Subaru built its first car (Subaru 1500) in 1954 having spent the previous decade as the major supplier of aircraft to the Japanese airforce during World War II. Today the Japanese company is best known for its emphasis on All-Wheel-Drive technology, using that as a differentiating factor from other Japanese manufacturers. Subaru gained prominence in Australia with cars such as the Impreza WRX and Forester & the only rear-wheel-drive BRZ which have earned the company a well deserved reputation for reliability and performance. Subaru currently sells seven models in Australia including the Liberty, Outback, Impreza, XV, WRX, WRX STI and Forester. Subaru is Australia's 10th best-selling car maker.
In part one, we broke down the inception of the Subaru Liberty in our market, and covered off its rise to fame in the Australian car marketplace. For part two, we'll look at the highest point in the saga, and what happened from there. Generation four: the most successful Liberty, and arguably the best of the bunch The fourth-generation Liberty was a hit in Australia...
The Subaru Liberty is no more for the Australian car marketplace. It departs just one month shy of its 31-year anniversary in our market, having been first introduced to us Aussies in October 1989. First, a bit of trivia...
Is Subaru's ageing wagon-turned-SUV still ripe for the picking? Or is it over the hill?
The turbocharged rally rocket is set to move to an all-new platform next year, so how does the last analogue WRX STI hold up in today's digital world?
Many alternatives have gone by the by. All-wheel-drive wagons with slight bush-ability are thin on the ground these days. Aside from Skoda and Subaru, if you want four driven wheels underneath a slightly high-riding wagon (not an SUV), you're paying big bucks Yes, Subaru counts the Outback as an SUV. But, let’s call a spade a spade: the Outback is a wagon...
Subaru is now offering hybrid power in the Forester mid-sized SUV range, and the timing couldn't be better. It’s a hugely popular segment with a dizzying amount of choice, if with precisely one other conventional hybrid option in Toyota’s RAV4. Newcomer Forester Hybrid’s only direct rival has famously been thin on the ground, and it doesn’t appear to be getting thicker any time soon...
The Subaru Outback 2.5i Premium and Subaru Forester 2.5i-S are two cars with distinctly different looks and distinctly different appeals but are closer in many ways than you would imagine. So Curt Dupriez and Jez Spinks examined those similarities (and differences), to see how they stacked up against each other.
So, you bought a mid-sized SUV with all-wheel drive. Can it go off-road? We take the top 10 medium SUVs off-road through three very basic tests to see if any of them can make it through unscathed...
It’s fuel pumps at dawn as a new petrol-electric version of the Subaru Forester tries to displace the Toyota RAV4 as the world’s best – and most frugal – $40,000 hybrid SUV.
What phrase best describes a comparison of the Mitsubishi Outlander and Subaru Forester? Sortie of the sensible? Battle of the beige? Let’s not get off on the wrong foot. This pair of compact SUVs are two of the most popular in a crowded market, because they deliver reliable and practical motoring at reasonable prices...
Forester versus Outback. Subaru has two popular SUVs separated by around a grand vying for your attention. Which one should you pick?
The 2021 Subaru Forester line-up is set to expand with a sporty new variant joining the range from October. With no powertrain changes, the incoming all-wheel drive 2.5i Sport offering will sit just below the current top-spec, petrol-powered Forester variant – the 2.5i-S – and adds mostly aesthetic tweaks to the medium SUV. Powered by Subaru's familiar 2...
It's been a big year for automotive in 2020, with the exit of Holden, the cancellation of international motor shows and the Australian Grand Prix due to coronavirus, and the steady decline of new car sales. In a challenging climate, it's perhaps unsurprising that carmakers are reducing their ranges, discontinuing under-performers and replacing older models with hybrids, electric cars or new creations altogether...
Subaru is rumoured to be entering the 2022 World Rally Championship – marking a return to the top echelon if the sport after an absence of more than a decade – and it could be with a new hot hatch based on a Toyota...
We now have an answer for the handful of readers who have asked us, repeatedly, when the new-generation 2021 Subaru Liberty would go on sale in Australia: it won't. In a release issued today, the Japanese company's local distributor confirmed the Liberty badge (known as Legacy overseas) will exit the Australian market when the current model ends its production run for our region...
I have owned my 2001 SF dual-range for about five years. I bought it for 1000 bucks with 333000km on it, and it's now got 455500km on the clock. My Forester's colour is Deep Blue Mica and frankly, it should never have been removed from the range. During the time of ownership I have done the following: Upgraded the exhaust with extractors from the headers back (1200 bucks), which breathed new life into the EJ202...
I used this little Sooby for years. I have packed it up with work and camping gear, and towed a large quad bike in a trailer up a steep, rough, rocky track to a county property. It was towing about 650kg and I can’t imagine it would have been able to crawl up without the dual range box...
The venerable WRX; a car that has built a reputation for being affordable, fast, fun to drive and a head turner with that unique boxer thrum. When I decided to sell my highly-modified B5 Audi S4 to get something a little newer and reliable, a WRX seemed the obvious choice. I searched and found a 2014 (MY15) WRX Premium at a decent price, so I snapped it up...
It’s been a little over a month since I bought my newish car, a 2016 Subaru Outback 2.5i Premium. Over that time I have developed a detailed-enough opinion of the car, so I decided to write a review. My previous vehicle was a 2013 dual-cab Toyota HiLux diesel 4x4...
