That's great. I'd love to hear more hands-on impressions of your 3.6 vs the 2.4T. While I've test driven them both, I was dead set on getting the 2019 Outback 3.6R before they retire the engine - until I drove an Ascent!
Hi, I've had two Subies so far with the 3.6R engine, a 2016 Outback Touring in Venetian Red Pearl and a 2018 Outback Touring in Crystal Black Silica. I think the 3.6R engine is a masterpiece of engineering with its silky smoothness and excellent torque. I have been grieving the imminent discontinuation of this engine. Every time I would drive my Outback 3.6Rs, I felt like I was driving a much more expensive car. I was consistently getting around 24 mpg even though I drive pretty aggressively. The lower compression ratio would logically seem to equate to less strain on the head gaskets and internal components, plus a greater affinity for efficient operation on 87 octane fuel. I craved an Ascent back from the early days of when it was being dubbed the Viziv-7 Concept. I dreamed of an updated H-6 with direct injection and maybe even a turbo, but the trends in the automotive industry were steadily showing overwhelming movement towards turbo fours with direct injection. When I was finally able to drive an Ascent Limited, the dealership handed me the key to a demo and told me to take it out for 30 minutes, so I took it out on various kinds of roads. The Ascent just feels so much larger than the Outback, but oddly, just as nimble. I tried to find fault with the engine smoothness of the 2.4 H-4 twin-scroll turbo, but I just couldn't find it. I wondered if I had just been seduced by the other attributes of the Ascent, but it met or exceeded my expectations in every way. I was half-hoping to come away feeling quite content to just keep my Outback, but the Ascent was just so darned impressive. I imagined with the extra features how I'd be even more impressed with a Touring, so I went ahead and ordered one.
I've now been one week with my new Ascent Touring. I just turned over 300 miles after a trip to a nearby city, and I feel so comfortable behind the wheel of this thing. It's so comfortable out on the Interstate and on the mountain twisties! It's hard for me to believe that a 4,600 lb. car can perform and handle so well. I can't speak about reliability of this new engine, but my guess is that Subaru probably overengineered it to ensure the success of the Ascent in the aftermath of the Tribeca, but that may just be my own wishful thinking. The WRX engines with similar architecture have been proven, so there's that. I haven't even finished one tank of gas, but the car is showing that I'm averaging a bit over 17mpg. Typically a car's trip computer doesn't really show accurate results until two or three tanks of gas have been used, but I'm hoping for a bit better than this. If the Ascent had required premium fuel like the WRXs, that would have probably been a deal-breaker for me and a lot of other folks. I might try a tank of premium just to see if there is a MPG difference after a few tanks of regular.
One last thing about the 3.6R engine... I imagine that cars with that engine will hold their value well and be sought out by Subaru enthusiasts for years to come.
