I finally own a Liberty! - 07 GTB Auto Wagon (Brisbane)

[fredhoon]

G'day,

I've recently purchased a 2007 Liberty GT specB Auto Wagon with 100,000kms on the clock to replace the family car. The cars bodywork is a bit knocked around, but I picked it up from Canberra for a good price compared to what's getting around in Qld. Flying down, waiting for the bank to open and driving back to Brisbane was 22h30min door to door. It was interesting coming down Cunningham's Gap at 1am, during a misty rail squall as the meat in a B-double sandwich.

I've wanted to own a Liberty/Legacy since the Gen3 B4 days and about 3.5yrs ago I was all ready to lease an 08 "Tuned by STi" wagon but didn't do enough kms to justify it (nor enough for the tax benefit). Since then I've been waiting for the 2nd hand price to come down, and trying to convince the wife that we don't want a Mazda 6, Honda Odyssey or Lexus RX330 (although I would have settled for a VW R36 Wagon).

Stopping at Dubbo for lunch - Canberra to Brisbane

Dubbo Sandy Creek - Liberty GT Bspec 7-03-2013_02 (med).jpg (170.96 KiB) Viewed 3096 times

bug splattered on its way up to Brisbane

Dubbo Sandy Creek - Liberty GT Bspec 7-03-2013_01 (med).jpg (193.62 KiB) Viewed 3096 times

I've been lurking around the forums building a wishlist, and have now ordered a Tactrix cable & OEM Wideband + Boost Gauge to kick things off. It's a family car that my wife will drive most of the time, so any mods will be minor with reliability in mind.

Immediate Plans
- Keep an eye out for people parting out cars for a rear bumper and RHS mirror
- Install a cheap Android tablet in the Cubby for GPS and ODBII monitoring
- Install Tactrix & AEM wideband to log the stock condition, check for AVCS out of sync
- 125,000km / 5yr service (timing belts, cam belts, fix AVCS if required)
- Dump pipe + catback with stock mufflers
- TMIC "bulletproofing kit" (keep an eye on IAT logs)
- 3port EBC & minor raising of boost levels in S# mode
- Tune

Wishlist / Possible Future Plans
- 2nd hand WRX STi turbo
- 2nd hand STi TMIC
- suspension & brakes


Details from the sticky...

Name: Tim
Ride: 1985 Toyota MR2 (N/A 1.6L 4AGE smallport)
Location: Qld, Brisbane
Occupation: Electricial Industry
Year of birth: early 80's
Interest: reminise about hobbies prior to having kids
Previous Rides: not worth mentioning

[SegR]

Welcome and congrats on the purchase? What type of panel abuse has been inflicted?

[ferret89]

Welcome, grats on the purchase. I don't think you'll be disappointed!

[fredhoon]

Cheers for the welcome guys, there is no dissappointment with the car and more importantly the wife begrudgingly approves

What type of panel abuse has been inflicted?

it's covered in parking ding, most are small but one has split the paint - all appear to be DIY repairable. The rear bumper has taken a hit and is split, same with the DS mirror, front bumper has scuff marks on both sides. Interior is in pretty good, apart from scratches in the plastic in the passengers doors from kids. The only wheel without severe rash is the spare. On the plus side it was an ex-lease car with perfect dealer service history every 6mths, which was my primary concern as I had the intention to give it minor mods and a tune.

My wife and kids will be giving the car the same abuse so I'm not concerned about the panel work (although it won't be getting any photoshoots). I picked the car up for a good price due to everything mentioned above, but in hindsight I could have bargained it down a little more.

[kiahatsiu]

Wouldn't get too excited about the 3 port boost solenoid.
Tune, cooler and exhaust. You could almost get away without upgrading the cooler. Actually, I noticed you mentioned keeping the stock exhaust..nah, they are not too loud with an aftermarket one.

[fredhoon]

Wouldn't get too excited about the 3 port boost solenoid.

From what I've read it's for reliability rather than performance. Correct me if wrong but the aftermarket EBC helps control the boost more accurately - stable during the mid-range / reduce wastegate flutter

Tune, cooler and exhaust. You could almost get away without upgrading the cooler. Actually, I noticed you mentioned keeping the stock exhaust..nah, they are not too loud with an aftermarket one.

Unfortunately while aftermarket mufflers may not be too loud for you and I, the missus is a different matter.

[bigBADbenny]

Any progress and what wideband did you get?

[Tim_]

Hey Tim from Brissy im Tim from Goldy. Welcome! Nice ride!

[fredhoon]

Any progress and what wideband did you get? :)

No progress to report unfortunately. I purchased an AEM failsafe wideband & boost gauge kit, it all arrived around Easter time but ended up going away so didn't hook it all up. Shortly after someone rear ended the car, during the insurance assessment they went right through the car taking photos so I'm glad I didn't have the gauge, TMIC reinforcing & EBC hooked up.

Fast forward a few months (the panel beater was booked out for a while) and I went to pick up the car on Friday only to find the workshop burnt down. Speaking to the insurance company my car was in the heart of the fire and is a total loss. I'll get a report on Monday and start haggling about the car's value.

Steadily inconvenient turn of events, I'm glad I hadn't spent a grand or so on a catback + tuning only to loose the car in a freak accident.

[bigBADbenny]

That is unfknblvl in a not good way!
Car was completely toasted? Omg.

[ferret89]

Was that Domroys in Moorooka? I saw that on the news, a few of my cars have been there over the years...

[fredhoon]

Yeah Domroy Prestige in Baldock St, they looked like a pretty clean operation with plenty of Euros and other Subaru's there, even a 69 corvette stripped back for a bare metal respray when I dropped the Liberty off on Monday.

It appears that I was the only one who didn't hear about it on the news, I also didn't notice the message left on my phone from the insurance mob the day before. Rocking up on Friday to a burnt building was a bit of a shock.

[ferret89]

Yeah I was a bit shocked when I saw them on the news, they do a pretty good job for a decent price. Do they think it was suspicious?

Sorry to hear about the car mate, must have been devastating.