club.liberty.asn.au

So for some reason i've been building up my expectations of the 2.5GT gen 4 Libertys because i was due to be allowed to drive turbos, So i was about to go and trade my 2008 3.0r b-spec for a 2008 GT wagon.

But i went to the go for a test drive first (at least i got to go on my own ) i have never been so disappointed! i hated everything about it!!!

-turbo spooled way too late plus barely any boost,
-felt like i was driving a corolla until i hit 4000rpm
-also the boost didn't even suit the gearing, i took off hard an 1st changed into 2nd once i hit the limiter and there was still lag for a split second making it feel pretty crap. i'm not going to buy a car then have to spend $1000+ straight away to give it a decent tune so i decided to stick to my 3.0R

Driving home in my 3.0r felt so good, i really wonder how many GT owners would have driven the 3.0r's and visa-versa? i have a feeling people underestimate how quick the 3.0R's are!!

wanting to know if any other 3.0R owners have driven GT and what they thought?


P:S i may have just had a shit GT if i drive another one and it feels different then ill mention it.

Something sounds a bit off with that GT... it should hit boost waaaay before 4000rpm. Its a tiny turbo so doesn't take long to spool up. Out of curiosity, are you certain you had the car in sport sharp? They do feel a bit sluggish when theyre in the other 2 modes. Either way youre right, theyre no rocket ship when stock.

I looked at buying a 3.0r when I was buying my GT. From factory theyre very similar performance! The only reason I went for the GT was the ability to easily increase the power. Theres really not much you can do to the 3.0r's when compared to a turbo. But if youre happy with what youve got, definitely dont change. Especially at your age as insurance will be a kilker on a GT!!

Definitely hit up a few dealers and try a few different ones... There are always lemons out there no matter what car

Boost leak?

make sure the SI drive dial in in the Sport position.

I have recently just driven Kim's 08 2.5 GT-B back to back with my 06 3-RB.
as stock animals they are very similar
a little earlier punch (2500rpm) should be had from the GT, but it's not far in front of the 3.0
the AVLS point at around 4K rpm is a nice extra kick in the 3.0, but i'd say the GT would be quicker to 100km/h

if there was nothing UNTIL 4000rpm in the GT then there's somethign wrong with it.
and there's no need to push either stock vehicle over 6000rpm to the limiter, there aint no power there and when you change gears you're already above peak torque so it'll actually be slower
changing gears at 6000-6500rpm gets them both back down right into the meat of the power-band and they're much quicker

Head gasket?

another thing
when trying to "feel" for boost in a turbo'd car, especially one with 6 short gera ratio's
use 3rd or 4th gear, turbo's need engine load to spool, in those low gears you get low loads and don;t get the flow at lower rpm that is needed.

i bought a 3.0 over the GT for similar reasons
basically its the wife's car and she doesnt drive manual.. so it had to be auto.

i was pretty disappointed with the GT, it went good but only when you gave it everything it had...
when i drove the 3.0 i instantly felt more comfortable with its power delivery, especially lower in the revs

id expect a manual box would bring the GT to life, but i havent driven one
that said, after owning the 3.0 for nearly a year id love to have manual 3.0 because the auto makes it feel quite lazy also

id still take the 3.0auto over the GTauto any day of the week though

the engine note alone is a reason to get the 3.0R <3

peadya100 wrote:Something sounds a bit off with that GT... it should hit boost waaaay before 4000rpm. Its a tiny turbo so doesn't take long to spool up. Out of curiosity, are you certain you had the car in sport sharp? They do feel a bit sluggish when theyre in the other 2 modes. Either way youre right, theyre no rocket ship when stock.

I looked at buying a 3.0r when I was buying my GT. From factory theyre very similar performance! The only reason I went for the GT was the ability to easily increase the power. Theres really not much you can do to the 3.0r's when compared to a turbo. But if youre happy with what youve got, definitely dont change. Especially at your age as insurance will be a kilker on a GT!!

I have SI drive in my 3.0R so i was sure to pit it in S# once it was warm enough . Also i wanted the GT for the same reason as you but after i drove that one i've decided to keep the 3.0R just because i would cbf choosing turbos and tuning when it feels so crap to start with plus the H6 sounds amazing!!! (with the mufflers off) and i think they are a too underrated and a bit of an underdog, because i have beaten a family friend of mine from 0-100 in his stock 2007 wrx by a car length! Both of us launched hard and he also knows how to drive manual properly. Needless to say he was absolutely reeling! Plus it Rapes all the HSV's when i attend motor kana days with my dad who is part of the vic HSV club. you should see how cut the brogans get when a (then) stock liberty beats a $80,000 GTS which has had 20,000 dollars worth of engine work done to it!

Robbks wrote:another thing
when trying to "feel" for boost in a turbo'd car, especially one with 6 short gera ratio's
use 3rd or 4th gear, turbo's need engine load to spool, in those low gears you get low loads and don;t get the flow at lower rpm that is needed.

I'm fully aware of that, that is why i noted that the boost was felt around 4000rpm i checked in every gear except 5th and 6th. But i think i just had way to high expectations, or i was just in a shit one, it had done 120,000kms. One day i plan to get a WRX STI then ill do all the tuning i want and ill track it often, for now ill just use the 3.0R to troll other people.

there's no need to push either stock vehicle over 6000rpm to the limiter, there aint no power there and when you change gears you're already above peak torque so it'll actually be slower
changing gears at 6000-6500rpm gets them both back down right into the meat of the power-band and they're much quicker

I disagree, mainly because its not justifiable changing gears earlier just because your above peak torque!!! Plus you can say "there ain't no power" after 6 grand? I don't know about you but i still feel the car surging right up to when it bounces of the limiter. And in any case the rate of acceleration say in 2nd from 6000rpm to the limiter will always be quicker than the equivalent rate of acceleration if you changed into 3rd once you had hit 6000rpm in 2nd due to the the fact 3rd is a taller ratio. Your theory would be applicable to something like my wife's 2012 Diesel VW Tiguan (also manual) where the power dies in the ass after 3000rpm and revving out to 5500rpm would be slower than if you had just changed up...

Thats why i wait till the audible 1st bounce off the limiter to engage the clutch, which is quite hard when it bounces at around 550BMP in 1st

SIMBAT wrote:

there's no need to push either stock vehicle over 6000rpm to the limiter, there aint no power there and when you change gears you're already above peak torque so it'll actually be slower
changing gears at 6000-6500rpm gets them both back down right into the meat of the power-band and they're much quicker

I disagree, mainly because its not justifiable changing gears earlier just because your above peak torque!!! Plus you can say "there ain't no power" after 6 grand? I don't know about you but i still feel the car surging right up to when it bounces of the limiter. And in any case the rate of acceleration say in 2nd from 6000rpm to the limiter will always be quicker than the equivalent rate of acceleration if you changed into 3rd once you had hit 6000rpm.

Thats why i wait till the audible 1st bounce off the limiter to engage the clutch, which is quite hard when it bounces at around 550BMP in 1st

Actually in regards to the GT the efficiency of the stock turbo tapers off quite dramatically in the very high RPM's, so it's usually more beneficial to change earlier than the rev limiter.

SIMBAT wrote:I have SI drive in my 3.0R so i was sure to pit it in S# once it was warm enough . Also i wanted the GT for the same reason as you but after i drove that one i've decided to keep the 3.0R just because i would cbf choosing turbos and tuning when it feels so crap to start with plus the H6 sounds amazing!!! (with the mufflers off) and i think they are a too underrated and a bit of an underdog, because i have beaten a family friend of mine from 0-100 in his stock 2007 wrx by a car length! Both of us launched hard and he also knows how to drive manual properly. Needless to say he was absolutely reeling! Plus it Rapes all the HSV's when i attend motor kana days with my dad who is part of the vic HSV club. you should see how cut the brogans get when a (then) stock liberty beats a $80,000 GTS which has had 20,000 dollars worth of engine work done to it!

Hahahahaha... clearly the hsv with 20k of engine work has a bad driver. 14k will twin turbo a commodore which will get you no less than 600wkw. I love liberties as much as all of us but thats just ridiculous!

P.s. its really not hard to make a GT fast. An exhaust and a tune will give it 180wkw... thats more than enough to smash a 3.0r. So I wouldn't be turned off, tune and exhaust is very easy to get done. From the sounds of it youve put an exhaust on your 3.0r so its a null point really.

chaotic2050 wrote:

SIMBAT wrote:

there's no need to push either stock vehicle over 6000rpm to the limiter, there aint no power there and when you change gears you're already above peak torque so it'll actually be slower
changing gears at 6000-6500rpm gets them both back down right into the meat of the power-band and they're much quicker

I disagree, mainly because its not justifiable changing gears earlier just because your above peak torque!!! Plus you can say "there ain't no power" after 6 grand? I don't know about you but i still feel the car surging right up to when it bounces of the limiter. And in any case the rate of acceleration say in 2nd from 6000rpm to the limiter will always be quicker than the equivalent rate of acceleration if you changed into 3rd once you had hit 6000rpm.

Thats why i wait till the audible 1st bounce off the limiter to engage the clutch, which is quite hard when it bounces at around 550BMP in 1st

Actually in regards to the GT the efficiency of the stock turbo tapers off quite dramatically in the very high RPM's, so it's usually more beneficial to change earlier than the rev limiter.

whatever you say