What I was more interested in was planting my right foot on the throttle to enjoy some of that Porsche-like flat-six
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| The engine feels racy if not a bit thrashy in the upper revs and not quite as smooth or quiet as a V8 or well-balanced V6 at idle. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
get-up-and-go. OK, it's not quite Porsche-like unless comparing it to a six-cylinder Cayenne, but it feels racy if not a bit thrashy in the upper revs and not quite as smooth or quiet as a V8 or well-balanced V6 at idle. Subaru introduced the 3.0-litre, horizontally-opposed six-cylinder engine in the Legacy and Outback models, and in Tribeca trim it makes 250-horsepower at 6,600 rpm and 219 lb-ft of torque at 4,200 rpm. I wouldn't say that it is particularly smooth if accelerating quickly, being that its high-revving nature makes finding maximum output a little peaky. And while it goes when called upon, its response is kind of an all or nothing affair. When merging onto a highway, for instance, I'd either have to press the pedal to the floor to wake up the engine and move the SUV forward at a decent clip, or it would lethargically meander up the onramp in an uncommitted manner. Maybe the Subaru engineers dialed in a really soft throttle response to smooth out the shifts, but I think that this is taking it a bit too far. I'd like something in the middle, so that the engine didn't have to rev so high to elicit reasonably quick forward momentum. I have to admit, though, the five-speed automatic transmission is quite seamless. This is one area that the Tribeca has over its Pacifica rival, by the way, as the Chrysler only makes do with a rather outdated four-speed automatic - and I should also mention that the Tribeca's leather-clad shift knob is superbly crafted, its precise clicking metal button making it feel more like a BMW than an entry-level luxury ride. Both transmissions offer manual mode operation, so that the gearbox won't shift up in mid-corner all on its own, but
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| I have to admit, the five-speed automatic transmission is quite seamless. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
this is pretty well standard issue in any vehicle over the $40K mark. Under the $40,000 price point, Ford's Freestyle offers a CVT transmission with no such feature, although this is an extremely efficient gearbox, making the most of the vehicle's rather anemic powerplant and delivering better acceleration than both the Tribeca and Pacifica. The lightest version of the Tribeca, the five-passenger non-Limited model, can manage a reasonable 8.9 seconds to 100 km/h and a top speed of 209 km/h, not that any of us should be driving any faster than this on public roads. The Ford Freestyle accomplishes the same feat in 8.6 seconds, and from a 203-horsepower 3.0-litre V6 with 207 lb-ft of torque no less. The Pacifica accelerates at about the same rate as the Tribeca, if you were wondering.
