Just been away for a couple of nights. The hotel was spread out and it had a few lodges in the grounds. Lodge owners were ferried around in a Subaru Tribeca - first time I've seen one and knew little of them. Now realise why I don't see many - 3.0 petrol auto and £30K+ new. Not too sure about the front end look, but it looked very well appointed inside.
Whilst looking at the Subaru website I also saw they still do the Justy - has anyone seen a new one? They never get a mention when someone is looking for a supermini - any reason why?
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The Justy has only just been launched again after an absence. It is a clone of the Daihatsu Sirion, FWD now, being sold as a 'green' alternative.
Justy will only sell 1000 a year so will never grow on trees anyway. Good cars though if you know they exist but more pricey than Daihatsu version with only 5 year warranty to separate it.
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"It is a clone of the Daihatsu Sirion"
I thought it looked familiar.
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Justy has a 5 yr warranty to match the Daihatsu
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Absolutely right about both the Tribeca and the Justy. I've yet to see a Tribeca on the road.
Mind you I was followed by VW's new Freelander looky-likey the Tiguan (?) today - what a munter! It's like Kia nicked the early design drawings for the front end of a PT Cruiser and decided to give it bit of a butch-over.
I was a bit surprised to see on an 08 plate that one headlamp was already out of line.
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I asked the dealer about the Tribeca when I bought my Forester - I asked if they sold any and he laughed and said, er , no. Its just a talking piece for the showroom.
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There is some sort of timeline table here...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subaru_BRAT
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In 1970 I was in Saudi Arabia and saw my first Subaru = it looked a bit like the Daihatsu minivans/pickups of today but was mini MPV -
600cc air cooled (IIRC) and it seated 6/7
Samba or something like that was the model - it apparently also sold with a 360cc engine in some areas.
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I used to love the SVX just for looking futuristic and having those weird two part windows. It couldn't half shift for a car of that size, but was dogged by overheating problems.
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I have seen a couple of Tribecas and they are beautifully appointed internally, but the competition is fierce and most people looking for a 5 + 2 seater would by the Volvo XC90 or equivalent with a diesel engine. The Outback sells (in small numbers admittedly) because it has little competition.
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The tribeca was obviously born for the US market . Subarus there seem to a more widespread cult following especially among "liberal" educated types (as did Volvos but perhaps less so now) whereas in the UK it seems more the rural dwellers without necessarily the latte/PhD accoutrements. So to the latter excessively practical types they probably saw the Tribeca as a bit unnecessary especially as the dogs would probably make a mess of the lovely interior.
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Subrau were rightly criticised for the Tribeca being ugly - apparently there is a facelift due to resolve this fairly soon - not the usual 3 yr wait.
Ugly + no Diesel + overpriced it was doomed in the UK.
All the Subaru dealers should have a Tribeca Demo car just like Honda dealers have a Legend but it still makes little difference toi the number on the road.
The Legend is not ugly but not German + no diesel + overpriced will see few on UK roads.
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