What is the best year for the Subaru Ascent?
No official dataset can support one universal best year. Use the table to compare complaint patterns and EPA figures, then open the shortlisted years for recall campaigns and exact specifications.
Model-year matrix
Subaru Ascent
which year?
Compare every Subaru Ascent model year the EPA recorded, 2019 to 2027. See complaint patterns, fuel economy and configurations side by side, then open any year for recall campaigns and the full dossier. Confirm against the official NHTSA recall search.
Evidence-led answer
Looking for the best Subaru Ascent year—or years to avoid?
The official records cannot honestly name a best, worst or most reliable year. Complaint totals have no sales, mileage or age denominator. They can show where more reports were filed and which components were named, giving you years to investigate more closely before checking the exact car and its VIN.
Which Subaru Ascent years should you avoid?
The records cannot justify a blanket avoid label. Years with more reports are surfaced below as research priorities, not predictions about every car from that year.
01 · More reports to inspect2019
439 indexed complaint reports; electrical system is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2019 dossier →02 · More reports to inspect2020319 indexed complaint reports; electrical system is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2020 dossier →03 · More reports to inspect2021100 indexed complaint reports; power train is the most-reported component label.
Open the 2021 dossier →Do not read this as an avoid list. Older and higher-selling model years usually accumulate more reports. A low count can also mean a newer, rarer or poorly matched vehicle—not a safer one.
Complaint totals are counts of owner-submitted allegations, not confirmed defects, and they carry no denominator: they are not adjusted for how many cars were sold, how old they are, how far they are driven, or how much publicity a fault received. A high-volume or older year will usually show more reports than a rare or recent one. The site does not convert these into a reliability score, because the data needed to do that honestly is not in the public record.
Direct comparison
Compare two Subaru Ascent model years.
Choose any two years. The URL keeps the pair so you can return to the same comparison. Every figure below is an observed official record or EPA estimate—not a reliability score.
2026 Subaru Ascent
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 1
- Combined EPA economy
- 21–22 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 2
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $2,800–2,950
- Fuel labels
- Regular Gasoline
Most-reported component labelsservice brakes, hydraulic 1vehicle speed control 1
Open the 2026 evidence dossier →2027 Subaru Ascent
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 0
- Combined EPA economy
- 21–22 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 2
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $2,800–2,950
- Fuel labels
- Regular Gasoline
Most-reported component labelsNo component label indexed
Open the 2027 evidence dossier →Observed complaint-record difference
2027 has 1 fewer indexed complaint allegations than 2026.
This is not a rate or reliability finding. The counts have no sales, mileage, age or exposure denominator, and newer years have had less time to accumulate reports.Side by side
Subaru Ascent by year.
Complaint bars are scaled against this model’s own highest year, so they compare years with each other and with nothing else.
| Year | Complaints | Most-reported components | Combined MPG | EPA configs | Annual fuel cost | Dossier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2027 | 0 | — | 21–22 | 2 | $2,800–2,950 | Dossier → |
| 2026 | 1 | service brakes, hydraulic 1vehicle speed control 1 | 21–22 | 2 | $2,800–2,950 | Dossier → |
| 2025 | 14 | electrical system 2engine 2steering 2 | 21–22 | 2 | $2,800–2,950 | Dossier → |
| 2024 | 48 | visibility 23visibility/wiper 8forward collision avoidance 4 | 21–22 | 2 | $2,800–2,950 | Dossier → |
| 2023 | 43 | forward collision avoidance 10service brakes 10unknown or other 8 | 21–22 | 2 | $2,800–2,950 | Dossier → |
| 2022 | 55 | power train 14service brakes 10engine 9 | 22–23 | 2 | $2,650–2,800 | Dossier → |
| 2021 | 100 | power train 18electrical system 17lane departure 17 | 22–23 | 2 | $2,650–2,800 | Dossier → |
| 2020 | 319 | electrical system 101power train 57unknown or other 56 | 22–23 | 2 | $2,650–2,800 | Dossier → |
| 2019 | 439 | electrical system 161power train 87visibility/wiper 66 | 22–23 | 2 | $2,650–2,800 | Dossier → |
Evidence snapshot generated . “Not indexed” means NHTSA holds no complaint record matching this exact year, make and model — not that no fault occurred. Recall campaigns are not summarised here: NHTSA publishes no bulk recall dataset, and fetching them per year would take longer than the page should. Each year’s dossier shows its recalls in full, live from NHTSA.