club.liberty.asn.au

Hey all,

Hoping for some input and maybe feedback from you guys, particularly anyone who currently owns either model.

I'm selling my 07GT lib auto and buying an outback instead.. not that I don't love the lib, but I need a Wagon and for some reason outbacks seem to be far cheaper than lib wagons.

Obviously in an ideal world I would have a 3.0 manual, but they don't seem to exist.

What I want to know:

How poxy is the 2.5 in NA form?
Is the manual 5 speed any good?

Is there much difference in driving feel between the early (pre si drive) 3.0s and the later models?

also, do lib swaybars fit?

Cheers..

The plan is to fit coilies pretty much immediately, so I'm. Not too fussed about handling issues coz I can fix that... just the mechanicals and drivability in terms of adequate power/torque etc...

The 2.5 does have some good poke in it, especially if you have a facelift model because they can be tuned to provide an extra 10% in power and torque and can go very well if you keep the revs above 3,000rpm.

That said, the 3.0 can be easily tuned into better-than-stock-WRX power territory with no engine mods, but some 3.0's are known to consume oil.

Fuel consumption on both models is pretty consistent.

The 2.5 manual only comes with a five speed manual gearbox, but the ratios are not too short and not too long to bother you, easily fitting most of your comfort driving at the speed limit within 3,000rpm to save fuel. In the 3.0 auto even with flappy paddles, it's very laggy and not immediately responsive when you put your foot down unless you drive in Sports Sharp mode all the time and empty your tank that much quicker. I can't speak for the pre-SI models.

Ultimately it depends on what you are going to do with it. If you are going to tow stuff and regularly go camping and do mild offroad, I'd go the 3.0 auto Outback. If you are staying in the city all the time with occasional highway drives out country way and generally won't be giving it a lot of stick but need to be able to overtake grandma occasionally, then the 2.5 will be a better buy, will probably save some fuel and you save boatloads on insurance too.

As for parts, Liberty and Outback parts are for the most part interchangeable, but generally the bits that are close to the engine or exhaust are not interchangeable between turbo and N/A models (eg: front swaybar is shaped differently to avoid knocking on the exhaust which has different paths to each other), but everything else pretty much is. Some parts are also designed specifically for wagon or sedan, so look out for that too.

G'day Jurek,
I've got the pre f/l 3.0 auto & the outback as a whole suits me perfectly. That extra ground clearance makes going camping & trailering dirt bikes into the bush that much easier. Speed humps & driveways -no problem. The auto box sux, no, hang on, SUX in standard, un-KiDo-ed form. It is the most indecisive, unpredictable POS in the known universe. Fear not, Matt will have it behaving perfectly in less time than it takes for the stock tune to decide what to do when you mash the throttle (about 13 secs). The 3.0 is great. I like it. But I'm a lazy driver & rely on torque a lot rather than having to be in the right rev range with the smaller capacity. It's no powerhouse in stock form, but with some help from Raptor & KiDo, I'm personally looking forward to some decent grunt for not much bucks.
Coil overs on the outback? It'd look awesome lowered, but would defeat the purpose for me. The 3.0 has different spring rates on the front to compensate for the weight & also check whether it has self levelling rears (all premiums do) as this makes a difference when ordering rear springs/shocks. Affects the headlight level too apparently. I have just bought kyb's all round & king springs for the rear -good enuf 4 my needs.
I have a whiteline sway (same as lib, sedan or wag) ready to go on the rear & whiteline anti lift LCA bush waiting to be installed in the front. These should hopefully see the cornering tighten up a bit cause the stock set-up understeers like a bitch!!
Great car. I love it.
Cheers, Jay.

Cheers both..

I should clarify, the only reason I'm getting a Wagon is because I need something I can put my 2 labradors in and go down south or to the vet etc... i used to have a gen 1 liberty "dog car" but have sold it.. i would have gotten a wagon, but as I said, outbacks seem to be cheaper.. and I like the look of the flared guards..

In terms of coilovers, I'm not going to go camping etc.. so not really fussed about ride height.. i also ride a motorbike as a daily so won't be putting too many k's on it. I didn't look into the
Self levelling, can this be disabled? I will be getting a premium which ever way I go so will have to look into it..

Thanks for the feedback too, I've had Matt tune my current GT and couldn't be happier with the changes to the auto.

Thanks again.

Get the 3.0. If you don't you will kick yourself later. Ask me how I know.

HyRax wrote:In the 3.0 auto even with flappy paddles, it's very laggy and not immediately responsive when you put your foot down unless you drive in Sports Sharp mode all the time and empty your tank that much quicker. I can't speak for the pre-SI models.

This can be tuned out. Honestly, with the Kido tune from Matt, it feels like I have an entirely different gearbox in my car (yes, I have the 2.5T rathe then 3.0NA, but the turbo makes the auto gearbox behaviour worse, not better).

I still can't believe Subaru signed off on that gearbox.

Did they not drive it at all???

Out6ack wrote:I still can't believe Subaru signed off on that gearbox.

Did they not drive it at all???

The 4EAT is no great gearbox either. And you have to remember that when the 5EAT started getting fitted, it was the depths of the GFC, and I suspect cost control was a bigger issue than anything else. Not to mention that the pair of them are hardly alone in being pretty bloody average auto gearboxes - a lot of people simply don't know or care, and as long as they don't have to think about changing gear themselves, they don't care what the gearbox is doing.

The levelling rear suspension is a passive system all contained in the rear shock. If you remove the rear shocks no more self-levelling suspension.

Excellent, coilies it is then..

Another question, are the factory headers for the 2.5 equal or unequal length?

Cheers all.

equal I think.

what sort of speed will you be doing at 3000rpm in the 2.5 manual ?

3.0 + Tune

/thread

waynieRS wrote:what sort of speed will you be doing at 3000rpm in the 2.5 manual ?

About 104kms/h mate. 110 is 3150-3200

still pretty high on the revs at that speed .