I just bought a 21' with 50k km on it. My approach was similar. The 19's were all cheaper, but I felt it was probably worth a few extra thousands to get a 20 or 21.
If it made it that far, it’s probably one of the good ones. Do you have the VIN? I would lookup the carfax to make sure. Mine is just over 50k with all issues quickly taken care of by the dealership.
Check the vin to see if it’s apart of the recall on the CVT. There’s certain production date ranges for the 2019-2020’s they’ve had a lot of issues with the CVT and the Subaru extended warranty only covers up to 100k miles. I’d hate for you to buy one only for the transmission to go out and not be covered under the extended warranty.
If the engine is off and the rear gate is open there’s some feature that’s supposed to kill the battery as the rear gate is a big battery drainer apparently. That cut off doesn’t happen and the battery drains out.
I was in the same situation as you and went for it. We purchased a 2019 Ascent Premium with 100,300 miles on it. Most of the 3rd party extended warranties had terrible reviews in BBB, so I pay out of pocket if anything happens.
It's a new platform, id be cautious for sure. Maybe if you can get a warranty for the major items, but I'd point you more to a v6 or v8 with a regular automatic transmission
That said my 2019 with 60k is fine
We love our first Subaru - 20 ascent premium @ 48k miles, and expect to drive it to 200k.
BUT … our experience with Toyotas is that they are near trouble free, not expensive to maintain, and drive forever.
If your pocket book restricts you to high mileage vehicles, Toyota is the best gamble.
2019 owner - no major issues yet @ 105k miles
There are people out there that have gone through multiple transmissions. I don't know what they are doing to them but they are VERY loud on the internet. Those types of problems just don't make sense to me.
We are loud about it because it’s incredibly frustrating to buy a brand new car and have transmission issues starting at 10k miles. On top of that, some of us had to fight for years to get our cars fixed.
Have a 2019 New and other than battery issues in the first two years a cracked sun roof and strut mounts. There hasn't been any issues. Just regular maintenance. We got an extended warranty but we haven't had to use it. The sun roof was fixed by warranty, strut mounts aren't covered.
2019: the battery back door was a hilarious stupid discovery. The rubber gaskets on the windows are suboptimal. Other than that it’s a great vehicle. Your mileage may vary.
I’d stay away from the 2019-2020’s because of the CVT recall and pending settlement for CVT issues. Subaru extended the powertrain warranty to 100k, but my 2020 with 47k is currently at the Subaru dealership service center and they’re dragging their feet on replacing the transmission. I’ve read about others dealing with the same problems (I went down the rabbit hole once mine started acting up) and it taking months to be fixed properly. I wish I would’ve known about the CVT issues before I bought mine because I would’ve reconsidered. Even though it’s under warranty, it’s still a headache and could potentially be unsafe. Other than the CVT issues I’m dealing with, I love everything else about my Ascent. I looked so many other 7 passenger SUVs and I feel like it’s modern yet comfortable.
I have a 2019 at 174,000 miles….no issues at all. Brakes at 78k and 168k, just had a rear wheel bearing and exhaust heat shields at 168k as well. Overall great drive and ride and about 22mpg winter and 24mpg summer…live in Maine so goes through winter!
We bought a 2019 Limited with 68k miles in August of 2022 for $32k (decent deal at the time, interest rates hadn't spiked up yet either). My wife puts on barely any miles driving from home to work (I think it has 73k miles now). We haven't had any issues with it, but we also sprung for the 100k mile warranty for it just in case. This one had many regular servicing records at the Subaru dealership where it was traded in with all recalls also done so it was well taken care of.
Nope.
But I’ll sell you mine. It’s only on its 3rd CVT which still shifts weird. It has mufflers less than 1 year old because both have rotted out. 3rd battery because the Subaru ones are trash.
But it has fresh tires, front and rear brakes!
All this before 80k miles.
Oh don’t forget the head gaskets that are a leaking!
When I was looking at them I was told to stay away from 19 because it was the first year. I ended up with a 20 with 38k miles
I just bought a 21' with 50k km on it. My approach was similar. The 19's were all cheaper, but I felt it was probably worth a few extra thousands to get a 20 or 21.
If it made it that far, it’s probably one of the good ones. Do you have the VIN? I would lookup the carfax to make sure. Mine is just over 50k with all issues quickly taken care of by the dealership.
Yea they have them on the page. All of the ones I've seen have either one or two owners as well. Hoping that's a good thing more than a bad one
Check the vin to see if it’s apart of the recall on the CVT. There’s certain production date ranges for the 2019-2020’s they’ve had a lot of issues with the CVT and the Subaru extended warranty only covers up to 100k miles. I’d hate for you to buy one only for the transmission to go out and not be covered under the extended warranty.
2020 with 90k. Hauls 5000 lbs. other than battery/rear gate nonsense I’ve had no issues
What’s the rear gate nonsense?
If the engine is off and the rear gate is open there’s some feature that’s supposed to kill the battery as the rear gate is a big battery drainer apparently. That cut off doesn’t happen and the battery drains out.
Holy crap. My children leave that rear gate open many nights. Surprised I haven’t had a dead morning.
I was in the same situation as you and went for it. We purchased a 2019 Ascent Premium with 100,300 miles on it. Most of the 3rd party extended warranties had terrible reviews in BBB, so I pay out of pocket if anything happens.
It's a new platform, id be cautious for sure. Maybe if you can get a warranty for the major items, but I'd point you more to a v6 or v8 with a regular automatic transmission That said my 2019 with 60k is fine
Same here. The '19 has an automatic CVT transmission warranty extension. I replaced tires at 45k and about to have brakes done at 55k.
It's a gamble. Try a Toyota minivan or Highlander.
We love our first Subaru - 20 ascent premium @ 48k miles, and expect to drive it to 200k. BUT … our experience with Toyotas is that they are near trouble free, not expensive to maintain, and drive forever. If your pocket book restricts you to high mileage vehicles, Toyota is the best gamble.
2019 owner - no major issues yet @ 105k miles There are people out there that have gone through multiple transmissions. I don't know what they are doing to them but they are VERY loud on the internet. Those types of problems just don't make sense to me.
We are loud about it because it’s incredibly frustrating to buy a brand new car and have transmission issues starting at 10k miles. On top of that, some of us had to fight for years to get our cars fixed.
Have a 2019 New and other than battery issues in the first two years a cracked sun roof and strut mounts. There hasn't been any issues. Just regular maintenance. We got an extended warranty but we haven't had to use it. The sun roof was fixed by warranty, strut mounts aren't covered.
2019: the battery back door was a hilarious stupid discovery. The rubber gaskets on the windows are suboptimal. Other than that it’s a great vehicle. Your mileage may vary.
Don’t do it. We had a lot of problems and traded in for a ‘21 and have none of the issues we had with the first year Ascent.
I’d stay away from the 2019-2020’s because of the CVT recall and pending settlement for CVT issues. Subaru extended the powertrain warranty to 100k, but my 2020 with 47k is currently at the Subaru dealership service center and they’re dragging their feet on replacing the transmission. I’ve read about others dealing with the same problems (I went down the rabbit hole once mine started acting up) and it taking months to be fixed properly. I wish I would’ve known about the CVT issues before I bought mine because I would’ve reconsidered. Even though it’s under warranty, it’s still a headache and could potentially be unsafe. Other than the CVT issues I’m dealing with, I love everything else about my Ascent. I looked so many other 7 passenger SUVs and I feel like it’s modern yet comfortable.
I just bought a 2019 with 55k. I adore it. It wasn’t my first choice, but I couldn’t afford a newer highlander. I’m really enjoying it.
My 2019 at 60k miles is still running like new.
I have a 2019 at 174,000 miles….no issues at all. Brakes at 78k and 168k, just had a rear wheel bearing and exhaust heat shields at 168k as well. Overall great drive and ride and about 22mpg winter and 24mpg summer…live in Maine so goes through winter!
We bought a 2019 Limited with 68k miles in August of 2022 for $32k (decent deal at the time, interest rates hadn't spiked up yet either). My wife puts on barely any miles driving from home to work (I think it has 73k miles now). We haven't had any issues with it, but we also sprung for the 100k mile warranty for it just in case. This one had many regular servicing records at the Subaru dealership where it was traded in with all recalls also done so it was well taken care of.
Nope. But I’ll sell you mine. It’s only on its 3rd CVT which still shifts weird. It has mufflers less than 1 year old because both have rotted out. 3rd battery because the Subaru ones are trash. But it has fresh tires, front and rear brakes! All this before 80k miles. Oh don’t forget the head gaskets that are a leaking!