Any Jeep Liberty drivers?

[dustin0284]

Anyone have any experience with a Jeep Liberty or something similar?

I've been wanting to pick up a 4WD SUV for awhile now, just never can seem to pull the trigger. I'm a Chevy/GMC owner, but i've exhausted every option in terms of SUV's in my price range. Right now i'm looking at a budget of about $7,500. I'm obviously going to be dealing with something close to or over 100,000 miles for that price. My budget is actually more like 10k, but i'm leaving some wiggle room for repairs I may want done.

Just wondering how these things hold up. Looking at a 2007 Liberty Sport 4WD with 105,000 miles and only one owner. Priced at $7,500.

[HeavyIOM]

I had a 2003 for a few months in 2009. I hated it. Thing was a beast off road. Just wasn't a great daily driver . MPGs were worse than my F150 and had no power. If it hadn't been a daily it wouldn't have been so bad just to have for a winter off road fun car.

[LStick]

Sister in Law bought a 2005 used about 6 years ago from a car lot that advertises locally here on TV with two obnoxious clowns who "know cars".

Despite the fact she got taken to the cleaners on the price, the thing has only been in the shop a couple of times. Relatively minor issues, like a power window that had a switch go bad, shifter and key switch interlock jammed, and a water pump that went out.

Which is amazing, since she bought it with 100k miles on it, and it has nearly 200k miles on it now.

[DRKS1D3]

I bought a new Liberty Renegade in '06 for my wife. She put 40,000 miles on it and never had a single problem. They get horrible gas mileage though.

[cal45]

Originally Posted by DRKS1D3

I bought a new Liberty Renegade in '06 for my wife. She put 40,000 miles on it and never had a single problem. They get horrible gas mileage though.

Similar experience with me.
Bought a new 2005 Renegade and owned it for 8 years and 65,000 miles.

Only issue I had was the rear passenger side power window motor went out twice.
Had great pick up as it came stock with 3.73 gears RWD.

[1Coopgt]

I had a 2005 Liberty until I totaled it a couple of winters ago . Great truck but gas mileage really sucked .

[strykerg8gt]

Have you considered a 2004 Blazer or Jimmy? I've seen plenty for sale that are fully loaded with around 100k miles and well under your price range. Just a thought.

[dustin0284]

Thanks for the responses.

I test drove 2 Jeep Liberty's today.

2004 Liberty with 125,000 miles. They wanted 5,999. It drove well and had a clean carfax, but i passed it up and move on.

Next was a 2007 Liberty with 157,000 miles. They wanted 8,999. I'm glad I drove this one second, because the first one felt and drove better in all areas. They pushed for the sale, i asked for carfax. They said everything checked out and even highlighted everything. I noticed the salesman highlighted right over where it said "frame or structural damage". You can guess what happened next.

My search continues.

[dustin0284]

The first one was Silver with some ugly dark gray plastic. It ran great, but i believe it was a smokers vehicle and i'm not a big fan of silver.

The second one was white with black plastic. Looked ten times better, but didn't run good.

[dustin0284]

Originally Posted by strykerg8gt

Have you considered a 2004 Blazer or Jimmy? I've seen plenty for sale that are fully loaded with around 100k miles and well under your price range. Just a thought.

Thanks for the response. I've seen a few with high miles, but most were 1999 and older Blazers. Haven't looked at any Jimmy's, maybe I will try that next.

I mainly stick to Cargurus, but i haven't widened my search more than 100 miles. I'm afraid I will find something that is 250+ miles away, and worry that it won't make it back here. I guess I could get it hauled here if it was too far.

[strykerg8gt]

You may want to check some of your local car dealerships. A lot of times they take in trades that they just send to auctions. That's how I got my 2002 Blazer a few years ago from my local Chevy dealer. It was a one owner car with 77k miles, leather and fully loaded. It was set to go to auction but I worked out a deal with them.

[dustin0284]

Originally Posted by strykerg8gt

You may want to check some of your local car dealerships. A lot of times they take in trades that they just send to auctions. That's how I got my 2002 Blazer a few years ago from my local Chevy dealer. It was a one owner car with 77k miles, leather and fully loaded. It was set to go to auction but I worked out a deal with them.

Funny you say that. My preferred dealer just called. Someone just traded in a 1997 Chevy Blazer 4dr 4WD with 65,000. They are offering it for $4,999.

[SSEssence]

Those libertys are garbage, with 4x4s I like to stick to Toyotas

[cal45]

Originally Posted by SSEssence

Those libertys are garbage, with 4x4s I like to stick to Toyotas

Have you owned one and speak from experience? Curious as I owned one for 8 years and it didn't give me any mechanical trouble at all. Maybe the fact that I bought it new and took care of it.....who knows.