Road TestCar reviews - Subaru - Liberty - GT sedanSubaru modelsOverviewA manual transmission brings Subaru's turbocharged Liberty GT sedan to a new level17 Mar 2005 By CHRIS HARRIS SUBARU may have been a little surprised at how customers flocked to buy the Liberty GT after it was introduced here, in auto-only form, in August 2003. It was, after all, not a cheap Liberty when you consider the base model started at not much more than $30,000. But, like other top-shelf Subarus, it seemed to click. The company expected to do about 50 a month but in the end was delivering more like 140 a month. So impressed was head office that it acceded to local requests for a manual-transmission version – something that was not available anywhere else in the world. The only problem is that the manual is a five-speed, not a six-speed as seen in the quite phenomenal 3.0R-B six-cylinder Liberty. But this is only a slight aberration in a car that is purposely fast, focused and very well built. Model release date: 1 August 2004 to 1 July 2005 All car reviewsAlfa Romeo Abarth Alpine Alpina Audi Aston Martin BMW Bentley Chevrolet Chery Citroen Chrysler Dodge Cupra Ferrari DS Ford Fiat FPV Foton GWM Great Wall Holden Haval HSV Honda Hyundai Hummer Isuzu Infiniti Jeep Jaguar Lamborghini Kia LDV Land Rover Lotus Lexus Maserati Mahindra McLaren Mazda Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-AMG Mini MG Nissan Mitsubishi Peugeot Opel Proton Porsche Renault Ram Rover Rolls-Royce Skoda Saab SsangYong Smart Suzuki Subaru Toyota Tesla Volvo Volkswagen Previous modelSubaru's all-new Liberty sedan and wagon arrived on sale in Australia in September 2003 as a MY04 model, comprising 101kW/187Nm 2.0i, 121kW/226Nm 2.5i and 180kW/310Nm 2.0 turbo GT variants. The 180kW/297Nm 3.0R and 3.0R-B versions were released in August 2004 - the same month Subaru Oz launched the 190kW/330Nm Liberty GT manual (tested here). The GT's direct predecessor was the 190kW/320Nm 2.0 turbocharged Liberty B4 sedan (pictured), sold here between August 2001 and August 2003. |
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