B9 Tribeca

[NapaBavarian]

Well, after all the comotion I had to go take a look, I'm sure it will grow on me...someday...but it felt more like a stubby/short AWD minivan with modified rear doors like an SUV than an actual SUV to me, anyone else who looked at them get a similar feeling?

[MNYPNNY]

The grill is extremely ugly, what with the horse harness and all.....

[Bob6stringer]

I'm so glad you asked. I love/hate the B9 Tribeca's looks. Can't figure out which.

FIRST: After I saw a couple on the road, and went to the dealership, I saw a car that feels very solid (didn't drive but at least read all the reviews. Only neg. criticisms were weak-ish low-end torque and that grille). That "fugly" front end, which I rail against for the remainder of this note, when seen up close, at least seems to be constructed solidly. If I were in the market for one of those fake city SUVs (more below), this would be a great move-up vehicle, functionally, and I would overlook those goofy Subaru aesthetics, Hell, I'd probably revel in them; I've got plenty of training owing to the SVX' goofy windows on an otherwise mostly great and still-innovative car.

When Pontiac came out with the Aztek I wondered what they were smoking. Ditto for the Nissan "Moron-o." Subaru's early design sketches of the B9 Tribeca promised a sleek and sporty ride, but the photos and actual car, to my eye, seemed a disappointing bait-and-switch. You'd think our beloved boxer engine could have produced something leaner and meaner as promised in those drawings.

Alas, what we got was, to borrow a term,: Farfromgruven. Why would Subaru's designers take a cue from Lexis or Nissan when they, obviously Euro-inspired, had only behold hte upscale but not ugly VW/Porsche Toareg/Cayenne? Fancy without calling attention to design for design's sake.

I predict that ugly nose will result in a sales nosedive for '06 followed by some sleeker cosmetics in '07 (more radical than the '05 to '06 Forester's not-mandatory nosejob).

So I think - if this weren't clear - Subaru has shot itself in the foot with a too-quirky design the public won't accept, not due to bad tech from our favorite high-tonnage automaker, but because the Alfa-Romeo-meets-Edsel front end seems to be designed by Japanese aco****ants who wanted to pay homage to a no-longer relevant aviation theme. Worse, the mass-audience buyer won't realize the front end is supposed to represent an "airplane cross section," which is good because if they did, Subaru would just seem dumber for grafting (hideous) Form onto (outstanding engineering) Function.


SUBARU FACES A MAJOR PROBLEM: A fight to regain tech innovation. When AWD was new, Scooby-roo captured a fair bit of respect and sales. But as Tribeca becomes a financial albatross it will drag R&D funding down, eroding efforts to shift toward much-needed tables stakes in the next few years: a shift from AWD to hybrid power plants, particularly in the fake-truck "luxury SUV" market.

Worse yet, the company seems to be ignorant to the needs of its core market: US -- current loyalists who need something bigger in a Subaru. A case in point: While the TV ads are glitzy enough and seem well-targeted, my family received a B9 Tirbeca marketing brochure in the mail that read like an English translation of a Japanese internal marketing memo - very poorly written, almost illiterate in its fake-tech marketing jargon and generalizations. The copy (text) was in top-level PowerPoint introductory-level stuff and offered very few details. That's a very shabby way to treat your core audience. It astonished me... I went ballistic reading it to my wife as we laughed and groaned. (I'm a lifer in the publishing biz and I can only imagine how much money was spent to do so much damage to the "brand.")

While I generally hate anything called a "luxury SUV" especially from Lexis, Nissan and mainly all Japanese and American companies - they still seem to equate "luxury" with chrome and plastic glue-ons - I'd STILL consider buying a Tribeca if I were in the market. Honestly, I'd rather have a boxy Ford Explorer for looks, becasue UGLY is only skin deep, while there's always beauty in them Subie bones.

And My wife and I still swear by our 2005 Forester and decade-old SVX.

[n00b on demand]

Subaru designing another quirky car that the public won't accept is nothing new. Were driving one of those quirky designs . Thats what subaru is known for...unique designs, which is why they have a cult following. I'm glad they design cars like this....makes me feel more unique for driving a subaru.

[Landshark]

a big goofy nose on a soccer-mom mini-van/SUV thing Tribeca......sure, why not.


a big goofy nose on their performance flagship WRX STi (that should be aggressive and purposeful-looking).....i don't think so.

[Bob6stringer]

I was a little tough on the Tribeca, I admit. Some cars, like people, are too good to prejudge on a quirky appearance and a goofy nose!

BTW, moderator/all: not sure what the "***" means in my refeerence to "accountants" but any obscenity, if there was one, was the result of an accidental typo, honest!

[Chiketkd]

The new 3.0L flat six seems interesting, but the single opening for the throttle body is so-so in my view, and it uses the plastic intake manifold made out of black ABS plastic. Only plus of the new engine over the EG33 is that the timing belt never needs changing as it uses a chain...



-Chike

[Landshark]

Originally Posted by Chiketkd

Only plus of the new engine over the EG33 is that the timing belt never needs changing as it uses a chain...

what about the plastic intake manifold as a plus? (same as the Legacy) - no heated up air entering teh engine.



someone is working on a turbo kit for the Benign Chewbacca - then it will be fast and ugly.

Originally Posted by Landshark

Benign Chewbacca

Dave

[benebob]

Originally Posted by Chiketkd

Only plus of the new engine over the EG33 is that the timing belt never needs changing as it uses a chain...

-Chike

Engine isn't all that new and the chain does where out, probably about the same time as a belt breaks on an SVX. I'll let you know when mine breaks! 145k and in a holding pattern.

[Chiketkd]

Originally Posted by benebob

145k and in a holding pattern.

-Chike

[NapaBavarian]

Not that it really matters with a zero clerance engine, just line everything back up and put a new belt on