Not that it didn't impress from the get go, which was south of Market Street in San Francisco. From there, through the streets and across the Golden Gate, up U.S. 101 a ways, then over to the coast and up to a lunch stop along the eastern shore of Tomales Bay, the Tribeca never disappointed. Actually, it quite impressed. Multi-lane, divided highways passed under its impressively quiet tires as smoothly and as rapidly as did winding, switchback-laden two-lanes.

Credit for the smooth ride goes to the high degree of refinement Subaru's engineers have achieved in development of the horizontally opposed, six-cylinder engine. As with other SUVs, there is some road vibration. Credit for the Tribeca's nimble handling goes to the relatively low center of gravity that comes with that essentially flat engine placed low in the chassis. The Tribeca is no lightweight at 4,400 pounds, and it feels bigger than it looks, but it handles surprisingly well. By way of comparison, the Tribeca's track, which is the distance between the tires side to side, is fully two inches narrower than the Nissan Murano's track, and they're the same height. And the Tribeca tracked through the same series of tight, left-right-left transitions as the Murano with less body lean and at measurably higher rates of travel. The steering is accurate, though a little slow.

Passing power came on immediately with only slight pressure on the gas. Shifts up and down were managed almost invisibly; even when executed manually through the SportShift, there was only the slightest interruption in the energy flow. Speaking of the manual characteristics of the SportShift, the Tribeca will shift up a gear at engine redline; it will not, however, drop down a gear without the driver tapping the lever forward. Fuel economy isn't a standout feature, however. The Tribeca earns an EPA rating of just 18/23 mpg City/Highway.

Brake feel was not ideal, or at least not to our liking; it wasn't truly linear, but somewhat spongy. And the steering column was offset a smidgen to the right, toward the centerline of the vehicle. We're used to this awkwardness in GM vehicles but were surprised to find it in a Subaru.

When our time with the Tribeca came to an end, we were sorry to see it go. Not in the same way we sometimes are with a Porsche, a Dodge Ram SRT/10 or a BMW, but because we really could see ourselves owning the Tribeca and being quite content with life as a one-car household.