My wife really wants a Tribecca the 7 passenger version. Just wanted to see if I needed to know anything in particular about it. She mainly wants to have good legroom in all seats, epecially the third seat. I guess we will be going to test drive one. Just thought I would try to get the heads up on some information about them. Thanks.

I believe the 3rd row seat is supposed to be small. Its kid zone.

it must just be a Subaru thing, with people adding an extra letter..

 

ForRester

ImpreZza

and now TribeCca

 

lol...

third row = NO leg room

I can give you some quick impression on it after driving it once for about 10 miles. I own both a 96 and 05 OBW XT. The salesman at the dealership who sold me my 96, now the sales manager, tossed me the keys to his demo that he personally drove (I didn't even ask to test drive it, he just threw me his keys and told me to take it out),

 

Leg, head, and overall room is excellent up front, second row is ok, third row seating looks to be tight, but he had his golf clubs in there and I didn't want to move them to find out. I'm 6' btw.

 

View of the road while driving is also very good, although visability out the rear corners has some blind spots due to the sloping, wide pillers. The high/narrow rear window makes it very difficult to determine distance from an object when backing up.

 

Fit n' finish is excellent.

 

Control layout is very good - will take a little learning to run the center dash climate, radio controls. I like the center LCD display for all the control status's.

 

Driving comfort, handling, and power are all very good, although compared to my turbo 4-cyl Outback, the Tribeca's 6-cyl doesn't have the punch and acceleration mine has. But then, it's a heavier vehicle too. The other impression I gathered was at highway speed (60+mph), when making quick lane changes, the vehicle would "swagger", rocking a bit until it stabilized itself. But it is a larger, top-heavier vehicle - other higher/larger SUVs probably have the same characteristics (I have little experience with them). Obviously, it not designed for tight quick corrections like a Ferrarri (neither is the Outback). Oh, I did like the feel of the steering, I feels like it has a tighter turning ratio than my Outbacks which I wish they had.

 

Road noise from the tires, while 'ok', was a little louder than I thought it should be for a vehicle at this price point. Could of been the brand/model of tire, I don't recall what they were. Another brand/model would probably improve things.

 

Overall, a nice vehicle. I do wish subaru would get away from the European styling (sloping rooflines, wide pillers and narrow rear glass, and tapering top-side cabin) - You lose interior space and visability. My 96 OBW is far better in design than the 05 OBW in that respect. I think the Tribeca suffers a bit from it too.

Subieguy,

 

Taste is verrrrry personal, but in my opinion I could never own one regardless of price, because the nose of the vehicle has to be the ugliest sculpting this side of the Pontiac Aztec, AMC Pacer or Ford Edsel. I get shivers just looking at it!

Subieguy,

 

Taste is verrrrry personal, but in my opinion I could never own one regardless of price, because the nose of the vehicle has to be the ugliest sculpting this side of the Pontiac Aztec, AMC Pacer or Ford Edsel. I get shivers just looking at it!

 

Yeah, the grill, I'd forgotten about that. Not a check in the positive column in my book either.

Yeah I know. It is not exactly a looker but, the wife likes it:-\ Now I will just have to go down to the dealer and take it for a test drive. While I am at it I had better take a STI out for a test spin too. I could trade my 03 Mazdaspeed protege for one:cool:

Yeah I know. It is not exactly a looker but, the wife likes it:-\ Now I will just have to go down to the dealer and take it for a test drive. While I am at it I had better take a STI out for a test spin too. I could trade my 03 Mazdaspeed protege for one:cool:

 

Sure you want to do that? You take an STI out and you will probably forget all about the Tribeca...

My wife really wants a Tribecca the 7 passenger version. Just wanted to see if I needed to know anything in particular about it. She mainly wants to have good legroom in all seats, epecially the third seat. I guess we will be going to test drive one. Just thought I would try to get the heads up on some information about them. Thanks.

 

yeah, i sat in one at the mall. the third seat is strictly there so subaru can say "7 passenger"

Actually I was thinking about a 4 car swap. My protege and my 02 dodge caravan for the 2 Subarus.

Sure you want to do that? You take an STI out and you will probably forget all about the Tribeca...

My wife really wants a Tribecca the 7 passenger version. Just wanted to see if I needed to know anything in particular about it. She mainly wants to have good legroom in all seats, epecially the third seat. I guess we will be going to test drive one. Just thought I would try to get the heads up on some information about them. Thanks.

 

Well, I now own 2 soobs, but if I wanted something 'van-like' or 'crossover-like' I'd prefer a Honda Odyssey or Toyota Highlander to the Tribeca. in fact, if I'd had a few thousand more dollars when we bought our OBW, I'd have an Odyssey now! I'm sure it will be as reliable as other soobs generally, and I don't mind the looks of it too much (kinda weird seeing SUBARU owners so concerned with the appearance of ANY car! hah!) But the interior design is behind many similar vehicles in terms of function. It may not matter to some folks, but it could affect resale I suppose. I think the center seat is not designed well for car seats, the rear is really a kids only seat, I don't think the radio is DIN compatible either. It's been a while since I read the reviews - but I think those are the 3 biggest issues.

 

meh

My first impression of the front grille was "oh my gawd! they took the nose from a 50 year old Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider and stuck it on a Subaru!"

 

http://www.motorbase.com/profiles/vehicle/picture.ehtml?i=61;p=1178100901

 

 

Then I mentioned my thought to my older brother (the gearhead that owned the 92 SVX that was in the Dome at the 92 New Orleans auto show) and he told me no duh......one of the head dudes for the design team came from Alfa Romeo!

 

His initial impression was not enough power for the weight, and might go over about the same as the Baja.

the Tribecca has a good engine, trans, differential, and a good song.

the Tribecca has a good engine, trans, differential, and a good song.

 

You are refering, I'm guessing, to the TV Ad. Laurel was very upset at Subaru for choosing one of the all time favorites, and making it into a car ad. I thought the ad was cute. The jury is out for me with regards to the tranny. I would prefer to see a manual option made available for it, instead of auto only. Why is iot that Subaru refuses to mate an H6 to a manual tranny? I think that would be a great matchup!!

Well, I now own 2 soobs, but if I wanted something 'van-like' or 'crossover-like' I'd prefer a Honda Odyssey or Toyota Highlander to the Tribeca. in fact, if I'd had a few thousand more dollars when we bought our OBW, I'd have an Odyssey now! I'm sure it will be as reliable as other soobs generally, and I don't mind the looks of it too much (kinda weird seeing SUBARU owners so concerned with the appearance of ANY car! hah!) But the interior design is behind many similar vehicles in terms of function. It may not matter to some folks, but it could affect resale I suppose. I think the center seat is not designed well for car seats, the rear is really a kids only seat, I don't think the radio is DIN compatible either. It's been a while since I read the reviews - but I think those are the 3 biggest issues.

 

meh

 

I would add the Honda Pilot to that mix. I drove both the Highlander and the Pilot before finally decided on the 05 OBW Turbo. Pilot has more room in all 3 rows (albeit the 3rd row is still too small). I liked the Pilot and it was on my final short list. Turn-offs were both the Toyota and Honda salesmen where waaay too pushy about their vehicles.

That is kind of funny. My wife is also looking at the pilot too. Looks like it has more leg room in the 3rd row. Just have to go test drive them and make up our minds that way. We just don't really want another minivan. But they do have better leg room aparently than the Subaru or possibly the Honda. Just have to go find out. Thanks all for your input;)

Subieguy,

 

Taste is verrrrry personal, but in my opinion I could never own one regardless of price, because the nose of the vehicle has to be the ugliest sculpting this side of the Pontiac Aztec, AMC Pacer or Ford Edsel. I get shivers just looking at it!

 

That front end treatment is now on the new Imprezas - I understand it will make its way to the the Legacy line too - I don't like it at all

I think the new nose flows better on the Impreza that the Tribeca. Just my opinion. Does not deter me from wanting the STI:cool: