Jaguar XF vs Subaru Liberty

What's the difference?

If a Jaguar owner fell through a wormhole from 2003, the company they bought their car from would be   almost unrecognisable. Back then, it was a bewildering mess making an odd assortment of cars, yet to emerge into the light after Ford's confused and debilitating period of ownership. 

Why 2003? Fifteen years is a nice round number and pre-dates the arrival of the brand-saving XF.

Today, Jaguar has three SUVs, and the gorgeous F-Type, the XE, its second-generation XF and the big XJ. It has three SUVs (the F-Pace, E-Pace and I-Pace) because without them Jaguar would be a niche manufacturer before long, because big sedans, formerly the brand's trademark, are continuing their gentle decline. Oddly enough, one of the market segments contracting even faster than sedans is wagons. 

So what better time to launch into a draining pool from the three-metre board than now? Jaguar has bravely taken that risk and brought us the puzzlingly named XF Sportbrake.

Subaru's Liberty is probably one of the most recognised badges in the country. Talk to anyone outside of Australia, though, and unless they know their cars, they haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about. It's a mark of Subaru's respect of the Australian market - the company renamed it from Legacy for local consumption - and the power of a brand that's approaching 30 years old.

Just about every Australian reading these words has been in a Liberty of one age or another. Some even remember it for Colin McRae's heroics at the wheel of the blue-and-yellow machine in the early '90s before the switch to another famous Subaru, the Impreza.

The Liberty is now well into its sixth iteration which means time for a mid-life nip and tuck. Subaru has worked above and below the skin to breathe a bit of life into its mainstay sedan.