Subaru Ascent:

The latest in the Subaru family takes aim at the seven seater market. And for good reason, their last model didn’t do so well.

Subaru is back. And they are playing ball. The brand new Ascent, introduced in 2019, is simple yet big, bold, and fun.

We took a test drive with the Ascent. Here are our thoughts:
The pros:
🚗 Lower anchor latches in both the second and third rows.
🚗 third row seats three
🚗 19 cup holders (!)
🚗 USB charging cable in the third row
🚗 Panoramic roof option.
🚗 Tons of safety features

🚗 All wheel drive on all trim levels (actually, all Subaru cars are AWD)

Cons:
🚗 noisy – you can hear a lot of outside noise leaking in
🚗 very hard suspension – the worst thing for potholes and crack roadways. 🚗 Plastic’y feeling to the interior components. Okay, true, Subaru is not a luxury brand, but the parts just felt too low level for the cost.
🚗 Difficult to get into third row because of car seats.

For the 8 seater Subaru, it can fit plenty of car seats: a maximum of 3 car seats requiring front latches and 3 car seats requiring back tethers.

The 2 row seats move easily but they don’t have a great fold radius. There is the possibility you may have to remove one of child car seats in order to fold the seat itself.

Last, it was recommended to us to stick to the captain’s row and opt for the 7 seater. The 8 seater works if you must fit 8 people, but it’s not advised. And the Ascent doesn’t have the option of removing the 8th seat like the Honda Odyssey does.

Preeti’s verdict: not our choice but this is a great family vehicle for 7-8 people. The ride is a bit splotchy and the interior isn’t refined (then again, Subaru doesn’t pretend to be luxury either).

For cars in this price range, $35,000-$55,000, the Subaru Ascent is a must test drive for families.