KEY POINTS:
In some sense, Subaru New Zealand must be wishing it had never even bothered launching the first-generation Tribeca. The made-in-America, made-for-America seven-seater was already 18 months old before it reached our tiny export market.
It carried highly controversial styling (remember that awkward-looking aircraft-inspired grille?) that was already a
thing of the past for the design department, and the car carried enough kerb weight to reduce the 3.0-litre boxer-six engine and five-speed transmission to tears.
It hardly wowed the buying public. While Subaru New Zealand boss Chris Rickards claims the previous model's sales total of 105 units was a "good result", it's still only about half of the distributor's initial sales projection of 15 per month.
That's the bad news. And it gets worse for that select club of first-gen Tribeca owners, because the heavily facelifted model has been launched in New Zealand just 14 months after the original appeared. Did somebody say depreciation?
But from here, the news is mostly good. Subaru has listened to every complaint about the Tribeca and acted accordingly. The result is rather good, and it's on sale at a slightly lower price than the old one.
Forget the run-out window stickers on the last of the previous model and the new Tribeca is $2000 cheaper than the old one at $67,990.
You're unlikely to fall in love with the big Sube's styling, which is still very American but also completely uncontroversial. The massive chrome grill and enlarged rear lights make it look like a high-riding people mover, which is really what the Tribeca is, despite its off-road pretensions. And the new look succeeds in disguising the car's bulk.
The new 3.6-litre engine is the key to the car's success. On paper, the gains look modest - there's just 6 per cent more power than the old, and the engine is still mated to a five-speed automatic gearbox.
There's no sign of a six-speeder and certainly no sign of the gimmicky twist-and-click SI Drive powertrain management system that's available on the smaller Legacy.
But in reality, the Tribeca doesn't need any of that stuff. There's 18 per cent more torque in the new powerplant and it shifts the big fella along quite nicely.
Even on big hills there's little sign of a struggle, the five-speed transmission holding station nicely. In the previous car, the suggestion of a decent incline would have the gearbox hunting furiously as the powertrain went all-out to maintain the desired forward motion.
Even better, the gruntier, more relaxed new powertrain is also a good deal more thrifty. Official Australian Design Rules (ADR) figures put the new Tribeca at 11.6 litres per 100km versus 12.4 for the old vehicle.
But I would suggest the real-world improvement much higher.
In the old Tribeca I struggled to get below 14 litres per 100km on a trip, but the new one got me from Taupo to Auckland at just 12.1 litres per 100km.
A more careful and mechanically sympathetic colleague did the same trip and dipped to less than 11.0 litres per 100km. That's not bad for a two-tonne-plus seven-seater.
Not that Subaru calls it such. The company still refers to the Tribeca as a "5+2", an acknowledgement - which few rivals make - that the third-row seating is strictly occasional.
There's no more room in the new car - in fact the cabin architecture is pretty much carried over - but access to the cheap seats is vastly improved with a tilt-and-slide control on the second-row seats, including an "assist spring" that reduces the effort needed to slide the second row seat. Grab handles on the lower C-pillar also ease entry and exit of third row seats.
Add in some detail touches, such as the addition of colour graphics to the centre-console information screen a much-needed reversing camera (rear visibility was never brilliant), and old favourites, such as full leather trim and a roof-mounted DVD player for kids and big kids in the back, and Subaru finally has the makings of a competitive and rather appealing full-size crossover.
