There is remarkably little of note to say about the Liana’s design. Launched in 2001 to replace the almost definitively unremarkable Baleno, the reasonably styled Liana is available in both four and five door bodystyles, though we wonder why anyone would opt for the impracticalities of the saloon version in a car such as this. Its design can count itself modern, insofar as it comes from the generation of hatchbacks that recognised that if you built the car higher and rearranged the interior to suit, more interior room could be achieved without increasing the car’s footprint on the road.
There’s only one engine available, a 1.6-litre petrol unit producing a reasonable 105bhp and a strong-sounding 106lb ft of torque.
Its suspension is utterly predictable, with cheap and space efficient struts at the front and a torsion beam axle taking care of things at the back.
The Liana was updated fairly thoroughly in 2004 to give it a better look and higher quality but compared to the cars against which it must compete, such as the Astra and Focus, it still looks like a car from another age. When you drive it you’ll find that, in this case at least, looks are not deceptive.
