Jeep Liberty Renegade Feedback Needed.

Greetings to you all!
I am not new to Jeeps, the U.S. Army taught me to drive (as in never driven
anything B 4) in one, '77/Germany & it was a pleasure to dive it places even
a Gama-Goat couldn't go! My next Jeep was a new AMC Cherokee in '83, nice
while it lasted, @ 37K (1K over the 3-yr/36K warranty expired) the carb died
and the fix was close to $1K! Crap! So I traded it in for a '87 Wrangler
Sport (boys-toy) & put 150K on it, then major components started to fail;
new engine time, more cost in parts/labor than trade-in/resale value. O.K I
dogged it and thought it would take the beating the Army Jeep had no probs
with. Wrong! Loved the shift-on-the-fly, until the tranny turned into
grind/stall-on-the-crawl off-road :-(
Current ride is a '96 Suzuki 4-door Samurai Sport JLX on it's last legs, and
it did me O.K. on road. Now thinking about an '06 Jeep Liberty Renegade 4x4
manual tranny, w/minor upgrades: 6-CD changer, Infinity speakers, cruise
control, A/C, off-road group/skid plates, but an online owner review I read
said it has 9" ground clearance per Jeep, he measured just over 6" on
certain under-body parts. I don't need parts ripped off or me stuck on small
stump/rock with a Honda Civic ground clearance. Another guy complained
about loud interior noise @ freeway speeds, a given in a soft-top Wrangler.
Not looking for silence, but would like to hear my tunes, not the wind rush
if I'm slapping in Jeep's 'best' audio package. Local sales rep was IMHO a
tad too pushy & blew off my valid questions as: "You'll learn to love it,
trust me!" A kid who thought the best feature was the frigging GPS gizmo, &
told me side air-bags add-ons: "Seldom save lives!" As a retired Army medic
who has peeled plenty of (dead) drivers out of wrecks, he lost my trust
right there!
B 4 I sink $27K+ into a Jeep that I've taken for a test dive around town,
nice spin, but was warned about not taking a new model off anything but a
dry flat graded/compacted trail. I would be VERY thankful for some honest
Renegade owner feedback. I'm new to this newsgroup, and I AM sorry if I'm
asking a question that has already been covered in depth, but please choose
to answer or ignore/kill-file me if your answer is going 2 B a flame-me-out
(buy a Honda Element!) reply. Thanks in advance for your pros/cons feedback.

Loner

You've got mail....

Kate

"Loner" > wrote in message
...
> Greetings to you all!
> I am not new to Jeeps, the U.S. Army taught me to drive (as in never
> driven
> anything B 4) in one, '77/Germany & it was a pleasure to dive it places
> even
> a Gama-Goat couldn't go! My next Jeep was a new AMC Cherokee in '83, nice
> while it lasted, @ 37K (1K over the 3-yr/36K warranty expired) the carb
> died
> and the fix was close to $1K! Crap! So I traded it in for a '87 Wrangler
> Sport (boys-toy) & put 150K on it, then major components started to fail;
> new engine time, more cost in parts/labor than trade-in/resale value. O.K
> I
> dogged it and thought it would take the beating the Army Jeep had no probs
> with. Wrong! Loved the shift-on-the-fly, until the tranny turned into
> grind/stall-on-the-crawl off-road :-(
> Current ride is a '96 Suzuki 4-door Samurai Sport JLX on it's last legs,
> and
> it did me O.K. on road. Now thinking about an '06 Jeep Liberty Renegade
> 4x4
> manual tranny, w/minor upgrades: 6-CD changer, Infinity speakers, cruise
> control, A/C, off-road group/skid plates, but an online owner review I
> read
> said it has 9" ground clearance per Jeep, he measured just over 6" on
> certain under-body parts. I don't need parts ripped off or me stuck on
> small
> stump/rock with a Honda Civic ground clearance. Another guy complained
> about loud interior noise @ freeway speeds, a given in a soft-top
> Wrangler.
> Not looking for silence, but would like to hear my tunes, not the wind
> rush
> if I'm slapping in Jeep's 'best' audio package. Local sales rep was IMHO a
> tad too pushy & blew off my valid questions as: "You'll learn to love it,
> trust me!" A kid who thought the best feature was the frigging GPS gizmo,
> &
> told me side air-bags add-ons: "Seldom save lives!" As a retired Army
> medic
> who has peeled plenty of (dead) drivers out of wrecks, he lost my trust
> right there!
> B 4 I sink $27K+ into a Jeep that I've taken for a test dive around town,
> nice spin, but was warned about not taking a new model off anything but a
> dry flat graded/compacted trail. I would be VERY thankful for some honest
> Renegade owner feedback. I'm new to this newsgroup, and I AM sorry if I'm
> asking a question that has already been covered in depth, but please
> choose
> to answer or ignore/kill-file me if your answer is going 2 B a
> flame-me-out
> (buy a Honda Element!) reply. Thanks in advance for your pros/cons
> feedback.
>
> Loner
>
>

Loner wrote:
> Greetings to you all!
> I am not new to Jeeps, the U.S. Army taught me to drive (as in never driven
> anything B 4) in one, '77/Germany & it was a pleasure to dive it places even
> a Gama-Goat couldn't go!



You sure it was a Jeep and not a Mutt?

Making me think back 29 years Bret!
The USAEUR Jeep I 1st learned to drive was a
standard 4-seater M151 (A2?), we had the MUTT M151,
(Multi-Utility Tactical Truck) w/trailer, domain of
the 11C mortar-men & recoilless rifle crazies.
I my OD 1/4 ton was dog @ times, but
she never failed me. The G-Goat was
not a Mutt, it was an articulated
roll-over rabid BITCH waiting to flip,
and SO many did, RIP troops in the back.
The only REAL 'mutt' I remember was my Sergeant
Major's wife, brrr! Scare a whole Soviet
armored division off with one stare. Yug-ily!
Was hoping to learn more about the new Jeep
Liberty's, not walk down Vet memory lane.
No big, brought back fond & bitter memories.
Thanks 4 the reply anyway, and
many thanks to Kate's off-NG
words/pics, very helpful G2, thanks!
Regards,

Loner