A couple of months ago, my wife and I bought a Jeep liberty Sport. I waited a couple of months to write a review so that I could give a fair opinion and I would not be full of "New owner excitment". You know when new owners have nothing but the best things to say about their new purchase?

The subject of this review will be the Liberty Sport. We were disapointed to learn that the Sport did not come with the option of factory leather interior. Luckily we have one of the best dealers in the midwest and they offered an after market leather upgrade for $1200. So we got Leather, sunroof, power everything, Automatic Transmission, and most of the other sport options.

One major difference in the Sport and the Limited Libertys is the Fender wells. The sport has gray plastic that contrasts the vehicle body color and the Limited has matching paint on the fender wells and body. The gray plastic ones can take door dings and abuse from shoping carts much easier then the painted ones on the Limited. This is one of those cases where you actually want to downgrade a level to get the better product.

Controls and gages are laid out nicely with the exception of the window controls. Door window controls have been replaced with center console controls. I can't tell you how many times I have gone to put the window down and I still go for the door everytime. It will be a while before I learn to do the windows with the right hand. I'm sure this was done to simplify wiring and allow for one set of switches instead of two. Its not a terrible concept just one that takes a lot of getting used to.

The liberty seems to get a fair amount of power from the 3.7 Liter engine. It does not feel as peppy as a 4.0 Wrangler I used to own but it definately gets the job done. It is also a bit of a thirsty beast at the gas pump. Its not a complete wallet drainer like some American V8's, but It probably gets the worst gas milage in the Small SUV Class. It gets about 17 miles to the gallon as compared to a Honda CRV, Ford Escape, and Saturn Vue wich all get a bit better milage than that. While we are on the topic of fuel I must point out one of the most anoying things of all. The gas tank is 19 gallons. The gas light comes on and the gauge is peged at empty when you still have 3+ gallons left. You find your self filling up every 270 or so miles and your 19 gallon tank only ends up taking 16 gallons. Also when the pump clicks off SHE IS FULL. Dont try to click up the odd cents or you will have gas spilling all over the place. Believe me I've done it at least 3 times now.

While the 3.7 L is a good engine its not even close to being what I would call quiet. You get a bit of a loud grumble when you are just sitting in the garage. It's by no means a tough sounding, american muscle, sounding growel. Its more of a overly loud Idel. Just a small gripe of mine. Nothing to even worry about.

The 4wd system on the Sport is the same system used in the Wranglers. This is a very good system for off road trails, mud Snow, or any slick surface. It is NOT recomended for dry pavement. It is engaged by simply pulling up on the floor shifter. This is way better then my Ford Ranger and most other vehicles today that have that touch button electronic shift stuff. Electronic 4wd is just more stuff to break and not be there for you when you really need it. Nothing quite like a nice solid shift in to 4wd.
The Limited's have the option of a secondary 4wd system for full time 4wd (for dry pavement) but you dont see that to commonly, if at all, in the Sports.

Seating is comfortable. Its not a Caddy or Lincoln, but its a nice comfortable seat that I could easily do a long drive in. Head room is abundant and the rear seats are as spacious as my parents Ford Explorer. A car seat fits well in the middle of the rear seat, leaving room for two pasengers. (one on each side). The rear has a fair amount of cargo room and the rear seats can be folded down for more room. You can fold one or both. This is nice if you have a 3rd passenger you dont have to do an "all or nothing approach" if you want more cargo room.

The rear hatch is a new little concept. The window swings up and the tailgate swings out. Its nice that you dont have to have a whole lift gate if you just want to toss something in the back and the guy behind you parked too close. No worry about those little hydrolic lifts wearing out over the years.


Over all I am pleased with what you get for the price that you pay. There are a few hick ups such as the gas and the window controls but other than that I can't find much to complain about.
Bottom line: It's a solid buy if you dont get to wrapped up in the bells and whistles. If you choose a Limited and throw on some options you are already pushing high twentys if not thirty thousand dollars. When you hit this range you have lost everything thats great about the Liberty (the value). If you want a $28,000 to $30,000 SUV there are better choices out there.


UPDATE: June 5th 2006.
I'm going to throw in an update to this review because I feel that this is something a consumer should know.
We now have 24,000 miles on our Jeep Liberty and the check Engine light came on. I thought "No big deal, its under warranty" so We took it in to the dealer. They looked at it and informed us that the number one cylinder in the engine was misfiring and that they needed to "de-carbon" the engine. At first I did not care but then they informed me that it would cost me 140 bucks. I protested that it was still under warranty but they said De-carbonization was a "maintinence" issue and they did not take care of those kinds of things. I said "But the engine is technically failing and you are telling me that is not under warrenty?"
They said yes that is correct, that Chrystler specifically said they will not fix issues like this under any warrenty. Even if it was the 12 month 12,000 mile warranty that covers EVERYTHING!
So this brings me to 2 points.
FIRST beware of Jeeps quality. I mean come on, this thing is 2 years old and has 24000 miles and the engine is misfiring and Jeep will not stand behind it. (and they say this is a common, regular maintinance problem with their vehicles) I have owned several other cars for over 100,000 miles and they never needed "de-carbonization". So will I be seeing the dealer in another 24,000 miles for another carbon problem?
My SECOND issue is the cost of decarbon and what exactly it is. Through all of my ranting and raving I learned what exactly Jeep is charging me 140 bucks for. Decarbonization consists of a guy opening my gas tank and dumping in fuel injector cleaner. My Friends, THEY CHARGE 95 BUCKS LABOR FOR THIS! I kid you NOT. I bought a bottle at walmart and timed myself doing this process to my truck and and it took 47 seconds from start to finish and that was even being very careful with a funnel.
I have to say I am very disappointed with Chrystler as a whole and especially the Jeep line of vehicles I once regarded as tough quality vehicles. I can honestly say I have purchased my last Jeep. I dont know what dissapoints me more the lack of warranty service or the poor engine quality.

Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 23,500
Condition: New
Model Year: 2004
Model and Options: Sport, Leather, Sunroof, AC, Power everything.