The Subaru Legacy 2.5i (known as Liberty in Australia) has been named the New Zealand AAautocar Car of the Year for 2004.

The Legacy was also named Best Medium-size Car in the awards by the NZ Automobile Association and NZ Autocar magazine.

Stella Stocks, General Manager of AA Technical Services, said: "We simply wanted to find the best car under NZ$100,000 - a car that the one million plus members of the Automobile Association could envisage themselves owning at some point. I don't imagine there would be many AA Members who wouldn't love to have one of these in their garage."

Seven judges worked over four days to test all 31 cars under consideration.

All vehicles had to be less than NZ$100,000 in order to qualify for the overall Car of the Year award. Those tested ranged from a BMW 5 Series to a Daihatsu Charade.

The vehicles were put through their paces in January on the Taupo Raceway and over a wide range of road conditions inland of Taupo.

After three days of testing, judges trimmed the candidates to just three cars - the Subaru Legacy, the Honda Accord Euro, and the Nissan 350Z. The judges then embarked on a final day's testing to choose the best of the best.

The Legacy got high marks for responsive steering, biting brakes, and a quiet ride.