Jeep Liberty Review

Well I was invited to Jeep 101 and decided to go and check out what the new Liberty was all about. I was amazed when I saw it in person it was not as bad looking as the photos I have seen. In fact it is kind of stylish, when you compare it to the competition it is up against in the small SUV market. That is where the problem starts though it is direct competition against stuff like the Rav4 and Passport not a ground breaking new design like we would all like to see Jeep do.
The biggest change is a newly engineered features never seen on a Jeep the front IFS, that offers 8.5 inches of travel 4.5 up and 4 down.
It also comes standard with a solid rear axle with 3 link suspension that also offers 8.5 inches of total travel and is balanced with the front travel of 4.5 up and 4 inches down. I saw only D35's on the test vehicles but was told that there is an optional D44 for the rear.
Under the hood you have the option of the tried and true I4 or the new V6 power plant. All the vehicles on display had the V6 and I do mean V it is not a typo.
The inside of the new Liberty was a little disappointing. it is only a little larger then a Wrangler. With this size as the choice DC should have just put out the Drakar with the new engine and suspension and left the larger Cherokee as an option so we could have Jeep reliability in a larger package. The inside has also gone the way of many other vehicles with white gauges, chrome trim, and a whole lot of plastic.
I was able to do both a street and off road test drive. It is a zippy little vehicle on the road and handled well in in turns and breaking. If DC's only plan was a better performing on road Jeep I would have to say they accomplished it. The off road test was very disappointing it was mandatory 4 lo and max rpm of 2k I was almost asked to get out twice for bringing the engine to 4500 rpm to see what kind of torque it had. I also had to apologize for scaring the Jeep rep that was riding along she told me they warned her about people like me. The course could have been done in 2 wd with no problems and made some trail head roads I have been on look like 3+ trails. But for most of the people there it was pucker factor galore it came out that 80% had never driven on dirt and one one other person besides myself considered them self an "avid" off-roader.	This was as close as you could get to the track
They also had a couple of their concept Liberty's there that had some really nice paint jobs and a few features I would like to see standard, like the built in stove and the winch.
I think the best part of the whole gathering was talking to the tech people in Toledo. I asked so many question of the local tech people that they could not find in any of the literature that they had to call some engineer at the main assembly plant. He was needed to answer simple stuff like wheel travel and crawl ratio. I wish I had a note book so I could have written down all the answers but I am sure we can all do the math. I also found out that there was no prerelease to any after market companies so any mods are way down the road.
Overall I would say that Liberty has some potential as an off-road vehicle, it should fill the needs of 98% of the Jeep purchasing public, and the street handling was great. I guess that other 2% will have to wait and see what our favorite companies can do to improve the off-road capability we have always expected in our Jeeps to come with.	notice the TJ has the winch for this demo they set up

Concept TJ and old Jeep Pictures