Hello all!
New owner, located in sunny Port Orange FL, of a 2005 Liberty Limited. My previous vehicle was an '12 Chevrolet Colorado Z71, which was a great truck, but was costing me a small fortune to own and drive for something I wasn't actually needing. What I
needed was a 4x4 people hauler, something I could toss my 65lb dog into and drive just about anywhere. The truck didn't work so good for that, and to make things worse, was too long for my garage (seriously, Florida garages are small).
At first, I was seriously eyeballing CRDs. The allure of awesome gas mileage held me enthralled. Then reality started to set in; they were hard to find, more expensive, and really needed to be run long enough to get up to temperature. Since my daily commute is stupidly short (~3 miles, give or take), this wasn't going to work out. Also, I wasn't finding any in the area that I liked, a few looked to be decent and in my price range, but closer inspection revealed 'accident' labeled CarFax reports, strange noises, or CELs.
The first Liberty I looked at, seriously, was an '07 Limited with 66k miles. It sounded good, on paper, but was less than stellar in person. Someone had screwed the driver's side door panel on using sheet metal screws, it was missing a bunch of little plastic bits on the interior, and started to shimmy at 40mph (going over 70mph was scary). It was also at the upper limit of my self-imposed price limit, so I passed on it.
Then, just as I started to resign myself to making another payment on the truck, a 2005 Liberty Limited in silver appeared on the internet. It was located almost a hour and a half away, but from the pictures it looked to have just about all the options I wanted (SelecTrac 4x4, Sunroof, Leather), only missing the heated seats and mirrors. I live in Florida, and while those would be nice when I jaunt up to Michigan in the winter, they weren't deal-killers. The mileage was good, too, at 75k. AFAIK Liberties have pretty solid drive lines, so I knew that if it was properly maintained I would be in decent shape.
Needless to say the dealership nearly shat themselves when I offered to trade in my '12, and they bent over
backwards to make it happen. So after a lot of paperwork, I rolled off the lot with the Chevy paid off (and a bit more), driving a new-to-me Silver Limited. Which, happily, was also equipped with the heated seats and mirror options I wanted, plus a bunch of other neat stuff.
It promptly started leaking coolant.
Thankfully it never overheated, and was just typical 'cracked' plastic radiator ends. It didn't leak at all on the highway run back home, or on short jaunts around town. But get stuck in traffic? It'd leak a small amount once you stopped, then stop leaking. Thermal expansion is fun, isn't it? Thankfully a few hundred bucks thrown at a local shop got it all taken care of (flush, new hoses, new radiator), since I wasn't going to have time to do it myself until next weekend and I certainly didn't want to leave it that long.
So now it's sitting in my driveway, awaiting a G-model EVIC+PSI I got off eBay, new window vent shades (in-channel), and a set of Weathertech floor mats. I've already gone through and changed the PCV and spark plugs, as well as the wiper blades, and will do the oil either this weekend or next (it doesn't need it, but I want to do it anyway). I'm happy with my purchase, so far, I just wish the seat was half an inch to an inch lower to the floor. I'm over 6', so stop lights are a bit hard to see since my eyes are level with the rear-view mirror. Still, it's more comfortable than the truck was, and has a full inch more leg room in the back; plus the dog fits and doesn't look miserable! The turning radius is taking some getting used too, it's less "steering the titanic" and more "you wanna turn? OK let's turn!" when compared to the truck. Happily, even with the old plugs and air filter, my EVIC is claiming 16.9 mpg in the city; which is about what the old truck got
highway. Smoother ride, too!
Couple of rainy-day pics the morning after I got it home:
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