Opinions: Liberty CRD

[Pskhaat]

I want the truth. Would you buy a CRD Liberty (again)? There is a 2005 I just saw, and I very much need to change my DD to one that I can put a kid or two in the back. I've also been meaning to pick up a 4WD DD. 20mpg? True/False? Isn't bad but it isn't that good but is a diesel.

I have my Cruisers for the primary baby-mobile and my overlanding.

Thoughts?

 

[Hltoppr]

I'm interested in the responses too!

Maybe with a CRD I could get over the "egg with wheels" look.....

-H-

 

[calamaridog]

I want the truth. Would you buy a CRD Liberty (again)? There is a 2005 I just saw, and I very much need to change my DD to one that I can put a kid or two in the back. I've also been meaning to pick up a 4WD DD. 20mpg? True/False? Isn't bad but it isn't that good but is a diesel.

I have my Cruisers for the primary baby-mobile and my overlanding.

Thoughts?

As I've said before, the Liberty is great for running around town and short trips where you may need 4wd. I like the fact that you can get the full time transfercase too, since that dramatically increases the usefullness of the 4wd system for rain and snow driving on the highway.

The Liberty is small inside with limited rear cargo room. Throw a couple kids in back and some luggage and you are done.

I have mixed feelings about the CRD. They didn't sell many and the engine is uncommon. You should look for feedback on the L.O.S.T. forum www.lostkjs.com or maybe some of those guys will respond to you here.

We get 20 mpg on the hwy in our V6 gasoline Liberty.

 

[calamaridog]

Almost forgot. We did our second ball joint recall recently.

 

[AZCPP]

My wife has a 2006 Limited 3.7 gas and she loves it! After rolling her 2005 (completely unharmed) she wanted it replaced with another Liberty. She said she felt safe in it! It rolled a full roll and when they pulled it back onto the wheels you could open all four doors and reclose them, they were overlapping each other at the top a little but they would open! I can't comment on the CRD but the 3.7 is getting 21-22mpg between Holbrook and ShowLow (50miles each way) and we drove it to Albuquerque last weekend and it got 24mpg traveling across the 40. I am pleased with that! She had no ploblems with the 2005 and has had no problems with this one @26,000 miles. I am 6'4 and albeit small compared to my Ram it is really pretty comfortable for me to drive. If we go with another couple, Teresa can ride behind me with my seat all the way back and be comfortable. The back seat accually has more leg room than our Grand Cherokee that we had.

Hope this helps!

 

[AZCPP]

Oh, they are/were both 4WD's

 

[blue94yj]

Well I guess I will give my input. I just got a 06 CRD a couple of months ago. I have put about 6K miles on it so far. I drive about 90 miles round trip to work and have been averaging about 24.7MPG. I hand calculate every tank. I suspect I would do better if I lived in a flatter area and from what I have read my motor is not broke in with only 16k and should continue to get a little better over time.

The liberty doesn't impress me so much as a 4wd but I'm coming from an 06 LJ Rubicon that was mildly built. But I think it will suit my real needs better then the last jeep. It will be fine for back roading and does great pulling a trailer.

What I am impressed with is the power of the CRD. I can't say enough about the motor. I am a little worried they only produced them for two years but some times you have to take risk I guess.

To this point I would say I would definitely do it again.

Just my $.02

Charlie

 

[Overdrive]

I bought an '06 new, and now have 6,600 miles on it. All in all, it is a great little vehicle--tons of power and the torque makes it a hoot to drive. It is actually fun to drive around town, listening to the engine and having fun with the torque.

I have always had large vehicles, so the small space took some getting used to. My biggest complaint is the lack of footwell room, and the seat does not seem to fit me well, although my wife says it's fine.

My best tank was 29mpg doing 55-65 mph and trying for economy. With a heavy foot around town, gets ~21. At 75-80 mph, ~25. There is a thread on L.O.S.T. KJ's about disconnecting the EGR valve, which boosts mileage by 5-10%; some guys report just over 30 on the road. It also changes the driveability for the better, with better throttle response and transmission shift points. Of course, such a modification is illegal for road use, so the thread/modification is called the "O.R.M" or Off-Road Modification.

At 80 mph it has LESS wind noise than my '07 Crown Victoria. One time I got on the freeway, and was of course accelerating to merge with traffic, and was then cruising along with no effort and no wind noise; I thought I was going around 65-70...I was wondering why everyone was going so slow (I was passing everyone)...looked at the speedo and I was doing 85.:smiley_drive:

If you are OK with the small interior space, you'll love it.

Scott

 

[Overdrive]

I forgot to mention

If you get one, be sure it still has the 40-page warranty information booklet in with the owner's manual stuff.

The way Jeep wrote the warranty booklet, the diesel engine warranty begins AFTER the Basic Limited Warranty of 3/36 ENDS. So, it has a 6 yr/72,000 mile factory warranty on the engine. Make sure your book is written the same way, as there have been changes; I understand when requesting a replacement book some have found the language was changed (surprise, surprise.)

The dealer will tell you the warranty was only for 36,000, and you'll have to fight with them.:sport_box If you have the book, this is your ticket to be able to take them to court, and you'll likely win. This was all brought to light by this thread at the Turbo Diesel Register, where we learned the Cummins has a 136,000 mile warranty!
http://www.turbodieselregister.com/...71690-has-daimlerchrysler-taken-you-ride.html

Scott

 

[CRD4Liberty]

I love my '05 CRD, pulls great, getting awesome mileage. I get better than 20 mpg in town, 28-29 on the freeway. Worst mileage so far 15 mpg towing a loaded two horse trailer over the Cascade Mts. There's no quit in that little diesel whille towing, pulls away from F-150s with similar loads and the 4.7 V-8easily getting almost twice the mpg.
Extremely quiet for a diesel. Even with a FlowMaster Delta 40 on it after bending up the stocker it's quiet.
Haven't had storage problems yet, but I have a AllJs shelf in the back and a basket on the roof.

 

[texas taco]

My wife and I had a CRD lib. It had great fuel mileage, lots of power for a little suv. We sold it. We were going on a trip, and we heard a knocking, and growling noise coming from under the hood. We brought it in to a dealership. They diagnost it as a faulty sensor. The tech said it was due to the fact that the crd motor has been use over seas for a while,and was enginered for higher sulfer diesel "or something like that"that they use over there. He also said that jeep has not corrected the problem,which he said is an expensive problem. Not a month later i read that jeep discontinued the crd liberty. We are going resist tempation of a diesel jeep for awhile untill they get the bugs out or toyota comes out with one.

 

[CRD4Liberty]

The CRDs were used with lower Ultra Low Sulphur diesel 15 ppm while we were using Low sulphur 500 ppm. We now all use the same stuff.
Had the same thing happen to mine, cleaned the MAP sensor while I was doing other service and it went away. Clean the sensor more often now and it hasn't come back. Takes one bolt removed, MAP sensor cleaner or Brake-Klean sprayed on it and a light tooth brushing,than put the thing back in with the one bolt, done. 10 minute job tops.

 

[texas taco]

Wow shows you how smart the service techs are at are local Jeep dealership. He talked like it was a major problem. They "had to replace a very expensive part" LOL I did not have time to reserch it because of are trip. Other than that my wife loved it.

 

[ernestgj]

CRD4Liberty is right on the map sensor, it gets clogged from the soot with the egr. I got about 29 mpg over the weekend going from Indianapolis to Green Bay and back in an '05. Stock tires are crap and it could use a couple more inches of ground clearance which I'll fix soon with an OME lift and some Firestone Destination A/Ts. Much better on-road handling than my XJ with an OME lift. Haven't taken it off-road yet, but I am expecting it to be slightly less capable. Great daily driver, people always try to "help out" at the pump and let me know I'm putting diesel in my little jeep ;-) Oh, and when you get on the gas you leave wonderful little black trails of diesel soot behind, hehe


Greg

 

[805gregg]

I've got an '06 CRD with a Frankenlift. I just got back from 2 weeks in Baja. Perfect vehicle for Baja, it handled everything easily. We drove about 2500 miles, about 2-300 on bad dirt roads, no problems. Took the washboards at 50 mph, ran fine on Mex diesel, $2 per gallon. In southern baja there were literally hundreds of Libertys, rentals from Budget, Hertz and lots of Mexican owned Libertys, not unusual to see several at every stop light. The most used SUV in Baja hands down, maybe they know something. I love mine and would only give it up for my wife to drive if I get the Grand Cheroke CRD.