New car for my wife - what exactly is it??!

[mrgnluke]

Hey there!

My wife flipped her SP20 a few weeks ago and we've since been looking for a replacement. I'm obviously a Suby man and would love to get her one but the ones in our price range are not to her taste, which is very important

I have found a 2.0R Liberty sedan which is going very cheap and I'm wondering if anyone can help me discipher what variant it is...

According to Redbook, the base, base, base model only has the 16" rims, etc but this one has the 5 spoke 17s, foglights and a sunroof. (Sunroof is probably an added extra). However foglights weren't on the base variant if I'm correct.

I'm usually good with these things (give me any gen2 or 3 and I could tell you what year it was made!) but I'm just not up to scratch with the Gen4s yet!

Here is the link to the car in question

http://www.bestbuyautos.com.au/stock_li ... n/4638064/


I know the 2.0L is the gutless engine but it will be travelling a few mins per day to the train station and back, plus cruising around on the weekends.

Cheers

Morgan

[sheppo9]

Stock as a rock 2.0R Morg's.
Actually, it's got that hektik Momo shift knob.

[mihai]

I could be wrong here, but personally, I don't think it is a 2.0i.

Reasons being, the 2.0i never came with Auto climate control on the pre-facelift models, only ever had the knob heating/AC controls. Also didn't come with fog lights or sunroof's on the pre-facelifts. And the 2.0i only had single muffler, not double mufflers like the 2.5i's.
To be honest, I don't think the 2.0R facelifts came with sunroof's either.

If you havn't actually gone to inspect the vehicle, I'd strongly suggest doing so as it may actually be a 2.5i Saftey. (Which I am pretty certain it is)

2.5i Safety came with foglights, sunroof, auto climate control and seat airbags (you can see the SRS Airbag tag on the side of the drivers seat when looking at the back seat image)

[mrgnluke]

Thats exactly what I wanted to hear! And I had the same incling myself.

17" rims, foggies, sunroof - it just doesn't match the description! I also saw the twin pipes last night and it made me wonder!

Mrs and I are up and attem. Going to inspect the car this morning.

This could be a winner I think!

[mihai]

Let us know how it goes at inspection.

[sheppo9]

After actually looking at the ad properly - the VIN says it's a 2.5l too.

[mrgnluke]

Well, it was great - from a distance!!!

Turns out it was the 2.5L but they had no idea! Full climate control, airbags, foggies, working sunroof, 17" 5 spoke alloys, MOMO gear knob, etc.
It was surprisingly zippy too. I believe I have the same engine in my Outback (open for correction) but the extra weight in my Gen3 really adds up! When I can afford it, I will definitely upgrade to a Gen4

Unfortunately, because the car was on sale (down from $12,999 to $10,990), they would not budge in price. My budget was $10k and I'm sticking to it! Lol!

From a simple inspection, here is what I noticed:

Exterior -

-Massive scratch (reaching the white undercoat) on the front passenger door.
-Bulge in the rear bumper. Looks like they've hit something but it hasn't cracked the paint ...yet!
-Grille finish was worn. Ebay has alot of second hand grilles atm but I wasn't expecting to do this to a 5 year old car!
-Front bar needed a respray. RH corner was splattered with stone chips. Don't know how the previous owner achieved that?
-RHS of front bar was popped out of it's clips. Perhaps they ran into something spikey and thats how the previous point was acheived?!
-Tyres needed replacing fairly soon
-Various scraches and grazes around the body - more than expected for it's age

Interior -

-Centre console lid was absolutely rooted and doesn't sit properly.
-Rear cup holder hinge was snapped
-MOMO gear knob was filthy, worn and peeling
-Steering wheel was worn
-187k kms (was told 180k but I see 187 as 190!)
-Trim parts were becoming unclipped
-Tinting on rear windscreen was completely blue!

Other -

-Rego is due in less than a month
-Needed an oil change (at least)
-It had the owners manual and a few recepits but no log books


Sure, I may be picky with my cars, but how does a 5 year old car get this damaged?!
It seemed to drive really well but with all the money I would have to put into it, I decided not to take this risk...

[Kekotic]

-187k kms (was told 180k but I see 187 as 190!)

I can only comment on Impreza 2.5 RS but if it hasn't been immaculately looked after, it's not a great engine at 200,000km. I'm only commenting from my dads car and not having driven 500 other 2.5 Subaru's at those KM's, so please don't take it out of context and tell me I'm "wrong".
Always serviced on time plus my dad did oil changes himself inbetween service intervals, but the car feels pretty shit nowadays after so many km's.

If your budget is 10k you might need to wait a while longer until a car comes along that is suitable.
Are you going to have enough for a service + new tyres + insurance + rego?

Because if you are looking at cars of that model, you are probably going to be looking at all of the above for 10k or less.....from a dealership anyway. Might get lucky with private sale......but it's not something you can count on.

[mrgnluke]

That's the thing, I wasn't really looking at Gen4s because they are simply out of our price range!
I just noticed this one on ebay and thought I'd check it out.

When looked after, Subaru engines will last well into 400,000kms and I know of plenty that have. My Outback is currently sitting on 186k and drives beautifully. I look after it meticulously and get it serviced every 10k. Every time I pick up the car after a service, the guy tells me there is "nothing to check for next time." Easy philosophy, look after your car and it'll look after you!

I was talking to the guy in the yard this morning and pointed at my 01 Outback. I said, see that over there? It was made in 2001 and is in incredible condition. Your Liberty is 5 years old and after 10 mins of looking at it, I can tell you X amount of things wrong with it. Blah blah blah.

I walked away :p

[Dropz]

Just one thing I'd like to add - only the very early gen4s ('03 production and early '04) had the knobs for the a/c from about July '04 they switched all gen4s to auto climate control. I was intrigued by this at work some time back when I noticed some pre-face lifts had auto and some didn't, I asked one of the senior techs who confirmed it for me.

[Robbks]

Just one thing I'd like to add - only the very early gen4s ('03 production and early '04) had the knobs for the a/c from about July '04 they switched all gen4s to auto climate control. I was intrigued by this at work some time back when I noticed some pre-face lifts had auto and some didn't, I asked one of the senior techs who confirmed it for me.

This happens a lot, different revisions within a "series"
in this case it was the difference between the MY04 production run (july 2003 to july2004) and the MY05
or RevA and RevB
you may notice that the JapanParts website used Revisions to work out what parts fit what.

Gen4 had Rev A/B/C as the pre-facelift models (Series1)
and Rev D/E/F as the facelifted models (Series2)

[Dropz]

Yeah, they revise them every year, with little tweaks.

Like the Gen5 Liberty's electronic handbrake. They revised it in 2011 to make it quieter as the 2010 models were fairly noisy.

[teK--]

To be honest for $10K you would have to go to a wholesaler's auction to pick up a decent Gen 4. On private market I'd be looking at a well maintained gen 3 2.5L. Or if you are lucky a moderate mileage 100-150KKms 2.0L gen 4.

That one you looked at doesn't sound like it's been very well looked after!

[Dropz]

I got my Gen4 for $11,500 from a used car dealer, but apparently it was classed as a wholesale car, hence the price not being nearer to $15,000. Which was the cheapest private seller Gen4 I saw at the time I bought mine.

Gen3's are becoming alot more affordable nowadays, also the pre-bug WRX's are becoming very cheap in their older age, however most are ~150,000kms + but can still be found in good nic.

[AWDDave]

Have you considered these? 170klms or 190klms is really nothing, compared to the 400~500klms I've seen... I know, because I use to have one

http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/private/details.aspx?R=9986401&keywords=4GEN&tsrc=allcarhome&__Ntk=CarAll&__Nne=15&__Dx=mode%20matchany&__D=4GEN&silo=1011&seot=1&__sid=12E774686CBF&__N=1216%201246%201247%201252%201282%204294963801%204294963605&__Ns=pCar_PriceSort_Decimal|0||pCar_RankSort_Int32|1||pCar_Make_String|0||pCar_Model_String|0&__Qpb=1&__Ntx=mode%20matchallpartial&Cr=3&__Ntt=4GEN&trecs=859

http://www.carsales.com.au/all-cars/private/details.aspx?R=10249859&keywords=4GEN&tsrc=allcarhome&__Ntk=CarAll&__Nne=15&__Dx=mode%20matchany&__D=4GEN&silo=1011&seot=1&__sid=12E774686CBF&__N=1216%201246%201247%201252%201282%204294963801%204294963605&__Ns=pCar_PriceSort_Decimal|0||pCar_RankSort_Int32|1||pCar_Make_String|0||pCar_Model_String|0&__Qpb=1&__Ntx=mode%20matchallpartial&Cr=8&__Ntt=4GEN&trecs=859