have you reached out to SoA and inquired about loyalty coupons? They take a bite out of your lease payment. Congrats on finding a dealer who takes VIP! Thats hard to come by. You are looking at instock, which makes it more shocking (at least to me!).
What trim are you looking at? Your purchase price is about $5k higher than my Onyx edition, and you have a MUCH higher tax rate, but my all-in was around $509/mo with only $700 as a deposit–I had to order mine. My guess is its a high trim/lots of add-ons model.
More details on my lease HERE
FWIW: The Ascent is not as fuel efficient as my old forester, but its also substantially heavier–and has a non-laughable towing capacity (not claiming it can tow huge RVs, but there is a big diff between Ascent and Forester here)
Personally, I like having one ICE and one EV. I do wish Subaru made the Ascent with a hybrid or plug in EV option, but I am just happy having that 3rd row.