2004 Jeep Liberty Renegade review from North America

Windows Rattle.

Pull to right.

The Jeep Liberty is a solid SUV. The build quality seems very good, and it gives you the feeling that it can do anything, on and off the road.

The suspension on the Liberty (I had the Renegade model) was probably one of the best suspensions I've ever felt. It was extremely comfortable on all surfaces, not too tight & not too loose.

The front two windows rattled when I first took the car. It only happened when they were between fully up and halfway down. I had to take it in a couple times to get it fixed. The first time the dealer said they could not reproduce the issue. But in the notes on the service order the tech drove with the windows almost all the way down, which they didn't rattle because they were mostly inside the door at that point. I had to ride in the car with the tech for awhile to make him listen to what I would hear. They ended up replacing some guide rails or something and that fixed it. The only other rattle I had in the car was from the read passenger side door panel.

OK, we all know the Liberty doesn't get good gas mileage, but I would have been happy to get at least close to what the sticker claims it gets city and highway. For both city and highway I averaged between 13 and 14MPG. I couldn't make it from Chicago to St Louis on one tank, and it's not even 300 miles. The maximum miles I could get on one tank was about 250, and that was with the gas light on for quite awhile. For the mileage the Liberty gets, it should have a V8 in it. It gets the same mileage, maybe even worse the the Grand Cherokee's that have the V8. Just my thoughts.

The Jeep also handles like a champ in sloppy snow. In 4 wheel part time, it never had any problems. I was extremely impressed with its performance.

The interior was fine, nothing special, but still much better than most other cars in its class. However, the fact that the back seats don't fold flat is really irritating. I didn't think it would bother me when I got it, but after a couple times of hauling large loads, it got old real quick.

The biggest problem I had with my Liberty is the fact that it did pull to the right about 75% of the time. The dealer did an alignment, but that did nothing. This is going to be one of those issues that Jeep will never resolve, no matter how many times you take it in. And here's what they'll tell you: it is all to spec. That's all they look at, the specs that it's supposed to be built to. So you're on your own if your Liberty pulls to the right. I didn't notice any abnormal tire wear, but it's only been 13k miles. So only time will tell.

To wrap up, I ended up trading in my Liberty. At times I really do miss it, especially with the winters here in Chicago. I got rid of it because of the mileage and the pulling to the right, that might sound lame, but I didn't want to get stuck with something that got worse as time went (and honestly these things are actually in good demand, so you shouldn't have any trouble selling). It's definitely a good looking SUV. I wish it were a little bigger for more hauling ability, but it is what it is.