I recently bought a 2020 Ascent. I wanted to be able to tow a small RV, so my Outback was not going to be quite hefty enough in the towing capacity department. It is amazing the difference between 2700 and 5000 pounds when it comes to what you can actually pull.
In almost every way, the Ascent is what I hoped it would be, and in some ways, it has exceeded my expectations. In particular on the positive side is that I did NOT want the 20-inch wheel / tire package, but could not get the dealer to swap me out for the 18-inch wheels. I am still not a fan of the wheels (too busy, design-wise), but the Falken Ziex ZE001 tires have been far better than I expected.
I want tires that are quiet, and that handle wet. I have been in several massive downpours and the Falkens just do not let go. Sure, part of that is how heavy the car is, and part of that is Subaru AWD, but still: Far better than I expected. I assumed by now the dealer tires would be at Discount Tire, and a new set of Michelins spinning on the new 18 inch wheels I bought aftermarket. Instead, I am keeping these.
I can't fault the rest of the car for quiet either. I love the radio, with Android Auto support built-in. Googles messing up AA is a different story. It looks like Apple now. Not Subaru's fault. I guess my next phone might as well be an Apple if Google keeps up this stupidity.
I digress.
I mostly love the car. What I absolutely HATE about the Ascent is the transmission. Not that it is a CVT: I am fine with that. I prefer that. What I hate is fake shift points. I hate them so much that I have Kia Telluride envy now. Cars with actual gears HIDE them. Subaru decided since they have infinite ratios via the CVT to screw that up and make it act like a car from 1965 with a worn-out tranny.
It is pathetic. Awful. Terrible, and it can't be turned off. The 2011 Outback was smooth as silk even at 150k miles. This thing is only OK once it is at speed and not trying to pretend it has gears that it does not.
So utterly dumb it hurts.
When I complained to Subaru about it, they said they did a survey and people wanted fake shift points. I think that must have been a survey with very poorly phrased questions.
The other thing that is annoying is the Cruise Control. I love that I can point it at the car ahead, and set it, and control the follow distance (even if the buttons are upside-down to how I think they should work: I am always closing distance when I meant to increase it because the icons on the buttons make no sense to me.)
The problem is the top screen in the center stack: I have it set to show me the current road name and speed limit. Very cool tie into the maps function and much easier to read at a glance even when I have Waze up on the radio screen via Apple's new program, Android Auto.
I turn on the cruise, and Eyesight takes over that useful data to display a car icon, with green rays pointed at the car I am following. This 100% duplicates the information from the LED / heads-up display right in front of me and makes me take my eyes off the road to flip the center display BACK to the road information.
Did no one do any UX work on this? Did the survey on this say "Would you like a display on all the time that looks like your car is lasering the one ahead of you?'
Final bitch is the update function. I have a hotspot in the car. I set the radio to auto-update. It does it every few minutes and interrupts the stuff on the radio display to say that the update completed, or it failed. Over and over and over. I had to turn off auto-update. There is no scheduling function. No 'check once a day/week/month' option. Auto-update on or off. When on, update incessantly.
Again: Was there no UX done on this? Was the survey here "Would you like your radio firmware to be up to the minute even though we never apparently update it?" (I have never seen an update happen in all that checking anyway)
It's so weird to have such a good, competent car, and have all this weird stuff going on. All of it related to programming.
Need configs to say 'no fake shifts', 'no override of center screen for cruise', and a schedule for auto-update.
Google trying to be Apple is a whole other problem. I get it: Apple is cool. They have spiffy stuff. We already have Apple. Be your own company. Own your own paradigm's. The card interface was cool. Icons? Been there, done that.
In almost every way, the Ascent is what I hoped it would be, and in some ways, it has exceeded my expectations. In particular on the positive side is that I did NOT want the 20-inch wheel / tire package, but could not get the dealer to swap me out for the 18-inch wheels. I am still not a fan of the wheels (too busy, design-wise), but the Falken Ziex ZE001 tires have been far better than I expected.
I want tires that are quiet, and that handle wet. I have been in several massive downpours and the Falkens just do not let go. Sure, part of that is how heavy the car is, and part of that is Subaru AWD, but still: Far better than I expected. I assumed by now the dealer tires would be at Discount Tire, and a new set of Michelins spinning on the new 18 inch wheels I bought aftermarket. Instead, I am keeping these.
I can't fault the rest of the car for quiet either. I love the radio, with Android Auto support built-in. Googles messing up AA is a different story. It looks like Apple now. Not Subaru's fault. I guess my next phone might as well be an Apple if Google keeps up this stupidity.
I digress.
I mostly love the car. What I absolutely HATE about the Ascent is the transmission. Not that it is a CVT: I am fine with that. I prefer that. What I hate is fake shift points. I hate them so much that I have Kia Telluride envy now. Cars with actual gears HIDE them. Subaru decided since they have infinite ratios via the CVT to screw that up and make it act like a car from 1965 with a worn-out tranny.
It is pathetic. Awful. Terrible, and it can't be turned off. The 2011 Outback was smooth as silk even at 150k miles. This thing is only OK once it is at speed and not trying to pretend it has gears that it does not.
So utterly dumb it hurts.
When I complained to Subaru about it, they said they did a survey and people wanted fake shift points. I think that must have been a survey with very poorly phrased questions.
The other thing that is annoying is the Cruise Control. I love that I can point it at the car ahead, and set it, and control the follow distance (even if the buttons are upside-down to how I think they should work: I am always closing distance when I meant to increase it because the icons on the buttons make no sense to me.)
The problem is the top screen in the center stack: I have it set to show me the current road name and speed limit. Very cool tie into the maps function and much easier to read at a glance even when I have Waze up on the radio screen via Apple's new program, Android Auto.
I turn on the cruise, and Eyesight takes over that useful data to display a car icon, with green rays pointed at the car I am following. This 100% duplicates the information from the LED / heads-up display right in front of me and makes me take my eyes off the road to flip the center display BACK to the road information.
Did no one do any UX work on this? Did the survey on this say "Would you like a display on all the time that looks like your car is lasering the one ahead of you?'
Final bitch is the update function. I have a hotspot in the car. I set the radio to auto-update. It does it every few minutes and interrupts the stuff on the radio display to say that the update completed, or it failed. Over and over and over. I had to turn off auto-update. There is no scheduling function. No 'check once a day/week/month' option. Auto-update on or off. When on, update incessantly.
Again: Was there no UX done on this? Was the survey here "Would you like your radio firmware to be up to the minute even though we never apparently update it?" (I have never seen an update happen in all that checking anyway)
It's so weird to have such a good, competent car, and have all this weird stuff going on. All of it related to programming.
Need configs to say 'no fake shifts', 'no override of center screen for cruise', and a schedule for auto-update.
Google trying to be Apple is a whole other problem. I get it: Apple is cool. They have spiffy stuff. We already have Apple. Be your own company. Own your own paradigm's. The card interface was cool. Icons? Been there, done that.
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