Subaru Tribeca test drive since 2007 SUV

Dolce vita

Subaru B9 Tribeca novelty? Yes, full of you! Gray dealers, as always, turned out to be more perspicacious than their white colleagues and very successfully filled the market for fresh blood with non -state specimens. In general, the officials were late, however, the crossover from this is unlikely to lose too much an ambiguous product was offered by the Japanese.
At first glance, he is the same as all his competitors: there are five full -fledged seats in the cabin (seven -seater cars are not being taken to us), a half -cub of space in the trunk and two and a half hundred horses under the hood. The preferences of the Americans in this matter are still very conservative. Comfort and comfort to them. Around the cup holders, niches, clamps, boxes, glove compartment ... It’s convenient to sit, but the seats themselves are given, alas, mediocre and some intelligible side support is traditionally not pleased. Scabel (parking brake in American) for the average European torment, as, indeed, and only vertical steering wheel settings. The latter, however, is compensated by the wide range of seats adjustment, but the change in the column, in my opinion, would still not hurt. In general, considering Tribeca as just an American crossover is uninteresting and absolutely useless. All of the above can be equally attributed to Infiniti FX, and Nissan Murano, and Lexus RX, and even to the almost European VW Touareg. Another thing is design ...
Beautiful Tribeca or not a matter of taste. You can love it, you can hate it, but the fact that the car is original and is 100% recognizable is pointless to deny. Subaru's appearance is partly paradoxical and even controversial in some ways. The eternal confrontation between fashion and style is clearly allowed in favor of the latter. Expressive expressiveness, unconventional performance, rejection of classical proportions is a challenge, the same fresh blood, in which almost all manufacturers stuck in brutal militarism needed. Subaru designers, of course, did not become pioneers, but they did not miss the moment. However, who did not see Tribeca ... He will no longer surprise the advanced layman in the last year and a half a car, this car did not just become familiar, but even managed to fodder. So we turn to the inner world of the crossover, especially since the exterior design compared to the interior of the aperitif in front of the meal.
Its futuristic design is aesthetic revelation. Cosmic stylistics, a clear graphic construction of details, cleverly beaten symmetry ... And after all, every little thing, at the same time, whether it is some button on the central console or lamb on one of the steering wheel levers, remains functionally loaded. In general, if you do not focus on the traditionally strong hobby of designers with frankly budget materials, five out of five points. With ergonomics, however, in Tribeca is worse. The main equipment seems to be climate, light, radio ... The buttons are a lot of buttons, at first, of course, you will have to get used to it, but after a while the location of most of them is determined literally blindly. But with a sophisticated sensory display, which is crowned by the central console, you can’t just get so. The proposed interface is too complicated, and it will not be possible to get comfortable with it in a couple of minutes, this is not even half an hour. For the same reason, he would not advise using it in motion distracting, and not only internal intricacies. The question, including not too successful in its location, will have to stretch out on accessible pages. So the accelerator is not for long, but under the hood there is not something, but a branded opponent ...
Boxer is one of the two unquestioningly executed commandments, on which, as in whales, Subaru is initially. The second symmetrical four -wheel drive. But first about the motor. The first thing that is worth understanding right away is not a drive in this car and will not be. For a two-ton SUV 3-liter 245-horsepower engine, it is clearly not enough, the second hundred, for example, it exchanges in almost 9.7 seconds, which is two tenths slower than the charismatic Nissan Murano. According to Tribeca habits, an average American who is just going well, nothing more. This will most likely upset the true subarists, but if you consider the crossover from the point of view of the bored layman, this is the only possible tandem of the 6-cylinder engine and a 5-speed sequental automatic transmission is very good. Providing even traction in the entire speed range, it accelerates the crossover without visible efforts to the maximum 195 km/h, adequately responding to the accelerator pedal and for a forced movement of the lever. At the same time, the accompanying the delay, of course, are noticeable, but by no means critical, especially since the driver always has the opportunity to activate the sports regime Tribeca and goes even more and accelerates better.
Here, by the way, in theory, all the charms of the proprietary Subarovsk system of all-wheel drive were opened, but only in theory, in practice, this SUV like two drops of water is similar to competitors. Yes, the trajectories of the turns are stable, but at high speeds from strong rolls, even a structurally underestimated center of gravity does not save; The steering red feedback that provides decent feedback nevertheless remains light even after 150 km/h; The brakes are good, but they are very far from the effectiveness of even Imprezovsky ... It is unlikely that anyone will have illusions about the off-road qualities of the crossover. Possessing a 180-mm road clearance, he, of course, will master a low snowdrift, but I would not drive him more expensive in the mud.
In general, Tribeca, although Subaru, is far from typical, not angry, not sports, by no means ascetic and, if you distract from design, absolutely not original. A sort of rock and roll pops, a mass commercial project designed for profit, in this case for eternal overseas love for everything big. But just such projects today, alas, are plenty of.
Text: Andrey Konstantinov
Photo: Yan Segal

Source: Mkobil [26.03.2007]