What is the general opinion of the stock tires on the Touring?
Here is my opinion. They are the worst tires put on a new car that I have ever driven on. I do not find them capable in the least for day to day driving. I didn't notice the deficiencies on my short test drive, nor did I see them on my 15mile commute. I did see it on long trips and off pavement. Not off-road, but easy gravel roads. Once the rain came, I knew I could not live them. I didn't even want to chance it with white stuff on the ground. In their defense, once it got "really cold" (sub 40F), I felt like they handled better but they were under-inflated at that point to 30psi. The stocks have a treadwear rating of 360, so good luck getting 30K out of them!
Some background on my vehicle history....
I have owned 12 vehicles in my driving career, all but the first were new from the factory.
Four of those 12 are/have been Subarus
Only 3 of those 12 were not 4WD/AWD
I have bought tires only twice for those vehicles due to mileage wear.
I have bought only 1 pair of spare snow tire/wheel setup (before this Ascent) even though the AWD was sufficient on my VW. I wanted the extra safety in mountain passes for ski travel.
I have bought only 1 spare set of wheels/tires (before this Ascent) as I was modding the **** out of my 2005 Legacy GT more than a decade ago. The stocks did fine, but needed new wheels to clear the STi Brembos I put on there.
All in all, the stock tires in previous vehicles did great, but the Ascent's are junk IMO. If they are good tires, they are on the wrong vehicle. I think the vehicle overcomes the tire's lack of performance and lulls the owner into a false sense of security. So I have a set of OEM 20"s in my crawl space for anyone that has trouble finding a spare after a blowout or the like....under 5K miles on them.