– By Mike Ridley-Smith –
The Subaru Liberty has always been a strong contender in the midsize sedan and wagon class. With AWD, strong and healthy sounding boxer engines and exceptional reliability, so many smart thinking Australians have chosen Subarus that we have been one of Subaru’s key global markets for some time. The latest Subaru Liberty, now with ‘Eyesight’, will continue to be an attractive choice whilst maintaining that ‘not quite mainstream’ positioning.
The look of the Liberty is smart casual from the good end of town. Not outlandish, but with a good up to date high waist line, sharp looking grill and stylish 18 inch alloys. Interestingly, it is now quite a big car – it would tower over the original Liberty – giving it quite a strong road presence.
A big benefit from its external size is that the interior now feels cavernous for this class. The approving comments from teenager, tween and mister ‘why am I always in the middle’ were testament to the comfort and size of the back seat. There certainly seemed to be elbow room for all obligatory electronic device activity. Up front also feels roomy in a nice commanding way. The seats are supportive and everything falls nicely to hand.
The dash is well laid out with good on steering wheel interactivity and the touch screen infotainment centre is efficient without unnecessary data gimmicks. The Bluetooth connectivity was totally seamless and there is a nice ‘kitchen appliance’ type shelf with USB and conventional car power slots where you can shut away your device for charging. Not too blingy but with everything you have come to need and expect in a modern cockpit for fighting the daily grind.
On road dynamics remains a Subaru strong point. Steering is nice and direct with a relatively firm ride but without being too harsh over Sydney’s endless roadworks and downpour induced potholes.
Indeed during these Sydney summer downpours the Liberty’s AWD configuration is totally sure footed. The 3.6L petrol engine with 191kW is one of the larger engines available in this class and makes for effortless acceleration at any speed with that lovely boxer soundtrack.
The transmission is a ‘Lineartronic’ CVT of which I am not usually a fan. However this unit is tuned to behave in a more conventional stepped ratio manner with all the benefits of the continuously variable smooth movement between them. I might be converted.
One negative surprise was the Liberty’s thirst – officially using 14.2L/100km in the urban cycle but exceeding 14.5L/100km on my test without much overly enthusiastic driving. A small price to pay for the smile inducing drivetrain but potentially a material issue if you really rack up the kms. In any event , the volume selling Liberty will probably be the 2.5L with its 9.9L/100km (urban cycle).
New for this model, and standard across the range, is Subaru’s Eyesight driver assist system together with blind spot warning and a reversing camera.
The Eyesight’s ‘second set of eyes’ scan the road ahead and provide audible warnings for un-indicated lane changes or fast closing speeds on objects ahead and if necessary will apply the brakes to avoid a frontal collision. It also lets you know when the car ahead has moved off – a nod to the real world behavior of drivers and their phones I guess.
Shall I mount my high horse and berate drivers for not simply paying due attention to the road and staying off their phones? No. I know. That horse has well and truly bolted. OK, so Subaru’s Eyesight is pretty effective without being too interventionist and will no doubt avoid low speed collisions and traffic light rage.
Most importantly it should help avoid fatigue induced accidents from lane departure on longer drives. Nice to have and something you would get used to very quickly. One quirk is that for all this gadgetry there is no close proximity warning device at the front for when parking.
Overall, a great vehicle that I would strongly recommend be tested if you are in the market for a mid size sedan.
