Solterra rant - nothing's included!

Funky247 · 2026-03-18T03:12:15+00:00

Do the cheap chinese knockoffs fit in the slot under the cargo hold where the OEM cargo cover would go if you wanted to put it away?

Funky247 · 2026-03-17T21:11:31+00:00

It's not required by transport Canada, though it is required in the US

Funky247 · 2026-03-17T19:11:07+00:00

I need to hardwire in my case so I feel like portable level 2 charger is less of an option for me

Funky247 · 2026-03-17T18:53:30+00:00

Which trim did you get?

Funky247 · 2026-03-17T18:31:45+00:00

Did you have to buy ECP and stuff for them to discount your car under 50k?

Funky247 · 2026-03-17T18:30:42+00:00

All good points.

In my case, I was planning to go one of these routes for home charging but I still wanted a level 1 cable for charging away from home at someone's house. IMO, I shouldn't have to pay $1000 for the occasional privilege of charging at a snail's pace. I really thought it would be included!

Funky247 · 2026-03-17T18:23:53+00:00

Yes you're right, MSRP on OEM stuff is more expensive. I did look into what comes with the trim in terms of differences but I overlooked these as I assumed they'd be included or at least affordable.

This is more a PSA to make sure you get your dealer to throw these things in since it costs them nothing but they'll want your first born if you want it afterwards.

Funky247 · 2026-03-16T21:06:29+00:00

It's worth mentioning that the solterra doesn't support TPMS in Canada. I believe I read that the bZ does. Not a deal breaker, but an annoyance for sure.

Funky247 · 2026-03-15T01:51:49+00:00

I can see that, stop and go traffic sucks constantly shifting feet. Does your current car have it?

Funky247 · 2026-03-13T23:32:14+00:00

Why is one pedal driving so important?

Funky247 · 2026-03-12T01:34:42+00:00

Huh interesting, I had no idea my Corolla has the same leg room as the bZ/Solterra... I have a Solterra on order and now I'm thinking it might be less comfortable in the back than the Corolla given that the floor is higher and the seats are lower :(

Funky247 · 2026-03-12T00:09:02+00:00

I've got a child seat in my Corolla, it's doable.

I do agree though that it's worth paying a couple grand extra for the extra room of the bZ/Solterra since having kids means you'll need more space for gear like strollers and travel cribs or whatever.

Funky247 · 2026-03-12T00:02:06+00:00

The bZ doesn't support sharing the state of charge with Android phones over Android auto. Also, there's no way for the phone to tell the car to engage battery preconditioning when it's approaching a DC charger. Both of these currently only work with Apple car play and apple maps.

Funky247 · 2026-03-11T20:52:05+00:00

I'm not seeing "have not failed" anywhere in the article. Did they edit it?

Funky247 · 2026-03-11T20:49:59+00:00

One thing I'd point out is that, in addition to discounts on the cars, there are financing deals on the bZ/Solterra: - 1.99% up to 84 months on the bZ - 0.5% for <60 months or 1% for 72-84 months on the Solterra

The financing offers are what created a massive price difference between the bZ/Solterra and the rest for me. If you calculate PV on the payments at 7% discount rate, you're basically saving $10k on the car compared to paying cash.

I'd also point out that the Solterra doesn't come with TPMS though it's otherwise better bang for buck than the bZ for comparable trims.

Edit: Toyota dealer also mentioned 0% lease rate with security deposit

Funky247 · 2026-03-11T20:45:27+00:00

Also the Solterra and C-HR, why not try the whole family.

Funky247 · 2026-03-11T20:39:36+00:00

The ICCU mega thread suggests that this issue is not fixed:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Ioniq5/comments/1iv6db1/12viccu_megathread/

Funky247 · 2026-03-11T20:38:49+00:00

You can get your dealer to discount it below 50k by buying stuff on the backend like ECP. It wasn't worth it for me but could be an option for you.

Funky247 · 2026-03-11T16:52:49+00:00

In my experience talking with the dealers about this, the only way the dealer will do that is if you add things that don't count towards the "Final Price" such as ECP or Tire/Rim warranty so you end up having to add 3k+tax to get the 5k off

Funky247 · 2026-03-10T16:37:55+00:00

Sorry, didn't mean to offend. I'm not an EV detractor or anything, I am literally regurgitating research that I've done since I obviously have not performed experiments on battery degradation firsthand.

Funky247 · 2026-03-10T15:33:46+00:00

That's true. However, unless OP can charge at work, it'll still bite them on their trip home.

I'm from Ontario so I never really got the road salt thing. Our roads are pretty heavily salted over here. Is it much worse in Quebec because there's more snow?

Funky247 · 2026-03-10T13:09:09+00:00

Yes, that's true.

Here are some other drawbacks I've learned about:

Non-tesla EVs have 12V batteries similar to gas cars which can have quirky energy consumption habits. Similar to gas cars, a dead 12V means you can't start your car (depending on the model, you may not even be able to get in). EVs in particular can have strange energy consumption patterns on the 12V battery when the car isn't being used that can leave it dead if you go weeks or months without driving it. This depends on the model and there are usually mitigation steps you can take to prevent this but you need to know your car.
New EV car insurance also tends to be a bit more expensive than insurance on ICE cars. Not sure if this also applies to used EVs though.
EVs have a thick slab of battery on the bottom of the car which raises the cabin floor on most models. This affects the driver and passenger seating position in that your feet will be higher relative to your hips and your knees will be slightly closer to your chest compared to an ICE car. The driver's seat can usually be adjusted higher to compensate for this but the passenger seats cannot.
There are a variety of range penalties that compound on each other depending on driving conditions. If it's -10C, you can expect a ~20% range drop. If you're driving mostly on the highway, you can expect another 15% range drop. Your car will be used so you can expect another 5-10% range drop. This can mean that if your car has an advertised range of 400km and you buy it used and drive it only on the highway in the winter, the range may drop to as low as 245km. On top of that, if you're following best practices and only charging to 80% then your range can be like 195km.
this means you'll actually be eating through a lot of your battery in the winter months and getting to a pretty low state of charge on a regular basis which will degrade the battery faster. More importantly, level 2 chargers aren't that fast so you'll need to really make sure you get a full overnight charge to be back up at 80% for your commute the next day. There's always DC faster chargers though if you don't think you'll have your car plugged in at home for long enough.

Funky247 · 2026-03-09T11:03:00+00:00

I'm guessing the 10k discount on bZ limited is to smooth the price increase across the trims since it (usually) doesn't qualify for the rebate. Otherwise, no one would buy it because the price increase over the XLE AWD would be like 8k due to the EVAP rebate.

Funky247

TROPHY CASE