The 2023 Toyota bZ4X and 2023 Subaru Solterra are some of the first fully electric cars the brands' will sell across the United States. They're also extremely similar, but not quite identical. As such, we wanted to highlight their differences. Design-wise, the differences are in the front and rear sections. The bZ4X eschews any sort of grille design, while the Subaru has a faux grille to tie it to its internal combustion cars. It also has a slightly more rugged lower front fascia. At the rear, the Toyota has a full-width taillight, while the Subaru uses more conventional-looking units. The powertrains are slightly different, too. The Toyota comes standard with a 201-horsepower front motor and a range of 250 miles. The Subaru comes with dual motors standard, making around 215 horsepower. It has a shorter range of 220 miles. That powertrain is also available on the Toyota, but as an option.

Video Transcript

JOEL STOCKSDALE: Toyota and Subaru are launching their very first electric cars here in the US this coming year. Now, they're almost the same vehicle, but with slight differences. And so we wanted to point out just a few of what makes the Toyota the Toyota, and what makes the Subaru the Subaru.

Now, styling wise, the biggest difference is that the Toyota doesn't really have any sort of grille. It is mostly featureless up front. And the headlights are a little bit different as well. Now, the front end is kind of the main part that differs on these two vehicles. The rest of the side is pretty much the same between both of them.

And it's not until you get around to the back where you find a few other differences. The Toyota features a full width light bar, and different badging, and again, that's about it. But one of the more significant differences between the two is that the Toyota comes with two powertrain options.

The standard one has a 201 horsepower single motor mounted up front providing front wheel drive. Optionally, you can get it with dual motors, making 214 horsepower. Those are the main things that distinguish the Toyota bZ4X. And so we'll go over to the Subaru now to show you what's unique about that.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

And that brings us to the Subaru Solterra. It's mostly the same again. But the front fascia is changed a significant amount. There's sort of a faux grille that has been put here to help tie it to some of the other Subaru models. And the front fascia has a more rugged kind of plastic and metal style front lip on it.

The headlights are a little bit different too. It looks a little bit more conventional. The sides are also still the same compared with the Toyota. The back does receive a little bit of styling differentiation. It has Subaru style taillights, this kind of c-shaped look. And it's not connected all the way across, which makes it a little bit more unique from the Toyota.

One of the other key things is that this only comes with the dual motor 215 horsepower powertrain, because it's a Subaru, so it's got to have standard all wheel drive. That also means that the range is slightly less on the entry level Subaru than the entry level Toyota.

The Subaru has a range of around 220 miles. Whereas, the Toyota has a range of around 250 miles. However, the Toyota with all wheel drive should have the same 220 mile range as the Subaru. Both also feature DC fast charging up to 150 kilowatts for quicker fill ups when you're low on battery power. It's also worth noting that the interiors on both of these vehicles are pretty much the same as well.

They are attractive though, with a very futuristic looking instrument cluster, and a lovely cloth covered dashboard. So if you're interested in either the Toyota or the Subaru, they're pretty much the same vehicle. And it mostly comes down to whether you like the styling of the Subaru versus the Toyota. Do you care about the brand? And whether or not all wheel drive is important to you. Look for them to be launched for the 2023 model year.