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The Liberty has been one of the longest serving models in the local Subaru line-up, and the four-door medium sedan has undergone something of a resurgence in recent years.
The company dropped the wagon variant in favour of the similar but more SUV-like Outback in the early part of the 2010s, and a period of… let's just say 'interesting' styling choices set it back. A brand new, much more contemporary look, along with deep price revisions, helped to put the all-wheel drive Liberty back on the map.
Current prices range from $20,900 to $36,080 for the Liberty 2.5I AWD Vision Plus Spec Edtn and Liberty Final Edition
The Liberty is offered with a 2.5-litre four-cylinder or 3.6-litre six-cylinder engine, both in Subaru's signature 'boxer' configuration where the pistons lie flat.
This vehicle is also known as The Subaru Liberty is also known as Isuzu Aska (first generation only), Legacy in markets outside Australia..
Any vehicle of this age has to be approached on an individual basis. It’s likely to have covered a lot of kilometres by now, so any major (or minor) component could be well past its best.
Any Subaru transmission that doesn’t shift properly or is slow to engage a gear or shudders under acceleration needs to be either investigated further or avoided completely. Don’t forget that the Liberty was all-wheel-drive, so that places extra strain on the transmission as well as making for a more complex arrangement if it does need to be repaired or replaced.
In high-performance Subarus (such as the WRX) the transmission was something of a fuse if the driver got a bit over-enthusiastic, but in models like the Liberty, the four-speed automatic was a sound unit. When test driving the vehicle, make sure there are no thumps or vibrations when the gearbox shifts down, and try to shift gears manually. The gearbox should respond instantly to manual input, without any hesitation or noise.
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I would use the factory recommended oil, at least while the car is under warranty. Once the warranty has expired you could use the Mobil oil and shouldn’t experience any problems.
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In going order it’s worth $7000-$9000 depending on condition, so you have to consider if it’s worth spending $5000 on it to get it back on the road. It’s eight years old, has done 180,000 km, it’s probably best to sell it to a wrecker if you can get $2000 for it.
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The Subaru Liberty has a purposeful interior. As these images show, its simple dashboard is highlighted by a central touchscreen multimedia system, while gloss-black trim can be found either side. There's plenty of supple leather, too, so it's a nice space to be in when going on a long drive.
The following Subaru Liberty is available with five seats. The 2.5i AWD variant comes with Black cloth seat trim. The 2.5i Premium and 3.6R AWD variants both come with the option of either Black or Ivory leather seat trim.