capt.Ron

Who builds the engine for the new liberty?
Also any word out on performance upgrades?

Begle1

I believe that it's a Mercedes-Benz beastie in the Liberty.

I know that Car and Driver hated it...


As for performance, with money anything can have performance...

timcasbolt

It comes from Italy, but, I too would like to know more about it.

rammtuff

My neighbor looked into purchasing one, as they have a '00 jeep that they like. Mileage is poor for a diesel. They were not impressed with it. She drove it for a few days and said the mileage was almost the same as their gasser jeep. They bought a diesel Jetta. She travels 200 miles a day for work

MikeyB

VM of Italy.
http://www.vmmotori.it/en/index.jsp

MikeyB

Dodgecaveman

Me and the Wife aslo test drove one of these. The sound inside can only be described as one of those fart can mufflers with a pillow shoved inside of it. Once the turbo wound up it would really haul, as good or better that the gas version (witch we also drove). The only thing that was a real complaint with it was in a hurried stop the brake pedal would go to the floor. It seemed to stop fine but a little unnerving.

LibertyCRD

It's made by VM Motori, which is a Detriot Diesel/DaimlerChrysler company. So it should be an excellent diesel engine.

Mine gets 20 mpg towing at max capacity (5,000 lbs.) and about 26 on the highway empty. Not bad for a nearly 2.5 ton 4x4.

It makes right at 300 lb./ft. from the factory, and some big companies like TST and Bullydog are making tuners for it. Rumors are over 400 lb/ft...which is WAY more power per liter than the Cummins guys are getting with light mods.

I really like mine so far. The only problem is the emissions equipment that the government apparently is making Jeep stick on it. That cat. converter stinks, and the check engine light is always coming on because of emissions components getting a bad signal from crappy diesel fuel or whatever...

t-15 firefighter

My wife and I had a 2002 Jeep Liberty. While it wasn’t a diesel we would never consider buying another one. The resale value is horrendous and I can’t imagine that the diesel version would be much better. During the first year the Jeep lost over 65% of its value (at the time the only car that was worse in resale was the Neon). That is truly unacceptable. Our Honda Accord is projected to hold over 51% of its value in 5 years.
The fuel mileage was also terrible. It averaged around 16 MPG and was NEVER able to get even close to 20 MPG on the freeway. My 8500lb truck gets better mileage than that? If mileage is the same (or just a little better) as a gasser as another posted on here then what is the use in buying one?

Sorry, didn’t mean to hijack the thread.

Britt

t-15 firefighter

Sorry LibertyCRD,

Didn't see your mileage figures before I posted.

Britt

LibertyCRD

Yeah, Consumer Reports even said that they saw 18 mpg average with the Liberty CRD. I have NO CLUE how on Earth they came up with those numbers. I had my CRD completely loaded down. Probably over max capacity to be honest. And drove up and down these Kentucky hillsides with the overdrive ON and still got 20.5 miles per gallon on two different occasions. And like I said, running empty on the highway I'm in the upper 20s.

So all these people claiming the same fuel economy as a V6 must be running in first gear all the time I guess. I honestly don't know how they come up with that. My wife's Liberty has the V6 and she averages 16-17 miles per gallon every tank. I guess my city/highway mix average is around 23. That's 7 miles per gallon difference consistently. At 2,000 miles per month, my diesel is more than paying for itself. Plus it tows my toys better than my 1/2 ton Dodge Ram could ever imagine.

Luke S

My wife has one. It has consistantly got 23 city/26-27 highway. It has better accelleration than her 04 gas model. It does not shift down every time you come to a hill. She has a very heavy foot, when I drive it I can get 30 highway. She drives 700-800 miles per week so it has been a blessing. As far as the comment about resale value, I can tell you first hand from being in the car biz for so long that nothing holds its value anymore. I tell people daily, if you are looking at a vehicle as an investment you are putting your money in the wrong place.

t-15 firefighter

Yes you are correct about cars being an investment. But you can cut your losses. When a vehicle depreciates over 65% of it’s value in the FIRST YEAR then something is wrong I don’t care what you say. We finally sold our Jeep (at a loss I might add) and bought a Honda Accord. The Accord is projected to hold over 51% of its value after 5 years. Did you hear that? 5 years. Not lose over 65% in 1 year like the loser Jeep. I WILL NEVER EVER BUY ANOTHER JEEP AS LONG AS I LIVE!!!!!!!!! Take that to the grave!

As far as the Jeep goes. You better hold on to it for a while. You won’t get your money out of it for at least 6 years. Good luck. I’m glad you like it because you will be stuck with it for a while.

Britt

Luke S

No not really, I am a dealer. You must have had a tough dealer or an oddball Jeep? New Liberty Sports listing, not selling, but listing for $24000 are selling a year later at the auction with 25k-30k miles for $14500. New they are only bringing around $20k. By my calculation that is about a 27% loss in one year. I am not saying that every person will have the same experience, but these are real figure's that I am seeing. Sorry for your misfortune, but the Jeep's are really no worse than any other domestic vehicle's as far as value goes.

t-15 firefighter

We had a Jeep Liberty Limited with every available option. It listed for a little over $29500. We couldn’t trade it in for much more than $10500. It wasn’t only at one dealership but many and all said the same thing. The Jeep was in pristine condition when we traded it in (better than showroom new & less than 15000 miles). I checked on NADA and they would only allow $12500 resale value in mint condition. So the difference between the Retail price (which is where you figure deprecation from) and the trade in price (one year later) is about 65%. Ridiculous in my opinion.

We bought a Honda Accord (which I should have never strayed away form Honda in the first place) and it is projected to hold over 51% of its value in 5 years. That in my opinion is MUCH better then a Jeep.

Picture of our Loser Jeep




Britt

Cartman

of course your not going to get maximum resale for a vehicle if you trade it in!
Funny, dealer takes trade-in for $10k cleans the vehicle up and puts on the lot for $14,500 and the cycle restarts...
I'd rather push my car than drive a honda regardless of what its resale value is..point is that it doesnt matter what you buy - new vehicles are a horrible investment