[pilot1226]

While I was getting my tires rotated on my Outback (I do my own oil changes and minor service like air filters...) I saw this beauty in the dealership showroom.

Service department was saying that they had requested a bunch of Tourings with a lot of extra options like the Trailer Hitch, so they don't have any Premiums available that haven't been already sold. Interesting.

Unfortunately the battery was not connected so I couldn’t see electronic stuff or actuate the rear hatch, but I did test drive one about a month ago.

Gorgeous. The tri tone interior seems to work well. Still on the fence for a color though.

Picture Captions:

1. Front shot, nice grille.
2. Love the boomerangs.
3. Driver's seat.
4. Front door panel. Notice tri-tone Black/Ivory Leather/Java Leather thing going on here.
5. Passenger
6. Rear driver's side door, tri-tone scheme again.
7. Captain's forward, access to rear
8. Me in rear seat, with Captain's Chairs in forwardmost position.
9. Pano moonroof from the floor looks huge
10. Skeptical head-barely-grazing eyebrow look, third row seats are reclined as far back as possible.

Thoughts and observations:

I'm glad I went back to fool around with the configurations of the third-row seat. I feel better about it reclining back - I'm 6'0" and probably a slightly larger than average/athletic build. Legs felt like they were up "high" but wasn't uncomfortable. If on a longer trip there was room for me to scootch down a little bit more to keep my head farther away from the ceiling.

Really impressed with the moonroof.

Really impressed with the Java Brown. It's not as "HEY I'M BROWN" as I thought it would be. It's good that I saw it in person. But, I still have the color dilemma. Honestly, I think everything would work because of the tri-tone scheme it's got going on. Black, White, Gray, Blue, Red all would be great options. The monochromatic shades would pull from the black/silver/white/grays and the Blue and Red would pull from the Brown to feel a little warmer. I have no opinion on the Cinnamon Brown, it's not for me and haven't seen one in person to compare.

I did see another 2 Ascents on the lot that was Ice Silver and Tungsten, and they were both pretty cool looking. Not available in Touring, but the color was nice and vibrant for what it was.

 

[Cannibal869]

Nice! I picked up a crimson red Limited 8 passenger just before July 4th, but that touring leather actually works ok with the red.
I think the ascent has a few really nice colors including the red, blue, and magnetite grey...

 

[pilot1226]

Yeah, I think it's a tough decision. Each have their perks. I was leaning towards White because I felt it was more "neutral" of a color and would tie in nicely with the ivory interior parts... And white tends to hide deeper scratches since the base coat of paint is also white...

Black is my favorite color, but we know how difficult that is to keep clean... Followed by Magnetite, but wasn't sure how that would look with the Java Interior. I think it would be okay.

And the Abyss and Crimson seems to blend nicely with the Java.

Tough decision. I might need a dart board for this one, but I am glad I got to try the Captain's Chairs first-hand. I think they're nice despite the fact you arguably lose a spot for one more passenger.

The. Car. Is. Huge. Really, it is. But, it didn't drive big from my June test drive. Again today I was surprised just how large it is on the inside, sitting down and adjusting my mirrors etc.