Guess I will keep it - 03 Liberty Sport

[donberry]

Who knows if this "journal" will end up being that long, but I like the idea so figured I would give it a shot.
It is a 03 Liberty, was the wife's car. Paid around $6k for it and about 3 months after I bought it, it got pounded by, I am not stretching it, softball size hail and the insurance company totaled it. Wife said she would still drive it so I bought it back. Bought her a new Sonata in Aug and was going to sell the Jeep. I doubt it has ever been off road, and always wanted to but left it alone since it was the wife's, but as she had a new car, I took her for a not too serious spin and decided to keep it.
I am not planning on doing a whole lot with it. I want a winch and probably a lightbar. I doubt I will ever be doing "serious" off road, but there will still be plenty of chances to get stuck.
Hoping to keep the OEM bumper as I like the look, so it looks like I may have tyo go with a KJ Backbone mount - still undecided.
Tis about it. For now it is just a plain jane Liberty Sport, but it's still fun when you decide to leave the road. Wish the gas mileage was better. It has the 3.7l engine and was kind of surprised it only gets around 15 mpg around town. I have not figured actual mpg yet but will next time I fill up. I do know it isn't all that great. Seems pretty low for a 3.7 liter....my 97 truck has a 350 in it and gets better gas mileage......but I can't just be driving around and decide to veer off the road in my truck, so I guess it is the price I pay.....

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[profdlp]

I don't mean this to sound snarky at all, but one of the things which has made me hesitate about doing any serious off-roading is a reluctance to ding the thing all up. I'd say you have a great off-road candidate, and your nerves will be a lot better off if you do tag a tree or two.

 

[donberry]

I completely understand that. Even going thru that field, I went thru and over quite a few very large bushes and if it did not have the hail damage, I probably wouldn't have done it. Turned out I only lightly scratched it in one small place on the door, but listening to them scraping down the sides would have been horrible to me if it didn't have the hail damage......so I do think that is a plus for me in a weird way. I will say tho, unless maybe you are in a place where you get a fair amount of snow, it always drives me a little nuts when I see all of these 4 wheelers and you know they have never been off the pavement. I am 99% sure mine has never left the road - until recently. My daughter likes the looks, not the actual utility. I see all of these Hummers cruising around and I know they are just driving them as a "status symbol". Give me one and it will see at least a little of what it was made for.....tho, I wouldn't be taking it in places where I had to drive over bushes that were going to be scraping down the sides of it.......in my jeep, I can now do that without giving it much thought at all, tho I obviously don;t want to intentionally scratch the heck out of it.

 

[donberry]

am a bit sad, but I ended up buying a jaguar as I will be doing a lot of long haul traveling so sold the Jeep. hated to see it go

 

[tommudd]

am a bit sad, but I ended up buying a jaguar as I will be doing a lot of long haul traveling so sold the Jeep. hated to see it go

Too bad
KJ do long hauls as well,:roflsquared: used to drive 11 hours one way every other week to go see the wife, no problems

 

[dude1116]

My KJ just made two 20-hour journeys! (to New Orleans and back from central jersey!). But I will say I would have much rather do the journey in a Jaguar if I could afford it!! :rofl:

 

[donberry]

I got this thing surprisingly cheap. 2004 with 86k for 7995.00. It needed tires and one trim piece on the bumper was loose, which is now fixed. Everything else is in great condition. Book value was around 12.5k and now having driven one, I would have gladly paid that. It is an awesome car - and now I am planning on trips to Cape Coral, more to Ohio and a few times a year to tx and co - it will be a high mileage vehicle.......

 

[CactusJacked]

When you pay the $12.5k price for the Jaguar, it comes with an electrical engineer to accompany you on road trips. You got the budget deal, so you're on your own!

 

[donberry]

I am just curious if those talking about the problems have actually looked into the 2004 and later Jags ?
If one bothers to check out places like Edmunds HERE , Kelly Blue Book - HERE or maybe the Road & Track long term road test of the XJR HERE where they say "And as our long-term test shows, the XJR is downright cheap to maintain"

or maybe the Motor Trend comparison between the XJ8, the Audi A8L, the BMW 745i or the Benz S430 where it came in handily at 2nd place, right behind the Lexus L430.

Before I buy any car, I do as much research as I possibly can and I never fall in love with one particular model as I always want the most bang for my buck. As I have not had it long enough to comment on it's long term use, I will just have to go by the thousands of others who have road tested and owned them with very few complaining about anything to do with reliability. You will find some who do, but you could find that with any car - only with the XK350 jags, those complaints are few and far between......
I wish I could have kept the Jeep, would have been a blast - but I am sure enjoying this on the paved roads

Jaguar does bring to mind reliability problems to those who have not checked out the XK350, but to those who have checked into it, it is one sweet ride.

Headed out to clay it, polish and wax it now.....doesn't need it, but it has surprised me how much I like this car

 

[CactusJacked]

I checked on other places where owners gave their feedback. The common ailments were random electrical gremlins, and issues with the air suspension. And yes, they were 2004 and newer.