I am constantly amused by new owners, mostly on the Ascent Facebook forum, who come posting with their hair on fire about poor mileage. I’ve never bought a $40k car while sleepwalking, but apparently some people do without doing much research. EPA ratings are for comparison only, as they are performed under controlled laboratory conditions and are not related to real-world factors such as climate, altitude, traffic conditions, etc. I’m not sure if these tests are done on green engines or cars that have passed the break-in period. The Ascent does the same or better than competing 3-row SUVs (hybrids excluded).
We have come a long way in efficiency in recent decades. I remember my grandfather’s Caddy Fleetwood Brougham from 1971. About the same weight as the Ascent (~4500 lbs) but required a 500 cid V8 to motivate it on the highway getting 10-12 MPG on a good day. The Ascent does quite well with the 152 cid turbo four.
