2019 Subaru Ascent Mid-sized SUV - True 3-row vehicle

Yes, it does not sound too bad. BUT, there is still all the labor and time to remove your intake manifold, hoses, etc... That's not fun .

 

But I get the better fuel economy and performance improvements.

 

Agreed, it increases billable hours too, once Subaru acknowledges that it needs to happen every 30-60k Miles , right now they are still blissful about it.

 

Some 2015+ WRX guys saw a 15whp loss after about 20k miles, those got it the worst, EGR + DIT = more mess.

Talking about spare tires, the one thing I would like to see is a full-size spare, especially for those of us who trailer.

 

Not sure how much room a FSS would require, but if you're in the middle of BFE with a boat or RV trailer on behind, and you lose a tire, putting a donut spare on really limits how far you can go to get it replaced.

 

And, if it's to replace a lost rear tire, you'd likely have to move a front tire to the rear location and put the donut on the front, just to manage the towed load.

 

I would assume if underneath like the explorer they should be able to fit a full size spare.

SO, Perscitus, I want to hear why you don't like the Ascent, and/or what you don't like about it.

 

Honestly, not the best look IMHO. I'll probably get flamed for that, but the Explorer looks a bit better I think. But I have to say that the Ascent package is not bad though in terms of engine, awd, comfort, space, hitch location, etc..

Bavarian Auto used to offer a DIY walnut shell blasting equipment set. Not sure if it was specific to Bimmers.

So received my gift from the show

Nice! A lot better than a water bottle or smartphone suction cup thingy... I'll be at the show in Dallas on Saturday, but I expect I'll get nothing but pictures...

The Ascent is definitely the first car on my list to replace my wife's car. Seriously liking the premium trim, but the base is pretty awesome as is, since it comes with ES.

 

Have there been any solid confirmations on the base price?

Pricing should be released in March iirc, but Subaru said at the reveal it would start in the low 30s.

I hope it doesn't drive too boat-like. The fact the Touring trim has a front camera is... slightly concerning.

 

For me, the big question will be what the upper trims come in at.

 

You can't get the 8-person seating in Touring, so I'd have to look at the Limited trim. My wife really likes the bench seat in her Honda Pilot, since we have two kids in car seats, we often are doing some type of carpool thing and it's a lot easier to plop one of the carpooling younglings in the middle seat rather than keep the rear/third row available for use (she has a lot of stuff in there)

 

That being said, I would like the Limited Trim with the optional Panoramic moonroof and Harmon-Kardon sound upgrade.

 

She's got one of those new 2016 Honda Pilots right now, and man, less than thrilled after the year and half we've had it. And lookie, it's got a timing belt and direct injection. Fun times. So I get to walnut shell blast that thing every 60k and I also get to spend $1k on a TB service.

 

My new mission in life is now to get her into an Ascent ASAP. True, I still have the carbon issues with the DI, but hopefully they'll have an easier fix than walnut blasting by then. I've heard of some of our friends in Australia with upper engine/carbon cleaner type services they've been using routinely. Wonder what the long-term implications are. I would rather spend an extra couple of bucks every or every-other service (even DIY in my driveway...) instead of a major headache with shell blasting.

 

To each their own.

 

Spring 2019: Get a 2019 Legacy or Outback 3.6, finance for either 36-48-60 months.

When that's paid off, Get the Mrs. an Ascent Limited. Hopefully they'll have any known issues figured out with the mid-cycle refresh by then. I imagine they'll stick to the 5-year cycles too, so 2024 would be the first major overhaul.

 

Rant mode off.

 

The game is afoot. Challenge accepted.

Now that I think about it, I wonder what the ratio is between the $$ savings we get from the fuel economy increase with the DI engine vs. the cost of that peanut engine cleaning. I mean walnut

Now that I think about it, I wonder what the ratio is between the $$ savings we get from the fuel economy increase with the DI engine vs. the cost of that peanut engine cleaning. I mean walnut

 

Really hard to compare since there is no same motor that's port injected and direct injected in Subaru's arsenal. If we compare directly to a 2014 Tribeca (which is rated for 16/21) then Ascent's will get 4mpg, which is a good bump. But if we compare to a 2017 Outback with 3.6l port injected motor, which is rated at 20/27mpg, then your at a net nagative with the Ascent.

 

Perhaps a more fair comparison would be the WRX, but even then the displacement changed:

2014: 2.5l EJ255 Port Injected: 19/25mpg

2015: 2.0l FB20 Direct Injected: 21/28mpg

 

But lets roll with it. On highway ratings, 3mpg increase will break even after 27,000 miles and by 30,000 miles it will use $400 less in fuel. So there you go, right as you need the second walnut blasting the MPG savings paid for it

Wife and I are pretty set to buy this thing, but I am definitely not happy about the walnut blasting... I think first thing to go will be EGR, or at least a dual catch can setup... I don't see myself doing any major modifications (that resulted in 2x blown turbos in the LGT), but I definitely don't want to be watching my mpg drop over time, then shelling out a couple hundred for nuts.

Really hard to compare since there is no same motor that's port injected and direct injected in Subaru's arsenal. If we compare directly to a 2014 Tribeca (which is rated for 16/21) then Ascent's will get 4mpg, which is a good bump. But if we compare to a 2017 Outback with 3.6l port injected motor, which is rated at 20/27mpg, then your at a net nagative with the Ascent.

 

Perhaps a more fair comparison would be the WRX, but even then the displacement changed:

2014: 2.5l EJ255 Port Injected: 19/25mpg

2015: 2.0l FB20 Direct Injected: 21/28mpg

 

But lets roll with it. On highway ratings, 3mpg increase will break even after 27,000 miles and by 30,000 miles it will use $400 less in fuel. So there you go, right as you need the second walnut blasting the MPG savings paid for it

 

oh hang on. Aren't you assuming always the same fuel economy between each wbi (walnut blasting interval ). Isn't the fuel economy dropping over time? At what rate, I am not sure.

oh hang on. Aren't you assuming always the same fuel economy between each wbi (walnut blasting interval ). Isn't the fuel economy dropping over time? At what rate, I am not sure.

 

This is based on peak highway MPG, it's too hard to calculate for the unknowns . Dirty valves might reduce MPG, but probably not by much since typical driving is in high vacuum. It's the same as dirty air filter not effecting modern ECU cars MPG's at all (there are government studies that prove this).

 

Also city MPG increase matters a lot more, just a 2mpg increase in city pays for itself in those same 27k/30k figures. Basically if you do a lot of city driving, it will pay for itself sooner. This is because MPG masks the actual consumption, which increases exponential as you get below 20mpg. This is better displayed in gallons per 100 miles.

28mpg = 3.57 g/100m

25mpg = 4.00 g/100m

21mpg = 4.76 g/100m

19mpg = 5.26 g/100m

15mpg = 6.67 g/100m

10mpg = 10.00 g/100m

Edited February 15, 2018 by covertrussian

Nice! A lot better than a water bottle or smartphone suction cup thingy... I'll be at the show in Dallas on Saturday, but I expect I'll get nothing but pictures...

 

The woman running the booth at the time told me they are given a certain allowance on gifts they are allowed to give out.

 

My son is 15 so getting into car and wants a WRX. At the show, as we walk up to a BRZ my son asks me about and I say get a real Subaru, you buy Subaru for the AWD.

 

Well the woman who was rummaging around in the truck was the Subi Rep- foot in mouth.

 

Well she starts talking to me, then asking my son some questions as well. We talked for about 15 minutes. Then she notices my son's STI shirt under his jacket and says hey would you like a gift.

Let's assume the fuel economy drops like a complementary error function (for no reason other than it assumes a shape that I feel is close to reality):

 

At 50,000 miles, the fuel economy has dropped by 15%. I feel this is reasonable, others may disagree...

 

Consider total fuel cost of direct injection (DI with 25 mpg economy) versus port injection (PI with 21 mpg economy) assuming the DI economy falls as shown above, and PI remains flat (assuming you keep up maintenance and use an occasional fuel treatment):

 

 

Two scenarios are shown for different gas prices. The higher the gas price, the greater the savings.

 

I don't know what Subaru or others would charge for full service walnut blasting, but I'm betting it wouldn't be less than $500 considering the removal of the manifold... So PERHAPS you could break even if you serviced every 50,000 miles or so.

Oh and that last estimate was based on 25 mpg for DI and 21 mpg for PI.

 

Let's assume the increase in economy is only 2 mpg, instead of 4 (so 23 and 21 respectively):

 

Now you're not breaking even anymore... (after paying for a shell blasting)

 

:spin:

 

 

Edit: Also, the optimal time to do the service is when the difference between DI and PI are at the greatest. For the 25/21 case, it's at ~52,000 miles. For 23/21, it's at ~45,000 miles. (assuming my fuel economy performance is correct)

 

Edit Edit: Also I like maths... in case that wasn't obvious...

Edited February 15, 2018 by Adoniram

http://media.subaru.com/pressrelease/1250/1/subaru-america-announces-pricing-all-new-2019-ascent

 

Pricing and additional details were release today in a press release.

Oh cool the mpg went up to 21/27! That's awesome! I bet people will see higher in real world with 93 gas.

Let's assume the fuel economy drops like a complementary error function (for no reason other than it assumes a shape that I feel is close to reality):

 

At 50,000 miles, the fuel economy has dropped by 15%. I feel this is reasonable, others may disagree...

 

I don't disagree on the notion that the economy drops, but when it has dropped noticeable it's a sign that it's time for a thorough service that probably includes cleaning and checking the injectors. It's not much different from the signs you look for on older cars. The problem with modern cars is that it's a lot harder to get the feeling for what's up because the electronics tries to compensate for deviations from the optimal.

Oh cool the mpg went up to 21/27! That's awesome! I bet people will see higher in real world with 93 gas.

 

And a tune!

 

 

Good job on your statistical analysis Adoniram. In the end, we shall see how it goes!

Yes, price confirmed. Starting at $31,995.

For me it's not just about fuel economy. If that was important I wouldn't have a third-row SUV. For me, it's about power. Eventually I've heard the BMW's will throw a CEL if there's enough carbon on the valves, which means in my state you won't pass inspection.

 

The price point of the Limited at 38k is very aggressive. I love it. The Honda Pilot we bought had a sticker of 42, I think. We ended up somewhere in the 38-39 range, I can't remember. I would pay sticker at 38.

I hope it doesn't drive too boat-like. The fact the Touring trim has a front camera is... slightly concerning.

 

For me, the big question will be what the upper trims come in at.

 

You can't get the 8-person seating in Touring, so I'd have to look at the Limited trim. My wife really likes the bench seat in her Honda Pilot, since we have two kids in car seats, we often are doing some type of carpool thing and it's a lot easier to plop one of the carpooling younglings in the middle seat rather than keep the rear/third row available for use (she has a lot of stuff in there)

 

This keeps getting said no matter how many times me and others mention it. Upper trim levels have a bench option at no cost.

 

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I'm pretty sure the Touring version is captain's chairs ONLY, likely because of the java brown leather. They are zero color options for the Touring version, and so they likely aren't making a bench with that singular color of leather.

 

...Good thing I like the color because I really want the Touring version.