Engines in Forester and Liberty

Last I heard, the Forester had a restrictor fitted in association with the turbo, cf the same mill in the wrx. Some sales bullshit I heard was that it was to increase torque - presumably at the expense of outright BHP somewhere along the line. Probably the same caper again. BTW, a friend of mine tells me that Subaru sometimes sell two different ECU's for a given car. Might be worth checking with people who know the score at Subaru.

The new libertys (Legacy) use now Vtec-type engine (can't remeber what subaru calls it) and the forester still use the non-Vtec. It too will come out with then vtec engine ( next release maybe?) Saying that the power improvements by vtec-ing the boxer has been disappointing when compared with what Honda achieved. My guess Subaru focused on emissions & fuel economy to cater to the US & Japans environmental laws.

Besides if you wanted power you'd get a turbo

-mike

Hmmm. I thought my XT had variable exhaust valve timing. Half of VTEC?

HW

The EJ25 2.5L in the new MY04 Liberty / Outback is 80% new compared to the old EJ25 in the 3rd Gen Liberty and Forester / Impreza RS. Changes have been made to the exhaust, intake manifold, and several internal components. That explains the difference in power. More details are at the Subaru Australia website :

There was also a slight power difference in the old Liberty / Outback 2.5 compared to the 2.5 in the Forester / Impreza RS - 115kw for the Liberty,

112kw for the Impreza / Forester. I believe the 3kw are lost through a slightly more restrictive exhaust system.

Just to blow that theory out of the water, all current Honda engines meet California's stringent LEV or ULEV standards.

The following info is six years old, which just goes to show how far ahead Honda are when it comes to low emissions:

"The 1998 Honda Accord EX, LX four-cylinder is the first gasoline-powered car to meet California's stringent ultra-low-emissions vehicle standard. The ULEV standard requires reduction of emissions of hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides by 50 to 84 percent below federal standards - and the ULEV Accord's emissions are actually well below even that.

The ULEV engine manages to achieve its low emissions without any appreciable loss of fuel economy or power (it develops 148hp, versus

150 for the conventional engine). The technology relies on a "lean" fuel mixture, with less gasoline and more air, during cold starts, when engines pollute the most. An onboard computer monitors each engine cylinder's exhaust and continuously adjusts its fuel mixture. An improved, high-capacity catalytic converter burns up most of the exhaust pollutants that remain."

I saw an article about the Liberty engine, apparently there is a new inlet and exhaust manifold. From pictures in magazines, I, can tell the difference between the old and new inlet manifolds straight away. The new manifolds are set up so the front 2 cylinders (front left, front right) and the back (bl, br) share manifolds. This is different from the older engine where each side (fl, bl) and (fr, br) shared manifolds like a v8 would.

Sound wierd? apparently the boxer engine firing order is such that the exhaust gasses 'scavenge' better when the various cylinders exhausts are paired in this fashion.

btw, I havent got under a new liberty to confirm this info. have no idea how the turbo engines exhausts are configured. Anyone got online pictures of the new engine?

That's weird - it seems logical that a cylinder pair firing at once should NOT share the exhaust. At first glance that would only elevate sound levels and increase momentary back pressure. Does anyone have an explanation for this?

curious

florian

So how does your Liberty go? I was going to buy a MY04 Forester, but it's too boxy-looking for the other half , and she's gunning for the Liberty 2.5 wagon. But I've read conflicting reviews about the 2.5's performance (eg see Wheels COTY edn. and NRMA 1000 km test). What gives? Rob

I've got an MY99 Outback, not a Liberty. It works fine for me, especially in traffic. The 2.5 has a nice spread of torque down low. It's an AWD wagon, not a sports car ;)

Some people love the Forester, but imo the styling (both generations) does nothing for me. The interior of the current model looks a little "cheap" (and the seats suck). I haven't read the NRMA test, but Wheels Mag did achieve 0-100km/h in 9.5 sec for both the Outback Luxury auto and the Liberty 2.5 Premium auto.

...

Well, someone had to be first!

Besides, aren't those standards about _percentages_ of exhaust-gases, to give the car company's biggest cash-cows (trucks) a way out of meeting real standards? Aren't there "SUV"s with 7 litre engines that suck down fuel at 10x the rate of an Accord, but which are still LEV's?

-Forg