The Washington Times has posted an article on the Liberty, "Though cute, Liberty is 100 percent Jeep". It is essentially a review of the Jeep and goes into a lot of the specs.

http://washingtontimes.com/autoweekend/ ... _page2.htm

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Robert
http://www.robertlitchfield.com

I hate it when Jeeps 4WD is referred to as AWD, it makes it sound so mallish!

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Mango~Ridge
2003 Stone White KJ
Lifting soon!.....finally

Such Blasphemy.

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New KJ Gear - Desert Armor Flak

2004 Renegade Light Khaki - 4" JBA Lift - Rock Lizard Products: Komodo Dragon Rear Bumper, Prototype Winch-mount Front Bumper, Super Skink Sliders - All J's Super Tranny Skid II - 31" Firestone Destination AT's on Moab wheels - Cobra 75W CB w/ stock Antenna mod

[b]Retired, US Military

Isn't there a fulltime 4wd option for the Liberty? if so, would you not call that AWD? no 4 low, and full time 4wd=AWD if you ask me

The Selec-Trac system does give the driver the option of full-time 4wd which could be considered AWD; however the system also has a 2wd selection and a 4-lo selection whereas most other AWD vehicles (Subaru comes to mind) are full-time AWD. These systems normally dont offer the option of 4-lo so they aren't very usable in the types of off-road situations that most of us thrive on

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Kevin
AD5VG
Just another red Jeep in the world...
L.O.S.T. #KB051963

It's a nice pro-liberty article, but aren't there a few mistakes?

Liberty's towing stats are impressive. With the turbo diesel it enjoys a segment benchmark with 5,000 lb. of pulling capacity. This number drops to a still impressive 3,500 lb. with the V6. Two thousand pounds is the limit with the 2.4-liter four-cylinder.

I'm pretty sure that the number only drops to 3500 lbs with the manual transmission, the 3.7 litre V6 still can tow 5000.

Choosing a transmission can be a tad involved. Availability is determined by the engine as well as the trim level. A six-speed manual transmission is partnered with the Sport's 2.4L and the 3.7-liter V6 in the Renegade. The V6-equipped Limited comes standard with a four-speed automatic ($825 option in the Renegade). Opting for the turbo diesel in either the Sport or Limited replaces their standard transmissions with a five-speed automatic. When equipped with the optional four-speed automatic, the Renegade claims an Environmental Protection Agency rating of 17 mpg in the city and 22

This should read "choosing a transmission can be a tad involved. You have to get an automatic, because manual transmission liberties are impossible to find unless you special order them."

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Jeff 2005 Jeep Liberty Renegade
4x4, 6spd, Leather, Sunroof, trak-loc, skids/rails, hitch+shackle, hooks, Alpine/iPod, Thule, GPS, CB, Frankenlifted w/ 31" MTRs
Photos Cardomain

Exactly. Finding a manual tranny KJ was as difficult as finding one with a diesel engine when I was looking. It's ridiculous. In fact, I've only seen ONE KJ with manual tranny in my whole life.

And I disagree with the statement that the steering wheel is "fat". One of the things I instantly noticed (and hated) when I first drove a Liberty was how thin the steering wheel was. It's almost like they designed the wheel for smaller female hands, and that made it harder for me to steer and grip.

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2005 Stone White KJ Limited CRD 4x4
Off-Road Pkg
Trac-Lok
Emu 790s/948s
Skyjacker H7088s rear/Bilsteins front
15x7 Black Rock Lobos/31x10.50 Firestones
GDE HOT Tune + TCM Tune
Euro TC
CB radio
Thrush Turbo muffler
AEM DryFlow filter

The V6/manual tranny combo is rated to 3500 lb towing to protect the clutch. Everything else (rear end, hitch, etc) is the same as with the auto tranny. The V6/automatic is rated for 5000 lb.

The availability of the manual transmission liberties is not surprising to me. I had a dealer flat out tell me they didn't stock the lot with any manual equiped vehicles because they couldn't sell them. Not even a TJ with a 5-spd on that lot. I went somewhere else to custom order mine. Availability has a lot to do with the dealer and what they want to stock.

The downside of custom ordering is you have to be patient. The upside, you get exactly the vehicle you want. There are no compromises, no wondering how it was driven to get that 100 miles of test driving on it. I ordered mine in May 04 and had to wait 7 weeks because it was near the end of the custom ordering window and Jeep was ramping up production to finish out the 04 model year. V6/5-spd and side-curtain airbags were the hardest things to find. I got everything I wanted. And you still get all the deals when doing an order (the higher of any cashback deals when you placed or recieved the order)!

Jeep is not AWD! The Selec-Trac does have the FT-4WD option, but that transfer case is only available with the automatic transmission. It maybe standard with an auto-tranny now, but when I bought mine I believe the Command-Trac (2wd, 4-Hi, 4-Lo) was the standard for all.

It's strange how it works out. Despite manual transmission being the "Standard" package for the Liberty, there aren't any that don't have the "Optional" automatic transmission added already.

I ordered mine midway through december, I didn't get it until sometime in February. WELL worth the wait, though, I don't know why more people don't want the 6-speed!

But yeah, it is very misleading for the author of that article to say that the transmission is really a choice at all, when really it's more of "it's going to be an auto, unless you REALLY want a manual transmission"

I didn't realize you couldn't get the selectrac with a manual. That's good, I guess - I was kicking myself a little after I ordered mine with commandtrac because I didn't realize until afterwards that selectrac = commandtrac PLUS the AWD option. I assumed it was an instead of, so I figured I'd prefer to have a manual 4WD to go with the manual tranny. So instead I just use the part-time 4WD on the highway in rain/snow when I would have used AWD. So now that I realize I didn't have the option of getting it anyway, I'm glad I want the way I did.

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Jeff 2005 Jeep Liberty Renegade
4x4, 6spd, Leather, Sunroof, trak-loc, skids/rails, hitch+shackle, hooks, Alpine/iPod, Thule, GPS, CB, Frankenlifted w/ 31" MTRs
Photos Cardomain

Hmmm... What's a Canadian doing reading the Washington Times?

Although I didn't find the steering wheel a issue myself, WheelSkins makes a awesome custom fit perforated cover that fits like a custom glove. I was blown away by the quality & fit! Might help you too.