I purchased mine in January of 06(brand new 06 Sport CRD, currently around 15,000 miles) and I have had no issues aside from the ball joint recall. No stutter, no hard starts, no failures, nothing. It has started easily every morning, and run my 14 mile commute to work(which sadly takes nearly 45 mins in Seattle). I really couldn't be happier, its a hell of an upgrade to my 1996 Chevy S-10 4.3L, which was always problematic with an issue every month it seemed. Still need to sell that thing, but won't sell it to someone who isn't mechanically inclined as I would feel bad if I did.
Before I purchased the Liberty, I checked with my girlfriend's father, who is an engineer with Chrysler's Consumer Quality division. He looked up the Liberty and found that in general the Liberty is one of the most reliable cars they sell, and that the CRD was on average more reliable than the typical Liberty, although with less than a years worth of sales and a low volume he pointed out that it was too soon to tell how well that stat would hold up over time. He reccomended it wholeheartedly, and helped me get it for considerably below normal prices(salesman was not thrilled when we put him on the phone with her father and he gave him a bunch of codes to put in the computer).
In general, while there certainly are some issues with the Liberty as there are with any limited run vehicle without a long history to work out the kinks, in general I think we will come out ahead as the pure longevity of a diesel comes into play. These things will still likely be on the road in twenty years, common failures well known to the exclusive community that owns them(in the US) with cheap fixes shared on forums like this. One only has to look at the life that 80's Mercedes diesel's have to see our future(they weren't perfect either, a friend of mine is part of that 'club' and its interesting what they have done to keep those things running).
This is the first Jeep forum I found with a serious dedicated community for the CRD. Most of the rest lump it in with all KJ's, or have just a handful of posts. For that reason, I think that people who have problems are likely to end up here first, and the apparantly helpful nature of the members keeps them coming back(I know its impressed me just as a lurker for the past few months). But we have to be careful, our own problems, and the fact that people with a problem are most likely to appear here first may tend to color our view of the vehicle. The reality is that as stated earlier, the vast majority of these things are running perfectly without a problem for 90+% of the people who purchased them.
When I first started reading here I was afraid I purchased a lemon, but as mine has aged and got the miles tacked on, and no problems have appeared, and as the polls even on forums like this show, the problems really are in the minority, and given time even they will likely be worked out. I bought the Liberty CRD as a long term investment, I'm not the type who likes disposable cars. I do believe that it will live up to that.
Of course feel free to mock me in a year should my KJ not live up to my expectations.
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As far as the TC, I understand 2006's after Nov. '05 build date got a better one. Depends on who you ask. At least you have the better powertrain warranty.
