This said, most North Americans won't know such a trivial bit of designer inside information being that Alfa doesn't even
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| The fit and finish of body panels is top grade, as good as any premium player and better than some. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
sell cars here anymore, at least not yet, and therefore such a thought won't influence the decision to purchase the Tribeca if their personal sense of style happens to allow them into the "love it" camp.Styling aside, the fit and finish of body panels is top grade, as good as any premium player and better than some. The large chrome door handles don't feel quite as substantial as those on some rival crossovers, but they're firmly held in place unlike the wiggling, jiggling latches found on the current Jaguar XJ or new
Hummer H3, for instance.
Open up those doors and an extremely inviting cabin awaits, filled with high quality plastics, stunningly detailed centre stack switchgear and near perfect fit and finish tolerances. Actually, the buttons on the console are so well executed, with the most precise tolerances and top-tier home audio feel that I found myself clicking away just because
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| The buttons on the console are so well executed, with the most precise tolerances and top-tier home audio feel that I found myself clicking away just because they felt good. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
they felt good. Weird? Probably, but that's what I get paid to do. The large metal volume button in the centre is nicely weighted too, with sharply defined increments. The glowing red rings which circle the tachometer and speedometer initially took my breath away, joining additional backlit red switches and knobs to endow the vehicle with a space craft theme. The heating, ventilation and air conditioning controls, three dials that feature high quality metal rings surrounding LCD displays, are especially creative and beautifully executed. My wife, however, found them completely tacky, and she's normally a big Subaru fan. Oh well, you can't please them all, and if Subaru were to try to it would end up with another bland vehicle design.
