The end of the Liberty (Legacy) for Australia.

See:

https://www.caradvice.com.au/880119/subaru-liberty-axed-from-australian-line-up-outback-safe/

Sad to see it go.

See:

 

https://www.caradvice.com.au/880119/subaru-liberty-axed-from-australian-line-up-outback-safe/Sad to see it go.

Yeah Mate I agree. Although if it stayed around, it would probably end up being a fuel injected and possible turbo charged 4 cylinder ... which wouldn't have interested me in the slightest.

Hopefully I get over 300,000kms in mine and that will see me out

U.S. sales figures for calendar year 2020 (January through August) tell much the same story:

• Legacy -- 17,211
  
• Outback -- 89,323
  
• Forester -- 118,434
  

Source: Subaru of America Media Center

As recently as MY 2015, Outback used to outsell Legacy in the U.S. 2 to 1; now it's up to 5 to 1. It's also interesting to note that Forester is the only Subaru model in the U.S. with year-to-date sales that are higher in 2020 than in 2019.

... Hopefully I get over 300,000kms in mine ...

I can’t see any reason why you couldn’t achieve that with regular maintenance including one or two CVT fluid changes (or drain & fills).

It’s interesting about the number & models of Subarus we see in our area. I live in a rural coastal city that has a fairly high aging population, so we see more Foresters, Outbacks & XVs (Crosstrek equivalent) than other Subaru models. I think this is mainly because they are easier to get in & out of compared to the low ride height of sedans, plus they are more suited to some of our rough country roads.

But as for the Liberty (Legacy), we see a lot more of the beautiful looking gen4 Libertys (mainly wagons) than any other generation Liberty. There is probably only one or two gen5 Libertys in our area with considerably more gen6 Libertys. I think the external appearance of the gen5 was a disaster over here & my guess is if the gen6 hadn’t came out in 2015 the Liberty may have been dropped here long ago.

I was looking closely at a 2020 gen6 Liberty today & IMO they are still a beautiful looking vehicle. If I was looking for a new sedan I can’t think of any other brand that compares.

I was looking closely at a 2020 gen6 Liberty today & IMO they are still a beautiful looking vehicle. If I was looking for a new sedan I can’t think of any other brand that compares.

"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder." Choice is good.

I can’t see any reason why you couldn’t achieve that with regular maintenance including one or two CVT fluid changes (or drain & fills).

I agree. (I anticipate doing a CVT drain and fill every 100,000 kms.)

P.S. I see in your other post that you could be looking at another Liberty .... I assume if you went down that road that you would grab one of the last 3.6'ers ??? .... and would you keep the Outback?

P.S. I see in your other post that you could be looking at another Liberty .... I assume if you went down that road that you would grab one of the last 3.6'ers ??? .... and would you keep the Outback?

I was just looking to see what changes were made between the 2016 & 2020. They are nice, but I don’t have any intention of buying a new Liberty, for our use the Outback it more suitable.

It would be nice to have a new Liberty 3.6R & our current Outback 3.6R in the garage, but we don’t need two vehicles.

I was just looking to see what changes were made between the 2016 & 2020.

OK.

Does anything stand out in your view as a "major" change ?

"Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder." Choice is good.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

I was just looking to see what changes were made between the 2016 & 2020. They are nice, but I don’t have any intention of buying a new Liberty, for our use the Outback it more suitable.

 

 

 

It would be nice to have a new Liberty 3.6R & our current Outback 3.6R in the garage, but we don’t need two vehicles.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

OK.

Does anything stand out in your view as a "major" change ?

I didn’t drive the car, so I can’t give an apples to apples comparison. For the driving experience I can only compare our previous 2016 Liberty 3.6R to our current 2019 Outback 3.6R (considerable changes were done to Liberty & Outback in 2018). But again, not an apples to apples comparison; the Liberty will handle better & be more stable than the Outback on ideal roads, & the Outback will ride & be more comfortable than the Liberty on less than ideal roads.

Off the top of my head, below are what I think are Pros & Cons comparing the 2016 Liberty 3.6R to our current 2019 Outback 3.6R. I’m assuming the 2020 gen6 Liberty 3.6R would have the same on road improvements as our 2019 Outback 3.6R.

I don’t think there is anything really major, except for the improved way the vehicle steers & rides. But there are quite a few nice improvements with a few changes for the worse.

Cons:

• If selected, ‘S’ mode doesn’t remain selected after an engine restart like in the 2016 model (it reverts to the default ‘I’ mode).
  
• I don’t think the navigation & maps are as good as on the 2016 Liberty 3.6R (less user selectable options in the 2019).
  
• The biggest disappointment to us is the infotainment unit. Music playback works differently to the 2016 model which worked quite well. For example; on our 2019 when I’m listening to music from a USB flash drive & I switch the engine off, the radio starts playing from the last tuned in station for a few minutes before the infotainment unit shuts down. When the engine is started the radio starts playing from the last tuned in station before playing music from the USB flash drive. I only want to listen to my music on a USB drive, not the radio, so for a workaround I have a blank DAB radio station memory position as my last listened to station. Random play (shuffle) of music from a USB flash drive leaves a lot to be desired. I assume the 2020 gen6 Liberty is the same.

Pros:

• The suspension has been improved & the rear toe changed from 3mm toe-in to 0mm (see attachment below). On the Outback this stiffened up the vehicle & gave more road feedback. I assume the Liberty would be the same.
  
• The steering has been improved to give much better on-centre feel. The vague on-centre steering has almost been eliminated.
  
• Our Outback is quieter than our previous Liberty but that could be partly due to the different factory fitted tyres.
  
• The way adaptive cruise is incremented/decremented has been changed (again). One short click of the switch increments/decrements in 5km/h steps. One long click of the switch increments/decrements in 1km/h steps. I like the way this works.
  
• A larger easier to see digital clock.
  
• 8” display vs 7” on the 2016.
  
• DAB radio (I think this only works in Capital & large Cities).
  
• Extra USB ports with higher current output for improved device charging (2 added to the rear).
  
• Android Auto & Apple CarPlay.
  
• The current speed limit is displayed on the dash. It grabs this from the maps so sometimes this is incorrect due to the maps not being up to date.
  
• Improved headlights (both low & high beam).
  
• Steering Responsive Headlights. Below a certain speed the headlights turn to follow a bend or corner as the steering wheel is turned (this works quite well).
  
• Front & side cameras (front in the grille & side in the passenger side exterior mirror body). While handy for close parking, the way these have been implemented could be improved. A dedicated button in conjunction with the Drive/Reverse gearshift selection toggles through the 3 cameras (including the reverse camera) selecting between the various cameras in single & split screen on the infotainment unit screen.
  
• The reverse camera has direction turn lines that move with the steering wheel.
  
• Slightly smaller & different shaped side mirrors to cut down some of the wind noise.

There are probably a lot more than that, but they are the ones that stand out. I have attached a pdf document below that lists the changes to the 2018 Australian spec Outback which was when most of the major changes were done. Most would apply to the Liberty.

If you want to compare the 2016 & 2020 Liberty I can email you the Australian 2016 Liberty pdf brochure (6.23MB) & the Australian 2020 Liberty pdf brochure (4.78MB). I can send these via two emails - one in each. Has your email address changed since 5-Nov-18? Let me know if you want me to send them.

2018-Australian-Outback-specs.pdf

2018 Legacy Rear Suspension Changes

Below is the link to the Liberty page on Subaru Australia’s website:

https://www.subaru.com.au/liberty/

Did you guys get the XT model there in Australia?

We don’t have the gen7 Liberty (Legacy) or the gen6 Outback yet, so our 2020 models are still the gen6 Liberty (Legacy) & the gen5 Outback.

At this stage we still have the option of the nice 3.6 H6 engine in both the above vehicles. It remains to be seen if we get the 2.4DIT XT engine in the gen6 Outback. I think if they drop the 3.6 H6 for our market (which is almost certain) they need something like the 2.4DIT XT engine to replace it.

But seeing they dropped the Liberty it wouldn’t surprise me if we didn’t get the 2.4DIT XT engine. Look what happened to the SJ Foz XT with the FA20DIT engine, they didn’t come up with a replacement for that.

I didn’t drive the car, so I can’t give an apples to apples comparison. I can send these via two emails - one in each. Has your email address changed since 5-Nov-18? Let me know if you want me to send them.

Once again you have performed above and beyond mate. Thanks for the offer but don't worry about the email .... I was just wondering what you thought about the newer model ... and you have covered it pretty damn well for someone who didn't even drive the car

I tend to get a bit pumped when a new model comes out with "significant" improvements ... but the reality is that I figure that I'll be keeping mine until the wheels fall off.

Thanks again.

I tend to get a bit pumped when a new model comes out with "significant" improvements ...

I do the same.

Your Liberty is a good model, so if it’s reliable & you are happy with it I can see why you would want to hang onto it.

When I get some time I’ll send you a PM with some info about something that I highly recommend you check now & again on your Liberty.