The AUSubaru.com.au Forums

What are your guys opinions on whats better/efficient offload? and on road. clearance, power, comfort, looks, capable.
anything!!
i have a lifted l series atm, and another l series wagon im thinknin about lifting.. but then i see chistian and devil talking about their lifted Libertys, and it makes me think about what one would be like???
would anyone be able to help me make up my mind or at least give me some info on them??
Cheers all

LOL

its a more comfortable car to start with...being of a different era.....and they drive superbly compared to my lifted L series

as for capability off road...im taking my lib everywhere my L went...however i dont have a dual range box yet and still am limited as to what i can do. but im sure others like...legacytt and brett and others who DO either have dual range or autos can tell you..on the bad side....i got a 3" lift..28" tyres and slightly higher struts...but the approach and departure angles are still worse then a 3" lifted L series....but with solme thought and modification that can be overcome

they are however slightly more complicated in suspension...but the setup in my opinion is far more stronger and comfortable to drive on..but not as easy or cheap to find replacement parts should something break

that should do it for now:P...theres more ppl with libs on here and they should b able to pipe up a little more


personally i will never go back to a L series

dave

l-series all the way...has to get ej'd though. I'd take a l-series over a lib anyday. They just feel stronger..less plastic..i dunno what it is, but i love my l-series, and have been in heaps of libs...gimme an l-series anyday

(i reckon they look better too..)

alex

but u havnt been in 1 offroad ...not only that..and the only time u did u said it was sooooo much better,,,AHAHAHAHAHAHA...but we wont fight over this on here...and hijack the thread:P

nup l-series...tell me dave...why exactly are you selling off your lib? unreliable when lifted?

alex

comment removed


get ur facts right b4 making smartass comments alex

***Personal opinions***...

If we are talking reasonably stock cars but with a Lift kit...

Lseries has these advantages offroad
- Lighter
- Best offroading Subaru gearbox you can get comes as standard (very low low-range and locked centre)
- Replacing busted parts is cheaper
Lseries has these advantages onroad
- Can't think of any...

Lib has these advantages offroad
- Much tougher suspension
- More power as standard
Lib has these advantages onroad
- Far superior handling
- More power as standard

Looks are purely personal preference.

Basically if you want a car primarily for offroad go the L series.
If you want one primarily for onroad but some offroading go the Lib.


Modifications (heres where you can't really compare cars anymore)...

Everyone knows that just about any EJ part is better/tougher/more powerful than it's older EA counterpart.
But the L series is still usually regarded as better offroad.

If you want the ultimate then get an L series and convert as many parts to EJ as you can. Most of this is relatively straight forward.
The toughness of the suspension offroad and onroad handling can both be fixed by getting a Bratgebah kit and converting to a full EJ system.
Lack of power - do an EJ conversion.
The cost of replacement parts obviously goes up alot here though. (bratgebah kit includes custom control arms!).
You still come out with a car thats slightly lighter, is worth less (a good thing if you are buying one already done - not so good if you are building one ), and will hopefully be more capable.
Modifications throws everything up in the air though, really impossible to compare now.

a.

Adam, your L series as it is now will be better offroad than a lifted Lib as it has great approach and departure angles. That combined with the locked centre auto it will crawl over anything. However, there is no doubt that a lifted Lib is better on road. Just depends what you want to do.
Having been through the "change the car for the sake of it" phase a few times it comes down to how much money you want to burn as you always lose out on the change over. I very nearly fell for it again, someone was going to buy my Lib and I had an Gen 3 Outback picked out. Luckily their finance fell though as I realised I couldn't be bothered going through the whole turbo conversion/lift kit deal again only to end up with a slightly newer body. After enjoying my car as it is on the weekend I am going to stick with it for a few more years

Ian your way ahead of the curve - no need to upgrade!

the rest of us are still driving Gen1's! I only know of one lifted Gen3 (lib - lots of outbacks been done)

Been a lib offroad there alright,smooth on.My l wag has the same setup minus brakes as your sedan and is now very capable offroad it'll crawl all day.Chalk and Cheese.

D3V1L wrote:comment removed


get ur facts right b4 making smartass comments alex

just giving some advice Dave..speaking what i think

alex

My Outback has a turning circle at least 1m wider than my old L wagon,
thats not good for turning on narrow tracks.
Lib is probably much the same ?

AWD,MT, but no centre diff lock, so this can't be as good as the L wagon can it? as there when 4wd is engaged, its locked front/rear

The rear bumper on the L wagon can cop/absorb a lot of abuse without looking too bad,
these new ones with the almost integral hard plastic bumper, a bit of damage and i think it would look rather ugly, requiring expensive replacement.

The Outback is a bit bigger and comfortable over the L wagon.

Also relevant for off-roading, the Outback came with rear tie downs for cargo, the L, I had to weld in some ugly U steel bits.

For onroad there is no doubt that Libertys and the like are better than L Series. My L Series mostly goes where I point it offroad - the only time I have trouble is when I have wheels in the air when going over "contoured" terrain.

I have no desire to get an EJ motor. I believe traction and gearing are more important when 4WDing. That's my personal opinion anyways.

I never thought that the Liberty would be any good offroad when I first built one. Now I can't imagine using any thing else. My personal preference says that the Liberty/Outback is far superior to both MY and L series.

They are stronger in the body. Larger bolts and more of them hold the suspension to the body. The suspension geometry is better than both other counterparts allowing for better articulation. I have never seen one tear bolts from the floor like the earlier Subes do.

The wheel arches are larger and allow for a bigger tyre in both size and range with out modification. Parts are more widely available and also a range of different parts.

The engines are better which has already been established. The gearbox, although not being locked front to rear, is perfectly capable offroad. I have never not managed to get some where I wanted to because of the centre diff. Low range does require looking at and is the only downfall that I can see. Autos, as much as I hate them, don't suffer from this problem. Then again autos drain a stack of power and this can be detrimental to offroad performance.

The approach and departure angles look pretty bad on a Liberty but in actual fact they aren't that bad at all. Plastic bumpers are a godsend at times. It is surprising how much they will flex out of the way of obstacles and then just spring straight back in to place.

Sedans are better than wagons for 4wding but getting all your gear there first is better done in a wagon.

i am at my old mans place today, driving his L series around. I will never own one, not with the price you can get a lib for these days.

The Liberty has a stronger body than the L series and pretty much what Brett said however a well setup Liberty or an L series is going to give you lots of options offroad. Basically with a Lib you have to lift it and bigger tyres L series you need to do that and also address the engine problem (lack of power)

Now Now Dane don't be so harsh on the L-series i can remember one liberty needing to be snached up a bit of a hill one night at springfield!!!

I don't recall an l-series having any trouble lol lol

And L-series parts are dirt cheep if you bend a guard it costs $20

Just went out to the driveway and compared a lifted Outback with my lifted L series. Approach angles are virtually identical, but departure angle on the L series was much better.

Both vehicles have 2" body lift and alloy bullbars fitted so the comparo was reasonable for two similarly modified Subarus.

Outback is used mainly for touring and dirt road work, and in this role it performs very well, however the owner isn't about to foillow my L series along the Springfield tracks due to the Outback's poor departure angle.

I know SubaExtreme used to make a rear bar for the gen2 Outbacks but dunno if the new owners are offering this in their range of products. It's hard to say for certain, but an Outback with an aftermarket rear bar should have an improved departure angle and might be comparable to a lifted L Series. Maybe.

Jan

you wont ever let me forget that one will you Jan

and me getting stuck out there was largely due to exactly what you have said - libs have a ****ty departure angle. The fix is lift the thing higher like Brett and Dave have. Mines a tourer so i dont want to go that high

my worn out auto box wasnt helping either, theres a big pile of parts in the garage that means that wont be giving me problems too much longer

One problem L's do have is the radiator hoses have a tendency to fall off while 4wding. Don't they Yarney? :D