Greetings - Sydney member & hopefully shortly a MY04GT owner

[Jubaeg]

Name: Matthew
Ride: currently a 2005 Honda Accord vti, although it is the bus during weekdays
Location: NSW, Kellyville, nice and close to god...
Mod: don't yet have a subaru
Plans: Phat GT dump pipe, whiteline gear, Bilstein's (used probably) then a tune through Pulse
Occupation: technology manager in the legal industry
Year of birth: 1973
Interest: tinkering with technology, cycling, motorsports and for the past couple of years dreaming about cars - from growing up on a farm I have a hankering for a 4WD, but I guess an AWD is more practical. My car research journey has been - Mitsubishi Pajero NT diesel, BMW X5 diesel, Corolla, back to Pajero and now a Liberty GT MY04
Previous Rides: not particularly exciting - started with a 1988 Lada Niva, then a 1984 Hilux (4WD dual cab diesel), then a 1991 Liberty GX.

Now that's off my chest:

Hello all - I've been lurking in the forums over the Christmas break, reading up on the Liberty GT MY04 model and also daydreaming about mods etc.

A big thanks to everyone in advance for any thoughts and knowledge you may be able to share. I'm particularly impressed with some of the guides that have been posted here. I've also read through the Ozliberty forum as well but feel that this is the forum for me.

What I'm really after is a car that can slightly lessen my daily commute which would be a 10-15k drive to a bus interchange near the M2. I had originally thought that I just wanted something simple, cheap and reliable. While squandering my life away over the Christmas break, I somehow came to the realisation that a turbo charged liberty wagon was actually affordable.

It made me realise that I really need a Subaru and that I miss having a drivers car. The Honda is nice and luxurious (like a comfy leather lounge suite), but has problems with corners and accelerating. I miss the Subaru traction, poise and the odd squeak and rattle.

After perusing Carsales, I have just about convinced myself that I should buy one of these cars.

I'm not overly mechanical although I was when I grew up on the farm, and am relatively time poor, and I do have quite a lot of trepidation over buying a car that is:
a) more than 7 years old
b) has more than 100K on the clock

I'm not particularly fussed over getting a premium model, or to be honest the look of the exterior of the car. When I do buy a car it will have to live outdoors so I know it is going to look tired pretty quickly. I'm really looking for something that is quick, reliable and handles well so that I can go for the occasional blast through say the three gorges (Berowra, Galston and Bobbin head).

So what say you all!

Thanks in advance for your time.

Matthew

[Ric]

Welcome Matthew, good luck with your car search.

Plans: Phat GT dump pipe, whiteline gear, Bilstein's (used probably) then a tune through Pulse

Gott aappreciate a guy who plans his mods before buying the car.

I'm not overly mechanical although I was when I grew up on the farm, and am relatively time poor, and I do have quite a lot of trepidation over buying a car that is:
a) more than 7 years old
b) has more than 100K on the clock

I wouldn't worry about either, so long as the car has been looked after.
A complete service history would be reassuring here.

[Jubaeg]

LOL - thanks Ric!

Mods - I know, I know, I'm about to go down a slippery slope. What I wanted to do was to assess the reliability and common faults with this model and get a general feel for are they a worthwhile vehicle.

My gut feeling and prior experience is that they just work and naturally like any mechanical device, if you push it hard then things wear out.

We have a bit of [ancient] history in our family with Subarus, as my parents had two 80's era wagons (2nd gen. Leone I think) that were from the auctions which served us well on the farm - just not particularly feisty.

I would probably just get a tune as that sounds like the optimum thing to do in terms of making the car a lot more driveable, but my impression of the dump pipe is that it is also a must have mod.

And then of course, I need to prepare my strategic plan for the finances with my wife, so naturally I needed to get a gauge on cost - I suspect I'm looking at about $2-3K total for the dump pipe, fitting and Pulse tune.

Anyway, I may actually purchase a car weekend if things go my way, we'll see.

[Ric]

It wouldn't hurt to speak to Michael (PHAT GT). He's a wealth of knowledge. If you tell him what you want, and what your budget is, he'll point you in the right direction.
He may even know someone who has a car for sale.

[garbo41610]

First off, welcome as well. I really miss my prefacelift GT. Such a nimble car and the 2.0L turbo is a nutter of an engine compared to the 2.5L.

When I do buy a car it will have to live outdoors so I know it is going to look tired pretty quickly.

As long as you have a good cleaning regime along with a good quality wax you won't have any problems. My white MY05 GT lived outdoors the 18months or so I had it and it was in much, much better condition when I sold it than when I picked it up. Just take some time when you first get it with some good quality polishes along with a couple of coats of good quality wax, reapplying every 6months or so and you won't have a problem.

www.carcareproducts.com.au

[Jubaeg]

Thanks Ric - good idea - although from what I understand once I get hooked up with 'the Phat' I may just keep on modding.

Thanks Phil - also a very good idea - although I know it is heresy to admit this but I guess from growing up on a farm I see cars more as tools to do something rather than something aesthetically pleasing, but I'll be sure to check out that website as you say that wouldn't be a lot of effort to keep it looking good.

BTW - I've just finally been able to obtain a Legacy GT in Gran Turismo 5 so I'm resisting the urge to mod it, while I test drive it virtually - gut feeling so far - the standard tyres are hopeless - but then I moved from a Falken GTR-34 race car with soft race tyres to it...

The other mod that I'd do is tinting - but then I don't consider this to be a mod more like common sense.

[hamish_023]

Welcome mate!

Always good to see a mod list before purchasing the car

[Jubaeg]

I should also confess that I'm after a wagon and auto. I grew up driving manuals, but my wife can't and I guess I'm now lazy enough to just stick with an auto.

[Jubaeg]

Just a quick update. I test drove one of these today. All I can say is WOW!

For a variety of reasons the most powerful car I've ever owned has been about 118kw so it is quite something to make the massive leap up to 180kw. I was able to take the car for a spin up the freeway so could open it up a bit - very impressed with the performance as my wife was (and hopefully still is).

If all goes according to plan then we will hopefully own it next weekend. I doubt I will, however I can remember the day I got my P plates and I drove around all day/night and used a whole tank of fuel - I guess if I can open it up I could probably achieve the same thing with the GT just in a lot shorter amount of time.

No doubt I'll soon become very passe about the power but my initial feeling is that it is wonderful.

One thing that made me smile was the familiar smell of oil - my old 91 GX liberty always smelt of oil and I can see that this one will too. I'm getting an NRMA inspection before I buy so no doubt they'll identify if there is an actual leak, but maybe it is just one of those 'quirks' of having a subaru.

Are there many members on here living in the Hills district (North West Sydney)?

[cruisn]

Welcome Matthew.

My wife loves her MY04 GT wagon and its a very nice car to just get in and drive.

Hopefully your dreams are realised....

[Jubaeg]

Just an update:
I am now the proud owner of a 'run in' Liberty MY04 GT wagon. I spent a large part of Friday evening and the weekend acclimatising to the GT including resetting the ECU (but I think I didn't have the negative battery terminal disconnected long enough - only about 30 mins), a wash, a full tank of fuel and 2 coats of polish on the bonnet and 1 coat on the roof.

I now understand why there are so many small merge lanes in NSW after a set of lights. In my Honda (which we still own and drive), these lanes are for you to watch nervously for someone quicker to pounce on you. This definitely isn't the case with the GT. I eagerly looked for each new merge lane on my travels.

I also had two occasions of a little bit of 4 wheel drift in the wet on some slow corners - I guess I need some better tyres too as it was a bit savage once the car gripped the road again.

There appeared to be a heavy police presence patrolling the roads as well on the weekend so I had to also keep things reasonably low profile, so we went for a spin up the Central Coast and back.

I look forward to the day when I can afford to get a tune (after the Phat-Dump pipe) as I'm still getting used to the Jekyll and Hyde on and off boost characteristics of the engine, and it is annoying when you're at a roundabout or T intersection and need to go from a standing start. I guess I'll get a better handle on it over time.

In addition to my initial mod list, I'll also be doing [attempting at least] a fair bit of touch up for numerous stone chips in the bonnet and some on the roof and bumpers. Will work out the paint code and get some touch up paint and give it a go somewhere.

One thing I did notice is that I have a spot of rust developing at the end of the roof rail on the drivers side. It is about 2 or 3 spots 5-10mm that haven't yet broken the paint so I guess that one is a bit more serious than touch up paint.

I'll also post some pics at some point. A thing that I've been obsessing over (apart from polishing and applying RainX) is trying to get my 'cheap' bluetooth OBD-II connector to work with my Android Torque app. I can see that Torque connects with the ECU but doesn't show anything, so I'm slowly pulling my hair out as I trying various things - including connecting the green test plug.

I suspect that a solution is that I need to spend some real money on a decent OBD-II bluetooth adapter like the PLX Kiwi model or OBDKey, I was just hoping that I could keep costs to a minimum - although I guess at the end of the day you get what you pay for. I haven't really pinned down the exact reason of why I want this functionality apart from the fact that it annoys me at how rudimentary the level of technology is in the car.

Very open to any suggestions/recommendations on this aspect.

[Corsair]

Welcome Matthew. Sorry, I can't help you with your bluetooth, but if you're still looking for your paint code it should be on the inside of the passenger door. Subaru dealerships sell the paint too. Enjoy your new car!

[Jubaeg]

Thanks Corsair - willdo.