2026 Subaru Forester SUV is a “pleasant surprise”
Automotive critic Mark Phelan spent a day with the 2026 Subaru Forester SUV and found the car to be effortless in the wilderness.
Strong Points
- Oh, that’s early
- The coolness of SS
- solid range
Cons
- Not the fastest charging
- Sound please
- On the heavy side
The button looks like a suspicious bat signal. When you press the button, a hissing, pulsing, thumping sound echoes through the car, letting you know you’ve done something important. 2025 Chevrolet Blazer EV SS AWD. All 615 electric horses are at your command, ready to propel you and your 5,729-pound SUV toward the horizon. Try hitting the go pedal with a hammer. It is best to press the C1 to C7 vertebrae firmly against the seat. Because otherwise, severe snapback will occur.
For the uninitiated, WOW stands for Wide Open Watts, a drive mode that activates a full-power enchilada when you press a button on the screen. It’s a kitschy tagline, but there’s nothing cheap about the wow factor you feel when you roll off the line in the SS EV, a vehicle that Chevrolet claims is the fastest SS-badged car it’s ever produced. Quite a statement considering the pedigree of Chevrolet’s supersport sub-brand.
How fast is the fastest SS in history?
The overwhelming power and performance of today’s vehicles, especially the huge and heavy EVs (which weigh only about 700 pounds less than EVs). two With dual motors, a huge 102.0 kWh battery pack, 615 horsepower and 650 pounds of torque, the ’67 Camaro SS 350 delivers incredible power just like the Blazer SS and is sure to blow the minds of classic muscle car drivers and blow them away at the drag strip. The 0-60 mph test figure of 3.4 seconds is in line with Chevrolet’s vehicle estimates, requiring just 11.8 seconds for the quarter mile, at which point it would be traveling at 117.5 mph.
There aren’t many all-electric performance SUVs on the market today that are in the same size class and price range as, or even close to, the midsize Blazer EV SS. The closest one is probably the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, which weighs about 1,000 pounds less, has a 3.7-inch shorter wheelbase, and has 641 horsepower off the line. As expected, the 5N was much faster.: 60 mph takes 2.8 seconds and 194.9 mph takes 11.0 seconds.
Pirouette and drag it down
Chevrolet’s SS cars weren’t just capable of burning out at traffic lights or dropping the hammer when the Christmas tree lights turned green, they were also equipped with gear to improve cornering and stopping. The same goes for the Blazer EV SS. It’s not a world-class handler, especially considering its weight, but it’s not embarrassing per se.
That said, once again, the Ioniq 5 N recorded a 24.1-second rip time at 0.82g (average) in our top-line dynamic test, which included a figure-eight lap, compared to the Blazer’s 25.1-second time at 0.80g average. The same goes for the skidpad, where Hyundai beats Chevrolet by 0.96g to 0.85g.
Braking is an area where the Blazer SS gets a special merit badge, with a strong pedal that doesn’t fade or overheat during hard track work, and like other General Motors heavyweight EVs we’ve tested, there’s not a lot of brake dive. But as you might expect, the 5 N also crushes stopping from 90 mph, requiring only 102 feet as opposed to the Blazer SS’s 114 feet.
Again, the Chevy is much larger and carries much more pounds, so it’s worth taking these results with a few grains of electrons. In fact, regardless of how well the small Hyundai performs, what many potential buyers are actually looking for is a plus-size Blazer, and they may be looking for something over 5N. And the underlying Ioniq 5 and Blazer EV is a former Motor Trend SUV of the Year winnerwe will continue to dig into both as an overall proposition.
Range and road test
There’s one area where the Blazer SS beats the Ioniq 5 N, and that’s in the range department. Thanks to its huge battery pack, the Blazer’s 303 miles of EPA range is well below the 5N’s 221 miles. In the MotorTrend Road-Trip Range test of highway miles, where the EV runs from 100 percent to 5 percent charge, the Blazer SS EV posted a solid 276 miles. It also beat 5 N in EPA city/highway/combined numbers, 92/77/84 vs. 84/72/78.
However, more to the point, Blazers aren’t necessarily top performers. This is another area where Hyundai’s EV is far superior. Charge time from 5 to 80 percent on a 350-kilowatt fast charger is average at best, taking 54 minutes, but it took a whopping 97 minutes to reach 100 percent. That’s a lot of movie run time, so it’s a good idea to have a queue ready to watch while you charge.
If you plan on spending a lot of time in the Blazer SS EV’s cabin, you’ll find it to be a great place to be, with comfortable seats (though some reinforcement is needed for high-speed cornering) and plenty of space for all passengers. The large wraparound digital screen facing the driver is one of the best in the industry in terms of display and usability, and the business of not having CarPlay or Android Auto might be a bit of an exaggeration. The Google integration works well and allows you to natively set up most of the features you would normally use on your phone.
The interior is spacious, and the car’s optional dual-pane panoramic power sunroof is well worth the $1,495 outlay. On the outside, aside from its Halloween-themed color scheme (Habanero Orange), the Blazer SS, like its SS predecessor, looks less flashy and more like the part of a sports-themed SUV.
On the freeway or on side roads, you’ll notice that the ride is firm over bumps in the road. The shocks are not adaptive, so the ride quality is the same in any drive mode. The good news is that the long wheelbase helps eliminate the worst ride quality effects. It all comes with territory. You want the sporty appeal and huge 22-inch rims of an SS, right? If not, you can always choose from other blazers. One-pedal driving enthusiasts will love the two modes you can choose from. For us, it’s aggressive mode and stranglingly aggressive mode.
However, I wish I could dial in a cool sound mode when I quietly hiss away from the signal. May I recommend something like a Chevrolet small-block LS V-8?Also, this isn’t the type of vehicle that shrinks around you, but rather one that falls on top of you. You can feel its weight when you speed up.
Yes, there are a few dents in the armor, but taken as a whole, the Blazer EV SS is a strikingly modern interpretation of the spirit of the Chevrolet SS, packaged into a flashy future. Those who were into 60’s muscle cars would be understandably amazed by this.
Photo by William Walker
