So im in the market for a liberty. Ive had an 03 mustang gt project that i modded for the past two years and now im bored with it and looking for something more off road. Ive decided on the liberty, especially after seeing the trail pics you guys have, but im not sure if i should buy a cheaper sport 4wd, or a renegade or limited. I like the renegade the best but im not much for the roof rack cause id rather put a yakima roof basket instead and i dont think it will work with that stock rack. Anyways, im probably gonna be looking for a slightly used one instead of taking the depreciation hit on buying a new one. So anyones help with which style to buy would help alot. I mainly just plan on a 2.5" lift and bigger wheels and mostly using it to get to offroad surfing, mountain biking, and snowboarding places. Any help will be appreciated.

Oughta put this in the General Discussions section Boston.

All the KJs (Libertys) have the two rails that run front to back. The Yak roofbasket will sit on top of them. Or you can pull the rails off and put in a custom basket (a couple LOST people have done that). The Renegades have slightly thicker roof rails. I don't recall actually seeing a higher load-rating number for these larger rails, but they probably do hold up more.

Just shop around and pick the one that grabs you! If you're looking for an 05, I can tell you that the CRD (Common Rail turbo Diesel) engine choice is only available in the Sport and Limited (that's the only reason I don't have a Renny). The 4 cyl was still available, but the 6 cyl is preferred by most (who burn gas). The Sport has matte graphite fender flares, the Renegade (and Rocky Mountain Edition) have a more squared hood and "riveted" fender flares (and body color grill), and the Limited has body-color fender flares and chrome grill. There are/were so many options packages that almost everything else is going to be a case by case selection. Look for front tow hooks, factory tow package, skids (that aren't torn up yet), the engine/tranny combo you want, and let everything else sort itself out.

Good luck and have fun shopping!

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_______________________DogDomain_______________________

The roof basket that comes with renegades is only on the pre-05 models, 05 and 06 just have rails and you can add whatever basket you want.

Differences in appearance between the models (in a nutshell):

Sport: cheapest option, no fog lights (ugly fog-holes), plastic fender flares
Limited: bling bling, fogs in grill, chrome stuff, body-colored fender flares
Renegade: plastic flares with bolts, fogs on bumper, flat hood, thicker roof-rails
Rocky Mountain: flat hood, no fogs (but no fog-holes), body-colored fender flares.

Internal Difference: Not many, mostly depends on option packages:

Renegade comes with a 160Amp alternator (ugh ugh, more power).
Sport + Renegade can come in a 6-speed
Sport + Limited can come in a CRD (auto only)

I believe there's also a special-edition Sport that comes with body-colored flares.

Basically, go for the one that looks the best, the rest is just options that you can swap around. ie, you can get a sport with fog lights, but you can't get a flat hood on a sport (easily). I say go for the renegade or limited, depending on what you like to see (bling or rough). Plastic bumpers + flares is a genius idea. They look good on the renegade, and they handle bumps + scratches really well.

As for the depreciation hit, you may want to consider new or previous-model-year off the lot - they have a $3500 cash back deal going on right now. I got my Renegade about a year ago, and it's still worth more on the blue-book than I paid, thanks to all the discounts I got. Do look to see if a used one matches what you want, but see how much more they cost new, it might not be that much, depending on which options you want.

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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

If I was going to buy a used Liberty, I would look at the 02's with the better transmission. I would go with a Sport only because I hate scratching up the painted plastic flares and bumpers. The Sport bumpers will not show those scrapes and bruises as bad. Another reason to go with an 02 Sport is it will be cheaper to buy and that leaves more money for mods!!



BTW, you should hook up with the KJ WEST group and go on some rides after you get your KJ. You could also stop by our training day run on the 25th in Gorman to see 1st hand what the KJ can do. Look at the KJ WEST section for more info.

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99 TJ
71 C101
04 KJ
03 SFA KJ Sport
LOST JEEPS So-Cal

Thanks for all the help guys, its almost impossible to find a new 4wd KJ in central california, ill keep looking and probably will buy one sometime in March/April. (thanks to mustang blue book values dropping like a rock since the 05 mustang came out, i still wanna put some more down on my car) I was in a mustang forum in college when i was into my car and this one seems to be alot of help already, talk to you guys later

yah i was kinda wondering if different years had better tranny's/suspension etc... than other years. And thats a pretty good idea about getting a sport and saving the money for mods. Ill look up KJ west soon, i used to make trips to gorman to ride my dirt bike quite a bit

I have an '02 with the better transmission (45rfe) and it sits higher then all the rest due to it being prelowered (3/4"). My build date was august '01. I I believe the last of them were march or april 1st '02

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'02 KJ Sport V6 4x4
3/8" Clevis lift
Rusty's 2.5 lift
255/70/R16 Fleet Farm All Terrain (yes they work)
Class 3 hitch
Hellas
Police Scanner/CB radio
LOST #: JH061986