Known issues with the four-speed automatic transmission in the 1996 Subaru Liberty wagon
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Asked by Trev
Are there any problems with the four-speed automatic in the 1996 Subaru Liberty wagon? I'm looking to buy a very nice example of the Liberty but have been warned about pre-2004 transmission.
Answered by CarsGuide
1 May 2024Any vehicle of this age has to be approached on an individual basis. It’s likely to have covered a lot of kilometres by now, so any major (or minor) component could be well past its best.
Any Subaru transmission that doesn’t shift properly or is slow to engage a gear or shudders under acceleration needs to be either investigated further or avoided completely. Don’t forget that the Liberty was all-wheel-drive, so that places extra strain on the transmission as well as making for a more complex arrangement if it does need to be repaired or replaced.
In high-performance Subarus (such as the WRX) the transmission was something of a fuse if the driver got a bit over-enthusiastic, but in models like the Liberty, the four-speed automatic was a sound unit. When test driving the vehicle, make sure there are no thumps or vibrations when the gearbox shifts down, and try to shift gears manually. The gearbox should respond instantly to manual input, without any hesitation or noise.
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