Jeep Liberty: Believe the hype?

Hey all,

So...bit of a family predicament here. My sister just traded her Pontiac Grand Am for a Jeep Liberty. I had told her I would help her go shopping for a compact SUV, because thats what she wanted, but on pure impulse she went out and bought a 2012 Liberty without telling anyone! $19k and 26,000 miles on the odo.

Now I can talk for days about which cars are good and which ones are fun, but SUVs are not my game. It bothers me that she wasn't more patient, but the deed is done. So she really likes it, she's in honeymoon phase, but I fear that the car might be trouble later down the road.

Meanwhile, my parents bought a cheap Buick Rendezvous not too long ago. I wish I would have gone with them to buy that one too. Its a piece of junk. The suspension is so far gone that you hit a speed bump and bounce up and down for the next mile. On top of all that, its a 4 cyl FWD, and we have a trailer that we tow to our cabin that is usually loaded with 2 4-wheelers. So as you can imagine, the Buick struggles. Overheats alot when going up the mountain. So my parents are convinced they want/need something else, and now my dad is looking into the Jeep Liberty as well.

SOoooo...I hear parts can be spendy on the Jeep. I hear they tend to guzzle gas down and be unreliable. Any truth to these claims?

Also, what other cars could you guys recommend? Need something with decent towing capacity, preferably around 2500lbs I would think. Also, number of seats isnt huge, but my mom would be daily driving it when we're not towing stuff to the cabin, so it needs to be pretty livable day-to-day. Please shoot me suggestions! Like I said, SUVs are not my cup of tea. Thanks GRM-ers!

Can't comment on that generation Liberty, but we had a 2006 model with a manual tranny (pretty rare, our local dealer had never seen one). After installing a 2-inch lift (we have great 4WD trails here) it worked very well for 100,000 miles with just basic maintenance and got about 19 mpg overall, 23 on trips.

BUT - after 100,000 miles, things started going to hell sequentially. Two power steering pumps, front driveshaft that also took out the transfer case bearing, two CV joints, a front wheel bearing, a power steering pump, and several of these items had to be done more than once when the replacement parts failed (under the part warranty, but still kept the vehicle off the road). This vehicle was well maintained, by the book. After we got it back from the shop the last time we said "everything's working right now, quick, to the Subaru dealer!" where we traded it for a new Forester. Not a great off-road vehicle, but with the gas savings (30 mpg overall, 34 mpg on a 900-mile trip this week), if we get company who want to get into the back country we'll go rent a new Wrangler for the day. We have a 4WD Tacoma for our own serious back country exploring.

In summary: the Libby worked well at first, and became a money pit after 100K. YMMV.

Exploder, Flex or MKT?

AFAIK they're rated at 5,000lbs.

I guess I haven't been around GRM long enough. I know the Ford Explorer, but I'm not sure what you mean by Flex or MKT. Ford Explorer does seem like a decent option though.

Ford Flex And Lincoln MKT, both are on the same platform as the Explorer. I believe the Taurus x falls into that group as well.

...They made a Rendezvous with a 4 cylinder?

As fr Liberties, the rear upper link eats ball joints and bushings, and it's kinda sucky to replace. Lower links rot out way early, IIRC they were recalled. Front brake flex hoses have a habit of blowing out because the rubber sheath over the hose crimp is in the perfect spot to retain water, and the crimp rusts off. The 3.7l engine is actually pretty reliable (as far as I've seen) but is waterpumpy. Very easy to change, at least. Upper ball joints go bad rapidly as well.

Sounds like you'd be better suited to a minivan. They get better fuel mileage, are more versitile and most of them will have no troubles towing 2500lbs.

I had a first gen Liberty. It was OK. It was a company car, so I wasn't worried about reliability. Mine never gave me problems, but I only had it for 45k miles.

Ouch- $19k for a 26k liberty? I see those new all the time for something like $15-17k. Unless she has the limited or something. For what it's worth, Expedition Portal actually had nice things to say about theirs.

Libertys are hit or miss, you either get a good one or a nightmare.

The 3.7 is weakish and prone to sticking valves that cause a difficult to trace misfire, it tends to be on the drivers' rear cylinders for some reason. This is more the earlier versions but I have seen it on later ones. Spark plug replacement at 30k is a good idea, it still uses low tech plugs. I've seen 45k mile cars with cooked coils from ignoring this.

There was a weird BCM/CAN problem which caused random warning lights to illuminate, last I saw at Jeep even the Mopar engineers were having a helluva time running it down. The 'big' touch screen radios which include the HVAC controls scare the crap out of me; lose that screen and you are dead in the water, you can't even turn on the windshield defogger. I saw this happen when a guy's kid broke the screen with a toy of some kind, the replacement estimate was over $2k. Gimme the low tech version any day.

It being a 2012 she may not experience these problems, but as I say, hit or miss. For some reason, the transmissions tend to last a helluva long time and Grand Cherokees with the same one won't, although as always the fluid should be swapped regularly for best life.

The '12 doesn't fall under the infamous ball joint recall and it may or may not be under the rear control arm thing, the dealer can run the VIN to see. That was more a salt state problem, BTW, although replacement is done nationwide (don't know where the vehicle will wind up).

My big gripe is that for their size they have atrocious interior accomodations. It's nearly the size my old Trooper was and in some ways a bit bigger than the Xterra but damn they claustrophobic. I climb out going 'whew glad I'm not riding 3 hours in that'. Same for the Nitro stablemate.

It sounds like your sister went and paid retail, just like 99% of the population. The world hasn't ended for them so don't sweat it.

I'm obviously partial to Ford products and think the Taurus-X is an outstanding vehicle. We put 41k miles on our in 14 months and loved it, but it was never promoted.

Having said that, everyone I know who has had a Liberty has loved it. Of the three I know of they just throw gas in and drive, I don't think they even get basic maintenance, they are the type of people where maintenance is something you do once the car has stopped working, but for all of them they just keep on running and running. They do suck gas compared to other and/or modern choices, but that seems to be the way for Jeeps.

I had a 2008 Liberty from new through 120k miles. It was one of the worst vehicles I've ever had. It was government issue and I was happy to turn it in. I averaged 17 mpg of mostly highway. It was worse than most cars off-road. It had traction control and active handling. When faced with mud or slightly damp grass on an incline, the vehicle cuts the power and you immediately come to a stop. You can "disable" traction control, but if you slide like you might going up a muddy road, the Jeep thinks you're wrecking and puts the brakes on to keep you safe. That can't be turned off.

It was serviced every 3000 miles at the dealer and received to highest level of maintenance and that didn't help. I went through 3 cruise controls, two gas tanks, the rear wiper wouldn't turn off, and occasionally while trying to start it, the engine would continue to turn over with the key in the run position and the engine not running.

I'm 6-3 190 and the cramped seating and poor pedal positioning gave me chronic knee pain - like doctor and MRI level twisting. The backseat was useless for anyone but a double leg amputee. The high center of gravity and short wheelbase made for a twitchy ride at highway speed. The transmission was classic Chrysler- impotent and fragile, leaked and slipped.

It was an awful pile and I was happy to see it go to surplus. We turned in a lot of late 2000s Libertys and they seem to go for around $3000 at the public auctions. I would not recommend anyone buy a Chrysler and definitely not a Liberty.

Having driven multiple Liberty's I've always found them to be sub par compared to the competition. Didnt care for the ride, the seating position (maybe because I'm tall), and the cheap looking interior all worked to keep one of those things out of my driveway. Being a Chrysler product was almost enough in its own right. I've never understood the "Jeep thing". Cant comment on reliability other than what I've heard on the interwebs. (nothing good really)

Whats their spending limit? My go to SUV is a 2009 (4th Gen) Toyota 4Runner. Fully capable off road, reliable, will tow most people's toys, and has decent on road handling.Will run forever, and still be worth something when they want to sell. The newer 4runners do the same, but they are expensive and the new body seems cave like from the inside looking out. If 4 runner is to big or truck like, the Toyota Highlander with the V6, or if they want more luxury, the Lexus RX 350 is a solid choice. Plenty of power, good fuel econ, available AWD and car like. Both reliable, and many years to choose from out there on the used market.

Mazda CX-5 with the 2.5.

That ship has already sailed. Wish her luck.

My next door neighbor bought one and was immediately appalled by the dismal gas mileage.

The_Jed wrote: Exploder, Flex or MKT? AFAIK they're rated at 5,000lbs.

That is my vote! BTW MKT is 4500 lbs.

I drove one of the first-gen Liberty's and the ergonomics were appalling. I have sat in better lawn chairs.

A used 4runner or Pilot or explorer/flex or highlander would have been a better choice...

Sounds like these people are "ask"holes. Probably not worth wasting your time (my 2 cents). They want their opinion to be validated, not to be informed.

Well the good news...ish is that she claims they gave her a 5 year warranty on non-wear items. I am sure there will be a fair share of hoops to jump through if she needs to use it, but at least its there.

I just want to spare my parents a future of headaches. I like the idea of the 4runner. Anybody know the towing capacity of the Pilot?

Also, my buddy has an Explorer, it seems to ride pretty nice, but the interior is definitely nothing to write home about. Not a big deal tho. They pretty stout cars? Thanks again everyone!

HiTempguy wrote: That's old news but, I blame Canada. Edit: removed. Sorry 'guy.

We hated our Liberty when used as a main car.

I think we may have had a different opinion if we had got a 4x4 diesel.

Downside of the diesel Libertys: when they did the recall to make it quit busting torque converters, the programming change just neutered the thing, it killed acceleration and mileage. Many of my customers traded in disgust.

Oh god, not an MKT. They look horrid.

The_Jed wrote: That's old news but, I blame Canada.

Posted it in the wrong thread, thought I corrected it before anyone noticed lol

Wait, there is "hype" about Jeep Liberties? I thought they were another in a sea of forgettable compact SUVs on the market these days.