The 2026 Subaru Uncharted's Identity Crisis

[00:00:11] Hi everybody, welcome to another episode. I'm Mike Monticello. I'm Steph Schrader. I'm Alex George. So today we're going to be talking about our first impressions of the all new 2026 Subaru Uncharted EV. Think of the Uncharted as basically the electric counterpart to the Crosstrek, right? So it's basically a fairly small EV SUV. If you're wondering it, yes, it's smaller than the Subaru Solterra, but it does use a lot of the same mechanical bits and that includes the 338 horsepower from its dual electric motors.

[00:00:41] And lastly, what's the one thing that everyone wants to know about an EV? Driving range, right? So for our Uncharted all-wheel drive test car, it has an EPA estimated 287 miles. As always, with every EV that comes through our test program, we will do our own 70 mile per hour highway range test with the Uncharted once it goes through our program. So we bought a 2026 Subaru Uncharted sport all-wheel drive.

[00:01:08] Our test car was only equipped with a few options, including its Metropolis gray metallic paint, which I kind of like. I kind of dig it. It's got some purple in it. Yeah. Yeah. Along with its $1,450 destination charts, the total cost for a test vehicle is $42,083. Now, before we get into what we like and what we don't like about the Uncharted, Steph, help us navigate the waters of how the Uncharted got here. Get it? Oh.

[00:01:38] Navigate the water. Never mind. Anyway, because there's a lot of similarities with other Toyotas and the Subaru Solterra. So tell us a little bit about that and all the intermingling. Yeah. It's a bit of a parts-spin special. It is nearly identical on the spec sheet and its interior size to its twin on the Toyota side, the CHR.

[00:02:04] And that used to be a gas-powered car, kind of a small little SUV, and now it's all electric. It's seven inches shorter than the Subaru Solterra and Toyota BZ. All of these are based on Toyota's E-TNGA platform. Similar interior across even the bigger ones. CHR and Uncharted, of course, have a smaller back seat. And they all have the North American charging standard ports.

[00:02:31] That's the Tesla-style slim connector. All of them offer some version of this dual-motor 338-horsepower drivetrain. All of them offer at least one model that has the 74.7-kilowatt battery. But the interesting thing about the Uncharted is it, not the Toyota version, but the Subaru, Subaru being known for all-wheel drive everything, Subaru is offering a base front-wheel drive

[00:02:59] model, which undercuts the CHR's base price by about $2,000. CHR starts at around $37,000. And Solterra starts at around $35,000, but you only get front-wheel drive in that one. And that one has a 221-horsepower single-motor powertrain that isn't offered on the little CHR, but is offered on the bigger Toyota BZ. Yeah, go figure, right?

[00:03:25] So let's get into what people really care about, which is what is it like to drive this car? So Alex, let's start with you. What are you liking so far with this new Uncharted? I'm a defender of this size car. I think that this particular footprint, which is, again, about the same as a Subaru Crosstrak, if you're a Subaru buyer and that's what you're thinking, I think the difference in length is within an inch or less. The Uncharted's a little bit wider.

[00:03:52] If I was reading the spec sheet right, if you get the highest-end GT line, it's like 1,000 pounds heavier. However, you don't really feel that. It is a pretty quick car. I kind of had fun driving this. And it's a sub-5-second 060. Again, ours is the all-wheel drive, which has the power for that. But once you... I've owned EVs. And once you've owned one and you know that you never have to worry about a highway merge, you always have power for that. It's kind of hard to go back. Unfortunately, this one has that.

[00:04:22] I think it's got plenty of power. And that's something that you really want when you buy an EV today. Totally agree. And that's not the original Solterra we tested did not have a whole lot of power, right? There's lower horsepower versions. This one, there's none of that. Some EVs, when you get to 60 miles per hour, they're quick up to 60, but then they kind of run out of steam. This one does not run out of steam at 60 miles per hour. And so I found that really fun. And it's also just really smooth.

[00:04:50] Like it's not... Super quiet. Most EV powertrains are quite smooth, but certainly we've found that they aren't all smooth. And just about everything about this, whether it's on throttle, off throttle, is just so easy to use and enjoyable to use. And I think maybe one of the coolest things is it's also really quiet. Again, a lot of EVs are quiet. Not all EVs. Some have this pretty annoying high-pitched electric motor whine, and you barely hear anything with this one, even if you floor it.

[00:05:18] I mean, even the wind noise is pretty well controlled. It's pretty impressive. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. What else do you like on Alex? So whenever you see these cars, especially the ones that have the side profile, they're kind of coopified. They're not slipping back. I'm not particularly tall. 5'11". I get in the back with the driver's seat attuned to whatever setting I would have. Just fine in this one. I mean, it was a little bit more claustrophobic than I think other cars you can get into for the same price, but I think it was just fine for it.

[00:05:49] The trunk space is a thing that you find with EVs, the way it's architected. Basically, the surface of the trunk is a little high, and this one's this kind of hatchback. So it has this hatchback setup. So if your space is not that great, I would have to look at it side by side with the cross-strike to see exactly, but it's not much worse than that. So I think the interior proportions are just fine. Yeah, it's a little less gargle room than I think we're talking four or five cubic feet

[00:06:16] according to Subaru than the Solterra. So not a ton less. I also liked the ride. I thought the ride was impressive. Yeah. Not even just like for an EV. Like overall, the ride quality, it absorbs bumps really well. It's really smooth. It can get a little bouncy, but I mean, you really have to, I really had to push it before I felt it going. Yeah. I mean, it surprised me because it has a shorter wheelbase than the Beat Toyota BZ, which we're also testing, right? Which is, it's so-

[00:06:45] That's a nicer ride. Yeah. I wasn't expecting that. I thought, okay, it's gonna, I mean, they do have the same size wheels and tires, but the suspension obviously is tuned, you know, on the softer side, but it really does end up in a pretty comfortable going on down the road. Especially the thing I forgot to think about too is the seats and the interior trim. Nicest Subaru I can remember sitting in. The front seats. I think so. Yeah. The seat qualities and all that, I mean, compared to what I think most people will get when they

[00:07:13] buy a Subaru and what they're looking for from it, the utility and all that, it's a comparatively luxurious experience in here. Yeah. So maybe it's a more of a Toyota seat than it is a Subaru seat. Is that, because that's honestly what it felt like to me. I really liked them. Did you like the, did you like the seats or, I mean, we all have such, when you look at us, all three of us are very different body types. So it's that, this is why we send so many people through our test cars because we want to get all those varying types of people. So if it didn't work as well for you, we can save that for a dislike.

[00:07:43] Well, I mean, the seating position is a different thing. The seat itself is comfortable. I'm just not a huge fan of like the pleather material. It's sweaty. Like it's starting to warm up. It's not super hot here, but it is just kind of sweaty. So you need, you need a ventilated seats. Or the base model offers cloth. Yeah, I agree. I, I, it's called StarTex. It's StarTex fake leather.

[00:08:09] And I didn't, the material didn't bother me from any kind of a perspective other than it's slippy and, you know, slippery. And so it just like, again, cloth helps hold you in place. But I thought as far as, I thought the padding was good. I thought the bolstering holds you in place nicely. So I was really impressed with that. I can't argue with the pleather. Also service announcement. If you ever see something advertised as vegan leather or whatever, what's it called in this one? This is called StarTex. StarTex. Yeah. It's plastic. It's plastic. It's plastic. Yeah. Which is sweaty.

[00:08:39] Plastic, it puts bare skin on, on plastic. It's a little bit sweaty. I have had the, the taxi driver beads for the seat in my Amazon cart for months now. And I know I just need those. If I, if I had a car like this, I would probably be getting those. Yeah. Well, the last one I, I'm, I think this falls under a like, but so because this is a, so it's a Subaru badge, but it's a Toyota underneath it. But one thing that Subarus suffer from is a, you tap their infotainment and you count one Mississippi. Oh, lag. The lag. Yeah.

[00:09:08] Before it does what you want it to do. Yeah. This is a Toyota one. Mm-hmm. Responsive. Everything works, you know, pretty quickly with what you need it to. And I think the menu format is like very logical and intuitive. Might not be familiar if you're used to Subaru, but I thought that was kind of an inadvertent thing that improved upon other Subarus. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. And it's got fairly big print. Um, I wish it had a home screen where it had more like tiles that are big and you can, you know, I'd rather have physical controls, but I'd also, if it's gotta be on the screen,

[00:09:38] you know, big colors, bright colors, but you know, the center screen at least, I'll talk about the gauge pod later, but the kind of main interface for climate and everything, you've got, still got physical knobs for the climate. It is pretty normal in there. You have like normal stocks, normal buttons for adjusting the mirrors and windows. And that I appreciate. Yeah.

[00:10:04] I, I mean, I like simple things like there's an actual physical odometer, uh, trip button on the, you know, driver's left dashboard. And, uh, those are going, those are fewer and farther between these days. Uh, I also am a big emergency flashers guy. Doesn't mean I'm always going under 35 miles an hour on the highway, like the truckers. That's not what, that's not what it is. That's not what it's for. Um, but, uh, it's large and essentially located and, and, you know, you really want a button

[00:10:31] that you can, you can find and press quickly when, when you do have to warn people behind you that something is going on ahead. I also really liked the, the dual wireless charging pads and two way opening center armrest. And they just wrote, love them. I didn't write any other notes. So you guys agree with that? Concur. Yeah. So what we're talking about folks is that, that Toyota has this, this arm center armrest that, you know, it can open, you press a button and opens for the driver. So it's easy access. And the front fastener has a button on the other side. It can, it can open. And does this one have the taco tray?

[00:11:00] Like some, like the RAV4? Believe you can take it out. And turn it upside down. Right. And slot it back into place. If you're launching your car as I have on many occasions. Yeah. It's like, it's great for that. That's how you get ants. And you know, well, this is dipping into the dislikes. Part of the reason you need that flexibility, no glove box. Right. Yeah. Which is silly. Steph, anything else you're liking about this car? The surround view parking camera is great. It's always good to have like a simple button to push. I can see what's around me.

[00:11:29] Kind of need that because the rear view mirror is kind of getting away. I'm short and they're big and they're right there. So it's helpful to have that kind of back. It's really clear. Yeah. I really like that. Yeah. I, uh, I wrote down decent handling, you know, uh, I almost feel like though, like producer Dave, you should figure out like we have these likes and not likes or dislikes, but what about, uh, in between? Like, but the handling I sort of thought was in between.

[00:11:57] I think it handles well for what it is. It's nothing special. It's not like it's really sporty, but it does have that shorter wheelbase with, which does help with agility, but it also has fairly soft suspension. But so when you push it a little bit hard on a back road, you'd have to

[00:12:39] definitely going to feel some body roll. It was kind of muted. But I mean, for most of the people who would buy a small little SUV like this, I don't know if they're really, I think it did a good job of balancing like good ride quality with, you know, unquestionably decent dynamics. Um, I'm not sure anybody's taking this to the track. No, probably not. But I think the point you're making is correct is that this is a thing that a lot of EVs get

[00:13:06] wrong where it's all, you know, it's all kind of artificial. So it can be left to be, you know, I guess very light steering or whatever they think will be most appreciated by the average driver sitting in traffic. Yeah. Almost, almost computer like, right. Is what some EVs feel like. Or some feel robotic. There's too much computer like in general going on, you know, from the lack of sound, um, uh, and then the artificial steering, you're right.

[00:13:32] And so then this one actually feels in a lot of ways, like kind of like a normal EV if that's a thing. Um, all right. So let's talk about what we don't like and let's turn to Steph. Uh, what did you say? You said something to me earlier today. Uh, what was that term you used about hating something? What was that? Haterade? Haterade. Is this where I unleashed the haterade? Haterade is a new term that Steph has developed. I cannot take credit for haterade. Haterade predates me.

[00:14:01] So we don't have to, let's, let's dial back the hatred and more just, what are we not liking so much about the uncharted? Oh boy. All right. I I'm nearsighted. It has the seven inch driver's display that sits right here on the dashboard. I think it might even be further away than that. Yeah. It's, it's super far away. It's got tiny text. It's all jumbled up. It's got a bunch of icons and like the, the seating position is hard to get into for at least me.

[00:14:31] I know some people have an easier time than others, but a lot of us were complaining about the ergonomics of this thing. And quite a few of us had the issue of the steering wheel blocks part of this teeny tiny panel. And of course the, the information I really want from an EV, you know, how much range do I have left? You know, what am I, am I going to need to stop soon? And that's kind of another complaint I'll bring up is it seems to have fewer EV specific like

[00:15:00] assist and features and. Right. Bells and whistles on that end. But that's under this like wad of always on icons, you know, like something's wrong with the car, except it's, it's not. It just shows you what safety systems are active and it's in itty bitty text and it's often blocked by the wheel. Meaning if you're gonna put the instrument screen further away, make at least some of

[00:15:28] that text or all of it larger than if it was right up here is what you're saying. Right. At least give me a bigger screen and space things out better and maybe, maybe make it as nice to look at as the center screen. Cause the center screen is got big text. It's very clear. It's colorful. This is like a black and white thing. It looks like they hired somebody who's last did like the Oregon trail game in the eighties. Like it's terrible.

[00:15:55] So what we have found so far, we've been having a lot of vehicles lately come through that, especially because, you know, it's no longer like this instrument binnacle, right? It's gone rectangular screens. And so we're finding a lot of cars stuff towards the upper part of the instrument screen as being blocked by the steering wheel, right? Especially for those of us. And this is why, where I'm getting to, as I want to talk to you, Alex, about how you, how you dealt with this.

[00:16:20] But so for, in a lot of cars, we, those that like the steering wheel a little lower, this upper stuff is getting blocked off. So for those of us that like them lower, this actually works really well from the perspective of you put it just about as low as it goes and nothing is blocked whatsoever. Is that where you are? Or did you, cause I know, like Steph said that the people who typically, those other ones work, this one doesn't work. Right. I see what you're saying too.

[00:16:48] Cause the, for people trying to imagine that the, it's basically placed so rather than in some cars where you would look through the steering wheel at the instrument cluster dashboard, whatever it's set up high, almost where you would see like a, um, a head up display or something like that. Yeah. Um, but with a screen instead, it wasn't as much of an issue for me, but the, uh, the play, the way getting the steering wheel just right was a little bit tough. It skews kind of more, it didn't, I like it tilted up bus driver-y angle a little bit and, uh, you can't quite get there.

[00:17:17] So it took a little bit of getting used to, but that wasn't as much of an issue. I will concur with that. Um, you know, the graphics look very, if like a Rivian or like a Rivian or like a Tesla is like a PlayStation five, these, it looks very like, I don't know about Oregon trail, like PlayStation two at least in terms of like the numbers on there. And maybe, maybe early Nintendo. Yeah. And like, like you said, it has these kinds of, I don't know, uh, as you're driving along, if you don't have the driver assist stuff on, there's a green icon that says ready and

[00:17:45] green letters the entire time you're driving. Almost like there's something else that you're supposed to still do. I felt like I was not using it enough. Like it's saying, I'm ready, put me in. But no. If everything's a warning, then nothing's a warning that it dilutes kind of your attention away from anything important that might, you know, need immediate attention that could show up. All right. What else? What else are you not liking? I actually really don't like that center console where, I mean, the two most prominent things are two wireless phone chargers.

[00:18:15] And, you know, I don't want to see my phone when it's there. That's why they're phone mirroring things. Thankfully, it does have wireless CarPlay and wireless Android Auto. That's great. Some EVs don't do that. But it just, it moves everything backwards. And then you have this dumb shifter that is, you have to like, so park is a separate button. If you press it down once, it's in neutral.

[00:18:41] You know, you turn once, turn one direction for drive and turn the other direction for reverse. What I found was it was kind of easy to leave in neutral. Like if I started to back up and then I was like, oh, well, you know, I should look this thing up. I should stop and, you know, take care of this on my phone before I drive. It's not an easy motion to get back in the park. And maybe you'll, I'm sure some people get used to this over time. I hated it.

[00:19:09] It takes up too much space. And then the cup holders are down in this hole. And then the armrest is way back here, which, you know, I still shorter, I'm a shorter person. I sit closer to the dashboard. And it's just like, there's this hard armrest and it's way back here. And I have to reach in this hole for my coffee and I don't like it at all. It's just the, the priority is I'm just like, hide my phone, you know, leave it somewhere where I can notice it when I need to pick it up.

[00:19:38] But it's, it's a distraction. It's right there. It's flashing with whatever notifications. So you, you suffer from some kind of OCD or something or whatever, like you, you're easily distracted by anything that like, yeah. I mean, that's the whole point of, of, of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto though, is that they're up on the screen. So hopefully you wouldn't even look at your phone because you don't need to, because it's all right there, you know? So I guess it's closer to me because I'm short.

[00:20:07] Well, there's, there's definitely some issues with that, with that console anyway, though, Steph, you're right. Uh, you know, whether people like two wireless chargers or not, or where maybe there's a better place to put them, but it's also intrusive. I found it intrusive, like on my right knee space and it's plastic, it's not padded. And it just, I don't know if it's bad luck for this, the, you know, length of my legs, but I'm hitting like almost an angle of the plastic instead of being a flat surface there. And so that, that made it besides being plastic and unpadded, it's just, my knee was hitting

[00:20:36] kind of an uncomfortable spot. Yeah. Yeah. This shift knob is worth getting into. So you both drive a lot more, you know, if you get hands on it earlier with the cars than I do typically. And within the last, certainly within the last decade, a lot of new approaches to how you shift the car into drive, reverse Tesla's case. Maybe you don't, it just does it automatically. I was thinking about this. So I, I lease a Ioniq five, which has the Hyundai.

[00:21:01] They, it's a little protrusion out of the, um, uh, and you turn and I drive that car a ton. Every once in a while I have to tell myself, Oh no, no, reverse. You twist the knob this direction. Cause you can't really see it. Right. That's yeah. It's hidden there. I mean, I guess kind of the same thing with this one and the uncharted is this knob that you, you know, it's a default is at a 12 o'clock. You push it down and then turn it to like two o'clock for forward, then to, uh, 10 o'clock for reverse.

[00:21:30] Um, and it's kind of, yeah, you really have to be deliberate about it. Again, I'm sure you, you know, you get more used to it, but are there, I mean, I guess with EVs, you can do whatever you want to with how you decide that. But I mean, certainly other, some car companies do this better than others. Yeah. I feel like we standardized everything for a lot of these like simple controls, like how do I put the thing in drive? And now people are messing with it. And, you know, especially if you share cars, if you have multiple vehicles that you're in

[00:21:59] and out of, uh, no, stop getting creative. I don't want creativity in that space. Strange as it is, it's a little bit pleasantly tactile. Like you get a spring with it. Yeah. I will admit to like having, you know, I'm on the highway and I can't help kind of touching it. And I've like accidentally thrown it into neutral at like 75 miles an hour a couple of times. Cause it's kind of good size. That's kind of right. I personally, I will, I'm not, I'm not a defender of, of, of these different, all these

[00:22:28] different types of gear selectors, uh, the electronic ones, but I didn't really have a problem with it. I've used these a fair amount now that you kind of get used to it. I think most owners will get used to it. That's not to say that you won't occasionally go into neutral when you don't mean to go into neutral. That said, you can occasionally go into neutral with an old fashioned one of these where you think you've gone, you know, far enough and you haven't. So, I mean, but points certainly well, well taken. And it would be nice if there was a lot more normalcy with these, with these electronic gear selectors for sure.

[00:22:57] At least it does. A lot of people, this is kind of a polarizing thing. A lot of people, it does have a faint beep, beep, not like full box truck, but like. You mean reverse? Yeah. So at least, you know, when you've put it in reverse, is it beep, beep, beep. Love it or hate it. I know what you mean though. It's a, it's a, I took a recording of it because I had the same observation. It goes, like it's that chime that you get, like if you left the key in the car when you open the door or whatever, but it's on the whole time when you're in reverse. And so like. Which is strange. It's strange.

[00:23:28] In a parking lot and you have to sit in reverse while you're waiting for cars to go by or something. Long driveway. Can you stop that off? Yeah. Can I turn that off please? Right. All right. What else stuff? I feel like you've got a long list or are we, are we getting near the end or? I mean. We only have a, you know, a half hour to go. Oh, oh. Well, I mean, I think the biggest, my biggest beef is it, it feels outdated out of the box. Like. The car. Yeah. In general, overall as an overall. Yeah.

[00:23:55] Cause I mean, when it comes to electric vehicle features after, you know, I just finished doing the road test for the Leaf and I'm just like, the Leaf feels like a newer car. It's got similar specs, you know, 150 kilowatt, which is already, you know, a little behind what other fast charging capabilities are out there. Both don't have a fronk. That's annoying. Both don't have a rear wiper. Both are kind of the same size. There's a lot of similarities, but there's no route planner on. Uncharted. Uncharted.

[00:24:24] Irony of poor navigation in the Uncharted. Yeah. Like it feels like back to back with the Leaf, it feels like going back to using a compass. I'm just like, okay, you know, the Leaf's route planning was so good. You could find chargers. You could go to your preferred network. If you put in a destination that was, that would require a higher state of charge than you currently have, it would plot in points to stop.

[00:24:52] And this is, it just feels copied and pasted from the 2022 Tundra that I tested several years ago. That's one of those things that like newer EVs have that is just missing. And then there's the charging lock. Like a lot of EVs, Leaf included, will put the button to unlock the charger right by the charger. Well, this one, you know, it's kind of easy to accidentally leave the adapter in.

[00:25:20] And when I've done that, I've either had to like button mash the unlock button on the key, or I've had to replug it in, go in the car and tell it to like manually stop charging through the little seven inch screen. And I'm just, this is solvable with a button. You know, there's also this like vague charging light above that, you know, it's kind of hard to, it's not clear what the... You're talking in the port.

[00:25:49] Yeah, right above the port. It's, you know, it's teeny tiny little green LED and it's not super clear what it's doing. And also, you know, other cars, Leaf being a good example, it's got a 14 inch, the base model on the Leaf has a 12 inch screen. All of these, they're big, they're color. You can see exactly what it's doing, what it's charged to through the window. So, you know, I was wearing sunglasses the other day and trying to see, you know, anywhere in the interior.

[00:26:18] It's not on the big screen in the Uncharted. It's on the dumb little gauge pod that's already hard to see. And I had to open the door, take my sunglasses off. I mean, you can still see it with sunglasses, but, you know, it's just to brighten it. And it'll turn off after a little while. So you don't even have that to know if it's still charging. You just have the little status light, which everybody so far has had to look up in the manual because it's so unintuitive.

[00:26:49] Goodness. And then there's regenerative braking. A lot of, you know, neither the Leaf or the Uncharted offer one pedal driving, but the Leaf at least will give you stronger modes. It's really weak on the Uncharted. Yeah. And then, you know, you've got the pricing. It's like, well, at mid-30s, you're looking at, you know, the Ioniq 5 as well, which offers

[00:27:18] faster charging, which offers all of these features and one pedal driving. So I'm just like, I guess if you really like your Solterra and you want to downsize, perfect. You don't have to learn anything new. But for everyone else, I'm just kind of like, this is a little behind. Yeah. Especially on the EV specific stuff is what I'm hearing. Alex, what about you?

[00:27:44] What, besides what Steph has already mentioned, is there anything else that she didn't mention that you think maybe could be a little bit better on this? Nothing left. There's nothing left. There's nothing left. No, the thing actually that I've been mulling over driving this is it's reminding me, first off, like I know it's inflation, everything's expensive, but a sub $40,000 electric vehicle- I like that. That was- Yeah. I don't know. That was the thing we were hoping for, you know, a decade or so ago. Yeah. I was remembering like the first batch of cars that we're getting above 300 miles of range and all that.

[00:28:14] Yeah. Range specifically is what I'm trying to make sense of. Like, so again, at this price point, good for that price point. The average person in the United States drives 40 miles a day. Yeah. A 200- What was ours? 287. 287 EPA estimate. Plenty. You know, the Fiat 500 each. Even that would be plenty for a lot of people. But that 300 mark is a big demarcation between like, well, can I depend on this car for more

[00:28:42] of my driving than just the, you know, can I use it outside of just my regular commute? I don't know. Does 287, does that number, if that's proven right by our testing, if that's proven accurate, is that enough for people who are buying this car? I mean, I think you could say maybe for the price, it's pretty good, right? This is one of the more, you know, less expensive EVs out there right now.

[00:29:06] So I think, I mean, we'll see what it really does in what we consider more real world, you know, situations where range really matters, which is on the highway at 70 miles per hour. So I don't know. I think 287 isn't too bad. I think it's pretty livable. Although I know one of the things from our tests with the BZ was the range often didn't go up to its, you know, stated EPA range. So that's something that we'll be looking as we test this one further.

[00:29:37] But I think 287 is more than enough. It's just like, it's a lot more livable when you have those extra charging features, when it's easier to charge away from home, when you're not worried about, oh my gosh, I got the stupid adapter stuck and it's cold and I'm grouchy and I'm having a bad day. Is that a specific example or is that always that you're grouchy? I'm always having a bad day. Yeah, yeah.

[00:30:03] No, but, you know, and things like route planning, it's a lot less, you can do kind of aftermarket solutions, things like a better route planner, but it's also like, well, but then you have to input your car into a standalone app. It's not going to be able to pick up your state of charge because it's, you know, something you're projecting off of Apple CarPlay or Android Auto.

[00:30:26] So it just, the things that make an EV more livable for longer range trips aren't there.

[00:31:03] Yeah. And maybe the biggest thing is that the bottom cushion is just too low to the floor. So you're really, for adults especially anyway, you're lacking that under leg support that really helps for comfort on longer drives. Seat's pretty flat as well. And one other odd thing about the rear seat is that if you only have two people back there and you're using the center drop-down armrest, for some reason it comes, instead of coming down flat, it goes down a little bit further, which is just, you know,

[00:31:30] and you can't bring it back up to, like, you know, it's not adjustable and it's just kind of an odd thing. So if you're resting on it, you're slipping down. Yeah, it's a little strange. Okay. The other thing that I don't like is I don't like this non-round steering wheel. You know, 9 and 3, it's totally fine. And it's okay for most driving and even spirited driving. But anytime you have to take, whether it's on a back road and you get to a hairpin turn or, of course, any kind of parking maneuver,

[00:31:57] when you start doing shuffle steering, that's when the steering just feels, that shape of that wheel just feels odd. And then the other things that I don't like, I know you mentioned the temp knobs as they're actual knobs, but we've seen this before in Toyota doesn't even Lexus, is that the detents of these things, when you turn them, it's easy to turn it if you're trying to just do one degree and you turn it and it's so weak that sometimes it does nothing.

[00:32:24] Or, you know, like it doesn't change a degree at all because it doesn't click at all. It just, you know, has this so weak. And so I don't like those, even though at least you can grab them. And then the other thing I don't like is that there's these levers on the dashboard vents that they're just unergonomic and they're just very difficult to use and to figure out exactly where, how you're adjusting the air to go the way you want it.

[00:32:51] And we've seen this before on other vehicles as well, a Toyota doesn't Lexus, and it's just, it's kind of annoying. I think I must be the only one at the office. I get in the car, assuming there's the, you know, you can say 72, hit auto and never do anything about it. Well, apparently Steph and I run hot since she was talking about the seat material and sweating. And I definitely run hot. So I'm immediately, I'm always a manual guy. I got to turn it to full cold, put the ventilated seats on if I have them, which this one doesn't.

[00:33:20] So, and then I'm always trying to fiddle with, to get both of my vents here. And if no one's over here, and even if they are over there, I'm turning everything toward me, full blast on my face. Steal your passengers air. Yeah. What I've noticed, okay, am I the only one that like, and I noticed this on the BZ as well. I get in and like none of my climate settings have been remembered. I have no idea where it's pulling the climate settings that it comes up with, but you know.

[00:33:48] You mean you get in from having just driven it or you get into it after someone else had driven it? Well, I get in after I drove it, I parked it, and then I get back out to it. And, you know, I know it's been warm out. I've had the aircon on, and then I get back out there, and AC's not highlighted. Oh, yeah. AC, that's a Toyota thing. That's a Toyota thing. The AC does, and I think Lexus as well, the AC does not stay on.

[00:34:12] So you can turn it on as much as you want, but as soon as you key cycle that thing, you're going to have to re-hit the AC, which I agree with you. It's stupid and annoying, and there's no reason for that. It should remember how it was. They're based in Texas. They should know better by now. Okay, so let's kind of wrap up this segment here on the Uncharted. So, and Alex, I'm going to start with you. Say for someone who is interested in a Subaru EV, do you think this is a pretty good place to start? Yeah, I'm thinking about that. If you are, I'm thinking of the couple of-

[00:34:42] Like you've never had an EV before, but maybe you like Subarus. Yeah, it's a question of are you getting what you want out of a Subaru, what you come to expect from it. And so, I mean, despite this being a Toyota underneath it, I saw a couple of traces that made me think, okay, I get that. The, you know, first off, the marketing, decades-long marketing of Subaru and all-wheel drive completely worked. You absolutely expect that when you get it. There is a front-wheel drive version, but I expect a lot of people will buy the all-wheel drive.

[00:35:07] You know, and the other things, so it's got 8.2 inches of ground clearance, which, you know, again, anecdotally, the market for Subarus is New England, Colorado, places where you have snow and slush. I think you're fine for something like that. It also has Subaru, the X mode, which you choose like snow and mud or deep snow and mud and get out with that. Yeah, so, I mean, if you're a Subaru person, you'll see some traces in there. But yeah, I mean, understand that you're not, this is not a through-and-through Subaru product the way you might be expecting.

[00:35:36] But, you know, if that's not a vital thing for you, you can find some stuff to like about it. What about you, Steph? I think people really like, I'm not going to dissuade somebody, but I will say, you know, sit in it. If they watch this podcast, you're going to have dissuaded them. Sit in it, you know, does it fit your life? Does it fit your body? But yeah, people really like just going back to the Subaru. And like, it's probably the least controversial brand I can think of. Like, what is their biggest scandal?

[00:36:03] They didn't bring enough puppies to the auto show or... That was a problem. I don't know. And they really like buying Subarus. If they're downsizing from a Solterra, presumably they're like, I want something smaller. This one's more fun, I think, than its bigger brother because it's shorter wheelbase. It's a little more nimble. 338 horsepower in this does go like stink. So, even though I'm saying, here are some practical, you know, ones with more EV features.

[00:36:31] I'm not going to talk you out of it, but, you know, just test drive a few different ones. And, you know, if you are going to go on longer trips, you may want something that can chart a course a little better. Yeah. What would you say? Look, what would I say? I would say that I think it's a pretty darn nice car to drive. Just, you know, I know there's definitely some quirks about it, but, I mean, the powertrain, strong, smooth, very quiet. The comfortable ride was not expecting that.

[00:37:01] The front seats, again, it's very much body dependent, but they really worked for me. And I think having comfortable front seats goes a long way towards your daily livability with the car. That said, the driving position quirks would be a little bit of an issue for me. Might make me pause, you know, that center console intrusion. The armrests, both of the front armrests are very thinly padded.

[00:37:25] And so that means on a long trip, if you're the kind of person that, you know, kind of has hands in the lower position on the steering wheel and both elbows on the armrest, that's going to get uncomfortable. And then that weird faraway instrument panel is just strange. It's like, how about we come up with something in between a head-up display and a regular driver's screen? And it's actually worse than either one, right? So those are the things. As long as you know that going in, and obviously this is definitely a car, I think we can all agree you should go.

[00:37:52] So definitely take that test drive and maybe a little longer test drive. But I think there are definitely some real positives about it. Another positive is that the Uncharted is currently racking up its break-in miles. We do 2,000 break-in miles on every vehicle we buy before it goes through our actual instrumented testing. And also, Steph is hard at work right now on a first drive of the Uncharted that you'll see on consumerreports.org with even a lot more information than we talked about today.

[00:38:20] And of course, don't forget to stay tuned to consumerreports.org for our full road test results of the Uncharted as soon as it gets through the program. So with that, let's move on to our audience question of the week. Don't forget, the best way to send us those questions, comments, or video clips is text us at TalkingCarsAticloud.com.

[00:38:41] And to give you like an extra incentive to not just give us a question or a video clip or, you know, a comment, but an amazing question. If we use your question on this show, our producers will send you some CR swag, like a CR branded t-shirt, maybe even auto test center t-shirt. That's be the really, okay, producer Dave saying yes. We do have an auto test. That's the cool thing. Not just a CR t-shirt, but a CR auto test center. That makes a complete difference.

[00:39:10] As soon as I start working here, every relative hit me up like, how do I get that? How do I get that t-shirt? Okay. And of course, you know, I've said it before, but don't forget, we really love, love those video questions. So keep those coming. But we do have a written question from Adrian and Adrian. What's that? Quite detailed too. I like the amount of detail on this. Adrian says, I'm graduating high school this year and I'm looking for a new car that will comfortably get me to college every day, around 40 minutes each way.

[00:39:38] I was hoping you could give me some advice. My budget is capped at $35,000. I really love driving. So good dynamics are a must. I'd like premium comforts, but at a minimum heated leather seats, a sunroof and a heated steering wheel. I don't want anything boring. So no Honda or Subaru. I guess he's not getting uncharted. I can't go another year stuck in a sensible brick.

[00:40:02] I've currently been looking at the Kia K4 hatchback GT line turbo, a used second gen Mini Cooper Countryman, Volkswagen Jetta GLI GTI and the Mazda 3 turbo. What do you think? I'm of course open to use vehicles, but I'd like to keep it as new as possible. Look, that's a lot. That's a lot of desires. I appreciate that Adrian, you know, knows what they want and, you know, is seems and I also like that they care about driving dynamics.

[00:40:31] That makes me so happy. So Steph, they're all right. Let's start with you, Steph. What what are you thinking for Adrian here? Well, I mean, we just borrowed a Kia K4 GT line turbo and really liked it. It's fun to drive. It's got the practical hatchback. I like it a lot better than the sedan. I liked it a lot better than the one that we did a full road test of that was a lower spec.

[00:40:58] You know, the Mazda 3 also one of the higher reliability stores. I'm going to go off script here. The Acura Integra we had with the manual was a type of thing. That we borrowed from Acura, right? It starts at $33,000 and feels a little more special than the base Honda. It has a great stick shift. I don't know if you're into manual transmissions at all.

[00:41:24] But I mean, I've heard even the automatic ones are pretty fun to drive. The infotainment, really easy to use, really easy to live with. Yeah, I mean, the Civic Si also isn't boring to me, but I can understand wanting to stand out a little more. No Hondas. No Hondas. The Integra comes in a cool blue. That was a nice looking color. That was a very nice looking color. But, you know, if you're willing to compromise on the sunroof and go gently used,

[00:41:53] you get a legit hot hatch. The Toyota GR Corolla, which, I mean, both of these are cars that I'm like, I kind of want that. After I've tested them, I kind of want that. That's a super fun car. Yeah. And, you know, again, both the automatic and the manual versions are good. Handles great. Straightforward controls, which I'm sorry, I'm going to keep harping on buttons. I love buttons. But it's also hatchback. It's also pretty practical.

[00:42:20] It reminds me of like the WRX and the Evo, you know, these kind of performance rally inspired car. Well, and also made into rally cars. And I love that. I wish more of those cars would come back. Yeah. So. All right, Alex, what about you? So I'm going to give them a used car that I, I came very close to buying a Kia Stinger GT2. Yeah. So these were made for, this was 2018 to 2023 model year.

[00:42:48] So I know he was asking for new, but for what they cost and what you get out of it, especially what he's asking for, you get a ton. I love that Kia Stinger. That was so good. They look so cool. He did everything. And for context, the, you know, a lot of the credit for the design goes to this guy, Albert Biermann, who Kia poached from BMW's M performance division. So the, and if you're wondering why it's such an amazing car to drive, that's part of it. It's also a hatchback. So you get a little bit of practicality for it.

[00:43:17] I was looking at some of the, I was looking at listings on CarMax just before we got on. And then you could find, you know, one in the 2018, 2020 range for about 31K, someone going for 28. If you can make do with that, like the 360 camera, GT1 is also an option, but they're just kind of a sleeper car that I think, you know, it hits a lot of what he's asking for. They look cool too. Great. And it's kind of a rare spot nowadays.

[00:43:42] So I, I'm going to piggyback off of what Steph said that, that K4 hatchback GT line turbo, which we borrowed. I really think that's a good way to go. The GT line turbo starts at 20, 28,890, I think is what my glasses are saying here. And as far as features, heated front seats, a power driver's seat and a power sunroof. If that's okay, Alex. I'll allow it. Okay. He'll allow it. If you add the technology package, you get ventilated front seats and a heated steering wheel.

[00:44:11] I know the heated steering wheel is also important. As driven with that tech package, it was, let me get my glasses, 32,870. That's including the $1,195 destination charge. And, but for me, it was just like, I just enjoy driving it. I mean, it doesn't have, it's not like it has a ton of power, but it does, this does have a turbo engine. And I thought that the handling was, was really good. It's what, without being so firm that it beat you up.

[00:44:40] The steering was quite natural, nicely weighted. And, but honestly, I think maybe it's the styling that got me almost the most because it's so unique. Cool. Right. It's a hatchback, but it kind of reminds me more of like, if, if there was a four door version of the BMW Z3 coupe, or maybe the old Volvo 1800 ES, which also I had the mustard light color was the Volvo had that back in the day as well.

[00:45:09] You know, so this is not a boring car to drive. It's not a boring car to look at. It's kind of unique. I'm not gonna say it's perfect. Road noise is pretty elevated. And again, I had some steering wheel, you know, instrument screen blockage, the opposite of what I had with the uncharted. But, and the transmission has some, it's a, it's a true automatic. And it had some, you know, sort of like DCT, DCT like, so dual clutch transmission, low speed oddities,

[00:45:38] but definitely not a deal breaker. And I just think it's, it's, you know, it's well within the price range and it's a pretty fun car to drive. And, you know, there's something to be said about having a new car. That's all you, you know, exactly what it's, what's happened to it. And it's a full warranty. Yeah, for sure. Keys is pretty long too. Yeah. All right. So Adrian, hopefully we gave you some good choices there. That's going to do it for this episode. But before you go, don't leave anyone.

[00:46:04] We want to talk a little bit about the fact that Consumer Reports is a non-profit, right? So we don't have any ads on our website. And unlike most automotive media outlets, we buy every car that we test, every car that goes through our test program, we buy from a local dealer anonymously. So that costs a lot of money, right? So we survive through subscriptions and through donations.

[00:46:28] So if you, if you watch this on YouTube, there's a donate button that you can give a little money or give a lot of money if you want it. It's, it helps us continue to do what we do, which is to give you unbiased reporting, telling it like it is without feeling like we're, we are beholden to anybody, right? We just, we're doing it for you guys out there. So now that really is it for the episode. If you want to learn more about the topics and the vehicles that we talked about, you can click on the show notes.

[00:46:57] Don't forget to send us your questions, comments, videos to talkingcars at iCloud.com. As always, our podcast is produced by Dave Abrams and edited by Andrew Belize and Anatoly Shumsky. Thanks so much for watching and we'll see y'all next week.