Looking for new car advice - Anybody have a 2012 Jeep Liberty?

jgibv

My fiance is looking at getting a new car, very soon...and the Liberty is her top choice.
She likes the rugged, boxy look to it and needs something about this size. She hates all of the crossover, rounded off half-a$$ SUVs that are becoming popular these days (like the new Ford Escape, Honda CRV, etc.)
We test drove the Liberty and it was a pretty good ride but I'm a bit hesitant on it because most of the articles and reviews we've seen are less than favorable.

Do any of you have the 2012 Liberty? If so what do you think of it and how does it do with various types of driving (off-roading, towing a trailer, long distance highway, hauling things around the city, etc.)?

Thanks in advance for any feedback

gmill880

Never ownes a jeep liberty but have appraised a ton of them as a used car manager once upon a lifetime . They were not something that had a good re-sale value at all . As a matter of fact we always tried to stay on the low side of average auction prices when trading for one . So thats about all the help I can be there , that they do not have a good re-sale/trade in value when you are ready to get rid off . If she hasn't taken a look at a Chevrolet Equinox I would recommend at least driving one before you buy ... and it may have just enough boxy rugged look for her . I don't work for Chevrolet anymore and don't have a dog in that fight just trying to give an opinion and a option ... good luck with whichever way it turns out . Gene

boydmcgowan

jgibv:

My fiance is looking at getting a new car, very soon...and the Liberty is her top choice.
She likes the rugged, boxy look to it and needs something about this size. She hates all of the crossover, rounded off half-a$$ SUVs that are becoming popular these days (like the new Ford Escape, Honda CRV, etc.)
We test drove the Liberty and it was a pretty good ride but I'm a bit hesitant on it because most of the articles and reviews we've seen are less than favorable.

Do any of you have the 2012 Liberty? If so what do you think of it and how does it do with various types of driving (off-roading, towing a trailer, long distance highway, hauling things around the city, etc.)?

Thanks in advance for any feedback

No new Jeep experience but I had a 1993 Jeep cherokee until 2009, when I turned it in under the cash for clunkers program to get my wife a new Ford Edge. Great Car that we had in our family for 16 years and over 150K miles. Not sure any of this is relevant to you, but I've had a great experience with my Jeep. It was the car I learned to drive in. It was a 5 speed manual with part time 4 wheel drive, and it had 4 wheel low as well.

I used it to drive back and forth from home to college (500 miles each way) and it held up great. Also used it for quite a bit of hauling (no towing, just hauling), and again it held up and did what we asked it to. It also held up to me messing around with it in the rain on various fields near our house while in highschool. Great little SUV. Again not sure if this is helpful at all, but I have a soft spot in my heart for Jeeps.

jgibv

Thanks for the opinions Boyd and gmill.
gmill- I don't think she's considered the Equinox but I'll certainly run it by her. And as far as re-sale/trade-in value - we're not too worried about that, she's looking to buy the vehicle out right and run it until it dies.

Boyd - I don't think she's looked at the Edge, she's looked at the Escape and it's a maybe. I know for sure the Explorer is a no-go. I'll certainly run the Edge by her, thanks.
Glad to hear you were able to run a Jeep for that many years and miles too since she hopes to have it for a while. Did you ever have any major mechanical issues with it?
And your success with hauling is a big plus too, that's one of the main things we'll use it for. (On a side note - I read somewhere that the Liberty was the "replacement" for the Cherokee.)

OchoZacho

I currently am a used car manager, and my best friendly advice is even though she may plan to drive it until the wheels fall off, things happen and situations change. I see it everyday. Take a look at some of the reviews on a Toyota FJ Cruiser or a 4Runner. Great cars with great ratings, reliability and resale value. Look at preowned to save some $$$. Let me know if you have any questions or need any help, I've been in the car business for 11 years now.

boydmcgowan

jgibv:

Thanks for the opinions Boyd and gmill.


Boyd - I don't think she's looked at the Edge, she's looked at the Escape and it's a maybe. I know for sure the Explorer is a no-go. I'll certainly run the Edge by her, thanks.
Glad to hear you were able to run a Jeep for that many years and miles too since she hopes to have it for a while. Did you ever have any major mechanical issues with it?
And your success with hauling is a big plus too, that's one of the main things we'll use it for. (On a side note - I read somewhere that the Liberty was the "replacement" for the Cherokee.)

No Major Mechanical Issues with the car. Just the usual wear and tear with age. It became a bear to get it smogged every other year but that was about it. I think the biggest thing was that the starter was just starting to give out when we we're getting rid of it. That sounds about right with the liberty being the replacement for the Cherokee. I've never driven one, but my jeep was a very simple very functional SUV without a lot of frills. It was a very bumpy ride and the liberty looks similar.

FYI, we love the edge, but its a different type of car than my old Jeep. Its a very cushy and comfortable and more car like than SUV like and we'd feel bad beating it up, while the jeep was right at home getting beaten on. T he Edge is the family car, while I picked up an F150 to beat on.

tincup703

Have a 2007 and if the 2012 models are any thing like ours, my advice is DON'T. It's been one problem after another since we bought it. It's been the least reliable car we've ever owned.

gmill880

OchoZacho:

I currently am a used car manager, and my best friendly advice is even though she may plan to drive it until the wheels fall off, things happen and situations change. I see it everyday. Take a look at some of the reviews on a Toyota FJ Cruiser or a 4Runner. Great cars with great ratings, reliability and resale value. Look at preowned to save some $$$. Let me know if you have any questions or need any help, I've been in the car business for 11 years now.

The FJ Cruiser may be to her liking if she wants boxy and they are dependable. The 20 years I've been in the car business about 14-15 yrs was with Toyota . They make a da_mn good product .

Luko

I don't have a Liberty, but I have leased four Jeep Grand Cherokees over the last decade and have been a very happy customer. I leased a 2012 jeep last year and they are redesigned, with a better engine and much better ammenities, body style, etc. not sure if the Liberty was redesigned, but some friends in the car industry told me the new model would hold resale value much better than they had in past years.

taythegibs

jgibv:

Thanks for the opinions Boyd and gmill.
gmill- I don't think she's considered the Equinox but I'll certainly run it by her. And as far as re-sale/trade-in value - we're not too worried about that, she's looking to buy the vehicle out right and run it until it dies.

Boyd - I don't think she's looked at the Edge, she's looked at the Escape and it's a maybe. I know for sure the Explorer is a no-go. I'll certainly run the Edge by her, thanks.
Glad to hear you were able to run a Jeep for that many years and miles too since she hopes to have it for a while. Did you ever have any major mechanical issues with it?
And your success with hauling is a big plus too, that's one of the main things we'll use it for. (On a side note - I read somewhere that the Liberty was the "replacement" for the Cherokee.)

I put a few hundred miles on an equinox and hated the way it drove, the Liberty was in a way the replacement for the cherokee (aka the xj which was produced from 84-01 and the liberty came out in 02-07 and in 08 they came out with a redesigned version that looked much more like the cherokee) i currently drive an 01 cherokee and greatly prefer how it drives and feels in comparison to the 02-07 Liberty, but ive never driven an 08+

tincup703:

Have a 2007 and if the 2012 models are any thing like ours, my advice is DON'T. It's been one problem after another since we bought it. It's been the least reliable car we've ever owned.

Fiat has taken over and there has been a major revision of the Jeep lineup for the 2012 year that is getting rve reviews for improved quality, ill admit the 02-11 models mostly sucked but they are supposedly WAY better now.

Luko:

I don't have a Liberty, but I have leased four Jeep Grand Cherokees over the last decade and have been a very happy customer. I leased a 2012 jeep last year and they are redesigned, with a better engine and much better ammenities, body style, etc. not sure if the Liberty was redesigned, but some friends in the car industry told me the new model would hold resale value much better than they had in past years.

I dont know if it is in your price range or if you will look at pre owned but i have always liked the Grand cherokees (personally owned a 96) and for the most part they seem to have great reviews. The 2012 Grand Cherokee is AMAZING! i can not wait till i can afford one, even if you cant afford to buy one take one for a test drive.

kaspera79

My daughter had a Liberty 08 that she loved. Never had a mechanical problem, she never had any issues with it until it was crashed. Rolled it, totaled it, she was pretty much unhurt.... She said she would get another one. But the 2012s were a little too much money for her right now. My other daughter just got an Escape.(2011) This car is great.. I've had three other Fords, (explorers) and put a total of 450K on them combined I still have two of them. I will buy another Explorer when the time comes. So Good things can be said about all these vehicles. (IMO)

taythegibs

my stepmom had an 01 escape and my girlfriends family had an 03, an 05, and an 07 (basically every odd year....) and all of them had big issues (tranny, computer, interior falling apart, suspension components self destructing, etc) but then again this was all on the older body style escape i dont know on the newer ones but i wont work on escapes, google spark plug changes on them, its insane.

ENFIDL

Go with the Jeep Patriot. I have one, it's a 2010, and was even told by a salesman to go for it over the liberty. The Patriot is a lot cheaper, gets better gas mileage, has cheaper insurance and has no issues. 2010 consumer reports showed that the Patriot was the best in the small SUV class overall with the least total cost of ownership and that the Liberty had the highest. I've had mine almost 26 months and have put nearly 50K miles on it and all I've done is routine maintenance and it's run like a champ. Even through snow deep enough to drag on the bottom of the thing lol

jgibv

Thanks to everyone for the input. I got a list going of all the options you suggested and will pass it on to the fiance. Also have a Yes/No Jeep list based on your guys feedback, it looks like the "Yes" is winning right now. Going to do some more research on some of these other vehicles today.

Thanks again and keep the ideas coming if you have anything else

slickric

did you get the jeep?

jgibv

slickric:

did you get the jeep?

Hey dude....
Saw your new wrangler, b!tchin ride!!

But no, my fiancé ended up getting a 2012 Subaru forester, had it for about 3 months now and she's loving it.
I have an 09 legacy and she went with me when I had it serviced, got to looking around and ended up liking it more than the jeep.

Lee.mcglynn

Good call on Subaru!! They have a much better engine and don't have a Chrysler transmittion. Plus gas mileage is much better and a lot lower roll over rates.

taythegibs

i got to test drive a Forester last fall, it was nice and i wish i could have been able to afford it. Congrats!

jgibv

Lee.mcglynn:

Good call on Subaru!! They have a much better engine and don't have a Chrysler transmittion. Plus gas mileage is much better and a lot lower roll over rates.

Yep. The gas mileage and engine/transmission are certainly better on the Subaru, for what we're using it for. If we were hauling a trailer or doing lots of "off-roading", probably would have gone with the Jeep....
But since 90% of her driving is around town/on pavement the Subaru made more sense.
We've done a little bit of off-roading through dirt/grass and the Subaru held it's own. But we didn't end up getting the tow package, because once we thought about it we figured it wasn't worth the extra $ and know enough people with heavy-duty trucks we could borrow if need be.
And the interior on the Subaru seemed nicer and better laid out. The Jeep's interior just had a "cheap plastic" look and real bulky feel/weird lay out to it.

taythegibs:

i got to test drive a Forester last fall, it was nice and i wish i could have been able to afford it. Congrats!

Thanks bro!
And yeah, the price point of the Forester vs the Wrangler are not comparable at all....

But we were comparing the 2012 Forester vs 2012 Liberty and the Forester ended up being less $$. And the way the packages were offered, we got more features with the Subaru too for a lower price than the Jeep would have been.

kingjk729

jgibv:

slickric:

did you get the jeep?

Hey dude....
Saw your new wrangler, b!tchin ride!!

But no, my fiancé ended up getting a 2012 Subaru forester, had it for about 3 months now and she's loving it.
I have an 09 legacy and she went with me when I had it serviced, got to looking around and ended up liking it more than the jeep.

That was a great choice on your wife's part to go with the Forester ...... I've had 3 Subaru's 1st was a 2yr lease on your car an 09 legacy .... I loved that car so much and would have bought it out but the payments would have been like 285 and with all the incentives and loyalty stuff I leased an 2011 legacy with nothing down and my payments were less than the 09 by 30 and 75 less than what it would have cost to by the 09. When I relocated with my job knowing that I'd have a company car that could be used for personal use I was gonna turn the 11 in early and my sister decided to make the payments til it goes back ...... I still needed something for hunting and picked up a 2007 forester while at the dealer there was a customer that they were trying to low ball and only give her 7200.00 trade in, she went outside and I followed and talked to her and pointed out what her car was selling for on the same lot with more miles than hers . I took her number and called her the next day after getting some info on her car . I called her the next day and offered her 8500.00 more that the dealer but less than private resale which was 9800.00 at the time . She ended up taking my offer and threw in a Thule bike rack, and all the weather tech floor mats including the rear cargo area, a dog barrier, and a set of steel rims with 1 season used snow tires. I felt like I took advantage but she was happier that the dealer wasn't going to make money on her trade in.

jgibv

kingjk729:

jgibv:

slickric:

did you get the jeep?

Hey dude....
Saw your new wrangler, b!tchin ride!!

But no, my fiancé ended up getting a 2012 Subaru forester, had it for about 3 months now and she's loving it.
I have an 09 legacy and she went with me when I had it serviced, got to looking around and ended up liking it more than the jeep.

That was a great choice on your wife's part to go with the Forester ...... I've had 3 Subaru's 1st was a 2yr lease on your car an 09 legacy .... I loved that car so much and would have bought it out but the payments would have been like 285 and with all the incentives and loyalty stuff I leased an 2011 legacy with nothing down and my payments were less than the 09 by 30 and 75 less than what it would have cost to by the 09. When I relocated with my job knowing that I'd have a company car that could be used for personal use I was gonna turn the 11 in early and my sister decided to make the payments til it goes back ...... I still needed something for hunting and picked up a 2007 forester while at the dealer there was a customer that they were trying to low ball and only give her 7200.00 trade in, she went outside and I followed and talked to her and pointed out what her car was selling for on the same lot with more miles than hers . I took her number and called her the next day after getting some info on her car . I called her the next day and offered her 8500.00 more that the dealer but less than private resale which was 9800.00 at the time . She ended up taking my offer and threw in a Thule bike rack, and all the weather tech floor mats including the rear cargo area, a dog barrier, and a set of steel rims with 1 season used snow tires. I felt like I took advantage but she was happier that the dealer wasn't going to make money on her trade in.

Good for you dude, glad to know you've had great success with multiple Subies.

And I was in a similar situation at the end of my 09 lease...got a 3-yr lease very late in 09, so it would have been up next month --- but I ended up buying it out back in the spring.
The dealership had some crazy deals on the new legacy's but I don't like the new body style, too big for me - the new ones are full-size and I like the mid-size of the 2009/4th generation bodies.

So they had me look at the new Impreza since the dimensions are almost identical to the 4th gen Legacy's -- I liked it, but I didn't love it and to get the top, limited model with similar features as my Legacy, it was only going to save me about $25/month since the Impreza's have been selling like hot cakes, and they couldn't do much of a price break on those.
But I figure I'll drive my Legacy for another 10 years then upgrade to a new car then, haha.

And my fiance's already said she may buy out her Forester when the lease is up, she loves it !!