All about the Subaru VIZIV-7 SUV: Price, Styling, Engine

Last Updated on November 4, 2022 by Victor A

Back in 2016, Subaru presented the VIZIV-7 at the Los Angeles Auto show. The Subaru VIZIV-7 is a seven-seater concept SUV that borrowed styling cues from other VIZIV concept cars, resulting in a sleek and stunning SUV. The VIZIV-7 evolved into the Subaru Ascent, a three-row, seven-seater SUV, that boasts the title of Subaru’s largest SUV. However, the VIZIV-7 is not for sale, as it’s a concept car, but the Ascent can be purchased, and in this article, we talk about its price, features, and its differences with the VIZIV-7.

Subaru VIZIV-7 SUV Price and Ascent Price

As mentioned previously, the VIZIV-7 is not for sale, since it’s a concept car. However, the Subaru Ascent is available for a starting price of $32,295.

Currently, the Ascent is available in four versions, where they all share the same engines, and the main differences are found in the standard equipment that comes with each model and some of the options available when purchasing.

Design – VIZIV-7 vs Ascent

When a concept car is developed, designers usually have more freedom when styling the car since they know that it won’t have to comply with safety regulations, aerodynamics, etc. That means that concept cars more often than not look better than their production form. 

In the case of the VIZIV-7 and the Ascent, we see this happen, as the VIZIV-7 looks more futuristic and better-styled, however, the Ascent maintains the overall form and lots of design clues. 

By looking at the front of the car, you can see how the headlights have been changed to a more conventional design, the grille is smaller, the blue parts have disappeared, and the outline is smoother. 

The side view finds the same treatment, forms look sharper in the VIZIV-7, you can see that by looking at the body-panel lines. The chrome wheels in the VIZIV-7 look great and seeing where the industry is heading, we wouldn’t be surprised if in a few years similar wheels are offered for the newest iterations of the Ascent.

In the rear back we see the most differentiation, where the Ascent has a more rounded design, and the VIZIV-7 boasts fancier rear lights. The metal bar found between the rear lights also differs in styling, the one in the VIZIV-7 looks more cohesive with the design, whereas the one in the Ascent looks more traditional for today’s standards.

Overall, the design clues in the VIZIV-7 SUV make a difference, it looks better and it has a design that would age better. Nevertheless, Subaru has done a good job in making the Ascent resemble the VIZIV-7. As stated before, production cars are frequently toned-down versions of their concept counterparts, and the Ascent looks pretty good.

Subaru VIZIV-7 and Ascent engine options

In the engines department, we are only greeted by the Subaru Ascent’s engine, while Subaru never gave us a glimpse of what to expect under the VIZIV-7’s hood, we can make an educated guess.

By looking at the rear back picture of the VIZIV-7 is hard to ignore the fact that exhaust tips are missing, this gives us an indication that maybe Subaru planned on packing an electric motor into the VIZIV-7, but when they developed the Ascent, they realized that the technology wasn’t mature enough for that, so they threw in a conventional internal combustion engine.

That leaves us with the only option available, the 2021 Subaru Ascent’s engine, which is a 2.4-liter turbo Boxer engine that produces 260 hp and 277 lb-ft of torque and it’s available with a standard Symmetrical AWD system. The engine hasn’t changed from the previous 2020 model, and it’s likely to stay for a while until a big restyle arrives.

Our take on the future of the Subaru VIZIV-7 SUV: Price, styling and engines

Bear in mind that concept cars usually serve as a blueprint for more than one model, it serves as a way to dictate the design clues that will start appearing in the future brand models as new iterations start appearing.

That said, we can expect that the future restyling of the Ascalon will start looking closer to the VIZIV-7 SUV, it wouldn’t surprise us if in 10-15 years the Ascalon looked identical to the concept. 

What is clear is that sooner, or later Subaru will have to start electrifying all of its line-ups, and looking at the industry’s design trends, we see how modernizing the design with blue parts is endemic, so a future electric Ascalon that looked exactly like the VIZIV-7 won’t be so far fetched as we think.

Source: Subaru