Subaru Ascent, yay or nay? How many haterz out there already?

I'm actually a big fan of the Ascent. I'm very surprised that they're going to be able to get a 5,000 lb towing capacity out of the CVT and the 2.4 turbo. It'll be interesting to see how well it does!

I love my '14 FXT. Took me a little while to get used to the CVT, but now I barely even notice it.

What I'm really interested to see is what else they're going to put the new 2.4 in. Is the EJ finally being retired?

 

This will be a FA or FB series engine, so besides sharing a few things with the EZ series (timing chain) it will be significantly different.

Also, I bet this engine is severely underrated like the FA20 in the WRX. It's larger than the FA20, but claims the same power (roughly). If that was the power they were shooting for, they could have just used the FA20 (which has been shown stock to make nearly STi power anyway).

Some tractors use CVT transmissions. Design wise, they can be very different from what subaru currently has, but CVT has been used in very tough conditions before. There are many ways to build a CVT, some of which will pull hundreds of thousands of pounds if need be.

EDIT: I'm talking about combines too, not lawn mower "tractors"

 

Now that we're comparing Subarus to combines a CVT makes total sense.

 

Well subarus these days might as well be farm equipment.

 

I think I might have to hold out for one of these!

 

The ascent is aweome because now I can finally talk my mother in law into a Subaru. She needs 7 seats, towing, and the tribeca just wasnt doing it.

 

Test drove a Touring today. I really liked it. Probably trading in my 2012 Outback 3.6R.

Just gotta find a tuning solution for that 2.4L mill... There's just *got* to be some low hanging fruit to be unleashed. I'd imagine the primary gating item will be the CVT.

Or maybe just supercharge the Outback?!

 

Or just wait until they make the Outback XT with the 2.4DIT?

 

I think the global platform will yield turbo engines for all of the models.

 

Personally, I'm not a fan of Subaru Turbocharged 4 cyl. They seem to be a 100K motor. (if they even make it that far)


"Following the painless installation of a Tekonsha Prodigy P3 trailer-brake controller ($123) tapped into the under-dash port, the closest we've come to probing the limits of the Ascent's 5000-pound towing capacity was when we tugged a 3500-pound enclosed snowmobile trailer to northern Michigan. It managed that moderate load without much drama aside from being pushed around by the wake of full-size pickups, but our fuel economy during the excursion plummeted to 7 mpg. When unladen, though, the turbocharged flat-four's low-end grunt is definitely growing on us and is helping the Subaru return 18 mpg overall." https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a25735016/2019-subaru-ascent-reliability-maintenance/

Our '17 Outback 3.6r Touring does a lot better than that