Stature & Liberty
Wheels Magazine 
March, 2005
While the Japanese are brilliant at many things, there are a few with which they've had an on-going struggle. Stuff like hair bleaching, pop music, and, more importantly, building really good six-cylinder sports-luxury sedans. There are exceptions, of course, but for every half-decent Lexus IS300, there's an entire back catalogue of bland old Nissan Maxima-style shockers with not one noteworthy engineering advance to speak of and even less by way of personality or desirability.
Then there's Subaru's six-cylinder Liberty 3.0R. This medium-sized sedan excels at everything the Japanese are justifiably proud of - build precision, paint depth, equipment levels, and you'd hope reliability - but its allure rises beyond the two-dimensional glow of a mere appliance. Here is a car that dares to flirt with difference, to the point where the 3.0R could almost be considered, well, eccentric: a horizontally opposed six-cylinder engine, all-wheel drive, and frameless door glass aren't your usual Japanese fare. Take into account Subaru's increasing emphasis on sporting style and driving pleasure, and sizing up the 3.0R as Japan's BMW 330i becomes almost a no-brainer. But even at half the price, can the Liberty six actually make a serious stand in a direct face-off?
Contained to the fluorescent glow inside a dealer showroom, absolutely. Subaru's fourth-generation Liberty is a superbly crafted device, with a standard of interior quality and a tactility to its controls that would make even Audi blush, let alone BMW. Its soft ivory leather actually feels like real cow, and the clarity and thundering bass of its 13-speaker McIntosh six-disc CD audio is superb. Even the way Liberty's sashless doors close with an old-moneyed thunk exudes quality. And forget about options - the 3.0R is so loaded, it could be locked up for driving DUI. Climate, cruise, leather seats (eight-way electric in the front), Momo leather wheel, glass sunroof, front/side/curtain airbags, VDC stability control, all-wheel drive, 17-inch alloys, front fogs, a three-year unlimited-distance warranty, and a five-star NCAP crash-test rating - all for $50,990.
Parking a BMW 330i Executive in your driveway will demand at least $93,300, before any dabbling in BMW's tempting, if typically pricey, options list. Still, the 330i shares the 3.0R's equipment fetish, and even goes one better in several instances. For nearly double the Subey's ask, it adds rain-sensing wipers and auto-on, bi-xenon headlamps with washers, rear parking sensors, three-position memory for the driver's electric seat, a useable front armrest, real wood trim (high-gloss myrtle), sat-nav with TV, and Bluetooth mobile-phone capability. The 330i also offers gear you can't get in the Liberty, such as electric front lumbar support ($770) and front seat heating ($970), but you'll dig deep for a sunroof ($2750), metallic paint ($1600), and a 10-speaker Harman/Kardon stereo upgrade ($775) that combines with a fiddly, boot-mounted CD stacker (not in-dash as in 3.0R), and still hasn't a hope in hell of matching the ear-splitting clarity of the Subaru's audio. The 330i's warranty isn't great, either - a scant two years (though with unlimited distance) - and the Bimmer only rates four stars in NCAP testing.
Where the BMW justifies its lofty tag is via its equally impressive finish and presentation, its hewn-from-stone feel, and, most obviously, its refinement. Ride in the BMW on a coarse country road and you'll immediately notice how quiet it is relative to the Subaru - particularly in the back seat. Where the Subaru transmits a hollow, drumming sound into its cabin that is noticeable at 120km/h, and intrusive at 140-150km/h, the BMW is relatively unfazed - road noise remaining dominant, but at a much lower volume, and minus the drumming. What you can hear in the BMW is its edgy exhaust note under load, whereas the Subaru smothers its syrupy flat-six with road roar.
However, noise aside, the Subaru and BMW eyeball each other for space and comfort. Rear leg- and footroom are roughly the same, with the BMW's marginally longer and higher bench offering a tad more under-thigh support. Neither has rear-seat ventilation nor door pockets, but triple head restraints, ski ports (a $760 option in the BMW, with ski bag), centre-rear armrests, and two map pockets are common to both.
Slide into each driver's seat and it's the 330i that feels the most naturally comfortable. Its telescopic wheel adjusts to exactly where you want it, and its shapely sports seats (a $1340 option) do a better job of hugging bodies in corners than the Liberty's flatter, less adjustable, but still inviting pews.
But enough of the dry stuff. What we really want to know is, can Subaru's Liberty 3.0R match BMW's 330i for performance and dynamics? On the drag strip, the BMW has the Subaru's measure everywhere, but there's little in it - as evidenced by their rolling-start parity (4.7sec v 5.0sec), and the mere second difference in the sprint to the old ton (160km/h). What separates the two is the way they perform.
Despite some exhaust drone at town speeds, the BMW's engine/exhaust orchestra packs some serious meat for a six. Above 4000rpm, it sounds delicious, seducing with its metallic crispness, yet hardening its aural edge. The Subaru's flat-six is creamier and sounds less urgent, even though it revs to 7200rpm, because it's so incredibly smooth. Yet never boring. From outside, the 3.0R's twin pipes play a satisfyingly metallic boxer tune, but inside, the effect is more muted, with thinner, hollower acoustics than the BMW.
Both five-speed autos (Steptronic in BMW speak, Sportshift in Subey parlance) are slick and effective, but the Subaru must remain in Sport mode to mask its thin torque delivery below 3000rpm, holding gears longer and shifting more decisively than normal mode, while retaining the use of fifth. For manual requests, Subaru's tip-shift five-speeder is even better - holding each chosen gear without upshifting, and featuring little up/down arrows in the instrument's gear indicator to immediately alert the driver when an up-/downchange is possible. It's a very driver-focused auto, even though it can be quite ditsy if left to its own devices.
The BMW's 'box is more effective at putting the 330's superior torque into action, and will pull higher gears at lower speeds than the Subaru, resulting in less gear-shifting and a more effortless gait. The BMW also places its tip-shift the correct way (forward for down, back for up), but it cancels out fifth when in Sport mode and refuses to hold a selected gear if you brush its 6500rpm redline.
However, it's in the dynamic arena that the BMW asserts its brilliance. The 330i is still the benchmark, especially in terms of chassis balance, steering feel, and ultimate precision, whereas the Subaru simply rates 'very good'. Where the BMW's steering is expertly weighted and has excellent feel, the Subaru's steering feels a bit soft - accurate, but light on for weighting and lacking the BMW's lovely feedback. Things improve when applying power, but steering remains the Subaru's weakest link, especially through bumpy corners where you can feel (and hear) the wheel jiggling in your hands.
Otherwise, the Liberty 3.0R is a fine drive. It doesn't quite enjoy the delicate balance of the fours, feeling heavier in the front, and with its additional speed potential, requiring more wheel at times to combat understeer. But balance remains impressive - particularly in high-speed sweepers - and its all-wheel-drive grip can't be discounted.
The Liberty doesn't have the 330's body control, though - rolling more through corners, and feeling a touch floaty through undulating left-to-right turns that the BMW simply carves up.
But it's all relative. The BMW isn't really worth twice the Liberty's price. The 3.0R is plenty of fun on a hard drive, but the beautifully balanced 330i won't double the width of your grin.
Globally, the range-topping 3 Series remains the gun sporting six - for a host of reasons, but mainly for its wonderfully interconnected driving experience. The 330i also remains at the sharp end for quality, comfort, refinement, styling, street cred, even resale.
But for space, style, comfort and charisma, the Liberty gives no quarter. With more attention paid to its road-noise issues and its steering, the 3.0R could wear the 'Japanese 330i' crown. It doesn't, and it isn't - not quite - but then what else provides a near-330i experience for $51K? And that's why it's the winner here - by a bleached hair's breadth.