Faults:

Broken valve spring at 62,000.

General Comments:

My 2002 Jeep Liberty, has 62,000 miles. It has been serviced every 4000-5000 miles.

Few months ago I had the 60,000 miles maintenance done by the dealer. I was told everything is fine, Then last weekend, when I was driving on the freeway the engine light came on and started flashing, and the car stopped. I had it towed off the freeway offramp.

My mechanic informed me that I have a broken valve spring and no compression in cylinder number one, and maybe a damaged head or piston. It is still in the shop. He also told me that Jeep Liberty has this problem and it is not the first time he sees a Jeep with this problem, It is not normal for a car with a low mileage to have this problem.

If any other Jeep Liberty owners have had this problem please contact me.

Thanks.

Faults:

Nothing thus far.

General Comments:

This Jeep sits up nice and high.

Good gas mileage.

Seats are what you would expect. I can fit 5 adults with plenty of leg room.

Faults:

I purchased this vehicle several months ago with 98k miles on it. When I bought it it needed new brakes so I had that done asap.

It has squeaking noises coming from the front end suggesting the CV joints are going. I greased them, but it had minimal effect.

The A/C sometimes stops working randomly. It works fine almost all the time, but once or twice it has stopped putting out cold air for an extended period.

General Comments:

This vehicle is great. Of all the cars I've owned this is probably my favorite. It has some downfalls just like any other vehicle, but I think that It makes it worth putting up with.

The Good:

- It's one of the top 4X4's of it's class (neck to neck with the Nissan Xterra). I have taken it out in the mud with the worn out Bridgestone Dueller Highway tires and it still did great. I drove through mud that my S-10 wouldn't have even made it into. With a lift and some M/T's it might be unstoppable.

- Looks great inside and out IMO. I read that some people say this Jeep is "cute" or "girly" looking. I really don't know why b/c it looks to me like an SUV version of the Wrangler and no one accuses those of being girly. I'm not sure why it's got that reputation, but I think it's all talk.

- The 3.7L V6 puts out a good amount of power and seems to be a very well designed engine. I think it could use just a little more hp due to the Jeeps weight, but it's by no means weak.

Okay now for

The Bad:

- If you like to go off roading the front independent suspension might hold you back a little. It does great off road, but obviously Jeep didn't think people who would buy this vehicle would do any serious wheeling. But don't get me wrong it is very capable, but the suspension is a draw back.

- The interior cloth is a nightmare. ANYTHING will stain it and I mean anything. If you open the door when it's raining and some drops hit the seat then your going to have spots there when it dries. Just plain water is enough to do it. It goes away if you clean the seats with a spray like oxy clean. But you have to be sure you spray the whole seat when you clean it or there will be rings around the areas you spray.

- The glove box is so small it's almost useless. The manual that came with the Jeep won't even fit into it! They had to made a separate little slot above the box for a place to stick it. You can't even fit an envelope in the box without it getting in the way of the latch. Ridiculous..

- Cruise control is annoying especially in the south where I live and it's hilly. Any sort of an incline sends the engine racing up to nearly 4 grand in second gear. Seems really unnecessary and can't be good for MPG. I've got in the habit of turning it off when I can sense it's about to drop a gear.

- This is not a vehicle you would call fuel efficient. I usually get about 17 MPG with a mix of highway/city driving. I took it on a trip not too long ago and even with all highway driving I still only managed 17.5 MPG. That could be b/c I did about 90 almost the whole way though and had the cruise control on which raced the engine every couple miles.

That's all I can really think of right now. You would think by all the negative things I've said that this is a bad vehicle, but it's really not. Every car has something negative going on and I think this particular vehicle makes up for it's downfalls in looks and ability.