The biggest Subaru yet.
Japanese carmaker Subaru has introduced the largest car its ever made, the 8-seater Ascent SUV, designed to do battle in the hotly-contested large crossover segment, a space it hasn’t really been present in since the Tribeca that failed to capture the audience it was aimed at.
Moving swiftly away from that (because they’d rather we forget the Tribeca was ever a thing), the Ascent is a far better attempt at nailing the full-size SUV market in North America, and it has all the right indicators that it’ll do rather well. For starters, there’s a 2.4-litre turbocharged flat-four up front putting out a decent 195kW and 376Nm, which goes through a CVT gearbox before being channelled to all four wheels via Subaru’s proprietary Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive system.
All models will benefit from Subaru’s ‘EyeSight’ active driver assistance suite, which throws in things like forward collision warning, lane keep assist, and autonomous emergency braking, as well as a heads-up display.
In the States, the Subaru Ascent isn’t short of competitors. Segment stalwarts like the Honda Pilot and the Ford Explorer will likely put up quite a fight before they give up marketshare, as will cars like the Chevrolet Traverse and the Volkswagen Atlas. That said, the Ascent is a pretty compelling package nonetheless, and will certainly be a welcome addition to the landscape.
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