Used 2011 Subaru Tribeca Premium SUV Review & Ratings

The most recent arrival to Subaru's stable of crossover SUVs is the exotically titled Tribeca that made its debut in the US in 2005. This middle of the road crossover was named after the equally exotic TriBeCa neighborhood in lower Manhattan in New York City.

There is a lot of conjecture in the trade reviews why Subaru decided to call their new baby after a neighborhood, perhaps trying to send a message that the Tribeca was earmarked to be a town car, as its high fuel consumption might also indicate.

History already shows that the Tribeca didn't get off to the most auspicious of starts, largely due to Subaru's ill -advised collaboration with floundering European car giant Saab, which led to the launch of the B9X concept car on which the Series One Tribeca was based. Reviews of the car were hyper-critical and it wasn't too long before Subaru were back to the drawing board to come up with a vehicle that was more pleasing to the eye with the series Two.

The totally revamped Series Three Subaru Tribeca Premium SUV was pulled out from under the dust covers in 2007 to immediate approval. Aimed towards the medium sized crossover SUV sector of the market, where strong competition in the form of the Toyota Highlander, Audi Q5, Nissan Murano and Ford Edge awaited it, the Tribeca made a strong and instant impression and soon began to clock up sales. There were even trade reviewers who implied that the Tribeca might even be gnawing into the market share of its stable sisters, the Forrester and Outback sales because of its seven seater option.

It might also have been that the SUV buyer was drawn to the Series Three Subaru Tribeca Premium SUV's really interesting design, especially its "out of the box" front, with its impossible slope of a windshield , dominating its very short hood.

For those who were looking for pulling power then the Series Three Subaru Tribeca 2012 Premium SUV certainly had plenty of that to offer too. With a 3.6-liter, 256 horsepower, six-cylinder, horizontally opposed cylinder engine boxer engine under the hood, accompanied by a five speed automatic gearbox to take care of the Tribeca Premium SUV's all-wheel drive (AWD).

To sum up, after a shaky start, the Series Tree Subaru Tribeca 2012 Premium SUV has all that it takes to provide a smooth and safe ride in any conditions.