This is one of the most radical facelifts I’ve seen on a car model yet, changing from something radical into something not so radical. This is the face of the facelifted Subaru B9 Tribeca, transforming it into something that looks not bad at all, a huge improvement from it’s previous fascia that looked like something out of a horror movie.
The new Subaru B9 Tribeca gets Subaru’s new nose identity, also seen on the recent new Version 10 Subaru Impreza. The new nose is executed alot better on the new Tribeca than it is on the Impreza. Even the round Porsche-like headlamps have been dropped for more conventional ones. It looks like there are no re-used body panels from the old to the new, except for perhaps the roof.
Not only has the exterior been updated, but the Subaru B9 Tribeca gets a new engine under the hood too. The new 6-cylinder normally aspirated boxer engine now has 3.6 litres of displacement, and puts out 256 horsepower, up slightly from the previous engine’s 250 horsepower. Torque is now rated at a peak of 335Nm at 4,400rpm, up from 297Nm at 4,200rpm. Why the small gain? This is because the new engine is tuned to run on regular-grade fuel, while the previous engine needed premium fuel. The gearbox remains a 5-speed unit but it’s logic has been tweaked for better shifting.
More photos after the jump.
After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history. An avid electronic gadget aficionado as well as big-time coffee lover, he's also the executive producer of the Driven motoring TV programme.
Now THIS is definately an improvement! Like Subaru hired the right guy for the design job.
If only he had come sooner, The Impreza 10 would not have been such a sack of shit…..
Is it me or does the front look a bit like savvy…. XD
Din, I suspect it's the same guy who worked on both cars.
This one definitely looks better, not that the old one is ugly, I sure think the previous version has some resemblance to the old Alfas.
for me it still an outdated design compared to what honda, porche and vw have done…
cant say much about the interior..i really hate nowadays big car players are using cream or beige colour as their main scheme..(just my opinion la..)
Din said,
April 3, 2007 @ 11:39 pm
Now THIS is definately an improvement! Like Subaru hired the right guy for the design job.
If only he had come sooner, The Impreza 10 would not have been such a sack of shit…..
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YOU CALL THAT IMPROVEMENT? DON'T LET ME SEE YOU POST HERE AGAIN.
Paul, this is not the most shocking facelift, it's also the lamest, more so than Fiat's facelift Multipla and Punto MKII.
I prefer the flying vagina. this looked so Korean …
Would you rather have the Tribeca looking like it did the last model. Can you even see the ugly minimized picture of the model in the picture? That was a total disaster.
I think even Subaru were thinking (no, screaming) to themselves "Quickly buy it and get it out of our showrooms before other people see it, its hideous."
This new B9 Tribeca looks better than the old one, the old one's rear is really ugly, someone may like it, but not for me…
oh… really looks like hyundai's santa fe… not a really good exterior improvement…. at least tat's wat i think…
jasonlow said,
April 4, 2007 @ 6:55 am
oh… really looks like hyundai’s santa fe… not a really good exterior improvement…. at least tat’s wat i think…
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Agree. The front look like the Santa Fe, and Santa Fe look better.
But the back view and interior look OK, especially the T-shape interior dash bord design..
Now Subaru just play safe..
w_lighter said,
April 3, 2007 @ 11:40 pm
Is it me or does the front look a bit like savvy…. XD
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Er….do you know how a savvy looks like????
Last Tribeca was a Murano gone hideously WRONG. New one is good. Most people are more fairly conservative. bear in mind this is probably targetted at the North American market. They should have learnt a lesson from the GM/Pontiact Aztec. Being different doesn;t always work…especially for a people carrier.
You know what would look really good as an Impreza, a 8/10 scale Saab 9-3 Sedan and wagon with AWD…
, Just change the grill, add a hood scoop, and bulge up the fenders.
Saab used the previous Impreza turbo as the Saab 9-2.. maybe this time it shoudl be the other way around, since from the looks of it, Subaru has hired pretty lame designers.
Nah that is what you call Modify a look that's most ppl prefer.
Unique shape might not be good sometime, Subaru designer now is FORCED to change his dreams shape to NORMAL look. He/She might be sad and maybe had been FIRED by Subaru or FROZEN his works forever.
About the new look, OUTDATED!! once again OUT!! SUbaru is Out again, looks more like TOYOTA.
Unbelieveable! Someone at Subaru HQ shd get the axe for pulling a stunt so drastically. With such a quick facelifted on a newly launched car, it's an utter public admission that the pig nose design is a failure! Sharpen the axe!!
It looks so Korean, but still beats the pig nose. Subaru needs a serious designer to justify the good cars they produced. C'mon Subie, even Kia has better designs these days! Judging from the prototypes they have released anyway. Subies seem to be the only dinasour (maybe Mitsubitshi is also) left in this modern design world.
they dont have the balls, do they?
listen to much to richard hammonds, jeremy clarkson, james may, me, you, and alot more, saying the old looks are very-very hideous.
subaru people should stood firm on what ever they believe. in fact, if they dont believe the old face is ugly, then why they do that?
balls. its about balls.
That's more like it.
Personally, Subaru got it all wrong with the facelifted Tribeca. The previous version looked awkward (flying vagina) but that is how people would differentiate a Subaru from other brands.
Now the facelifted Tribeca looks so common. Had they not put the round Subaru logo onto of the front grill, I would have mistaken it for the a Hyundai Santa Fe.
"About the new look, OUTDATED!! once again OUT!! SUbaru is Out again, looks more like TOYOTA."
Of course it looks more like Toyota..since Toyota is one of its partner right now…Even KIA go for their european design centre to run away from korean looks on its car design..so that it can be acceptable worldwide….anyway to me it still looks like korean design vehicle rather than Toyota..
the front grille makes it look like a chrysler……….
Seriously, why is subaru goin down the hill like that? When they launched the bug-eye wrx, that was so bad i tot they can nvr go beyond that bad after taking so much sticks from the majority.
Luckly the ver 8 looks true to it's philosophy … muscular, macho and tough. Then suddenly they come out with the softy and nearly gentlemenly ver 9 even when they ver 8 is still endearing to the eyes. There was nearly no demand for a ver 8 replacement at all then.
Now, prematurely they are goin to launch a replacement model with the ver 10 again. Not only it looks more sissy than the 9, the bug-eye suddenly looks so interesting for the 1st time! All thanks to the damned ugly, so sissy 10. What's goin on with their marketing? worse, their designing?
I love the wrx so much that i can never imagine owning an evo even when i can afford 1. They are a pure bred racing car. It has so much DNA innit that 1 cannot mistaken it from anything else … even when you can only hear but not see it. That is the very reason i always open up my window to hear that roaring engine.
So what the heck are they doin now? Has Mitsu secretly bought them up and out of ego, killing it slowly and softly? I cannot imagine how shitty the nxt subaru will look like. A flying d*** to complement the ver 9 perhaps?
Something is wrong with the design team in Subaru.
i don have negative comments on this machine but i find tat the rear looks like the touareg… copying or wat subaru? hey… ur new impreza looks worse than before… i wan the flying vagine impreza!!!
the subaru design teams sure knew that their trademark triple grill at the front is ugly.they now dont even have a new trademark design! this tribeca looks pretty boring.whats happen to Subaru?!
It certainly looks more palatable than the hannibal lecter grill BUT the design is very much Chevy-Daewoo. Maybe Subaru has employeed the Daewoo designer coz the new Impreza sure looks like a Daewoo!!!
daymn…wonder how subaru design team gonna spoil their Forrester yeah!