Peaty
08-01-2009, 08:21 AM
Just got back last week from our first official road trip in the Tribeca. We went to Michigan (from Kansas) to my wife's family reunion. The Tribeca is my wife's ride so I don't typically spend this much time in the car. We packed all are crap, er um stuff in the car including my two kids. I liked the fact that I was able to get everything in the back and not need the roof box like we did with our Outback when we had it. I plugged one of those refrigerator coolers in the back for our drinks. It's nice that there are two outlets in the back because we used one for the fridge and the other for an inverter so my son could play games on his laptop. I did most of the driving and was pretty happy with the way the Tribeca rode over the highway, pretty quiet and comfortable. Normally we use mid grade gas but on long trips I like to use premium. Seems up Michigan way you can get 93 oct but here in KS best we can do is 91 :( I was very happy with the MPG on the highway, going about 70 -75 ish the best we did was 24.3 which is not bad with all things considered. AC on and all the stuff in the car. When we got into construction the milage went to more like 22.5 still not bad. I could safely get 300 miles out of a tank with maybe 2-3 gallons to spare.
At the end of our trip, the longest leg from Chicago (after visiting friends) back home I got in the back to take a nap and watch the DVD system with my kid. It's nice how the seatback reclines as far as it does and the DVD is pretty nice. First time I really watched anything on it other to be sure it was working. I wish the headphones were a little more comfortable though, they are kind of tight on the head.
Anyway, all in all I think the Tribeca is a pretty good long distance vehicle.
One bit of drama that happened was while going around Chicago in some major traffic that was moving along quickly, a dump truck blew a left rear retread a few car lengths up and to the right. I was in the far left lane and saw the tire blow and throw up a 5-6 foot long retread way in the air, it was heading right for our windscreen and scared the poop out of me. Luckily there was a large area between the K wall in the median and the far left lane, I swerved to the left avoiding a smashed windscreen but the retread did manage to hit roof on the right rear where the roof starts to curve down to the rear window. Scuffed the paint and left a small (but noticeable to me) 4" indentation. Not happy about that but not much I can do and all things considered could have been a lot worse I suppose. Gotta l love how well Scoobies do in a panic situation though...
At the end of our trip, the longest leg from Chicago (after visiting friends) back home I got in the back to take a nap and watch the DVD system with my kid. It's nice how the seatback reclines as far as it does and the DVD is pretty nice. First time I really watched anything on it other to be sure it was working. I wish the headphones were a little more comfortable though, they are kind of tight on the head.
Anyway, all in all I think the Tribeca is a pretty good long distance vehicle.
One bit of drama that happened was while going around Chicago in some major traffic that was moving along quickly, a dump truck blew a left rear retread a few car lengths up and to the right. I was in the far left lane and saw the tire blow and throw up a 5-6 foot long retread way in the air, it was heading right for our windscreen and scared the poop out of me. Luckily there was a large area between the K wall in the median and the far left lane, I swerved to the left avoiding a smashed windscreen but the retread did manage to hit roof on the right rear where the roof starts to curve down to the rear window. Scuffed the paint and left a small (but noticeable to me) 4" indentation. Not happy about that but not much I can do and all things considered could have been a lot worse I suppose. Gotta l love how well Scoobies do in a panic situation though...