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Comments
Narrowing the grille vertically, which gives the impression of widening it, takes it out of Chrysler territory a bit; it's the only Subie I like it on. Looks ungainly on the Tribeca. I'm OK w/the original Tribeca grille (I own an '06), but wished it would have gotten a similar vertical narrowing which would have sleeked it up while maintaining some distinction.
In NYC, I don't need a rear view cam for my Tribeca to parallel park because I use braille.
Even if Subaru does take risks, it should not be with the Forester.
Forester should remain their rational and practical small utility.
A back-up camera might be nice in certain situations but I was not going to spend $2000 on the NAV just to get the back-up camera.
Bob, I've changed my mind. I am not coming over for Christmas dinner. I don't want to deal with your driveway and dog.
Yeah, backup cams should not be bundled with GPS Nav. That makes it unaffordable for many.
Toyota made a bold move - the Highlander has a backup cam standard on the Sport and Limited models, even if you do not get a GPS.
-mike
Toyota made a bold move - the Highlander has a backup cam standard on the Sport and Limited models, even if you do not get a GPS.
Not that bold, the Nissans also have non-GPS backup cameras on their SUVs as well.
-mike
No thank you. That doesn't sound like fun.
-mike
Are you going to be at your garage in Nj saturday?
Things I would like to see are the 3.6 H6 motor and the Tribeca auto trans in the outback, since they apparently made some major improvements in both of those .vs. what's now in the outback.
A few months is not all that long to wait...
But if they did, I'd sit up and pay attention...
25 NX 450h+ / 24 Sienna Plat AWD / 23 Civic Type-R / 21 Boxster GTS 4.0
There was an image of an Outback test mule a while back that showed a vehicle with a wheelbase around 108 inches.
http://blogs.edmunds.com/Straightline/3444
Even though the story says Forester—it's the next Outback. I've had that confirmed from someone at SOA.
Bob
Perhaps the '09 Forester is the better bet?
Have you considered the new Impreza wagon (hatch)? At about 174 inches it is an ideal size. It's lighter weight makes the 2.5i a viable engine also.
-mike
MNSteve
-mike
To be honest, it's the Tribeca that needs to be bigger. It's way too close in size to the Outback.
When I compared a 5 seat model to a Tribeca, the cargo dimensions were within an inch, both width and length. And the funny thing is the Outback was bigger on one of those (I forget which). Tribeca's cargo area is taller, but that's not enough.
I say keep the Outback where it is. Maybe box off the rear end, the concept hinted strongly at that, actually.
The Tribeca could grow to about 200", which is common for the class it's in.
It'll be as large in footprint as the current tribecca as it'll be built on that platform.
-mike
That maxx I drive has a ton of interior space, way more than the outback but is somewhat limited in cargo spage.
My only complaint with Impreza is seat heigth adjustment. The tip forward bit smacks of old VW and doesn't work very well, and unfortunately no power seat is offered.
Still, I need to drive an Impreza, probably the WRX, and see if they did better with the turbo's low end.
Kurt
I appreciate that the Tribeca interior is a really nice step up, but that was secondary.
-mike
I was talking about length specifically. They can make the wheelbase longer, make the cargo area boxier, move the rear seat back a bit, and give the front seat more travel. Making it taller means you can raise the seats, too, but I'm not sure if they should do that on the Legacy.
So I'm with kurt on this one, go for more efficient packaging, but I still don't think that should make it any longer. A little wider, and little taller, sure. Longer wheelbase, absolutely.
That is just what was done at a controllable cost to turn the Legacy into the Tribeca. Subaru released to Automotive Engineering drawings showing the changes at time of intro..
It may be the limit of economical change without lots of tooling cost. Will Toyota fund this to compete with the Sienna? The Exiga for now Japan-only model is possibly as close as I expect to see. And it is more like a narrower Tribeca.
My van is only 8" longer than a Tribeca, yet it has more cargo room behind the 2nd row (with 5 seats in place) than a Tribeca has behind the 1st row. By a wide margin.
Being boxy really helps create space.
And reduce fuel economy, unfortunately. :-(
However, I am intrigued to discover that the Sienna AWD, weighing 300 pounds more (and priced - for a Sienna XLE - about the same as a Tribeca 7-passenger), is rated exactly the same for fuel economy as the Tribeca.
Cargo space is no contest: 149 cu ft for the Sienna 7-passenger, 74 cu ft for the Tribeca 7-passenger. Whoa!
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
74 cubic feet for an SUV that is 192" long is not impressive.
The Sienna has 99 cubic feet behind the 2nd row. So I can seat 5 and still enjoy 25 more cubic feet, about twice the trunk space in a Legacy sedan.
Forester also has much better space efficiency. If they simply apply the same formula on a bigger scale, they could get 80-90 cubic feet out of a Tribeca.
Better yet, make it grow to about 200" long (the norm for the newer CX9 and Lambdas) and they could get that over 100 cubes.
The new Impreza is well packaged, but it has a very short overall length (the 5 door, I mean). It's shorter than the 2007 model. It's OK for its size.
The Forester is looking good.
Build the next Tribeca as a 125% scale Forester. Maybe even 140%.
except for its seats.
The passenger seat is like sitting in a bathtub, with a huge amount of headroom. Drivers seat is a little better. Both seats need real heigth adjustments like in the current VW models.
Rear cargo space has less intrustion from the rear suspension than many cars (though I'm surprised how good the older Outback is in this regard - the Maxx shock towers are huge by comparison).
GM announced major hikes today, claiming commodities (steel, etc). were responsible.
As for the Legacy getting larger, it definitely will get there cause after test driving an 08 STi yesterday, I can say that cabin has more space than my 05 Legacy wagon, however the hatch space is about 1/2 that of my wagon space.
They really need an A6/Camary/Accord/Etc. sized vehicle to have any shot at competing in the US market. Unfortunately we like our "boats" with headroom, seatroom, and room for 3-4 golf bags in the trunk.
-mike
As side topic:
mimousa.com/info/blowerinfo.asp
offers an unusual "supercharger" which is a specially modified electric fan and air filter. I wonder if these actually work ??
On a side note, I installed the SPT Cat-back exhaust tonight on my 05 LGT Wagon and felt a noticeable throttle response from it. I may get an SPT intake which would further boost this. I can't wait to see how it does once the 1,000 mile ECU re-learning period is over with the new exhaust.
-mike
Interesting about the cat-back...will appreciate further info on it as more data develops.
Update on rattles here.
Regarding the battery, the 420CCA in an '08 4EAT Outback, the radio finally reset on me... it was -40 this morning. I even made sure that all accessories, including the headlights, were off when I cranked the starter. *shrugs* It started up just fine, so I am not going to worry about radio presets. If I were keeping the car, I would put a >600CCA battery in it, but I do not feel like this one might strand me as I did with the super-weak battery in the manual '07.
Make sure it's not something in one of the bins. I had an annoying rattle in my van but it turned out to be my coin tray. I found a better place for it and it's quiet.
Just make sure it's not something inside one of the many little storage bins. It may be worth emptying them out and seeing which rattles are still present.
-mike
28.7-32.9 mpg
Nice job, Subaru. :shades:
Similar mileage in the US model would be very tempting. I like the oomph from my Outback's H6, but similar utility & comfort and 30-50% in fuel savings would make me think about it. Imagine what they could do with direct injection, which I told myself I would wait for to have on my next Subie.
In the voice of Captain Kirk:
"Must... hold... out... for... direct... in... jection."
My main issue with the outback is the engine choice. The motor from the Tribeca with direct injection might fix all the limitations they currently have.
A pity Subaru has no hybrids.
-mike
-mike
2018 430i Gran Coupe