Comments on: Redesigned Subaru B9 Tribeca to arrive in NY

By: Mitch Bangowitz

Mitch Bangowitz — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 21:40:48 +0000

The concept illustrations, if anyone remembers them were sleek and attractive.
Subaru, however wasn’t able to carry over that look in those pen and ink drawings into the actual prototype. Something got lost in translation.

Not only that and more importantly, the seats, especially the second row, are not comfortable. The second row has short, hard cushions. Sit in a Murano back seat and you’ll see what I mean. Murano is much more comfortable.

The front passenger foot well, as in the Legacy Outback, is too close to the passenger, not leaving enough room to extend the legs. The third row is a joke, period.

And the steering wheel does not telescope. So… it needs more work than a nose job.

By: outback_atl

outback_atl — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 21:10:55 +0000

What confused me about the B9 design was it’s mini-van approach to cross-over styling. I agree with most of you… an unattractive design overall (they should have done a little more market research on that one).

Subaru designs some of the most truck-inpspired cars out there…the Forester and the Outback have a rugged appearance, giving them perhaps more off-road credibility than they deserve. (most people, like myself, keep our Subi’s on the road anyway) But when it came time to design an SUV, even a cross-over one, they went in the car/mini-van direction. I guess they were aiming more for the Murano than the Pilot, but they really got the details all wrong.

I hope they take this chance to really get it right. Subaru’s a great car company. They build high quality cars and have begun moving ahead with their interiors (e.g. Legacy/Outback). They just need to get their designers (and management) back on focus and bring us a more attractive B9. (and hopefully Forester!)

By: Mikey

Mikey — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 19:55:37 +0000

To Carnut:

Zapatinas didn’t do the exterior of the Tribeca. It was already done when he joined Subaru… he only did the interior. Subaru had chosen the airplane grille before Zapatinas became their designer… they even pumped out concept cars of it a few years before he joined on. Zapatinas is getting blamed for things he didn’t do.

By: Carnut4ever

Carnut4ever — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 10:25:53 +0000

The overall form is actually good. If only the designer (Andreas Zapatinas formerly of Alfa Romeo design) went a little more conservative at the front grille. He tried too hard to inject some form of Alfa’s shield grille to no good effect. I actually prefer the Tribeca over the even uglier Forester with no design savvy at all. Nice 4wd mechanicals but the body sure is ugly.

By: Elvio

Elvio — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 05:05:44 +0000

Whoever approved the exterior design of this car should get fired!

By: LamborghiniZ

LamborghiniZ — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 00:31:44 +0000

I really wish the Tribeca had turned out better, I really like Subaru, they’re one of my favorite “mainstream” manufacturers, but in reality the Pilot is better, and the soon to be redesigned new Pilot will basically dominate the segment in terms of quality and sophistication.

By: RLX02

RLX02 — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 17:45:45 +0000

oh, also, you can pick up a honda pilot for much less than 40k…the price of the tribeca.

Hm Honda suv or subaru suv?

By: RLX02

RLX02 — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 17:30:15 +0000

Subaru should have never made an SUV, and stuck to its premises of the awd sports wagons…but everyone wants a share of the market and they gave us this hideous alien-fish-faced SUV. At least the “propeller” design is going away. I feel sorry for everyone who bought the STI with the new front end.

By: dl_caldwell

dl_caldwell — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 16:23:01 +0000

There are more problems with the Tribeca than just the styling. The interior is attractive, but the 2nd row is too small and the 3rd row is brutal. The storage space is also sub-par for a vehicle in this class. It requires premium gas and quite a bit of it too.

I own a 98 Outback – nearly 10 years and 105K miles of relatively trouble free service. It’s a nice car and the dealer is the best I’ve ever worked with. I need a bigger vehicle and I really want to like the Tribeca – but I don’t.

Hopefully the new one will be better.

By: TomF

TomF — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 16:05:45 +0000

Yeah, $40k is about right. And every day I drive past some nice-looking 2006 Cadillac SRXs on a dealer lot that are marked down to $33-$34k. Guess which I’d choose if I were in the market?

By: A4

A4 — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 14:06:48 +0000

here you go, with most options selected on a limited 7-passenger, it came to $45,751. There are still options left out with that price.

By: A4

A4 — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 14:00:36 +0000

uhh a fully loaded limited 7-passenger ends up being about 40k USD. I hate to say it but a ford edge is a better buy.

By: Ricardo Head

Ricardo Head — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 13:04:19 +0000

What are you guys talking about $40k? Is that USD?
.
Per carsdirect.com I can pick up a loaded 5 passenger with nav for 31k plus tax. That’s loaded. Given the utility of the car, plus the 4wd hardware of a subie, that ain’t bad, although it is still as ugly as hell on the outside. After my rental experience, I’d say that if they made the outside tolerable they’d have a contender with this vehicle.

By: 55amg

55amg — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 09:45:17 +0000

the ugliest car ever to run the planet(except for a couple of sanyongs maybe)

By: fan

fan — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 09:11:01 +0000

i actually liked the tribecas unusual front… dont know if it had been my first choice in the suv-market, but definitely a choice id have considered… especially for the looks of it

By: Raiden18

Raiden18 — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 01:58:59 +0000

This thing needed a redesign from day one.

By: 1966_GTO_

1966_GTO_ — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 01:57:10 +0000

This is good news and I hope this means they are dropping that design theme completely. The Tribeca’s interior is pretty promising and not in need of much revising. I think the added torque is pretty important, nobody likes a sluggish vehicle.

By: miket

miket — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 01:47:32 +0000

I don’t think the lack of power hurt the B9 sales….I test drove one, and thought the interior, while different from some others out there was a little shoddy quality….the overall ride felt extremely top heavy through turns. A “crossover” vehicle should ride a lot better then that.

The honda pilot I bought instead sure does.

By: Adrio

Adrio — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 01:03:40 +0000

One of the ugliest cars in history. Lets see that redesign, it cant be any worse.

By: drivingisfun

drivingisfun — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 00:03:05 +0000

clearly subaru would have done better competing against rav4’s and escape’s with an impreza-based crossover…the interior alone would curry plenty of favor, but the tribeca is way too hefty and ill-conceived for the segment in which it competes

By: 1c3d0g

1c3d0g — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 23:49:46 +0000

FUGLY!

By: LamborghiniZ

LamborghiniZ — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 23:28:26 +0000

I think it looks actually pretty cool, way different. The interior is gorgeous too, but I can definitely see how people could dislike the exterior looks

By: TomF

TomF — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 22:16:21 +0000

It’s the right size, with a reasonably efficient powertain, and the interior is really great. But the styling and price tag… aargh. Who would buy one of these hideousmobiles for $40k when you can get into a Caddy SRX or Volvo XC90 for about the same coin?

By: Egbert Souse

Egbert Souse — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 21:56:53 +0000

^^ no that would be a chicken select from mcdonalds

By: A4

A4 — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 21:28:29 +0000

even if you paint dog **** gold, its still dog ****

By: Ricardo Head

Ricardo Head — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 21:12:03 +0000

I rented one on business for a week. Ugly as sin and thusly embarassing, but it was a nice vehicle for the money if you weren’t looking to gun it (response had about a 1 second lag – very annoying). It was quite comfy, did okay on mileage, had a load of room, but I hung my head in shame when I walked up to the thing.

By: drivingisfun

drivingisfun — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 20:51:37 +0000

The first thing Subaru needs to do is change the goddamn name…in the automotive world you can either go alphanumeric, or a classy name, never both. I’d stick with Tribeca since every other company has done alphanumerics to death, with Hyundai on the way. Otherwise, change the ugly front end and make the rear a little less minivan and Subie has a contender.

By: meanpants555

meanpants555 — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 20:21:37 +0000

The scariest thing about the Tribeca was that it was $40,000. I liked the looks, but too much money for Subaru’s build quality. My Impreza RS and current Legacy GT aren’t so tight.

By: anyclearer

anyclearer — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 20:19:13 +0000

It wasnt the best lookin on the outside, but it still didnt think it was allllllll that bad, but the interior i thought was very well done!

By: murphy1

murphy1 — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 19:52:51 +0000

im sorry, the aztek at least looked cool in front, the rear was just butchered. this thing looks like a modern edsel, just hideous…

By: angelo

angelo — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 19:32:07 +0000

Bring on the hotties and bring on the extra torque for the Tribeca. In fact, I’ll buy one if this extra torque actually improves the poor acceleration figures.

Besides the great interior, it’s made in Indiana.

By: Blakkarr

Blakkarr — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 19:23:11 +0000

The WRX gets “updated” every couple of years, mostly nothing more than a new front end. I have been looking but I have yet to see any pics of the WRX with a full skin redo. I don’t expect much for the Tribeca however.

By: rey323

rey323 — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 19:03:59 +0000

Nasty.

By: TOZO

TOZO — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 18:56:56 +0000

That B9 gets a new look every year. First, the original. Then, the following year, Limited with that mesh grill. And now, just one model year later, this is announced? A new look EVERY SINGLE YEAR! If only other autos could do that!

By: Sharif

Sharif — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 18:46:39 +0000

This is a bad day in automotive news. which is probably why LLN posted those ladies today. it was to ease this unbearable pain of this thing, and the unfortunate “Top Gear” news. Thanx LLN i don’t think that i would have been able to bear the pain without any eye candy.