don’t know. Combines kind of Earth and Sun. Great name. But then right here, yes, the Uncharted, and that’s why we are here. Ironically, it does sound like the name of like a really epic off-road vehicle, adventure vehicle, which you can do with a lot of Subarus, but it’s clearly kind of a bit more of a city focused compact crossover being unveiled in one of the most dense and charted cities in the world. Shown right here is the Sport model, which has 18-in wheels, which I think is actually better. And tomorrow, which I guess will be today, by the time you guys watch this, at the unveiling, I’ll see the GT version with the bigger 20-in wheels and compare and contrast everything we possibly can. That’ll be its own video for trying to look at all the different models alto together without a spec Dave. But for this first look of the Uncharted itself, I’m kind of glad they actually have the more midtrim here. I think this will be the most widely adopted one and actually the one I would choose for use in Colorado. Once again, the the state where every Subaru on Earth seems to exist. So, when I say mechanical twin, I’m actually kind of talking about, well, the ETGA platform, which Subaru and Toyota actually co-developed, but that’s really at a very high level for the engineering sake. Uh, it’s a way to save money when you’re developing cars. For the record, I don’t actually have a problem with companies co-developing cars. In fact, we’ve gotten a lot of cool cars that way. Well, for example, Toyota and Subaru have already done that with the BRZ and the GRD6. awesome little sports car. Then we have the Toyota Supra, which of course was co-developed with BMW for their amazing B-58 power plant. Uh, so ETNGA is the Toyota Subaru platform that actually all these Subarus are built on. Pause. The ETNGA platform is the electric Toyota new global architecture, which is yes, the term for Toyota’s platform. Now, this was co-developed with Subaru. Subaru took that platform and then made the e Subaru platform which is really the same platform just really really minor tweaks on which they built their car. I don’t actually know what those tweaks are. I can’t find anything out no matter how deep I’m digging but I’m assuming small minute adjustments to perhaps powertrain tuning, perhaps their all-wheel drive system which Subaru has built their name somewhat around. So there should technically be variations on the ETNGA and ES Subaru platform. I don’t know what those differences are, but I should correct myself and say this is the e Subaru platform because a Subaru is built on it even though it basically is ETGA. And sometimes I think shared platforms can force companies to have a challenge in creating their own identity. I actually think this has been done really really well. So let’s look at the identity here. Does this have identity? Yes, I do think it looks just like uh the Subarus that you’re familiar with, although looking a bit more into the future. I really really like these split tail lights. Very different from the Toyota’s like hammerhead light as they call it. Uh you have an illuminated six-star logo. In case you wanted a little history lesson, this logo is actually basically the Pleetes Star Cluster is what it’s representing. um but also represents the five companies that merged into Fuji Heavy Industries which is represented by this big six-star uh which then became Subaru. So kind of this conglomerate of companies combining together for Subaru. Subaru also means unite in Japanese. So that’s that’s that. But hey, this is illuminated now. And like I said, this has two different wheel sizes, 18-in or 20 in. You’ll actually get slightly better range most likely with the 18-in wheels, which are shown here. And I actually really, like I said, like this approach. I’m sure the 20-in wheels look good, but I think, like I said, in Colorado and maybe in many places, you should actually go for the 18s if you care at all about a bit more comfort on road, but also a bit more ease of mind off-road, which please do that with your Subaru. It’s capable, even though it’s maybe a soft rotor, not a hardcore off-roader. still 8.3 inches of ground ground clearance, which should be enough for most softroading. I will mention over and over again how this compares to the Cross Trek, by the way, because I do think that’s kind of their target market in some ways. Um, this 8.3 in of ground clearance. The Cross Trek 8.7 in of ground clearance. So, a little bit less than the Cross Track, but that’s not too surprising. What’s funny is I think the CHR has a little bit lower ground clearance than this, but Subaru doesn’t know because the two companies don’t talk to each other despite them actually having a platform together. It’s really fascinating. I’d love to like dive into that reality someday. Same thing goes for Kia and Hyundai, by the way. They don’t talk to each other either. I mean, somewhere along the line they do, but like most people don’t. So, like when I come review a car, I really can’t learn much about the other company’s car. It’s It’s wild. I think I was worried when this came out that it would have the kind of aggressive cladding that you see on the Trail Seeker and also the Sultterra. Unless you get the white, black, or gray Sulttera, then it’s body colored. But I’m pleased to see this doesn’t have an overly egregious amount of cladding. They do have this black uh signature colored area down here. The actual headlights in here, these are just daytime running lights. kind of accent design ethos lights. And yeah, bit of cooling down there. Makes sense. Probably some active cooling if I had to guess. This is a real vent, which is cool. And more black cladding around here. So, just a bit around the wheel arches, which makes sense. And a little bit down here. And boom. Knacks at launch, which is great. We’ll talk about more specs in a second. Um, black mirror here. If you opt for the GT, which is the higher trim, you can do a two-tone setup. So, like a color on the bottom and then like black roof. You have low roof rails which are sleek and aerodynamic, which is effective. And then this right here, a little bit of a subtle dual roof spoiler thing. Actually just flows right off the roof itself. I like that. I think it would be cool to have maybe a bit more of an aggressive spoiler. Maybe if they did like a rally or wilder. I don’t know if they should do wilderness for this, but I don’t know. I I could see some cool implementation of more stuff happening back here, which is ironic because the original CHR from Toyota was styled to death. Like, they just never stopped styling. The next nomination is the Toyota CHR, a car styled by nine people who’d fallen out at a wedding. Here’s looking straight down the back. You can see the dark almost black badging. Maybe they would call it black badging. I’m not really sure. The uncharted, which is a long word. Barely fits on there. But hey, Subaru has long words everywhere, actually. Trail seeker. Let’s see. Holy cow, look at how many letters that is. And yeah, here’s the rear 3/4 angle. I love how the lights, by the way, the front had these six lights and two rows of three. They kind of emanate through the car into the back. So you can almost like draw a line from these lights all the way up into the headlights. Really like the design element. They actually flow through the side here. So this kind of protrusion goes way out to the side of the car, which is really, really cool. You can also see just a little bit of a spoiler here. Nothing too crazy, just nice and subtle. I actually like that quite a bit. And it’s funny to see the license plate body color matched. You also have um just a bit of a silver sort of veillance diffuser thing down here. Um I’m not sure how I feel about that, but I do appreciate it cuz it breaks up what would otherwise be an aggressive amount of black. So that’s kind of the look of the Subaru Uncharted. I keep forgetting what the name is. I I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know how I feel about this name, guys. Looking at the specs of uh distance though, I’m not 100% positive on these metrics, but I believe the CHR is the same height as a Subaru Cross Track, 1.5 in longer and 2.7 in wider, which should be about accurate for this. So, it’s a tiny bit longer and a tiny bit wider than the Cross Track, but the same height, which should result in pretty usable storage space. Also, I think 3.2 in longer wheelbase. powered trunk, which is sweet. That may be optional. The base model might not get that, but um yeah, totally usable storage space back here. I’m guessing I think it was like 25ish cubic feet, which is really totally usable. Of course, the back seats can be folded down, which is nice. You have a 1.5 kW AC outlet right there. 120 volt that can turn it on and off right there. Um some hooks. Yeah, just kind of a general usable storage cavity. If you want to separate it out, you have these, although you could probably just empty it out entirely and then have a bit more of a sub trunk, which is kind of nice. So, big fan of that. This is also removable, I believe. So, you can uh clean it up a bit and just have more room for even more stuff if you really want to. Love to see the powered trunk. Uh it does bother me a little bit. Maybe it’s just my OCD that the reverse camera is off to the side and the front camera is also off to the side. Um, but at least you do have 360 degree vision. Um, I would probably see right there a little bit off to the side. I think I would opt for the middle trim for that as well because having 360° cameras is really, really nice. All right, they are practicing the live stream which is going to happen right in there. So, I’m going to jump inside to hide from the noise. And holy crap, this actually looks really nice. I really like these two-tone seats. Nice side bolsters. Uh, okay. I’m going to jump in and see how it feels. But so far, really digging. Whoa. This one’s very tinted. I don’t know if you’ll yours will actually come tinted. Um, but yeah, here we go. Cockpit POV style of the Subaru Uncharted. I keep wanting to call it cross track, but it’s it’s Uncharted. And yeah, looks fantastic. Okay, let’s break this down, shall we? Steering wheel has a flattened bottom and top similar to some of the new well Toyota EV stuff and uh well, new Sulttera as well. Nice. Okay, nice uh stocks. Got paddles for regen controls. System malfunction, visit your dealer. They said not to really go into the software, by the way, because it’s not quite like fully baked out yet. So, I’m not going to touch that. But nice buttons on the steering wheel. very tactile, usable buttons. It is a lot to take in. Like it’s more than I’d want to like get into a rental car and figure out, but if you own this, most likely you’ll have all these figured out within, you know, a few days and then you’ll have it memorized and you’ll enjoy it. But it’s got, you know, all your typical ADAS stuff for Subaru and uh lots of buttons over here. Lots of tactile buttons, which I’m I’m a fan of. Um that does change in the software region. So, to control all your climate stuff, it’s on this very Lexus like 14-in software screen. Two knobs to control probably temperatures and heated seats, heated steering wheel. You get that with this version. In fact, all Uncharted trims regardless get the all- weather package, which gives you heated seats, heated mirrors, and windshield wiper deicer stuff. Upgrading to the sport trim, which is this one, gives you the heated steering wheel and 360 surround view camera. that’s absolutely worth it. And then upgrading further to the GT gives you the option for the all glass panoramic roof and the nicer Harman Carden sound system, which is probably maybe also worth it. This affordable EV is getting pricey. But by the way, the GT also gives you ventilated front seats, which the CHR does not think is possible. Toyota literally didn’t put that as an option in the CHR. I guess that could change because none of these cars are out yet. But that is a gamecher for me and that’s why the Subaru gets my stamp of approval. The Toyota does not. So the screen looks pretty nice. Toyota Lexus software is decent. I, you know, not necessarily my favorite, but this is clearly Toyota Lexus stuff happening here, but I guess a little bit of a Subaru skin on it perhaps. I do though like this more than the vertical Subaru screens uh which are I think 11 in in the Cross Track. So, this is a definitely a bigger, nicer screen to interact with. I like it. Two, I believe, 15 watt wireless phone chargers, but they’re still not CH2, so no magnet capability. Um, and I there’s just no way they’ll keep your phone there. You do any sort of GeForce, even like 0.1G, I bet it knocks your phone out and then that is just a bummer. Um, feels pretty cheap plastic. I guess this is still technically prototype, so maybe that could change. But yeah, like this plastic might change. I don’t know. Right now, it’s just like all very injection molded plastic, but I really like the look, the feel, the variety of texture and vibe to the materials. I like this accent color here. I like the ambient lighting, and the dash is actually better than, you know, the like weird stuff that went up with the previous like Sulttera and early BZ4X. Uh, this all looks and feels much better now. Still not sure how I feel about that screen up there. It is nice to combine kind of the driver display and heads-up display into one little featured area, but I will say it’s just a little weird. And by the time I get the steering wheel where I want it, it’s almost covering the display. I think that could have been a really cool more rounded edgetoedge display, but the display actually only goes in the middle whereas the warning lights are all around it. I don’t think that looks very cool or futuristic. I think that display could use a reworking. Maybe that’ll happen in a future version of the ETGA platform that would come to all these lovely vehicles. Drive selectors. What we’ve been used to and right back here is well uh glove box situation because well there’s no glove box up there which is maybe a bummer for some people but maybe that would give you radiant heating for your knees. I think that was an option that was floating around. Um, but what’s cool is this actually opens both directions, which is awesome. Toyota CHR does the same thing. It is nice and padded. Nice different colored leather than the rest of the car. Again, I really like this two-tone interior. Uh, I don’t know, you know, how you can exactly spec every interior, but I’m a huge fan of of that so far. Um, the only thing with this mechanism, though, a little bit rattly. Not the not the best, but uh it’s fine. I’ll I’ll take it. Maybe in final production they’ll get it more sorted. You also have an interesting thing with these vents, by the way, where I think we’re trained growing up to think like this being in the middle means it’s going straight on, but no, that’s furthest right, that’s furthest left. So, it’s very I think that takes a little bit of getting used to, but once again, you can learn it. It’s It’s you know, your car once you’re in it. Um, yeah, everything else looks pretty standard standard issue. Uh, I would love to see the glass roof, but unfortunately we don’t have that in this one. That’ll be in the one I see in the unveil tomorrow. That’ll be in another video when me and Dave check out the whole floor. So, I have my driving position set right here. I am 6 ft tall. Plenty of headroom, plenty of space. Feels very comfortable with where my elbows are sitting. It’s not very plush, but like maybe it doesn’t really need to be. Um, so with that, let’s actually jump into the back. egress and ingress, by the way. Both very easy, which makes sense. It is a a crossover of sorts. And you have this handle right here in the AB. I guess it’s a C-pillar. Yeah. Um and then we’ll jump into the back here. Let you guys go in first. And okay, actually, that’s pretty impressive. I don’t I I’ve been in cross tracks and this does feel like and I believe it is you know a longer wheelbase which means a little bit more space given to the rear passenger legs also enough space to my head which is surprising even without having the glass roof that’s awesome and uh yeah this this feels pretty good okay not bad not bad at all um decent visibility out the back I guess somewhat decent this folds down this all looks pretty much identical to Toyota CHR, but then again, I guess most every a lot of vehicles just go this direction. Uh doors look fine. Also, I think pre-production a little bit. We’ll see how those look in final production. Two USB C ports and vents, which are nice. Not all compact vehicles this size have rear vents or haven’t in the past. So, I love seeing these here. Your dogs will appreciate it. Subaru is very dog focused. and heated rear seats, which you also get with I forget which package, but one of the packages gives you that. I’m also going to check and see how this looks. Ooh, that folds down nicely. It’s not quite a flat floor, but it is nicely sloped, so I could actually see someone car camping in here. Um, not sure the exact distance from here to here, but they don’t want me like totally climbing in it, but um maybe diagonally I could car. That’s probably accurate. So, I guess I’ll pull this back out and boom. Looks good. Feels good. All right, that’s that’s that. Let’s talk more specs. So, the Uncharted has a 74.7 kWh battery taking notes from the updated Sultterra. I believe probably high60s usable is my guess. And that’s not a big battery, but it’s also not a big car. And it is fairly slippery and smooth. So, I’m guessing that should result in pretty decent range up to 150 kW DC fast charging via the NACS port. Uh, it does support battery preconditioning, route planning, which I can’t wait to play with because maybe it’ll actually be somewhat decent. And a 48 amp onboard charger, which for this size battery is fantastic. That means it should fill up in like no time at all. 11 kW, 11.2 maybe technically. You also have up to 252 kW or that’s 338 horsepower for you old school folks. And that’s for the sport and GT trims, which those also get X mode all-wheel drive. Subaru’s symmetrical all-wheel drive, although I don’t know if it’s exactly symmetrical with the way the dual motor setup works. It’s not quite like their combustion cars where they came up with that name. Those all get you 290 mi of range, just like the Toyota CHR. That is decent range. I’m going to say that’s adequate range. This goes up primarily against the Kia Nurero EV, the Hyundai Kona EV, sort of even the EX30 in terms of size, but actually beats out their ranges and also their charging speed. While 150 kW is not class leading for the Sulttera over there in its class, in this class, it actually is kind of on par for being a compact, hopefully affordable. We don’t know pricing yet. Don’t ask me. Well, you can ask me. You can leave a comment and that helps with the YouTube algorithm. Um, but I don’t actually know the pricing as of right now. And all that power gives you 0 to 60 in under 5 seconds for the sport and GT trim, which is zippy. This thing will rip. Would love to try rallying it. I think that’d be a blast. But then we come to the unique interesting other element to this, and that’s the fact that they’re making a front-wheel drive version. How ironic. The Toyota doesn’t have a front-wheel drive in our market. Um, but Subaru will sell a front-wheel drive premium, which I guess is the base model. I hate when they do that. Premium is not base model, but in this case it is. Um, that will actually give you less power, 221 horsepower, but it tips you over the 300 mile range mark, which I think a lot of people have as this thing in their head of like, I won’t buy an EV unless it has 300 mi of range. You can’t convert me from my cross truck unless it has 300 miles of range. Well, there is a way to get this with 300 miles of range. It’s with deleting the rear motor. And while 221 horsepower doesn’t sound like a lot for an EV, it’s still 40 more horsepower than the Subaru Cross Track. So, still going to feel more zippy than that. I don’t know why I’m pointing over there. The Cross Track is nowhere to be found. Actually, there’s probably one down there somewhere. I think those are all the specs. It’s using lightweight and rigid high strength steel construction and the chassis rigidity is improved from the battery and it’s tuned very extensively for off-road type driving such as rallying and such. So, I really do want to try that out. So, here are my final thoughts from just my first look with the Subaru Uncharted. Subaru has said they would have four EVs by 2026. And what I see here in this room are three, which means there’s one still out there somewhere in some design studio that’s about to be announced hopefully. And I’m really curious, will it be even smaller like an electrified Subaru BRZ? Would be so cool, but it could also be something even bigger like Subaru’s Ascent type vehicle, which was three row SUV. Not really sure which direction they’re going, but I can bet it’ll probably share with another Toyota model. So, we’ll see what Toyota does and then hedge our bets on Subaru doing something similar. So, I’m curious what you guys think of the Uncharted. What do you think of the name? What do you think of the specs? I do think the specs are really, really impressive for the class. And what do you hope the price will be? I feel like it has to be low30s, mid30s, maybe high30s maybe. But like tax credit and stuff, all that disappearing, it’s going to be hard to be competitive. But I do think their specs on paper are looking pretty good. Can’t wait to try out the actual infotainment, the sound system. A few more things I’m hoping to learn from my experience here with Subaru in New York City. Like I said, I can’t believe I came out here for the unveil of a car that’s already been unveiled, but that’s kind of a joke because that’s the CHR and it’s a different car. It’s a different company. Sure, it has a lot of same technology, a lot of shared technology, but I really like the Subaru version. It looks very Subaru, impressively so. The Toyota has a full light bar on the back, totally different lighting signatures in the front, but I guess everything else is is pretty close. But hey, I’m glad this exists. I’m excited to try these out. I’d love to actually compare the CHR and the Uncharted when I can get them side by side and see which one is the best sound system. Like, what are the little differences? I’m sure I can find some. That’s been it. Hello from Manhattan.
Jordan is in New York City to see the Subaru Uncharted, Subaru’s 3rd EV introduced to their lineup! Including a full tour and discussion of its identical specs to its near-mechanical twin, the Toyota C-HR.
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