Subaru Solterra review

It starts at £52,495 for the Limited trim. That's £15 less than the cheapest Toyota AWD version. But in the Toyota you can save £2,600 by deleting the rear motor, and if you do that you can also select a lead-in bZ4X that's less again. Subaru's menu is shorter – only a mid and high trim, and only 4WD. And fewer options.

On lease, you’re looking at a starting monthly figure of £599, on a four-year agreement with a £5k down payment and 8,000 yearly mileage allowance, through Subaru’s own finance scheme. 

What's the difference between kit?

The Touring version gets quite a bit of extra kit for the £3k uplift, but the efficiency and range hit because of its big wheels is a definite gotcha. 

Limited has to get by with cloth trim, but the 'leather' on the Touring is fake, so cloth's fine thanks. The Touring also gets electric front seats, the fixed two-pane glass roof, a stereo upgrade and wireless phone charging.

Both have adaptive multi-segment LED headlights, and the full driver-assist and safety bundle, and a heat pump for winter efficiency.

What's the best spec?

Easy one this, in our eyes – you want the entry-level Limited spec, which brings with it the greater range and likely better ride comfort courtesy of the smaller alloys. You can easily make do without the creature comforts of the Touring spec.

One final thing worth mentioning is Subaru's warranty is three years and 60,000 miles. The battery's warranty is 100,000 miles. But Toyota is warranting the same battery to one million km (620,000 miles) at 70 per cent capacity. Now you might make that a reason to go to Toyota, or you might just say 'Well it's obviously a dependable battery or they wouldn't do that', so you're not going to worry either way.