All New... nothing new...

Hello world
A vehicle has to tug at a certain heart string before you feel compelled to empty your wallet. With the average car loan now lasting longer than the average marriage, choosing a new vehicle has now become a life altering event.

The new headlights of the 2008 Liberty caught my attention as they arrived at my local dealer, and by chance I was given one as a rental vehicle a few weeks later - compelling me to write this review.

First impressions
I had seen the ads for the 'all-new' Jeep Liberty and wanted to take a look. I had nearly purchased a Liberty a couple years ago, but the chorus of Liberty owners complaining about the poor fuel economy turned me away. With an 'all-new' design, surely things had improved?

As I approached my silver 2008 Jeep Limited, I was impressed with the small changes. The crystal headlights gave it an upscale look, and there were tasteful bits of chrome trim to match. When the original Jeep TJ/YJ switched to square headlights, there was an uproar. Jeep is finally caving in to the street styling demands and forgoing the round headlights. For hard-core Jeepsters, there are still round lamps behind the square covers, so you can pretend it is still an 'original' Jeep.

I took a quick walk around and threw my luggage in the back. I had a hard time seeing what else was 'all new', as the remaining body work appeared pretty much the same as the last Liberty I drove. The rear seats were upright and I was a bit taken back by how small the remaining luggage space was. It was like an optical illusion - the Liberty seems quite large on the outside - yet the inside seemed so small... My first impressions were it was stuck somewhere between street-cutesy and soft-roader.

Step inside
I was on the fence as far as space and styling went until I went to the driver's door and opened it. I was shocked and baffled... The foot well for the driver was impossibly small, being largely intruded by a HUGE center tunnel. I hadn't seen such a waste of space since the original Hummer H1. The large tunnel theme really made me feel like I was sitting on the 'outside' of the vehicle structure. While this creates a nice shoulder space between front passengers, it crowds you into the door which has some very large built in armrests that are quite high. I found the seat to be fairly comfortable, but the positioning in the vehicle to be unsettling.

Fire it up
The only choice for power in the Liberty is the 3.7L V6 producing 210HP. Two years ago when I looked at the Liberty and RAV4, that was a good number. The Liberty is capable of towing a small load, and is torquey enough for off-road adventures. In 2008, it has been left behind by the likes of an available 270HP motor in the RAV4, and even the standard 240HP motor in the FJ Cruiser is light-years ahead in terms of technology.

The test-market Common-Rail Diesel is not available in the Liberty anymore, leaving you to manage the 3.7L gas engine and it's 15MPG City, 21 MPG highway efficiencies. In comparison, the base RAV4 manages 28/36 City/Highway, and the V6 RAV4 25/37 City/Highway.

The boxier and more Jeep-ster like FJ Cruiser is rated at 21/28 city/highway. The equally boxy Nissan XTerra even manages 21/28 city/highway with it's bigger 4.0L engine with 261HP.

Jeep is decidedly at the back of the pack in the engine race.

Let's get moving
These initial shortcoming would be met with much improved on and off-road handling - or so I was hoping. I reached over... way over... to put the transmission in 'go' and away I went. Why is the shifter closer to the passenger than the driver? I don't know...

As I hit the streets I was expecting the Jeep to use it's torque matched to a smart transmission to make the best of it's power. What I was met with was a gutless and brainless wonder. The Liberty was very slow off the line, and the transmission never seemed to be in sync with what was going on. It would upshift when I let off the gas, only to take a second to get back into the 'right' gear when I was accelerating again. The Liberty has only a 4 speed automatic, which is again left in the dust with the newer 5 and 6 speed trannies available in competitors. There is an available 6 speed manual, however I wasn't able to find a picture of the interior on the Jeep website. If the shifter is in the same place as the automatic, it would be impossible for a smaller person to reach over to drive safely.

I was similarly met with an unresponsive and bobbing suspension. This vehicle had less than 2000 miles, and it wallowed and bounced like a 10 year old Suburban. I recall the last Jeep Liberty (a 2005 model) I drove to be quite tightly sprung and feeling solid. This 2008 model reminded me of my uncle's old Lincoln Town Car - it looked cool, and people thought you were cool if you were in it, but inside you were always wishing you could cut a hole in the roof and jump out. The steering was equally hopeless, with a huge vague on-center feeling that required constant swaying to keep the Liberty on course on the highway... just like the old Town Car...

Controls
The interior and dash continue with the boxy theme and work well styling-wise. The switch gear is generally large and easy to use. The 4 wheel drive selector is on the center tunnel and is big enough to be operated with your elbow if needed. It is ridiculous really... it is an electric switch like most other 4x4's, and it takes up as much room as the transmission shifter. At the minimum, it should have been on the other side of the shifter, as for myself I use the shifter more often than the 4x4 selector (don't you?). A better idea could have been a dash mounted switch or button - there is lots of room on the flat and squarish dash. Really, just go to http://www.jeep.com/en/2008/liberty/gallery/ and tell me if the center layout makes any sense at all. The rest of the ergonomics aren't too bad.

The good
I don't want to make this seem like it was all bad - there were some good points. The brakes were effective, if a bit grabby. The traction control was fairly well tuned and allowed some wheel chirping before kicking in. The fit and finish was nice and the doors and rear hatch had a nice solid feel to them. I liked the materials on the seats.

The end
There is no compelling area of strength of the Jeep. The only area it competes in, in my epinon, is style. This is a vague and mushy area best left for you to judge - if you love the look of it, you'll put up with the rest. If you love the Jeep brand, the new Wrangler, and particularly the 4 door unlimited, will give you the same poor-mannered handling and hopeless use of space, but it looks a lot cooler and will actually go off-road while giving you equal opportunity to support OPEC countries.

If you aren't brand-loyal, take a look at the Toyota RAV4 or FJ Cruiser, Nissan XTerra or Ford Escape. All of these have their areas they excel in which makes it easier to compromise on areas they aren't so strong in.

This version of the Liberty would have been class-leading... 10 years ago.