[OregonMommy]

Excited to be joining the Subaru family! I’ve been following this forum for months, but finally had the chance to test drive one last week, and I had a few questions come up (I’ll post separately for my questions).

I’m a Jeep owner (last 2 SUVs) and my current SUV is a well loved 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee. We just need more room. I have a 2 year old and a large fluffy 110 pound pup who takes up a bit of room. The Jeep has always been a champ in the snow and over the passes (which we travel regularly in inclement weather), so really hoping that the AWD of the Subaru is comparable, which it seems it will be.

I started the preorder process in late February and put down my deposit in early March. Bend is a pretty popular place for Subaru, so we’re looking at an August delivery, hopefully sooner!

I wrote about my experience seeing the Ascent at the Portland Auto Show. If you are interested, you can read about it at OregonMommy.com (and I know I need to add more posts, it’s just hard to find time when you work full time and have an energetic toddler to chase around!).

I really look forward to getting our new Ascent Touring soon!

 

[Nemesis099]

Welcome aboard!

As far as AWD I have had a '02 Subaru Impreza WRX right after my '94 Jeep Grand Cherokee and I was shocked at how well the WRX was in snow even when compared to a Jeep. They have a real AWD system that can compete with Jeep so you should be happy!

How was the test drive? I'm still waiting to drive one.

 

[OregonMommy]

I also had a ‘94 before my 2006!

The test drive... haha, well my daughter went with us and decided that she really needed me while I was driving. She was happy when it was Dad’s turn.

It drove great though. The eyesight system is crazy aggressive. I was on a highway and someone was slowing down ahead of me to turn left. They turned before I got super close to them and it practically brought the car to a complete stop. It wasn’t a bad thing, just new to me because I have zero tech in my ‘06 Grand Cherokee.

My husband and I both test drove the VW Atlas and in our minds, the Ascent absolutely outperformed the Atlas. The Ascent had surprisingly great acceleration and it was really smooth. We were really hesitant going from a v8 and v6 respectively, but it had no problem with accelerating at the speeds I normally drive.

I don’t know if I’ll be able to test drive again before I get delivery, but I’m hoping that I can and that I’ll be able to check out more of the car. It’s so strange to me to buy a car that we barely had a combined 20 minutes of driving in!! But I’ve been following the Ascent since it was in concept form and it just seemed like a great fit for my family.

 

[Nemesis099]

I also had a ‘94 before my 2006!

The test drive... haha, well my daughter went with us and decided that she really needed me while I was driving. She was happy when it was Dad’s turn.

It drove great though. The eyesight system is crazy aggressive. I was on a highway and someone was slowing down ahead of me to turn left. They turned before I got super close to them and it practically brought the car to a complete stop. It wasn’t a bad thing, just new to me because I have zero tech in my ‘06 Grand Cherokee.

My husband and I both test drove the VW Atlas and in our minds, the Ascent absolutely outperformed the Atlas. The Ascent had surprisingly great acceleration and it was really smooth. We were really hesitant going from a v8 and v6 respectively, but it had no problem with accelerating at the speeds I normally drive.

I don’t know if I’ll be able to test drive again before I get delivery, but I’m hoping that I can and that I’ll be able to check out more of the car. It’s so strange to me to buy a car that we barely had a combined 20 minutes of driving in!! But I’ve been following the Ascent since it was in concept form and it just seemed like a great fit for my family.

I'm hoping to go this weekend and test drive one but I'm glad to hear it outperformed the Atlas. I test drove the Atlas and felt the transmission was slower than my '05 Xterra on shifting.

I think it is pretty normal to only take 10-20 minute test drive to make a decision. Granted I do feel you should be test driving everything in the segment not just one vehicle.

As far as power and going from a V8/V6 I went from the JGC 4.0 6cyl to a 4 cyl turbo WRX and it showed me what a Turbo can do in a vehicle. What is interesting is I will again be dropping from a 4.0 V6 in my Xterra to a 4 cyl turbo and the 2.4 in the Ascent makes essentially the same power with earlier delivery. I can't wait for the new car especially the better MPG as I get 13-14MPG in the city now.

 

[OregonMommy]

We also test drove the Audi Q7 and loved almost everything except the backseat and storage space behind the third row. Our dog is tall, long, and wide, so we definitely need the extra space that the Ascent provides. We also really just couldn’t justify the extra cost for a new Q7 in the trim level we wanted in comparison to the Ascent. In regards to test driving other competitors in the segment, it’s more just a matter of not having time (toddler, full time jobs). I sat in every competitor at the auto show, and we only test drove the cars we were really serious about.

It’s tough to really focus on the test drive with an upset toddler in the back, but hey, you can’t get more true to life than that!

I’m excited for the improved gas mileage too!