Subaru Liberty 2GEN (1993-1999)

Nice smooth old car but the maintenance is crap! – Bought this liberty with 164,000km on the clock. Overall it was a great car drove smooth for its age and had a full service history, but needed lots of work to keep it running efficiently and chewed fuel. Positive: -smooth power steering (better than some new cars!) -hardly worn tyres out as it drove so smooth and suspension was still working efficiently (coils and shocks all OEM for 20 year old car working fine)

-nice and spacious maybe 6 foot people in the back might be cramped if the driver and front passenger is 6 foot but I wouldn't recommend 5 x 6 foot people for long trips, shirt trips is ok. Fine for kids lots of room in the back, but has a 1 ANCAP star rating so for all young families out there maybe go a newer liberty lol.

-can leave lights on and it will turn off when you turn the car off

-Mechanic got tricked thought it was an AWD but its a Front Wheel drive as it handled so good once all the D bars/Stabilizer bars were replaced. Drove my partners mums 2004 Holden Commodore handled worse than our 20 year old liberty even the power steering was tougher, only downside is it was quieter where as the liberty was like a biscuit tin sound

-original radiator still running perfectly!

-A/C was serviced when I bought it was so cold that I had to turn it off/up in the middle of summer due to it being too cold.

-Nice boxer engine sound and smooth with nice torque low end grunt!

-Comfortable seats for around town and highway driving!

-650-700km per tank highway driving one of the best cars to drive on the highway low engine revving 2,400RPM at 110km/h!

-ECU great it was tested for chugging fault but passed was working in perfect order for a 20 year old car.

-No exhaust problems leaks, rust etc still the original exhaust from 20 years ago same as the oxygen sensor was working fine :)

-all electric mirrors and windows working good except for the front passenger it was starting to die but expected for a 20 year old car.

-sounds a lot better engine wise than other 20 year old cars like no tickering, valve problems etc.

-Gear box a bit jumpy from 1st to 2nd gear but got it serviced at a Automatic transmission service center was nothing wrong with it just needed an oil change ran HEAPS smoother from 1st to 2nd not bad at all for an old gearbox

-not bad power for a 20 year old car roughly 10 seconds to 100km/h and with power button on 9.8 seconds to 100km/h. Low end power is very quick responsive good for around town or overtaking power!

-Replaced front brake pads OEM ones so for lasting 20 years that's a low wearing brake pad and no shuttering when braking so rotors are fine and original OEM ones not bad at all for a 20 year old car!

-Location of parts is easy to get to and Subaru have engineered the car well for owners to work on or mechanics as the oil, differential and ATF dip sticks were all labelled yellow and easy to find and check.

-OEM starter motor and alternator working perfectly for 20 years old, alternator a bit noisy but your don't notice.

Negative:

-Chewed fuel like 12-13L perk 100km around town with 98 Octane fuel only lasted 320km per tank on summer days winter was more like 350-380km, 60L fuel tank do the math lol!

-Intermittent chugging and running rough which might and might of been fixed after thousands of dollars of labor and parts fixing known Subaru faults (as listed below)

Also lots of maintenance and work to be done on it for its age like:

-new timing belt kit (timing belt, coolant, hydraulic tensioner and water pump $1,200 later inc labor)

-new fan belts (stop squeaking and A/C being noisy every time we turned it on)

-rebuild of power steering pump and replacement of power steering fluid

-replaced knock sensor (a known Subaru factory fault that makes the car run rough/chug/jump with changing gears in Auto model)

-replaced crank angle sensor (replacing knock sensor didn't fix chugging issue so replaced Crank angle sensor as recommended by our Auto Electrician fixed it for a while but it came back!)

-replaced air flow meter with wreckers one $80. The price on an aftermarket one from Repco was rough $450 and that's if we traded the factory one in to be reconditioned. OEM $800 a joke! (again a known Subaru factory fault that makes the car run rough/chug/jump with changing gears in Auto model)

-replaced 3x CV boots but not shafts as we got to them before the shafts got noisy (known Subaru fault with all Subaru models out there.

- replaced 1 x steering boot not a known fault just because it was an older car

-replaced fuel pump and fuel send receiver unit (did this to try to fix chugging problem but didn't fix it but car ran smoother.)

-every service had to put upper engine cleaner in the Subaru as maintenance to make it run smoother as carbon builds up and can make your Subaru run not good due to the boxer engine. (was recommended to do this by the dealer but didn't fix the chugging issue they were hopeless and blamed our mechanic for not maintaining the car properly when in fact they have a reputation for not fixing cars good! Would not recommend any Subaru dealer unless they're nice and actual want to help you rather than fob you off!)

-OIL LEAKS! If you every get a Subaru check the rear main seal for an oil leak as its known for going over time and in order to fix it you have to pull the engine out being a boxer engine which is HEAVY in labor but little in parts. (we didn't have to do this as there was no problem but our mechanic warned us about this :) )we had to replace the engine seal behind the timing belt as it was old and leaking oil, we had to replace the dip stick oil rings (were nothing in price like $5 but knocked us back for a pink slip :( )

-replaced front and rear D bars/Stabilizer bars as they were worn and old once we replaced this the Subaru handled WAY better our mechanic nearly got tricked as he thought it was an AWD when in fact its a front wheel drive lol.

-replaced hydraulic steering knuckles as they were leaking and worn out

-replaced front radiator hose as it worn out over time

-Fuel gauge was fluctuating and a bit inaccurate but being an old car you expect this with older technology.

-Cabin noisy on the highway, I was running 4 x Michelin Energy XM2 tyres brand new made it a little bit quieter but still a noisy car didn't like it :(

Overall its a great car but its maintenance is crap! Personally once everything is replaced due to age and km wear and tear it runs great! smoother than our newer car we have (2007 Honda CRV) but you have to pay a lot to get it up and running! where as other car brands the maintenance is a lot lower part and labor wise but they aren't as smooth to drive compared to a Subaru.

Nice sporty car and looks great just make sure you monitor the CV boots and joints as they're very costly in parts and labor. Also ensure with this particular model that the Knock sensor and Air flow meter is replaced as they are known faults that have been recalled for its rough running, chugging etc problems. Also ensure the crank angle sensor is replaced as well as the spark plug leads as they mostly fixed our chugging issue it didn't do it again so touch wood it fixed it.

My personal opinion I would buy a Subaru again but something like 3-5 years old as the maintenance wont crap.

If you are looking at a Subaru Liberty make sure all the fluids and filters have been drained, changed and replaced like:

-Oil

-Oil filter

-Power steering fluid

-Transmission fluid

-Differential fluid

-Brake pad fluid

-Coolant

-Air filter

-Fuel filter

Also ensure the timing belt, CV boots have been replaced otherwise you'll be up for $1,500+ to replace them.

And lastly ensure there is no oil leaks, as stating before if the rear main seal is leaking it'll be a lot of labor to pull the engine out just to replace one oil seal, same as stating before we had to replace the timing belt, coolant, hydraulic tensioner and water pump as the front oil seal was leaking and was leaking onto the timing belt cover so to save labor and money it was easier for our mechanic to do it all at once.

Would I recommend this car yes but only if you have a lot of money to keep up the maintenance and driving smoothness/handling. Also if you keep tabs of what has and hasn't been done then I would also recommend this car. Also everything is easy to work on like the location of parts in the engine.

Excellent – A very comfortable car to drive. Very safe and reliable. A pleasure for the driver and passengers. Roomy with some very comfortable seats. Air conditioning is very good. You will finfd that this car is very economical especially on the open road. You will get up to 780km per tank. Tank being 60 litres in size. Everything is easy to reach from the driving position.

It handles very well on the road and the brakes will stop it safely and quickly. This car is value for money and you will find that it is not that expensive to have this car serviced, and it will give you many years of reliable motoring. Comfortable, economical

Now we have 3 subaru's in the family – Overall the car is awesome we have had the original subaru in the family since 2002, it's been a very reliable car, I'd definitely recommend a subaru liberty to anyone. Even our mechanic says hardly anything goes wrong with them. We've even bought a subaru outback as a new car. :) 3rd subaru in the family September 20th 2017 Update: we bought a second hand liberty sedan: an Awesome all wheel drive car

The subaru liberty sedan uses a 2l boxer engine, the horizontal position of the engine ensures a lower centre of gravity and helps stabilise the engine weight within the front of the car.

The all wheel drive works well in all driving conditions, it has ensured that I haven't lost grip in even the most treacherous of city conditions, I have also taken it to the snow without any hassles. very reliable car, hardly anything goes wrong with them, they keep going and going. expensive parts but at least they last.