should my girlfriend buy a liberty?

[dellstopjeep]

so my girlfriend is lookingat a 2001 or 2002 jeep liberty auto 4x4 with 80,000 miles on it in brand new condition. just seeing if anyone has any thoughts or experiences with this vechicle and know how well they do on gas. i am glad she is jumpin finally into the world of jeeps but we have to make a couple trips to wyoming from wa/or area and i want a long lasting reliable suv for her. i believe it has the v6 or whatever they replaced are beloved 4.0 with.
thanks!

 

[stewie]

I have to drive an 05 or 06 KJ at work. i hate it with a passion. our vehicle has 59,000 miles on it and its a POS- a real lemon. i dont remember being able to go more than 3 weeks without the check engine light coming on. or a month and a half without a burnt out headlight.

honestly, i dont even consider it to be a Jeep. Nor compass for that matter.

 

[jmowens]

My MIL (mother-in-law, not check engine light) has a 2wd KJ and it seems like a pretty decent vehicle...

I've only driven it twice, but she's had no problems, and had it a couple of years.

I would think it would be a decent vehicle - don't know about those new-fangeldy "V" 6's Jeep is using now, though!

 

[boise49ers]

3.7 Liter V6. My wife has an 05 and loves hers. The only thing we have had issues with was a recall with the balljoints. They replaced them free. Seriously it is a nice realiable rig. Rides descent, the milage doesn't seem to bad. A lot better then my XJ. She has took it on a 2000 mile road trip over the Seirra's with no probs and we are taking it to Packwood Washington in August. Just get a CarFax before buying it. If it has been in the shop a lot go to next one. Investing a little money in a Car Fax account can save you a lot head aches.

 

[Prowler]

We had one. My mom decided it looked better rolled. I like the liberty but it wasn't my XJ. I'll take the XJ anyday over it but would take the liberty as well.

 

[XJ&CHZ4ME]

My buddy has the Renegade model and I made fun of him for a while, but after he put the Rusty's lift on it and some rock rails...he gained a bit more credit with me. He just sold it to get a GTO. He had the same typical problems w/ the ball joints, but other then that he ran it over 150K and had no other porblems. I think his was an 2002 model.

 

[BonnieBlue]

I would agree with taking the time and money to get a carfax report, but in my experience, they ride really nice and the mileage is decent...i've heard mixed reviews on reliability but i really feel there was a "bad batch" and thats where the report comes in...really good for long trips though.:thumbup:

 

[x*BIGASSALEX*j]

I have a liberty, actually its my moms. but I drive it and have taken it out for some wheeling to see if its capable. And you know what, its impressed me. I did not do some major stuff, but it did get me thru muddy uphill trail when it was raining. Does not have a lift, its the sport package but it has stock skid plates which will protect it. Very happy with it, tried to flex it but that was $hit.....Dam IFS!!

Thats my 2 centseace:

 

[rocknxj]

I bought a new '02 Liberty Renegade back in 2002 and had a blast with it. I trailed it very hard and found it capable, albeit too low to the ground for anything more than a Class III trail. Time on a Class IV trail left me with more damage than I expected, but it was fun nonetheless.

I added body armor, cargo rack, front hitch, and anything else shy of a lift to my beloved Libby. Good lifts for the Liberty with its IFS are not really practical, so a 4" lift is about the best you'll do if you are into gaining more clearnance. I decided to keep the lift stock and drive with my off road skill, rather than clearance capability.

I averaged 13mpg city with that beast. (I get 17.5 with my lifted XJ and larger motor. It's all about the gearing, baby). I loved the towing capacity, but the short wheelbase made for some squirrely driving with a 3,000 lb trailer.

Like the forum, there are good sites out there for reference. I used the L.O.S.T. KJ site regularly and found the community as entertaining and informational as this one.

However, the space inside is small. I sold that Jeep to buy a 2000 Grand Cherokee, which I liked better overall. Probably cheaper, too.

In the long run, I am a bigger fan of the XJ than KJ or WJ I owned. However, you should go for the '02 KJ if you like it. Not a bad vehicle and it is very capable off road.

Hope my rambling helps.

--

Project Old Blue
'99 Cherokee Sport
RE 3.5" lift
BFG's
lots of stuff on top
dirt on the bottom

 

[SeansBlueXJ]

I dont know if anyone has said it yet as i skimmed the posts, but did anyone mention all of the 1st gen Liberty's have and inherent ball joint flaw and a prone to excessive wear and even loosing wheels? Just a thought to stay clear. :dunno:

 

[UNCC_99XJ]

My mom has a 2003 KJ that she bought brand new. I shared it with her for 2 years before I bought my XJ, and still drive it on an almost daily basis. Ours has been dead reliable since the day we got it. Other than keeping up on the rountine maint. Only things I've done to it are general maint (oil changes, differential fluid changes etc etc), replaced the battery, tires, and of course, the ball joint recall. No it's not an XJ by any means, but it most certainly holds it own....and my mom is not easy on a vehicle, trust me. This thing has had the tar beat out of it and it just keeps coming back for me

As far as mileage, expect it to be about on par with the XJ.....On the highway i've seen as high as 21-22, and around town the average is about 17-18....so not to bad at all given the weight of the vehicle.

On a 2002, you'll get the slightly stronger automatic tranny (chrysler changed them mid 2003), and if it's an early enough 2002, it might be pre-lowered (giving you another 1/2" in height).

How much are they asking for it?

Check around on the web...there are a couple of great KJ forums out there.

 

[dellstopjeep]

its through a autoland in a credit union, they inspected and did carfax and its clean. they try not to sell and junk so they always take to dealership for inspections. i will look into ball joint issue and if its been addressed. i believe 10,000 is what she will pay. IM not to concerned about after market for it although as time goes by and me bein the big jeep enthusiast i am it may see some light modifcations so she can come play with me. mainly we were lookin for a decent 4x4 and she didnt want a cherokee because i have two already. i wanted her to get like a rav4 or crv for the gas mileage at first but im settling in with this vechicle idea now.

 

[UNCC_99XJ]

10 grand is a bit high for a 2002 with 80K on it. Could probably get it down to 9 g's...especially if it's not up do date on the ball joint recall.

 

[Evan463]

My girlfreind has a 03 kj and she loves it. As for the gas its good when she dosn't have her foot through the floor. She hasn't had a whole lot of problems with it and she had it since new and has about 110,000 on it. Ive driven it alot and I like it. Its a really comfortable ride. Just make sure she knows how to shift to 4wd she thought she was stuck in a little pile of snow... she was in nutral....

.02

 

[Vanquish]

Tell her to buy an XJ. Non-compliance leads to non-relationshipness :clap:

 

[XJLafonda]

She doesn't want a CRV...trust me. Unless it's a late model CRV, the 4x4's rear end used clutch packs that wore out after moderate trail use. The newer ones have gear style rear diffs.

Th Rav4...I have no idea. they've got oobs and gobs of ground clearance. They rival the Jeep's clearance, but they don't have near the power a Jeep does...they don't really need it though, they weigh like NOTHING.

The KJ, I've heard good things of. Offroad they are capable, but you've gotta give them a good run-down after each trip to make sure it's all in working order...cause they are solid, but not necessarily rugged like the more conventional Jeeps, XJ, YJ, TJ, WJ...ZJ?
It's in rough weather that they shine. I was in virginia with a guy who owned one. We had a convoy of cars and stuff going to do some skiing. Well it was late and the roads were iced over, and we had to make it either over a mountain or around it...the Little Liberty was the only 4x4 other than a Nissan Frontier and a Kia Sorento...(I dunno if the Kia was even 4x4), but the The liberty made it to the top without a hitch on slick black ice...running stock Goodyear Wranglers...the Frontier had street tires in the front, and had lived up north, so he put snow tires on the rear that he'd had left over when he moved to AL, for the trip...and never made it up the hill....the Kia...well she tried, but ended up sliding down backwards...so it did very well. I saw a Liberty TODAY actually avoid a large wreck. One car runs a red light, smashes into a car that was going througha green, the liberty was going through the green light, and the roads were wet, hits the brakes and actually stops

I personally enjoy my XJ to drive a liberty, but wouldn't take a second though to drive the little things if given the chance to own one. (Couldn't ever buy one...can't afford it.)

 

[UNCC_99XJ]

moderate trail use on a CRV???? we are talking about the same HONDA CRV here right??? And they're AWD...not 4x4....big difference. I've got a buddy who's mom has one and they drove it for about 3 years with the AWD system binding and making horrible popping noises like you wouldn't believe....i'm amazed that it didn't just grenade one day....i'll give that little thing some credit there.....but i'm still not a fan at all of them.

 

[highcountrync]

I'll throw my .02 in here - I had the displeasure of owning a 2003 KJ while I was still living in the mountains of NC. To make a long story short, I hated that truck with a passion. It was constantly throwing engine lights at me, got pretty lousy gas mileage for a vehicle that size, had me convinced I had one with a four-banger and v-6 badges due to the lack of power, was very cramped inside, offered the worst rearward visibilty I've EVER had in a car, and flat out SUCKED in the snow. I once had to stop on a slight incline in about 6" of lightly packed snow, something the Subaru Outback in front of me had no problem slogging through, but that Liberty stuck itself in and refused to do anything. 4HI... nothing but one wheel moving at a slow rate, and it was the only one that had no traction, moved into 4LO, couldn't even elicit the tiniest twitch from any of the four wheels. I ended up getting a guy in a Samurai to yank me out of the bank - he got me out in 2 wheel drive, on ice, with just a quick yank of the rope, and he hardly struggled at all. Shortly after that incident, the ball joints went and I had had enough. Traded it in on an '02 Trooper and couldn't be happier with the decision.

Verdict : there are MUCH better choices available than some sloppy engineering with a Jeep badge slapped on it. Just my opinion...

 

[RyanM]

read up on the ball joint recall, saw one on the side of the road recently from a ball joint failure, axle/frame/body dug into the ground leaving a trench.

 

[rocknxj]

It was constantly throwing engine lights at me, got pretty lousy gas mileage for a vehicle that size, had me convinced I had one with a four-banger and v-6 badges due to the lack of power, was very cramped inside, offered the worst rearward visibilty I've EVER had in a car, and flat out SUCKED in the snow. ... Verdict : there are MUCH better choices available than some sloppy engineering with a Jeep badge slapped on it. Just my opinion...

Ok, so there are indeed KJ haters out there, as witnessed in the above quote. You'll find that with every vehicle, except say...the Ford Pinto, which is in my opinion the finest vehicle ever designed, with the exception of the Chevy Vega.

I was a member of a KJ club and we all had very good luck with our Liberties. As for the snow, I have personally witnessed the incredible traction through the snow in both 2-wheel and 4-wheel modes. It is all about driving skill and tires.

I may agree that there are better choices for the money out there, but I cannot slam the Liberty like others have. You could always rent one for a week if you need convincing. That would be a good test and will give you the best unbiased insight.