2015 Subaru Liberty unveiled

Subaru has officially taken the wraps off the new sixth-generation Liberty mid-size sedan, with its Legacy-badged US cousin making an appearance at the Chicago motor show this week.

The new model’s styling had already been uncovered after images leaked online earlier this week, but Subaru has now confirmed several new details.

Revealed in sedan only for now, the new Liberty is 51mm longer than the fifth-generation model (now 4796mm), 60mm wider at 1840mm, and 5mm lower at 1500mm, riding on the same 2750mm wheelbase.

Building on the styling of the current Impreza, Forester and the recently unveiled WRX, Subaru describes the new Liberty’s more sculptured body as “muscularity with agility.”

Also like the Impreza and Forester, the new Liberty’s A-pillars have been moved forward and the wing mirrors relocated to the doors to improve driver visibility.

The extra body width and improved packaging has resulted in improvements to occupant shoulder, elbow, waist and rear leg room within the all-new interior.

The Liberty’s chassis has been revised with greater use of high-strength steel for improved rigidity, and revised suspension geometry for improved dynamics and ride quality, while Active Torque Vectoring has been added to direct torque more effectively to each wheel.

The existing 2.5-litre four and 3.6-litre six-cylinder boxer petrol engines are carried over for the new model, with several revisions to improve driveability and efficiency of the all-wheel drive lineup.

For the 2.5-litre, US specs suggest outputs of 130kW/236Nm (up 3kW/1Nm), but mid-range torque has been improved, along with undisclosed fuel economy gains.

Six-cylinder models now come paired with a CVT auto like existing four-cylinder option, stepping up from the five-speed torque converter unit used with the current six.

US specs claim outputs of 190kW/335Nm (down 1kW/15Nm), while a new ECU combines with the new transmission to also result in an undisclosed fuel consumption improvement.

On the safety front, the new Liberty is available with a revised EyeSight driver assistance system that gains reversing radar for the first time, along with blind-spot detection, rear cross-traffic alert, plus active cornering lights. The side airbags are now a two-chamber design, and the curtain airbags now cover a larger area.

This reporter is on Twitter: @Mal_Flynn