The 3.7-liter V6 works well with the automatic. Smooth and powerful, the V6 is rated at 210 horsepower and 235 pound-feet of torque, enough for Jeep to give it a 5000-pound tow rating. Engine and transmission are responsive to the driver's wishes. The throttle seems overly sensitive at tip-in, however, calling for a soft touch when starting out.
The 2.4-liter twin-cam four-cylinder engine comes standard on the Sport 2WD model and is only available with a five-speed manual gearbox. I found the four-cylinder with manual transmission to be a smooth combination, though I suspect it may struggle when moving 3,826 pounds of Jeep at higher elevations. Besides the lower initial cost, the 150-horsepower four-cylinder rates an EPA-estimated 19/23 mpg city/highway versus 16/21 for the V6.
The Liberty is fully capable of tackling the Rubicon Trail, the mother of all unpaved roads, and has done that. We drove a Limited 4WD model over a gnarly trail used at the annual Camp Jeep event near Lovingston, Virginia. A Jeep engineer and I followed a modified Wrangler driven by an off-road club member. A Ford Escape or a Toyota RAV4 would not have made it, but the Liberty crossed steep ditches and gullies, where its short front and rear overhangs paid off. It wove through stands of tightly spaced trees, where its tight turning radius was a benefit. It clambered over big rocks and fallen trees and slowly forded boulder-strewn creeks with 18 inches of rushing water. (Jeep says it can handle 20 inches at 10 mph.) Its traction up steep, muddy banks was truly impressive, with no wheelspin.
In addition to rear-wheel drive (2WD) models, two versions of four-wheel drive are available: Four-wheel-drive models come standard with Jeep's tried-and-true Command Trac part-time system. It works great. Shift from 2WD to 4WD on the fly with a slight pull on the hand lever. When the trail is looking really ugly, slow to 2-3 mpg and while still coasting, shift into neutral, and pull the lever up higher for low range. It works great. Our only complaint is that the Sport model's rear wheels bind up on dry pavement when accelerating out of a tight corner.
Selec Trac is an optional system ($395) that offers the modes above but also lets the driver shift into full-time 4WD for year-round conditions. The full-time mode is ideally suited to inconsistent conditions: patches of ice, gravel roads, wet, slippery roads. It also works on dry pavement.
Either way, you can order the optional limited-slip rear differential, called Trac-Lok ($285), for improved traction off road.
Like most small SUVs, Liberty follows the trend away from body-on-frame to unibody construction. Jeep calls it "uni-frame" because it's a beefed up unibody with frame-like reinforcement rails. This gives it increased strength and rigidity. That rigidity allowed the chassis engineers to finely tune the suspension without having to compensate for a Flexible Flyer-type chassis. The Liberty suspension uses coil springs at all four wheels, with independent forged steel control arms in front.
As with last year's model, the 2003 Liberty offers eight inches of suspension travel. Short front and rear overhangs (the distance from the tire to the bumper) allow steep angles of approach (38 degrees) and departure (32 degrees) in the rough stuff, so you won't be dragging the front bumper in gullies or even in garages in New York City. The Liberty offers capability that approaches that of the Grand Che{{{Cherokee and it will go most of the places that a Wrangler can go. You can't say that about the Escape, RAV4, or most of the bigger SUVs such as the Ford Explorer, which are quickly left behind spinning wheels and banging up rocker panels.
Progressive-rate springs deliver a nice balance of off-road grip and on-road ride comfort, though humps in the road can be jolting. The Liberty feels a bit jouncier on rough pavement, taller, squishier, more off-road oriented than the Escape. However, as the going gets rougher, the Jeep offers a much more comfortable ride than the Escape because the Ford's limited suspension travel and lightweight components quickly leave their element. The Liberty feels more substantial than the car-based SUVs and it is. The suspension is far beefier, and the interior controls don't look like they came out of a sedan or a minivan.
For 2003, the Liberty comes standard with four-wheel disc brakes, which offer improved pedal feel, shorter stopping distances, and reduced tendency to fade. I found the new brakes easy to modulate in heavy stop-and-go traffic. ABS ($600) is optional, and recommended: In low range, the anti-lock brake system allows some wheel lock for off-road situations -- such as descending steep gravel hills -- where skidding is a good thing. On the road, the ABS allows less skidding for improved control steering control, but there is some lockup for shorter stopping distances.
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