2008 Subaru Liberty and Outback
August 13, 2007 by George Skentzos
It seems with the 2008 Impreza receiving such bad press for its controversial new silhouette, Subaru have decided to stick to what they know and created a highly familiar MY08 Liberty and Outback range.
Liberty 2.5i
“While there are no external changes to the 2008 model year Liberty and Outback, there are significant equipment, technical, safety and pricing stories throughout the range.”
The entry level 2.0R engine has been superseded by the more powerful 2.5i which has now become standard, engine power is up 5.0 per cent to 127 Kilowatts at 6000 rpm.
Whilst the Liberty Heritage makes a return adding rear privacy glass, black leather trim, eight way adjustable power driver’s seat and a sunroof to the MY08 2.5i specifications.
Liberty 2.5i Wagon
Fortunately the new entry level Liberty 2.5i has experienced a price drop of up to 7.1 percent whilst remaining relatively identical to the previous model with the remaining Liberty range maintaining the same price tag.
Outback 2.5i
Print it: 
Boring and more boring!
It isn’t that boring. I know I’d like a Liberty GT.
Same entree over and over = stale, boring and bland
Boring compared to….?
It is bland. Forget compared to… It looks too like a cardigan driver in his 60’s will buy it for trips out to Church on Sunday mornings. They are a great car, just dead bland boring like Kevin Rudd telling us his promises – hey maybe Julia Gillard drives it when she has plenty of free time away from parliament
David… can you spot the changes externally for me and let me know as curious to see what you think as bugger all changes away from this sterotyped look that Subaru do in these models. Yet they are the opposite with the Impreza, they have chopped and changed that with some out there weird tweaking to the designs so many times it is not funny!
Not such a bad car. Looking a bit old now though and boy is it slow. 9.3sec with a 2.5l engine.
Believe-It-Or-Not, even within the house of Subaru it can get worse and does here in the United States with the introduction of the 2008 Subaru lineup.
For starters, we don’t even get a Legacy (Liberty) wagon anymore (though we build them here and export them to Canada) and we get get a facelifted (and that term is too kind a term in this regard) Outback wagon that looks absolutley hideous. Visit ww.subaru.com to get an eyeful of the awful.
Finally in addition to the new 5-door Impreza hatch, we get a 4-door North American market only Impreza sedan that looks like a cheaply built economy car with hints of Kia-Hyundai-Toyota styling added in to clinch the deal. Up here the base Impreza’s been de-contented and now delivers with steel wheels, plastic wheel covers and rear drum brakes.
Is this a strategy for global success or what???
The Liberty has the interior space of the small car. The AWD gear won’t do any good for fuel economy due to the extra weight and AWD drivetrain intertia.
Variety is the spice of life and a change is good as a holiday! Going with that line of thinking: the public servant approach so to speak of designing this car (steady as she goes and lets not change much as extra work) is not good as tad lazy, being behind the times and letting the opposition take the initiative and someone else will lift the bar is a recipe for disaster (as they will get left behind). Bugger all changes aside from centre grille mould being angled downwards a tiny bit on the Liberty 2.5i does not auger well for evolution and change. Rather it does the opposite, like plain, horribly stale and “Oh yuk”.
If you think it is acceptable, then you are the type that always goes out to dinner and eats the same meal totally! Now how many people do that???? Or accept that????
What’s the big deal with external styling? When was the last time Porsche did something DRASTIC in this area? (We’re not counting consumer driven face-lifts for the Carrera just so it looks different from the cheaper models). If lack of change works for them, why not Subaru? Oh, and if it’s fuel economy you want, get a Prius. For those who want loads of interior space, I recommend a mini-van or an SUV > then you can join all the other soccer-mums who got it ‘because they have kids and enjoy the higher drive position’ (when really they can’t drive & feel safer in a bigger car, regardless of the crash statistics).
Mark, are you one of those types who eats dinner at the same time, same menu and watches repeats of the same show???? Sure it is not too bad a design, but mate it is old hat, I reckon when I get to 70 and wear a tartan cap, I will put it on the rear shelf behind back seat in sedan and be proud that the design is still the same.
Mark, my challenge to you is to find the differences to the latest model versus the previous model????
Go to Japan and they do not overly have the same disco or restaurant as they upgrade and change for the better; fact of life it is survival of the fittest and if Subaru stand still and leave this design as is; other car makers will jump ahead in style, design and engineering and then this car will be yesterdays hero quick. When you do running when you were at High School, did you walk and if you did did you win????
Everything goes forward, not sideways or backwards like this dinosaur look of the Liberty or Outback!
Mark… do not compare the exotic brand called Porsche that has a different heritage with Subaru as you are comparing gold versus gold dust and not same level playing field.
As for your rest of the comments about big cars offering raised seating… HEAR HEAR AS IT IS SO DAM TRUE
I know what people mean,yeah it is time for a change &
Subaru probably know it.It has become very middle class unimaginative.Remember the original Liberty?
Very different to many of the mainstream competiton at the time & proved to be durable.It was a bargain.
Hope the replacement is worthy of that reputation built.If not I will move on somewhere else or wait for them to come back to their senses.
Perhaps Subaru are sparing us a change such as the likes of XF TO EA TO EB TO ED to EL to AU Falcon etc(dont look to hard you might start seeing similarities) or the utterly ordinary VB to VC to VH to VL to VN (nastiest by far,close your eyes I thought I was in dad’s old EJ)to VP etc Commodore.
I have not forgotten what was served up by Nissan,Toyota(have yet to understand Avalon),Mitsubishi(Lemons belong on trees,have they got it right yet?) during the same era.
All had model changes but none were a real step forward.Just made for the masses.Subaru does the same thing just executes its designs better than the before mentioned.
Remember how some of these were promoted SO HARD Car of the year etc
That is what I meant by Boring compared too….
Have a look at.
http://www.autoblog.com/2007/0.....d-outback/
Roberto, FYI I eat dinner when I get hungry – on some days it’s at 5:30 while on others it could be 8, 9, 10 or later. I also try not to eat the same type of meat in the same day (e.g. chicken for lunch means i have something different for dinner). I also enjoy walks on the beach, rock climbing and WHAT THE HELL HAS THIS GOT TO DO WITH THE PRICE OF FISH IN CHINA?! If you want to know the diff between the MY07 and MY08 models I suggest you visit:
http://www.subaru.com.au/about.....up-for-08/
Once you read up you’ll see that the difference is little more than between the BA & BF Falcon. However, if it ain’t broke, why fix it? Styling isn’t everything. When it is, you end up buying cars because “look pretty”. That’s probably why people are actually forking out cash for the Daewoo… err, sorry, Holden Epica and the like.
Regarding the Porsche comment, I didn’t mean to imply that Subaru have anything in common with Porsche. I only mentioned it to illustrate that when it comes down to it, styling can be at the bottom of the priority list. Moreover, there are so many places that do custom body work that it should be easy to find one that would even make Carson happy.
Finally, while I’m here, I want to voice my disappointment with a number of Japanese car makers that supply the Aussie market. Why, oh why don’t we get the same creature-comfort options that are available in the USA, Europe or Japan? Subaru, are we not good enough for an auto-dimming mirror with homelink? Mazda, is it that hard to give us the option of SatNav? There are many more to complain about, but these two will do for now.
Love all the comments guys and I’m looking to buy a new car around Xmas, but the things that matter to me are safety, reliability, running costs, practability, resale value, price and a good test drive, and if the vehicle looks not half bad then I will purchase it. I find Subaru’s have alot of good points for the price but I have still got more home work to do. Have a great day guys.
After owning a 98 Toyota Camry for 7 years I decided to upgrade to a MY08 Outback Premium 2.5i auto and I have had the car for a couple of months now. Being a first time Subaru owner, I am still getting to know the car but I definitely have discovered a few points that, in my opinion, Subaru have obviously overlooked and/or deliberately under-engineered. I am happy with the styling, maybe aging according to some, but the vehicle looks smart, each to their own I suppose.
I might be fussy and don\’t expect near perfection, but apart from the car having many positive points, it definitely does have some obvious negative points.
As follows:
• Glove box light comes on only when you have the keys in the ignition and the headlights turned on (how ridiculous).
• Storage areas in the console are way too small (can hardly fit anything in them), to get any lighting over the front seating area.
• You have to turn on the map lights otherwise it is too dark.
• Interior plastics feel cheap, scratch easily and dimples develop from resting your elbows on the top of the door trim and arm rests,.
• Interior floor carpet is an embarrassment to a car that is in the high 30s, low 40s second hand price range. It is 100% polypropylene, cheap as chips (my 30 year old Falcon has a better quality original carpet in it.
• Being a premium model it has no audio controls on the steering wheel, no option available to get ivory leather or the turbo engine which it desperately needs as the car is gutless on the open road if you are towing or have a full load and lastly, not enough front passenger leg room, don\’t talk about the rear. Like I said, apart from these negative points, I am happy with the car, just came back from a trip to the snow and the Outback handled well in snow conditions. I\’ve heard people stick to Subaru\’s but I think the car is not up to that standard that would attract me again. I think I\’ll be looking towards Toyota territory in a few years towards the end of the Subaru\’s warranty…..
Frank, thats interesting because the MY08 Outback, in all models comes with audio controls on the steering wheel. Which leads me to think you don’t actually have a MY08 model. The 2.5L engine is also as powerful as any other 2.5L NA engine available, so the gutless comment seems a little odd. Subaru do offer the 3L engine which is as powerful as the GT with just a little less low down torque. And the interior plastics? No way are they cheap feeling in the Outback and Liberty. There are all soft touch, which is probably why if you really dig your elbow into the door trim you get a dimple, soft plastics are good because they better absorb interior noise, and they don’t feel like they are made from melted down lego.
I’d feel sorry for your experiences, if I didn’t get that slight wiff of bullsh!t from your story. Check if you actually have the MY08 model, because what you’re saying doesn’t indicate that.