Jeep Liberty : Reliability, Safety, IFS ??

I am thinking of buying a Jeep Liberty. There had been a lot of discussion about this SUV in the newsgroups. I understand overall it is a pretty good vehicle. There are a couple of things about liberty that I would like to know. Safety and Reliability.

Safety : How safe is it? I am new to SUVs and I hear that SUVs are vulnerable to tip over. How is jeep's record on this? How about other safety features?

Reliability : How reliable is Liberty? I am going to use it only to commute to and from work and may be some camping. Strictly no rock climbing or extreme off roading of any sort. If you give Honda a reliability rating of 10 and a Ford a reliability rating of 4 how would you rate Liberty? ( Remember no offroading). Does the parts start malfunctioning after a couple of years? (I hear Nissan Xterra has this problem )

I am a novice in autos. What is the deal with independent front suspension and solid rear axle? How does it affect comfort and reliability?

Thank you all for your help,

Paul Thomas

Reply to
Paul Thomas
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Reply to
L.W.(ßill)

i find it interesting that you would rate ford so low when i just posted this tonight.

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Reply to
Nathan Collier

If you are not going off road, then maybe you should look at SUV's with better gas milage. Maybe a Toyota Highlander for example. Jeeps are not good on gas.

Reply to
Trust5280

vulnerable to tip over. <

Any vehicle with a high center of gravity is prone to "tip over" to one degree or another. However, much of this rollover carping is from greens who hope people won't buy SUVs and thus won't go off road. They want to close all off road trails so they can have all public land to themselves.

camping. Strictly no rock climbing or extreme off roading of any sort. <

Good thing, because it's not a very capable rig off-road. Strictly for forest trails, etc. Its IFS design inhibits wheel travel and thus hobbles it. Indeed, among veteran Jeepers it's not even considered a "Jeep".

rating of 4 how would you rate Liberty? ( Remember no offroading). <

Tough on Ford, wouldn't you say? (They actually do much better than you think.)

This is an intangible, it's going to depend upon how you drive & maintain it, but I would not put it in the Honda category, in fact I wouldn't put the newer Hondas in the Honda category!

Nissan Xterra has this problem )>

Never heard this about the Xterra, quite the contrary. Again, it's too new to know how it will hold up long term.

and solid rear axle? How does it affect comfort and reliability? <

IFS suspensions are designed to improve on-highway ride, solid axles are better off road. Solid rear axles can theoretically handle greater loads and allow more wheel travel in rough terrain.

On a "Jeep" and independent suspension is a travesty.

Many of us have no idea what DC was thinking with the Liberty, other than to have a "cute ute" to sell. It's got less interior room than the old Cherokee, is less competent off road and even looks kind of stupid. If they roll out more models similar to the Liberty Jeep stands to fall flat on its face. It's really intended to be a "chick-mobile", which is not where anything called a "Jeep" belongs.

Reply to
Jerry McGeorge

I am sorry if I offended your feeling by giving Ford a low rating. I owned a Ford Taurus for a couple of years and I had to spent a hell a lot of money to keep it running.

Please let me know what you think about Jeep Liberty

Reply to
Paul Thomas

I can accept the "greater loads" part of your comments, but I don't agree with (or at least understand) the part about "greater travel." I know this is often claimed, but the only web site that made the case was so full of holes as to be useless. Maybe you can explain it to me. I believe that a properly designed IRS can have more ground clearance that a solid axle design. Unfortunately retrofitting such a system is difficult and expensive. In the context of the original question, why do you think the Liberties IFS is worse than the Cherokee's beam axle as long as both remain unmodified?

Ever see a Jeepster?

Ed

Reply to
C. E. White

Paul

Try this site for vehicle bodywork integrity..

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Any vehicle if driven either on or past its limits will be unsafe.. one would assume that the differences in general handling between a Ferrari Modena 360 and an SUV would be fairly obvious, yet some still choose to drive their SUV in a manner more befitting the Ferrari..

Vehicle reliability is down to quality of parts and regular maintenance.. glancing through user reviews will often leave you wondering whether or not to make a particular purchase.. some seem to have bad luck by the truckload, and others do not.. there is an element of luck involved, quality control not always being the highest priority at all times during initial construction..

The Jeep Liberty may not be all that a 'real' Jeep should be, but if you like the look of it, and feel that it would service you well, then go ahead and purchase one.. and remember that there is nothing in the 'rule book' that enforces all Jeep drivers to be off-roaders.. rock crawling and following Hannibal's original route across the Alps is not for everybody..

-- History is only the past if we choose to do nothing about it..

Reply to
Mike Hall

with (or at least understand) the part about "greater travel." I know this is often claimed, but the only web site that made the case was so full of holes as to be useless. Maybe you can explain it to me. I believe that a properly designed IRS can have more ground clearance that a solid axle design. Unfortunately retrofitting such a system is difficult and expensive. In the context of the original question, why do you think the Liberties IFS is worse than the Cherokee's beam axle as long as both remain unmodified?

It's a simple matter of leverage: The solid axle pivots on the opposite side of the vehicle, allowing a greater range of motion. An independent system typically has it's fulcrum point just a few inches from the hub, thus range of travel is inhibited. This is why the independently sprung Hummer HI has its suspension a-arms mounted nearly at the centerline of the frame.

Yes, you can add adapters to an independent front suspension to increase ground clearance (that is, add lift), however wheel travel is the most important factor of the two and these adapters generally do not increase range of travel. They just permit adding larger tires.

The Cherokee XJ was a time-tested, durable design, whereas the Liberty seems to be a concession to complaints of "harsh highway ride". I for one always though the old Cherokee rode well on the highway and handles extremely well. The Liberty simply was intended to leverage the Jeep name, not extend its capabilities.

Reply to
Jerry McGeorge

Reply to
L.W.(ßill)

Reply to
L.W.(ßill)

I would stay away from any Chrysler products. Liberty is ok, but I have a few associates that have more than average share of problems with them. Consider a Toyota 4runner. Little more roomy, very comfortable, and very reliable.

Reply to
Dan J.S.

And very expensive. Hopefully the revised 4Runner is safer than the old one which had one of the highest injury loss rating of any SUV sold in the US.

I don't thik a person considering a Liberty is really in the market for a

4Runner.

Ed

Reply to
C. E. White

Isuzu Trooper. the new models are goign cheap because they're the last of the model, theres a new US built design replacing the Jap built ones soon. So don't expect a good resale price, but if you buy one and hang on to it, they're cheap now.

rhys

Reply to
rnf2

Thats because they sold the most...duh

Reply to
Ted

It doesn't work that way. If it did, the Explorer would have the worst rating. It doesn't. The injury loss rating is based on the dollar loss per million registered vehicles attributable to injury and then is normalized so that the average vehicle has an injury loss rating of 100. The 200-2002 4WD 4Runner has an injury loss rating of 91 (which is better than the average for all vehicles), but a 4 Door 4WD Explorer's rating is only 71 (lower is better). The average for all mid-sized 4WD SUVs is 76.

Even worse is the roll over performance of the 4Runner. A 4DR, 4WD Explorer has a driver death rating due to rollovers of 26. The 4Runner has a rating of 86. (the rate is deaths in single-vehicle crashes involving rollover per million registered vehicle years). I can't see how the press trashed Explorers for rollovers and ignored the far more dangerous 4Runner. I hope the new 4Runner is better, but from what I can read, it is little more that a new body sitting on the same tired old chassis. And in fact it may be worse since they increased the weight and added a heavier , more powerful engine as an option. It seems to me that the Japanese SUVs are getting a free ride when it comes to Safety. In every category of SUV they rank near the bottom of injury rates.

Oh what a feeling.

Ed

Reply to
C. E. White

OK, I own a 02 Liberty limited, a 99 Wrangler sport and a '49 Willys pickup. Also, I help my Mother run 50 head of cattle on a couple of hundred acres in East Texas. This is my experience: A locker would be nice. I hate to be on flat, slippery pasture and cannot move because I am spinning out. We have to ford a creek to get to the west pasture. The Liberty handles it better than the Wrangler. I bought the Willys in Dillon, Montana back in 1980 and wife and I beat the dickins out the the ecology of Beaverhead county in her all summer long. I learned a few things along the way. Liberty and Wrangler are pretty much evenly matched off road - stock, but I prefer the ifs and the selectrac over the command trac on the Wrangler. We get tropical downpours, 4 inch and hour, frog strangeling rainstorms. I would prefer the Liberty, selectrac, and ABS to ending up like this:

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will pull 5000 lbs. You can probablly lift a Liberty, I amnot sure, don't plan to. If you do not plan to pull 5000 lbs and do not plan to lift the thing then look at the Rangerover Freelander. I think that the Freelander would be fine for chasing cows through the pasture, doodling bales of hay with the tumble bug and dragging the occasional dead cow off down into the woods, and really the only reason we went with the Liberty was so that I could haul off the wreck of the Wrangler. (Wrangler is back on the road now, by the way)

Our family has 25000+ on the Liberty with no problems. When the Wrangler and the Liberty are as old as the Willys I think that the Liberty will be a lot more trouble than the Wrangler - more electronic stuff and I really did not want a sun roof; I know there is no way that thing will last 60 years. Most people do not keep their vehicles forever like us Jeep people, but then most people do not drive Jeeps.

If you like the Liberty hold out for one with the Selectrac and the ABS. If it does not have the locking rear differential you will have to have one put in later. I had U-Haul put in the trailer hitch but letting the dealer do it would be ok.

de nada,

Reply to
John Welch

Oh jeez, you've gone and done it now.

  • * * Matt Macchiarolo
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Reply to
Matt Macchiarolo

Reply to
L.W.(ßill)

youve never truly tested the capabilities of your wrangler.

Reply to
Nathan Collier

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