1998 Subaru Liberty GX 2.2 diesel from Australia and New Zealand
Summary:
Excellent for safety and performance
Faults:
Replaced both fan belts and Harmonic Stabilizer just after I got it.
New battery, old battery was 7 years old and no longer holding the charge.
Lost the tailpipe off the muffler. Replaced whole muffler (rusted inside) plus about half of the intermediate pipe (rusted almost through in two places).
General Comments:
A great car.
Smooth, comfortable, quiet, handles well.
Previous owner kept it in beautiful condition inside and out. Despite being almost 10 years old it was just coming up for its 100,000km service.
Pretty good fuel economy.
Sadly I rolled it at the start of February '04. Car hit an embankment on the side of the road, went up and over, then rolled two and a half times down the other side landing on the roof. It was written off, but I walked away with cuts and severe bruising. Full marks to Subaru for safety! I saw the car a few days later and I still don't know how I managed to get out and walk away!
Seatbelt performed perfectly!
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 1st April, 2004
29th Jan 2005, 22:43
There are no Diesel Subarus in Australia.
Don't know about overseas.
13th Sep 2007, 00:46
Subaru hasn't got a diesel engine in its range. One is being developed, but won't appear to 2008 maybe.
26th Apr 2008, 19:37
Sounds like a second hand import in New Zealand.
5th Mar 2009, 07:56
Has anyone who has a 1998 Subaru Liberty RX had a blown head gasket problem?
I am looking at 98 wagon... RX model from some dealer. It has done 270000km. It does have high km...
But sounds good and it seems idling well.
I haven't test driven it yet.
I did lot of research on web... and found it has the same blown head gasket problem as a Toyota Cressida. But they know the Cressida had a problem with the gasket spec. But no one seems to know what is wrong with the Liberty.
Has anyone done high km and still drives great or having problems with the gasket? What did you do?
7th Sep 2004, 06:30
Is this review for a 1998 Liberty? I'm interested in getting one, but I didn't think they came in a 2.2L Diesel. And a comment about it being nearly 10 years old? It's only 2004, that's only 6years? I'm a bit confused.
Interesting about the safety though, the 2004 Liberty got the highest score of any Australian released car (including Volvo's and Mercs). Its good to see the older ones that I can actually afford are great for safety too.