[swell85]

Hello, I am currently Subaru Crosstrek owner and thinking to buy Ascent.
I read the article which says Subaru Ascent can go 500 miles, and am wondering it is true or not...
In which situation Subaru Ascent can go 500 miles? (highway? city?)
Does the Odometer shows 500 miles?
My Subaru Crosstrek shows 460 miles, but I don't think it's accurate...
I send the question to Subaru but they reply "politically", so I decided to ask Subaru Ascent owner.
My husband and I love road trip, so it would be wonderful if it allows us to go 500 miles

 

[Smithim]

My husband and I love road trip, so it would be wonderful if it allows us to go 500 miles

Hi Swell, welcome to the forums! I just finished a trip and at 242 miles my tank was exactly at the halfway mark. This was interstate driving with ACC (cruise) on at 76mph. On the way home, a bit better. I think 254 miles or near that until I hit the halfway mark. That worked out to almost 24mpg using a calculator. So a 500 mile trip should be theoretically possible, but you will be near the bottom of the tank. There was a small amount of city driving at the beginning of both of those tanks of fuel, but I'd rather report my real world results from a real trip then try to mess them up with estimations of what the city driving did.

If you are besting that 24mpg, which the Ascent says it can do, then it wouldn't be a problem at all.

 

[sloheim]

A few weeks ago I did almost exclusively highway driving with ACC on and set in the low- to mid-70s... and pulled 27.8 MPG.
With a 19.2 gallon tank... thats 533 miles.
SO yes, it IS possible.

But once you start mixing in any kind of stop-and-go traffic, your mileage will drop considerably.

 

[Jason]

I am filling up every 300 to 350 miles with my normal day to day driving. I usually fill up when the screen says I have another 40-60 left until empty.

 

[[email protected]]

Road Trip

This past summer I drove our Ascent for 470 miles on highway driving without a fill up. It was a mix of 55,65, 70 mph highway. This is with a family of 5 and fully loaded for vacation. Now I will say I felt that when I filled up I was on fumes. I put 18 gallons in the vehicle at that time. So 500 maybe within reach with speed and load management , however, it is pushing the absolute limits of the car.

 

[Subiesailor]

Yeah road trips in low speed states yes. Daily local traffic shlepping no. You want 500+ in daily city commuting go plugin hybrid something. My wifes loaded Ford Fusion Energi when charged at home, charged at work ie trip home daily will do 700 miles on 11 gallons of gas. Amazing vehicle but it never sees snow! Or luggage for 2+

 

[Foveator]

I filled up for the first time today, topping it off as much as I could. The gas warning light had gone on and it said I had about 30 miles to go. The car kept prompting me to find a nearby gas station. That will be helpful someday I suspect. I was only able to put 17.5 gallons into it. I thought it would have taken more.

I have noticed that mileage gets better as you put more miles on the car.

 

[lassetjus]

I filled up for the first time today, topping it off as much as I could. The gas warning light had gone on and it said I had about 30 miles to go. The car kept prompting me to find a nearby gas station. That will be helpful someday I suspect. I was only able to put 17.5 gallons into it. I thought it would have taken more.

I have noticed that mileage gets better as you put more miles on the car.

Regarding the empty tank symbol in the dash, in my experience they give you A LOT of leeway in terms of getting to the gas station. I've driven with that empty tank symbol for 40+ miles all nervous, then when I get to the gas station, it only fills up 16.5 gallons, when the tank has a capacity of 19.3 gallons!

 

[Janner]

I did a 300 mile trip today (70-80mph speed limits) and I've got "280" miles left seeing 29.4 mpg on the display. That's the best I've seen to date and I have over 8000 miles on the car mainly highway miles. I think 500 miles is only realistic in ideal conditions. All highway driving at 65mph might get you there but that won't be standard. Where I live, 80 mph is standard outside the city limits and you lose mileage at that speed.

 

[DennisP]

Regarding the empty tank symbol in the dash, in my experience they give you A LOT of leeway in terms of getting to the gas station. I've driven with that empty tank symbol for 40+ miles all nervous, then when I get to the gas station, it only fills up 16.5 gallons, when the tank has a capacity of 19.3 gallons!

I'm the same way. I've had mine say 0 miles left and still only been able to get about 17 gallons in. Was wondering if it was just me having the problem. Really hate it as I'm filling up more often than I need to.

 

[Trey T]

Hello, I am currently Subaru Crosstrek owner and thinking to buy Ascent.
I read the article which says Subaru Ascent can go 500 miles, and am wondering it is true or not...
In which situation Subaru Ascent can go 500 miles? (highway? city?)
Does the Odometer shows 500 miles?
My Subaru Crosstrek shows 460 miles, but I don't think it's accurate...
I send the question to Subaru but they reply "politically", so I decided to ask Subaru Ascent owner.
My husband and I love road trip, so it would be wonderful if it allows us to go 500 miles

If it was a bet on the average miles per fill-up, I would bet on 400miles.

 

[Kevin Williams]

It depends how you drive.

When I was breaking the car in I kept the revs under 2500 rpm and was very easy on the throttle. I also stuck to 65mph or less. I was getting 28mpg to 32mpg on 300 mile trips.

As soon as you dip into the turbo and go above 3,000 rpm the mpg starts dropping. Or cruising at 80mph or more where the wind resistance of the tall/wide Ascent eats the fuel. Now I'm getting 24mpg or so. Sometimes 22mpg if I really enjoy the turbo!

 

[mhaugeto]

Hello, I am currently Subaru Crosstrek owner and thinking to buy Ascent.
I read the article which says Subaru Ascent can go 500 miles, and am wondering it is true or not...
In which situation Subaru Ascent can go 500 miles? (highway? city?)
Does the Odometer shows 500 miles?
My Subaru Crosstrek shows 460 miles, but I don't think it's accurate...
I send the question to Subaru but they reply "politically", so I decided to ask Subaru Ascent owner.
My husband and I love road trip, so it would be wonderful if it allows us to go 500 miles/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif

I have the Premium model and am getting 350-360 miles per tank and I drive all highway miles

 

[Subarist]

So far a bit disappointed in the mpg, granted I have only driven less than 600 miles so far but averaging 14-15 mix city/highway with mostly 75% local nyc roads. The one time I drove mostly highway with minimal traffic, it gave me 23-24 mpg. I do hope it picks up.

 

[norway]

We're at 2000 miles, after our recent road trip I can easily see getting 500 miles on a tank (depending how close to empty you want to push it) of highway only. We had susatained 30-33mpg on the highway, once some stop & go and city gets mixed in it dropped to 27mpg over ~400 miles.

 

[JimJ]

.... Now I will say I felt that when I filled up I was on fumes. I put 18 gallons in the vehicle at that time. So 500 maybe within reach with speed and load management , however, it is pushing the absolute limits of the car.

The Ascent has an unusual gas tank- the drive shaft is high and the bottom of the gas tank is "humped" over it. That means the last few gallons are split between the two sections of the gas tank. Subaru has taken measures to assure that both sections feed the pump, and both sections contribute to the gas fill level gauge.
But that means that if you have 1.5 gallons left in the 19.5 gallon tank, you actually have 3/4 gallon or less in each of the two sections. In technical terms, you could be suckin' wind.
I think I'd only let it get down that far if I really really had to. That's the price we pay for almost 9 inches of ground clearance.

 

[RCoaster]

The Ascent has an unusual gas tank- the drive shaft is high and the bottom of the gas tank is "humped" over it.

The gas tank design is typical of all AWD Subaru's. Even my former 1996 Outback had the same design. There's a jet pump on the fuel pump side that suctions gas from the driver's side over to the passenger's side where the fuel pump is. With older Subaru's, the jet pump was operated by the fuel return line. The Ascent does not have a fuel return line, so the jet pump is operated by the fuel pressure regulator inside the tank.

 

[Stubaru]

I have 2100 miles on my Ascent. Drove 250 miles today, filled up just as I was leaving town. Reset the trip od, when mileage came up after a few miles it was at 22.1 mpg, range of 470 miles. It continued to climb to 26.7 for the first 50 miles and stayed at that point for the rest of the trip. Had cruise set at 70, eyesight caused a few slow downs initially as I'm still not used to it slowing down as you catch traffic. Started changing lanes a bit earlier and took care of that problem. I'm really pleased with the mileage at this point. Most refills have been at Costco.

 

[Subiesailor]

I have 2100 miles on my Ascent. Drove 250 miles today, filled up just as I was leaving town. Reset the trip od, when mileage came up after a few miles it was at 22.1 mpg, range of 470 miles. It continued to climb to 26.7 for the first 50 miles and stayed at that point for the rest of the trip. Had cruise set at 70, eyesight caused a few slow downs initially as I'm still not used to it slowing down as you catch traffic. Started changing lanes a bit earlier and took care of that problem. I'm really pleased with the mileage at this point. Most refills have been at Costco.

After you get another 5000 miles on it try going 10 tanks at any station other than Costco. Due to a combination of family events I have 4 vehicles and every single one posts noticeably better average mileage on our local ma pa station gas than the Costco gas. The difference is big enough with three of my cars that the price difference is a wash.

 

[Stubaru]

I'll give it a go.