“Look at me!”, the Subaru Tribeca seems to say. And you can’t help but look, not when a beefy SUV has a “face” like it.
Penned with the guidance of Subaru’s design chief, Andreas Zapatinas (a Greek guy who had a hand in the Fiat Barchetta and Alfa Romeo 145), the Tribeca’s styling is unlike any other Subaru’s. Its three-piece grille is supposed to resemble the cross section of an aircraft’s fuselage with upswept wings – a reminder of Subaru’s aeronautical past. The car’s generous bulk is played down with voluptuous curves and bulges.
But it’s not just the B9’s styling that’s revolutionary for Subaru. The car represents Subaru’s maiden attempt at building an SUV by the conventional interpretation – the big and tall kind, not the lifted-up estate cars that the Forester and Outbacks represent.
The Tribeca’s interior is a great step forward for Subaru, which has long been associated with conservative (read: dull) cabins. Practically all its switches and controls are new.
The deep-set instrument cowl takes pride of place in an exaggerated dashboard design that reinforces the car’s aviation theme. Perched high on the driver’s seat with the controls brought close towards you, the cabin feels more like a cockpit of a private jetliner than a car’s interior. But with the materials wrapping around you as tightly as they do, the front of the Tribeca doesn’t feel as spacious as its 1880mm exterior width suggests.
The Tribeca is the brand’s first model to boast seating for seven, although Subaru prefers to call it a 5+2, probably on the advice of its lawyers in North America, the B9 Tribeca’s target market. American consumers who cannot fit their behinds behind might lodge a class action suit against the company for false advertising otherwise.
No one can complain about not getting cool air, though. Every row of seat is served by air-con vents. The second and third rows share a separate fan control from the front. Passenger safety is also well-addressed with three-point belts, as well as Isofix mounting points for child seats.
To the designer’s credit, the car’s loading floor is low, which eases the chore of boarding. But typical of SUVs, the rear wheel-arches are intrusive. So even though the doors open wide, accessing the last row should only be attempted by the young. Also, the folding mechanism on the second row could have been simplified slightly. It tilts effortlessly enough, but you have to push the seat forward separately. Putting the seat back in position can be quite a task.
The pair of seats that form the third row are quite generously sized, with full-size head restraints which are adjustable for height. Legroom depends on how charitable the passengers in front feel. Overall, the range of adjustments could be better, but it’s mainly the limited shoulder room (from the tapering body) that really prevents the car from being a better seven-seater.
With the last row folded, the Tribeca has a sizeable, flat loading area. Go for darker carpeting here to avoid staining the pristine beige interior. If you like, the power socket located in the boot could be used to run a mini-refrigerator. Mounting points here allow for hooks and nets to hold the haulage in place.
The Tribeca is underpinned by the Legacy/Outback platform, but it has been stretched in every direction. So even though the car doesn’t look like a conventional Subaru, the good set of bones underneath ensures that the Tribeca will at least drive like one.
You get a fair bit of feedback at the wheel, which also feels pleasingly direct. Despite its size, the Tribeca isn’t daunting. Its all-independent suspension is clearly comfort-biased, which is probably a better fit for its intended purpose. Even with the softer suspension setting, the Tribeca bodyshell feels rigid – more so than the Nissan Murano or the Lexus RX, for example.
Inherited along with the platform is the excellent 3-litre boxer engine from the Outback 3.0R. Subaru’s 5-speed automatic gearbox seems to have been improved for the Tribeca. It feels more prompt to engage from standstill, and its downshifts are also quicker. Given the weight of the vehicle, every bit of improvement helps.
Good thing, then, that the engine is such an eager worker. It even has a pleasant engine note – one that barks “look at me”, just like the Tribeca’s propeller prow. 
