I feel like a traitor...

[ImprezaRS dot com]

So we finally replaced our eight year old 2013 Subaru Tribeca with 134,000 miles with a 2021 Subaru Ascent. I feel like a traitor since we had a 2006 Tribeca before the 2013 and there was nothing wrong with the 2013 Tribeca. But the Ascent is a very worthy replacement.

We bought the Tribeca December 2012 and were very happy with it; but there were a few things that bugged us like not having Bluetooth audio for music, as Bluetooth was only used for phone calls through a separate module. That was our biggest gripe, but it made the car feel like it was way behind the times. On the other hand, our 2006 Tribeca did not even have an audio auxiliary jack to plug in an aftermarket Bluetooth adapter, nor SiriusXM radio. Like, what were they even thinking making us use an FM transmitter in 2006?

During that time we only had two issues with the recent Tribeca, one being a cam position sensor failure a few years ago that took a couple of months to diagnose and fix, a slipping transmission at around 80K, and this past March when the transmission valve body had to be replaced at 125k miles. The 2006 had many more issues before we traded it in at only 104,000 miles.

But our new 2021 Subaru Ascent Touring has all the bells and whistle‘s we would expect with a modern day car, and it gave us a great ride and comfort, performance, and stereo sound for a 2000 mile round-trip to Phoenix Arizona and back last week (cleared out my deceased brother's storage unit).

Adaptive cruise control worked great, and the automatic dimming and steering headlights worked great to keep us safer. Automatic windshield wipers worked well and surprised us, as we forgot we had that until a light rain started. The stereo sounds nice, and the seats are 10x better than in our 2015 Forester XT. I also feel like we were able to haul a lot more big boxes and crates back with us than we could have fit in the Tribeca.

Not sure about gas mileage yet. We fought a very strong headwind and sandstorms most of the way down to Phoenix, and only saw 21.2 mpg in the 1st 1400 miles on the car (780 hwy and about 620 city). But the average rose to 22.4mpg by the time we finished the return trip, with about 1560 hwy and 640 miles of city driving combined (2200 miles). We climbed an additional 3000 feet above sea level overall on the trip back to CO, but it felt like highway mileage was still a little over 24mpg for the uphill leg of the trip. We'd often see 23-27mpg hwy with the Tribeca, and it's last 10K mile average was about 21mpg combined.

We plan to get a 3000-4000 lb trailer next year, and I'm not looking forward to 12mpg while pulling a load, but the 5000lb tow capacity is one reason why we got the Ascent instead of another model. My wife also doesn't like the looks of our 2015 FXT which can't pull as much, and she dislikes the noise and bumpiness of my 2017 WRX for long trips.

See you on the Ascent forums!

Goodbye Zoe.


Hello Ruby.