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2008 Subaru Tribeca

The 2008 Subaru Tribeca is enjoyable to drive and incorporates a few good tech features. However, it has some real flaws, as well, that could affect your long-term satisfaction with the car.

CNET Reviews staff
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The latest version of Subaru's Tribeca SUV loses the 'B9' designation, gets drastic exterior restyling, and ups the engine power.
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The most radical change is the grille, which has been made to look much more conventional. Very few people were fans of the old design.
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The new design emphasizes simplicity, with no unnecessary cues in front, and neatly framed components, including the grille and the headlights.
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Subaru increased the displacement of the six cylinder boxer style engine from its previous 3 liters up to 3.6 liters, giving it substantially more power.
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With its prominent wheel arches, curved roofline, and small spoiler over the rear window, the Tribeca looks like many other SUVs on the road.
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Its small rear side windows and thick D pillar limit rear visibility. A rear view camera mitigates this problem.
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On our test car, we noticed that it was ready for a trailer hitch. The new engine should give the Tribeca adequate towing power.
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The Tribeca is available with 3rd row seating. In this picture, you can see that there is still cargo space even with the seats up.
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Subaru has a very clean dashboard design that we also saw in the new WRX.
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Although we found the control interface very usable in the Tribeca, the touchscreen is a long reach for the driver.
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The five speed automatic has a Sport mode and a manual selection mode.
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We like how the Tribeca's navigation system makes it easy to set up complex routes.
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The route guidance uses nice, big graphics, making it easy to anticipate upcoming turns. But canceling route guidance involves navigation through a couple of menus.
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We were surprised that the stereo wouldn't show ID3 tags for MP3s, such as album, genre, or artist. It only shows folder and file names.
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The audio quality in the Tribeca wasn't impressive, despite the nine speakers.
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The auxiliary audio input is conveniently placed, letting you store an MP3 player in the center console.
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The rear seat DVD system has good screen resolution.
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We like the different options for trip computer information on the screen, but the mileage it reported wasn't good.
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The rear view camera is a nice, and necessary, feature on the Tribeca.

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