Tough decision.

[Evil LS1]

I may be turning back to rice :eek:
I am considering selling my beloved but crude VT exec for a Liberty GT turbo. After having discussions with MRT we believe that a 2.5l GT with a bit of work (nothing dramatic) will make an easy 300kW and 500+Nm. They already have a stock stroke auto GT making 270kW with only exhaust, ECUTEK and intercooler and a few other mods. This is a 4wd car weighing 1400kg. Needles to say it's a weapon. I was most dissapointed in the 4wd GTO test MOTOR did and the brakes fail after 3 hard stops :lol: and price is ludicrous.

The level of refinement of the Liberty is superb and handling is top notch.

The one problem, it's not a V8 :(

I love my LS1 and the Clubbies will be getting LS2 and I expect 300kW standard from them. But it might be a long time before we get LS2 edit and I think that I would wait for all new VE or VE II before going the commodore route again.

Tough decision, but I'll wait and see what HSV offer before committing, plus F6 Typhoon should be a weapon too.

[VZSS250]

The level of refinement and handling may be top notch, but nobody will even blink when they see you drive past...its a very soft option. At least go to a European alternative.

[CarlFST60L]

Instead of getting your little turbo, make yourself a big turbo... for around $15K you can setup a neat, reliable twin turbo LS1... then you will have some serious sh!t!

[Evil LS1]

Soft option - nah; I like stealth and the Liberty is as good as many Euros for a fraction of the price. A stock GT will beat an SS in a straight line and it's game over on the twisties

No way I'd let my missus drive a TT LS1 and that's another $15Kand even more weight and then there's the brakes and diff etc, and it's still a commodore - very crude from exec to Grange they are all rough as guts. VE should change this but that's 2 years away and I always skip first gen.

Too bad holden can't offer a refined car, as the performance to price ratio is excellent. Maybe HSV will surprise us?

[BlueSS]

The Liberty GT is a mad car from what i have seen.. i was to contemplating a change to rice not to long ago for the same reason you mentioned but decided to stick with what i have for a bit longer, and do some more mods instead.

Good luck if you do go with the GT, awesome car.

[Dacious]

Subaru is the only Japanese manufacturer to really put out some serious Mo'fo cars that look and go good these days. The Mitsu Evo is great, but let down by the cheapness of Lancer bits.

I'd class the GT in the same vein as hot Alfas and so on, except it's more practical. Not to mention probably less temperamental and a shitload less to service/insure, likely. 5 stars in ANCAP testing is pretty good, too. And as you say, in handling it should be a corker. It even looks good enough to be a Euro car - not like the mess most other Japanese cars are today.

[SSJB]

I drove a legacy recently. We get 205 kw jap spec unit here. Quite liked it , it went around the corners alright .I've always had manuals but I didn't like that car with a manual. I'll take the auto for drive sometime before my VX comes out of warranty.
good car, can't say I was too excited by it though. The "I just want one" factor ain't there for me.

[exwrx]

Dont be embarrassed about buying a subie, I had one (and a lancer GSR but that's another story) and I thought it was a great car.

IMO the positives are as follows:

- better build quality
- the driver controls (steering, brakes etc) are sharper
- better dealer service and backup. I used docklands subaru in melbourne and they were fantastic
- the AWD and general chassis setup works very well


Now for some negatives:

- less interior room
- turbo lag - if you think LS1's are soft down low, the WRX at least is very flat off boost. The GT is a bit better in this regard, but still not great.

I hope you enjoy your next car, whatever you decide.

[RICHO]

I thought the Liberty GT was a 2ltr??

Assuming you're talking the current model that is....

If not.....

Scare the crap out people with the ultimate Q car and work a liberty GT wagon!!

[VR304]

Yep a subtly modded Liberty GT wagon would be my choice of weapon were I to go for a Japanese car

[RICHO]

Or if you did want the 2.5ltr.....

You could always go for a Forester XT Luxury....

A couple of grand worth of mods to what is essentially a WRX engine with an extra 500cc and you'll be scaring the crap out of just about anyone!!

That said....the liberty is so much more upmarket it's not funny!!

Test drove one of the new 3.0RB Wagon's recently...and was bloody impressed!!

[Phido]

Current Liberty GT is a 2.0L turbo.

You could get one of those 3.0L liberty's, turbo it and have a handy little rocket. 6 speed and mechanicals should be up for it, might need to lower the compression tho with some nice tough forgie pistons.. Have a subaru with a turbo flat six and a tough 6 speed! I would imagine the 3.0L six would have more potential than the 2.0 four. Certainly more low down torque anyway. I also belive the 6 speeds are stronger than the 5's in the GT's.. Maybe ask MRT about that. Given it has 180Kw N/A getting 300Kw from it and still be highly driveable shouldn't be too hard.

Typhoon should be a nice car. 6 speed, 550 nm of torque and well over 270kw. But like all XR's and FPV's pretty pov spec inside. no full power seats, no decent brakes, lots of options to make it pretty nice. But you can spec a XR6T in to the $70k zone pretty easy. I would imagine a F6 would be in $70k with some "essiential" options like brembos, leather, premium audio etc.

Might be better off with a XR6T optioned and APS kit on it.

[RICHO]

Phido

You're talking some pretty expensive work there!!

The 3.0RB which comes with the 6 speed manual (straight from the Sti so it should be up to handling some decent power outputs) starts at just over $50k or about $55k on road. Sure it comes with a whole heap of kit but turboing the six etc will make it a $70k plus car by the time you finish.

If that's the budget however....plenty of cars F6 Included that would come in at around the same price. Including an R34 Skyline...which thought potentially ricey is one hell of an impressive unit!!

[SSbaby]

Go for it! I reckon it's a great choice... 1400kg and 500+Nm should be one great package.

The trend seems to be that cars are getting heavier and heavier. While the VE promises a lot on paper, it will also be a heavier car. From a personal point of view, heavy cars are generally compromised and less exciting to punt hard. For instance, the BMW M5 has a nice 500bhp V10 but it also weighs 2 tonnes - it kind of defeats its purpose.

Credit to Subaru for being able to build solid cars with AWD running gear in a lightweight package. I know the Commodore is a larger car but my point is how heavy can it be and still be a rewarding drive?

[KeenGolfer]

Liberty GT is a nice package, but seats are not comfortable for big fellas, lack of interior room compared to a Commodore, and IMO lack lustre performance. A hotted up version with 300kw would be real nice though.

[m@w8]

When you say 2.5 are you talking about an engine swap? The stock GT (Aussie one) is a 2.0 litre. The USDM one is a 2.5 litre.

Quite a few Subaru lads have dropped the USDM 2.5 unit into their WRX's and Liberties, and with a few mods make an easy 250kW at the wheels with no lag to speak of. And that's before you get really serious with major mods.

One of the WRX guys was making an estimated 620Nm before he even had the thing tuned nicely. It's reliably making over 300 lag-free kW at the wheels now, which in an AWD 1350kg car is quite useful... :cool:

[CarlFST60L]

After seeing the motor test on the Evo VIII, i'd be getting that over a GT, or anything else, n e day! it was almost up there with the M3, shat on everything else around a track... boosted up, they would be one serious weapon against all classes...

Shame the wife wont let me spend 65K

[Gto_255]

After seeing the motor test on the Evo VIII, i'd be getting that over a GT, or anything else, n e day! it was almost up there with the M3, shat on everything else around a track... boosted up, they would be one serious weapon against all classes...

Shame the wife wont let me spend 65K

Yeh too bad its an ugly car. The interior is even worse. Its like my mums 92 Magna.

[CarlFST60L]

Yeh too bad its an ugly car. The interior is even worse. Its like my mums 92 Magna.


Yeah, agree, but quick :D

Wonder if there is a nice kit that you could get, that dosnt look like a lizard on LSD.