What We Learnt About Subaru's EyeSight 4.0 and the Solterra's Parking and Terrain Skills

Subaru recently invited us to the Changi Exhibition Centre (CEC) to, well, do a couple of things actually. One section had us driving the Forester to demonstrate Subaru’s new generation of EyeSight 4.0, while another demonstrated the Solterra’s self-parking and all-wheel drive features.

The last section debuts the new WRX and WRX Wagon, where we got to drive those cars on a closed circuit (separate story to come). Let’s jump right in.

Testing out EyeSight 4.0
EyeSight 4.0 comes with three new features over its predecessor, namely: Autonomous Emergency Steering, Lane Centering Function and Lane Departure Prevention.

During the event, we got to try Lane Departure Prevention, Pre-Collision Braking and Adaptive Cruise Control with Lane Centering Function.

Lane Departure Prevention activates above 60 km/h and does what it says on the tin. In comparison to most safety systems out there, this is pretty standard.

It’s the same story with Pre-Collision Braking, which is designed to detect an obstacle ahead and brake the Subaru to help prevent a frontal collision.

However, if the driver showed signs of taking control, the system may not work as intended. A fellow journalist turned the steering wheel briefly, making the car believe he was taking control, and the EyeSight system let him be. Apparently, it is a safety feature to override the automatic braking if the driver interferes.

What’s most interesting is the Lane Centering Function of EyeSight 4.0. Switching it on allows a car to not only trace lane markings, but also follow the car in front, so long as the leading vehicle doesn’t turn more than 45 degrees. I could imagine this working rather well on a long road trip with a convoy. We tried it and the car really did diligently follow the car in front, even through an imaginary slalom.

The Intelligent Solterra that Parks and Climbs
Although closely related to the Toyota BZ4x, Subaru is quick to differentiate the Solterra with its All-Wheel Drive with X-MODE, which encompasses Downhill Assist Control and five-level Grip Control. Subaru claims it also has the highest ground clearance in its segment. A demonstration of the Solterra’s X-MODE showed how effective it was clearing some obstacles the size of small boulders. It piqued my interest about how much more the Solterra can do off-road.

The next demonstration was showing how the Solterra can parallel park, reverse park or park head in with little intervention. This is part of the car’s suite of Level 2 advanced safety technologies, such Advanced Park. It worked really well and the crisp, clear graphics of the camera projections on the infotainment screen is a highlight.

Photos by Subaru Singapore

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