Well, we didn't have the patience to wait until next spring. :sombrero: I took my wife and daughter down and we drove both the Patriot and the Liberty. For my daughter's planned use and her personal preference, the Patriot won out over the Liberty. The 08 Liberty's are nice but a little too large and use too much gas for her needs.
The patriot is fun to drive and has enough off road capabilty to handle the average back road exploring and winter moutain trips to get to the ski areas (or Snow boarding area in her case).
We agreed on a price and I plan to order an 08 with the features we want next week. It should take about 8 weeks for delivery.:safari-rig:
I haven't told my 4Runner yet...not sure how it will react to sharing the driveway with a jeep.:sombrero: