2019 Subaru Ascent Long-Term Arrival: New Ground for Subaru

I was the first journalist to drive the Subaru Ascent midsize SUV prior to the unveiling at the 2017 Los Angeles auto show. Subaru had a heavily camouflaged Ascent in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and engineers flew in from Japan for the day to talk about the largest and most expensive Subaru to date and get impressions after taking it out on the road.

For that first prototype drive, the exterior was covered in camo and the interior draped in cloth with holes cut out around the starter button, gearshift, and other key stalks and knobs. With little to look at, full concentration was on the ride.

Cruising local roads showed off the new global platform that underpins most of the Subaru lineup. First impression was the appetite the four-wheel independent suspension had for eating up the imperfections of Michigan roads and the low center of gravity that made it feel planted with little body roll on the curves.

Since then the Ascent has been shown to the world and competed in MotorTrend’s SUV of the Year, and a Limited trim model in Cinnamon Brown Pearl with a cream and black interior has arrived at the MotorTrend garage in Detroit, where it will spend the next year.

Subaru has loyal customers, but in the past they had to leave the brand to find a three-row crossover, which is what prompted engineers to create the Ascent. The Ascent is an eight-passenger vehicle when the second row is a bench seat, but our model is the seven-passenger version with two captain’s chairs in the second row.  My dog-owning Detroit colleague Frank Markus notes Snickers prefers a bench seat. We’ll let you know how well Snickers adapts.

In the year ahead, we want to see how capable this family vehicle really is and assess the usefulness of its space. We want to see if the addition to the Subaru family lives up to the brand’s reputation for safety, reliability, and no-nonsense functionality.

Timing is perfect: The Ascent has Subaru’s standard Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive, torque vectoring, and X-Mode to reduce wheel slip—and we offer a Michigan winter that promises cold, snow, and ice.

Also standard is Subaru’s EyeSight driver-assist system, a safety buffet that uses dual cameras to apply emergency braking from 7 to 100 mph and provides lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control with lane keep assist to steer you back on track, a reverse automatic braking system, and blind-spot detection with rear cross-traffic alert.

The rearview camera helps with backing up and will be handy when we trailer—we made sure our Subie came with a $499 trailer hitch, which will be put to good use in the months ahead. The Ascent is rated to tow 5,000 pounds.

The Ascent is the first vehicle to get Subaru’s new 2.4-liter direct-injected turbocharged flat-four engine. The Boxer engine makes 260 hp and 277 lb-ft of torque. It pairs with a CVT that mimics eight gear shifts. It has 8.7 inches of ground clearance to play with and 20-inch aluminum alloy wheels.

The base price for our Limited is $39,970, and we have added a few goodies. A $2,950 options package adds an upgraded Harman Kardon sound system with 14 speakers, a panoramic moonroof with a retractable sun shade, a Starlink navigation system displayed on the vehicle’s 8.0-inch screen, and a cargo area cover that cleverly stows in a space under the load floor. Our all-weather floor liners cost an additional $132, bringing the total sticker price to $43,551.

We have so far put 2,206 miles on our Ascent, with an mpg of 19.7. Yet we’ve already managed to lodge a screw in one of the tires, which the local Belle Tire fixed for free—a job that normally costs $25. We are patched and ready to keep on rolling.

2019 Subaru Ascent Limited
BASE PRICE	$39,970
PRICE AS TESTED	$43,551
VEHICLE LAYOUT	Front-engine, AWD, 7-pass, 4-door SUV
ENGINE	2.4L/260-hp/277-lb-ft turbo DOHC 16-valve flat-4
TRANSMISSION	Cont variable auto
CURB WEIGHT (F/R DIST)	4,626 lb (53/47%)
WHEELBASE	113.8 in
LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT	196.8 x 76.0 x 71.6 in
0-60 MPH	6.9 sec
QUARTER MILE	15.2 sec @ 90.5 mph
BRAKING, 60-0 MPH	114 ft
LATERAL ACCELERATION	0.78 g (avg)
EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON	20/26/22 mpg
ENERGY CONS, CITY/HWY	169/130 kW-hrs/100 miles
CO2 EMISSIONS, COMB	0.87 lb/mile
TOTAL MILEAGE	2,206 mi
AVERAGE FUEL ECON	19.7 mpg
UNRESOLVED PROBLEM AREAS	None

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