Used 2011 Subaru Tribeca Limited SUV Review & Ratings

The Subaru Tribeca Limited SUV made its debut into the middle weight crossover SUV market in 2005, with little fanfare but high expectations. Designed and produced with the US market in mind, the Tribeca label even had American origins, stemming from the lower Manhattan, New York City neighborhood of TriBeCa, an abbreviation of the "Triangle below Canal Street". There doesn't appear to be any logical explanation why Subaru named their new baby the Tribeca, so it must have been an inspirational idea from their US marketing department.

Based on Subaru's highly successful Legacy design, the Tribeca Limited SUV got off to a kind of rocky start when it first hit the dealerships. Industry feedback were less than ecstatic, with the Tribeca Limited SUV earning particularly scathing reviews largely as a result of its highly unusual design, based on the European Saab X9 super car concept.

With sales almost non-existent, Subaru gave the the Tribeca Series Two Crossover Limited SUV a top to toe re-design. Pretty soon the Tribeca began to find its feet in the highly competitive medium sized SUV sector, competing for its share of the market against such powerful competition as the Ford Edge, Audi Q5, Nissan Murano and the Toyota Highlander. One of its edges was that the Tribeca offered seating for seven passengers, a fact that industry reviewers even suggested may have taken sales from other members of the Subaru SUV stable such as the Outlook and the Forrester.

Distinctive because of its sharply sloping windshield and very short hood, giving the Tribeca Limited SUV a distinct mini-van look, especially when viewed from the bonnet end. However under that bonnet, the Tribeca packs a lot of power in the form of a 3.6-liter six-cylinder, horizontally opposed cylinder engine boxer six with 256 horsepower to pull it along. Standard on the Series Three Subaru Tribeca 2012 Limited SUV is a flexible five speed Subaru Sport Shift automatic with manual shift-gate as well as all-wheel drive (AWD).

The Series Three Tribeca Limited SUV has all the credentials to be a first class off road vehicle, and it is not slow in presenting them. To say that it copes well with the toughest of challenges off the road is an understatement. Anyone looking for exceptional fuel consumption won't find it in the Tribeca, with an uninspiring average of sixteen miles per gallon in the city and twenty miles per gallon on the highway being reported in most reviews. On the upside, in relation to the other Subaru SUVs, the Tribeca Limited SUV offers a very quiet drive with first class road handling.