The Jeep Liberty began life as the golden child of Jeep. Introduced among the tragedy of 9/11/01, the Liberty was a beacon of American Independence, pride, and strength. The Liberty's name said it all. It was the successor to the iconoclastic Cherokee ,only wrapped in a traditional Jeep facade that became one of the first to use the now cliche "retro" theme. Liberty was on top, so it seemed. The years have however proven differently, as the Liberty has fallen short of the "spawn of an icon" image and has stumbled into a crevasse as competition has usurped the Jeep in room,road manors,and reliability. Today we see a new Jeep that has learned to embrace it's "gentler" side by vastly improving the safety and road abilities of their "true icon", Wrangler, creating a reinvented product that gives you all Jekyll with very little Hyde. We also see a gentler Jeep in it's new "car based" entry level Jeeps, that in Patriot form, get this, is intended to fill the shoes of the Cherokee. The Liberty must be saying to itself..;..what's up....I was the new golden child!! It seems that the Liberty has slowly become the "Jan" of the "Jeep Bunch" as it looks to the new "softer" Wrangler and says "Marsha, Marsha, Marsha, it's always about Marsha". In an effort to sooth Liberties whines Jeep has attempted to reinvent it by upping it's "truckiness" factor by offering more attitude and options ,such as a roll back soft top that is supposed to give owners the feeling of what it might be like to own, say, a Wrangler!? If it's stablemate the Dodge Nitro is any indication of the new Liberty then it will inherit some of the worst road manors of any of the entry level "utes". while neither offering the car like ride and handling of the "crossovers" or the "Rubicon ready" 'tude of the Wrangler. It's as if Jeep doesn't know what to do with the Liberty. So time will tell if the new Liberty will rekindle it's momentum or simply find itself neither here nor there with fewer and fewer "lines" in the "Jeep show". Our take is that others offer better fuel efficiency, room, and handling, however Liberty's shrinking role may create fertile ground for collectors looking for tomorrows auction pick, especially models with the canvas fold back roof. Simply put the Liberty has become obsolete against the new school of grocery getter's, and lets face it if you want a soft top offroader you'll buy the Wrangler, but still there is that something about the Liberty that calls out to all those that fight for the underdog, those that would rather wear Jeep than Toyota, those that need a family car but long for the tranquility of the off road. For those the Liberty may just work. So Liberty may just make it but it will need to get used to it's new "minor roll" in the Jeep line-up if it will ever find peace with itself.
