Thinking about buying an 03 Jeep Liberty with 170,000 miles for $4,000 (GOOD OR BAD?)

[thegreatgate]

03 Liberty...Limited...Fully loaded...Cream Leather interior...Heated seats...4x4....Seems to run and drive great with a slight rub that owner said was brakes in the back that need to be changed..

Blue book is $6400 in excellent, $5850 in good, and $4925 in fair...

With a good detail it will be between good and excellent.

My price is $4000 and it is a loan takeover...I'd only pay a couple hundred up front.

The vehicle is out of my price range for a cash payment but perfect in a loan scenario...Actually for my wife, not me...And her last vehicle was a 93 Geo Tracker...She barely drove it, maybe 500 to 2000 miles in a year! So not too concerned about the miles..

Here is a pic, what is your honest opinion?

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[Liberty02sport]

I'd say take it to a shop you trust and have them go over it for any potential problems or any items that may need attention in the near future. It looks great but you can never tell by looks alone if all is well inside the powertrain. Does the current owner have any service records on it ??

 

[JeepinJarhead03]

here's my cost theory, always has been probably always will be, and trust me i've had some Hooptys

I'm good with it if 100 dollars gets me 1000 miles , i've gotten my money out of it if so

so if 4000 dollars gets me 40,000 miles and lets just say the engine blows all over the street when it hits 40,001 miles and i can repair it for.. lets say 5 grand.. that part atleast is prob gonna be good for .. at LEAST 100k again

anyway.. if it's clean and i dont mean detailed i mean, not beat up or visibly abused, isn't rotting away underneath, and you can get that dealer to give it a fresh oil change, new air filter, and make them replace front and rear brake pads so it doesn't "rub.."

i'd say it's a good investment , see if they'll let you take it for a 24-48 hr test on a weekend and drive it about 50 miles let it cool off and drive it another 50 and go to autozone and run the codes see if anythings showing up

reason for the whole 50mile cool 50 mile thing certain codes once cleared wont show up until the vehicles been driven cooled off and driven again.. and make sure there's 3 cat's under the **** thing and that someone hasn't stolen one.. lol 2 small and 1 large, or 2 large depending on the exhaust model

don't know if they'll let ya do the whole test thing, they've let me do that both times I've bought vehicles from a dealer but they weren't "used-used"

 

[LibertyTC]

At 170,000 mile it would be helpful to know how the engine is and a compression test would sure give you a good idea. Anytime you can buy which appears to be in/outside a very clean looking jeep, even with those miles, at 4 k is a good buy. I bought my 04 with 32k miles for well over 4x that and put in lots lately with lift & accessories etc.
Besides a good mechanical inspection, the driven is almost as important. Does it pull to one side, how does 4x4 engage? Step on gas at highway speed then remove gas and see if the rear lower bushings are holding fast without a drift. Any driven noises?
Any used vehicle needs work but you can do stuff overtime and as $ permit.
The best vehicles are ones that are paid for and ones you can work on yourself.
Both above can apply if you are willing to put some energy into it.

 

[chill]

For my 2 cents, which may or may not be worth 2 cents. I say go ahead and get it. It looks like the avg. would be 1000mi. a year. So that's 20 miles a week! I do that in a day easy and that's with 97k on mine. Get the "rub" looked at that's concerning, if it was just pads than why didn't the seller fix that pre-offering it for sale? That's kinda fishy to me. Pads are relatively cheap.

Hell I've been looking at a 67 mustang thee past couple of days coming home from work, and that's $3,500 OBO so who knows what the heck is wrong with it LOL...

Def get it looked at though if your allowed to take it for awhile.

 

[TwoBobsKJ]

Agreed with all stated above. One thing not mentioned was the ******. At 170K who knows if it is the original or if it has been rebuilt/replaced. If you can, take it to a reputable - and I mean REPUTABLE - transmission shop and see if they'll hook up their scanner and check the read-outs, especially the CVI numbers (Clutch Volume Index.)

CVI's give you a good indication if you have trouble around the corner - no guarantees but if the CVI's are within the acceptable range you are probably good to go. Just change the ****** fluid/filter, change the front and rear diff oils and the ATF+4 in the transfer case.

For $4000 I'd go for it!

Bob

 

[Doublecardan]

I really like that color, I dont think I have ever seen a Red Liberty before. Being in Michigan, I would really check for rust, look around the tailgate area near the upper brake light, check the oil pan, they really rust good. I agree with two bobs, check the CVI but if you do not know the history of the ******, and do not know how often the ****** oil was changed, the best thing to do is not change the fluid, at 170k you are more likely to ask for trouble as the fresh fluid will wash away the varnish inside and start you on the road to problems with the ******. Good luck with it

 

[DJSKJ]

As a former Michigander I would ve very careful about the rust. 8 years of MI winters can take a real beating on the undercarge. Parts can be replaced, but rust is forever. Crawl around underneath with a little hammer and tap any area that looks suspect.
Plus, I am sure you are going to put some money into it and you can't pay cash for it so not sure.

Say Good Night to the bad guy