Australia's leading general insurer, NRMA Insurance, has released the latest results from its 2003 low speed crash test program, and Subaru has once again demonstrated its class leading ability with exceptional results from Forester, Outback, Impreza and Liberty (Legacy).

NRMA Insurance subjected 46 of Australia's top selling cars to a pendulum crash test, replicating a 15km/h collision with a solid barrier or a 30km/h collision into the rear of another vehicle to compare the cost of repairs.

The Subaru Forester XS topped the Small 4WD class with a repair cost for the low speed crash established at 9.7% of its purchase price. The Outback was in second place with the repair cost of 10.9% of its purchase price. The Nissan X-Trail result was 17.7%, Honda CRV Sports 19.7%, Mitsubishi Outlander 19.8% and Toyota RAV4 Edge 21.7%.

In the Small/Medium category, the Subaru Impreza WRX finished top of class, recording a 9.1% result in terms of cost of repair to purchase price. In second place was the normally aspirated Impreza RS at 11.3%. The Peugeot was third with a score of 11.9%, but all other cars in the class had a result of 19% or greater.

In the medium class category, the Subaru Liberty (Legacy) 2.5i finished in second place with 10.6%, behind the Mazda 6 Classic (9.0%) but ahead of both the Holden Vectra CD 2.2l (11.3%) and the Toyota Camry Altise 2.4l (13.6%).

The NRMA Insurance low speed crash tests are designed purely to determine the cost of repairing cars following crashes. They do not test occupant safety and no personal safety conclusions can be drawn from these tests.