SUBARU LIBERTY RS TURBO

A PRICEY PROPOSITION WHEN NEW, THE LIBERTY RS TURBO IS NOW A VERY AFFORDABLE AND DESIRABLE CLASSIC WITH A LOT TO OFFER

The Legacy sedan (renamed Liberty for Australia) that arrived in 1989 broke new ground for Subaru. It included a string of FIA international motor sporting records. During a three-week enduro, three Legacy Turbo sedans lapped a banked oval in bone-dry Arizona to set 15 new endurance and speed records. They included the highest-ever average by a petrol-engined car: 223km/h for 100,000 kilometres.

Such pace and pedigree should have made the Liberty Turbo a strong seller in a country like Australia. The fact that it didn’t can be attributed to high pricing and a recession that struck just cars destined for Australia were rolling off the production line. The first arrivals were sedans, with a wagon added to the RS range in 1992.

The 2.0-litre EJ20 engine was 10 per cent smaller than the basic Liberty motor with its compression ratio reduced to suit a mild 0.7 bar of boost. Quad cams, 16 valves and a new exhaust helped the engine rev to 6500rpm, developing147kW at 6000rpm. Tuners, including Subaru’s own STi, easily extracted 200kW-plus if required.

Locally-sold RS Turbos came with five-speed manual transmission. Legacy-badged versions had a four-speed automatic option. Some could still be floating around as private imports.

Like the basic Liberty, which was highly-regarded for equipment and finish, the RS came with electric windows and mirrors, a four speaker stereo and cruise control then added 15-inch alloy wheels, fog-lights and a boot spoiler. ABS brakes would become available as a $2000 option.

Despite the risk posed by all that mechanical complexity and a drive-train being pushed pretty close to its limits, Subaru included the RS in its Three Year/100,000km Warranty programme.

While the wagon provided plenty of extra load space its structure added only 55kg to the sedan’s 1355kg. That was great for maintaining performance but wagon body rigidity suffered. Where the sedan was admirably squeak-free even in the rough stuff, wagons suffered from body rattles.

Mechanical problems aren’t an issue with the EJ20 engine and transmission have plenty of relatives waiting at your nearest Japanese spares specialist. Unless a car is so perfect that you need to keep the original motor, a later substitute with a bit more power is preferable to scrapping a decent car.

MARKET REVIEW

Qualifying for ‘classic’ status involves ticking a few boxes relating to age, sporting pedigree and performance. The RS Liberty ticks most of them yet remains very affordable.

Cars selling at close to $10,000 seem generally in decent condition and a lot come with full history and copies of service receipts. Choose a car about which as much as possible is known to avoid turning your bargain buy into a very deep money pit.

Wagons combine classic motoring with practicality but avoid those with trashed load areas. Turbos with towbars can be a worry too because extra weight being moved flogs the transmission.

Hoping to duplicate the Championship-winning performance of earlier Turbo models, Subaru Australia imported several Legacy sedans for sale to prominent rally drivers. One was comprehensively crashed very early in its career and the whereabouts of others is unknown. One rally-prepped LHD Legacy was advertised locally at under $40,000.