Cars Worth Noting: 2003 Jeep Liberty

My butt has bounced around in a lot of Jeeps. If you haven’t pushed tree branches out of your face or climbed out on the fender to lock the front hubs, you haven’t really been Jeeping. Most of us now prefer to take nature in through a rolled up window with the AC on and some tasty tunes in the 6-CD changer. We wouldn’t dare scratch our precious paint job or risk muddying up the interior. That doesn’t mean that the Liberty couldn’t do those things. Liberty can live up to the rugged outdoor heritage inherent to the name Jeep, but very few of these vehicles will ever see dirt unless they accidentally veer off the driveway.

Liberty still looks Jeep, inside and out. The short rounded dash and flat windshield are there and Liberty isn’t littered with lots of cubby holes and storage bins — what you need will fit in the back or tie on top. The firm, upright seats are covered in a seemingly indestructible fabric.

Not all Jeep owners are keen on Liberty’s styling, but I find it a refreshing blend of the Dakar (extended Wrangler) and Jeepster extended fun) concepts and the trademark slatted grille and round headlamps hark back to early Jeeps.

For ’03, engineers have given Liberty a new shock and spring package to lower the ride height and smooth out the ride though the short wheelbase still adds up to a bouncy ride for rear seat passengers. Take note guys: the roads are littered with ‘car-like’ SUVs. Don’t take Liberty there. Some of us still like a little bounce in our ride.