Are you someone who romanticizes the idea of “disconnecting?” Have you spurned streaming services to maintain your own music library? Does the very mention of a monthly subscription make you physically ill? First off, I think we’d get along. Second, there’s an SUV out there for you. It’s called the Subaru Ascent, and it still has a 3.5-millimeter auxiliary audio jack.
I’ve had an Ascent Touring on loan for almost a week now, and frankly, I’m getting on better with it than I expected. I’m not here to spoil the review, though—the point of this post is the little port I was surprised to find beside the USB-C and USB-A.
I frankly cannot remember the last time I saw one in a new car. That’s mostly my fault, though; the Subaru BRZ and Toyota GR86 hide them in their center consoles. You’ll find the same jack in the Subaru Legacy, too, which is the second-oldest vehicle the brand still sells—second only to the Ascent, and just barely.
It should come as no surprise that Subaru’s newer models, like the Forester and Outback, don’t offer the privilege. The WRX doesn’t either, though it does still offer the option of a center console-mounted CD player. You can get one of those in the Ascent as well; unfortunately, mine isn’t so equipped. It’ll cut into your storage space ever so slightly, but you can bet that if I were spending $40-to-$50K on one of these, I would tick that option box for $450.
And if I knew where my iPod was, I’d waste no time grabbing a cable and hitting the road with the some 6,000 songs in my collection. Yes, I already keep them on my iPhone, but Apple Music drives me nuts. Every time I open the app, it tries to push me to listen to a radio station I’ve never expressed interest in, or a playlist it’s generated with its indisputable algorithmic knowledge of my music leanings. I want to spin a scroll wheel and get on with my life.
Wondering how many other cars offer this forgotten port? So am I; the first result when I Google “cars with aux jacks” is a forum thread from 2007. Surely it’s a dwindling party, like new cars with manual transmissions. Or cars with V12s. A bit less prideful, perhaps, but this is an exclusive group I’d want my vehicle to be a part of all the same, even if there are practically no smartphones over $400 that have headphone jacks anymore.
The one thing I know for certain is that the Subaru Ascent, which first went on sale in 2018, won’t be around forever. It will surely be replaced in probably not very long. Maybe that’s a good thing, maybe not. But one casualty will be the 3.5-mm audio jack, and I will mourn it.
Does your fairly new vehicle still have an aux jack? Let the author know at adam.ismail@thedrive.com