2009 Subaru Tribeca review

Not since the Pontiac Aztek has an SUV been so heavily criticized for its appearance as was Subaru's B9 Tribeca when it debuted. For 2008, Subaru has replaced the controversial grille that became the crossover SUV's defining characteristic, tweaked its overall appearance and increased the size and power of its horizontally opposed six-cylinder engine. Subaru has also dropped the B9 portion of the model's name.

The updates make the Tribeca a better SUV than it was before. However, significant ergonomic and visibility problems and an only-adequate new engine mean that even though the styling blunder has been corrected, the Tribeca still has some catching up to do in the midsize-crossover segment.

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AT and CVT models
CAUTION If you restart the engine while the vehicle is moving, shift the select lever into the “N” position. Do not attempt to place the select lever of a moving vehicle into the “P” position. 1 ...

Headlight beam leveler (if equipped)
The vehicle has High-Intensity Discharge (HID) headlights on the low beam setting. The HID headlights generate more light than conventional halogen headlights. Therefore a driver of an oncoming ve ...

Vehicle finder function
Use this function to find your vehicle parked among many vehicles in a large parking lot. Provided you are within 30 feet (10 meters) of the vehicle, pressing the “” button three times in a 5-second p ...