Automotive Reviews
Five Doors
2002 Jeep Liberty Limited
01046 days
“I thought you said that Jeeps were hard to live with,” my wife said upon meeting the Jeep Liberty. “This looks like a real car inside.” Say hello to the Jeep Liberty, the kinder, gentler replacement for the very long-in-the-tooth Jeep Cherokee. By borrowing the looks of the Wrangler (and more than a bit from the very popular Jeep Dakar show truck, which did the auto show circuit in 1997) it looks like Jeep hopes to cushion the blow to the Cherokee faithful while courting Ford Escape and Honda CR-V buyers with a slick new around-town package.
But wait, there’s more. The Jeep Liberty isn’t as kind and gentle as its brushed aluminum trim and nicely styled body might suggest. There’s no frame underneath, because the Liberty has a car-like unibody–but it’s the most rigid body ever seen on a Jeep vehicle. Strengthened steel covers most of the body. Even the one-piece tailgate has been designed with strength in mind. The suspension components are made of sturdy cast iron, rather than weight-saving aluminum.
All of that structure does, unfortunately, make itself known to the powerplant. The 3.7 liter V6 is all-new and related to the powerful 4.7 liter V8 found in the Grand Cherokee, but its 210 horsepower isn’t quite enough for the 4115-lb body. Ford Escapes and Toyota RAV4s are quicker away from the stoplights. A 150-horsepower four-cylinder is also available, with a manual transmission only. It may feel more nimble off-road, but waiting for the four to drag the Liberty up to speed could try even the most patient soul. The Liberty does better on in-town commutes than on long freeway trips. The four-speed automatic transmission operates with minimal fuss unless pushed to accelerate quickly. Hard acceleration equals hard, clumsy feeling shifts. Downshifting to pass is a similarly neck-jerking affair. Luckily, for those morally opposed to automatic transmissions in Jeeps, a five-speed manual is also available. The four-wheel drive is engaged with a lever, like that of the Jeep Wrangler, and moves solidly in and out of gear. It’s a part-time system that incorporates a”creeper” gear for serious off-road work or extremely hostile weather. In two-wheel drive mode, the rear wheels provide power.
Like all Jeep products, the Liberty went off-roading during its development. A coil-spring front suspension and link-coil rear have eight inches of travel, for crawling over off-road obstacles. The Liberty also possesses a tight turning circle, making its maneuverability nothing short of miraculous both on and off-road. It’s not as twitchy as other short-wheelbased SUVs like the Jeep Wrangler and Isuzu Rodeo Sport. Brakes are a front-disc, rear-drum setup, and ABS is optional. The ABS is sensitive to the needs of off-roaders, with a special setting that helps to monitor wheel lockup in the “creeper” gear. It is also smart enough not to be triggered by washboard pavement or railroad tracks.
At a glance, the Liberty is a housebroken Jeep. So much for not being able to judge a book by its cover. The familiar round headlights and seven-slot grille of the Jeep are integrated with a tall, slab-sided wagon body. It’s a very vertical truck, but handsome styling details abound, from the stacked-circle taillights to the Wrangler-style fender flares. Out back, the swing-out tailgate incorporates a separately-opening glass hatch, which can be a bit hard to close but is handy nonetheless. An exposed spare tire and roof rack complete the look. The Liberty blends the timeless look of the Cherokee and the familiar face of the Wrangler into a retro-modern design that’s hardly a jellybean, and looks ready for action. The wide stance and white-letter tires give the Liberty a rough-and-ready look on the road. It’s a vehicle that looks good in motion.
The Liberty blends aspects of its stablemates at Jeep into an interior that is stylish and rugged. My Limited test vehicle included handsome brushed-aluminum dash trim and pretty round aluminum door handles. Black lettering on cream-colored instruments is reminiscent of more expensive Chrysler products. Thanks to the high roof, visibility is good except for a minor blind spot created by the nearly vertical A-pillars. And like any self-respecting truck, a big step is required to get over the high sill. Once inside, the Liberty is comfortable enough for a full day’s drive, should you plan to be there that long. On the safety front, side curtain airbags are available.
A good measure of a vehicle’s off-road, go-get-em nature might well be the extent to which it makes one want to remove the doors. Think about it. All of the great off-road SUVs–Jeep Wrangler, Suzuki Samurai, Land Rover Defender–are frequently seen in action in doors-free form. Hard-core off-roaders sometimes remove the doors from their Jeep Cherokees as well. On the other hand, try to imagine tooling around in a Lexus RX300 with no doors. Not going to happen. The Jeep-faithful will be happy to hear that the Liberty had me considering the proper size socket to disassemble the door hinges. The little trucklet’s weight makes it a little sluggish from stoplights, but the Liberty has just the right mixture of eagerness and frisky handling to feel “like a Jeep.” It’s ready to crawl up and over whatever is put in front of it, just like the Wrangler.
The Liberty is a bit more expensive than the outgoing Cherokee, but still represents a good value. On the Liberty Limited Edition I tested, air conditioning, fog lamps, a full-size spare and the roof rack were standard. The Limited starts at $22,720, and my test vehicle featured the optional overhead console, six-CD changer, and a handy storage net in the tailgate, for a grand total of $25,165.
SUV buyers who plan to spend quality time getting dirty off-road will find the Liberty a good compromise between the all-out ruggedness of the Jeep Wrangler and pavement-friendly “soft-roaders” like Honda’s CR-V and the Hyundai Santa Fe. It’s not completely civilized…but that’s a good thing.
Specifications:
All specs are for the 2002 Jeep Liberty Limited 4wd, which we tested.
Length: 174.4 in.
Width: 71.6 in.
Height: 70.9 in.
Wheelbase: 104.3 in.
Curb weight: 4115 lb
Cargo space: 29.0 cu.ft (seats up); 69.0 cu.ft (seats folded)
Base price: $22,720
Price as tested: $25,165
Engine: 3.7 liter SOHC V6
Drivetrain: four-speed automatic, four-wheel drive
Horsepower: 210 @ 5200
Torque: 235 @ 4000
Towing capacity: 5000 lb.
Fuel capacity: 18.5 gal.
Est. mileage: 16/20
2002 Land Rover Freelander
01046 days
Land Rover enters the crowded compact-SUV fray in the United States next year, when it brings its smallest truck across the Atlantic for the first time. The Freelander has been a best-seller in Europe since its introduction in 1997, but the British off-road specialist hasn’t chosen to import it until now.
As the smallest Land Rover ever sold in the U.S., the Freelander is playing to a new crowd. Rather than competing with only a few exclusive, hyper-expensive luxury SUVs, this new truck, whose pricing starts under $30,000, will be right in the thick of the compact sport-ute market. Thanks to the off-road prowess implied by the Land Rover name, the Freelander’s natural enemy is likely to be the popular new Jeep Liberty.
The Freelander wears a much more conservative face than the expressive Liberty. Although it received a styling update for 2001, it still looks a few years old. Land Rovers have never been about style, however. The high, smooth front bumper is raised to improve approach angles off-road. The raised rear section and forward roof rails are reminiscent of the Land Rover Discovery, but apart from those details the high-waisted Freelander has its own identity. 16″ wheels and a full-size spare are standard. The five-door body style is proportioned to within an inch of the Jeep Liberty’s in all directions, except for the Freelander’s three-inch shorter wheelbase. Like the Liberty, the Freelander has a side-hinged rear door, and the rear window can be lowered.
The interior leaves little doubt as to the Freelander’s parentage. “Stadium” seating which places the rear seats higher than those in the front, ceiling-mounted cargo nets, and the instrument panel with its large hood are similar to larger Land Rovers. Power windows and a single-disc CD player are standard equipment. A six-disc changer is optional.
Power is provided by a 2.5 liter, 24-valve V6 engine making an estimated 175 horsepower. The Jeep Liberty has a bigger V6 pumping out thirty-five more horses, but that truck’s weight makes it feel sluggish. With the Freelander’s attention to weight savings, expect it to feel a bit more eager on pavement, despite the power shortage on paper. The Freelander splits the difference between the 146-hp Honda CR-V and 200-hp Ford Escape, both of which feel great when leaving the stoplights. What’s not visible is Land Rover’s obsessive attentiveness to off-roading matters, which dictated a special design for the V6′s equal-length exhaust headers to protect them from off-road dangers. The Freelander comes with a selectable five-speed “Steptronic” automatic transmission. Like similar systems from Chrysler and others, the Steptronic can be shifted manually, or left to work the gears on its own. The transmission is also intelligent, and can recognize situations like trailer towing, steep hill climbing, and other inclement road obstacles. It then selects lower gears, to prevent hunting when more power is needed.
A four-wheel independent suspension is a break from Land Rover’s solid-axle tradition. MacPherson struts at each corner have a lot of wheel travel dialed in–seven inches up front and eight at the rear–to keep the wheels on the ground over rough terrain. Land Rover has tuned the suspension to improve on-road smoothness as well.
The Freelander features full-time four-wheel drive, and four-wheel traction control. Front disc/rear drum brakes have ABS as standard equipment. Other electronic helpers borrowed from larger Land Rovers include electronic brake distribution (EBD), and Hill Descent Control (HDC) HDC uses the anti-lock brakes to supplement the lowest gear ratios when heading down a steep, slippery hill. This offers control a step above the normal ultra-low “creeper” gears found in most off-road vehicles. HDC supplements the Freelander’s creeper gear and prevents the wheels from locking. EBD, traction control, and HDC are all standard equipment.
The Freelander is no less hard-core than any of its stablemates when it comes to off-roading. Although many of them will never leave pavement, the fuel tank and rear differential are nonetheless cradled in the rear subframe and protected by steel skidplates. A polypropylene skid plate protects the underside of the engine. Tow hooks are rated for three tons, to ensure their strength in sticky situations. Although it’s a unibody vehicle, lacking a separate frame, large box sections underneath the truck are similar to those of the ladder-framed Discovery, and increase the Freelander’s stiffness. Land Rover is happy to point out that Freelanders survived three thousand miles on the corporate torture-test track.
The Freelander has a base price of $24,975 for an S model. More plush SE and HSE models take the price range up over $31,000. Is it as good in the mud as a Jeep Liberty? Freelander drivers who do venture off-road just might get the chance to find out for themselves.
Specifications:
All specs are for the 2002 Land Rover Freelander
Length: 175.0 in.
Width: 71.1 in.
Height: 69.2 in.
Wheelbase: 101.0 in.
Cargo space: 19.1 cu.ft (seats up); 46.6 cu.ft (seats folded)
Base price: $24,975-$31,575
Engine: 2.5 liter 24-valve DOHC V6
Drivetrain: five-speed automatic, four-wheel drive
Horsepower: 175 @6250
Torque: 177 @ 4000
Fuel capacity: 15.6 gal.
2001 Mercedes ML430
01057 days
Two things happened during the Mercedes ML430′s visit with me that allowed the luxury SUV to show off its best qualities. First, my mother-in-law came to visit. Then, while we were showing her around town, there was a violent hailstorm. Mercedes couldn’t have planned it better.
Mercedes’ M-Class is became known as the “minivan of SUVs,” thanks to its high, slab-sided look and passenger-friendly interior. It also brings Mercedes’ legendary reliability and quality. The ML430 slots neatly into the middle of the lineup between the ML320 and ML55 AMG. Its closest competitor is the BMW X5, and where the X5 feels like a big, overweight BMW sedan, the ML430 has a personality quite different from any other Mercedes. For 2001 The M-Class adds dual-stage front airbags, Mercedes’ Tele Aid remote messaging system, and expanded off-road capabilities.
It’s hard to tell one M-Class from another from the outside, apart from their badges, but the line’s parentage is unmistakable. A familiar Mercedes grille flanked by aerodynamic headlamps stretches up, up, up into the ML430′s big, boxy form. The wheels are set wide and covered with body-colored flares, giving the truck a substantial look. Round foglights set in the front bumper would look more at home on a sports sedan than a sport-ute. Everything else is trucky, if civilized. The roof rack is neatly integrated with the design. Even the liftgate feels heavy and substantial.
My mother-in-law, who’s notoriously, ahem, unaware of cars and has failed to be even slightly impressed by Cadillacs, luxury convertibles and SUVs, or a supercharged Ford Lightning, actually took notice of the ML430′s interior. Thank goodness for that; if she had failed to be impressed by Mercedes’ sumptuous leather and wood interior, I’m not sure what I would have done. Chair-height seats all around and a high roof make the quiet interior feel more like that of an unusually luxurious minivan than a truck. A GPS navigation system is standard equipment, although as with other non-CD changer-equipped Benzes its use precludes playing any music from CD.
Under the hood is the ML430′s primary distinction from its M-Class stablemates; a 268-horsepower V8. Acceleration is generous, and with the assistance of the five-speed automatic transmission we had no trouble keeping up with traffic. Mercedes TouchShift system allows the driver to change gears at will. The manumatic does a good job of overcoming the transmission’s typically Mercedes reluctance to kick down for passing or lane changes. Still, the ML430 felt less beholden by inertia than either the BMW X5 or Lexus RX300 I drove recently.
I couldn’t help comparing the ML430 to the X5 over the road, either. Both trucks retain the smooth, pavement-connected glide that they’ve inherited from their respective Teutonic sedan counterparts, but the ML430 feels more alive. Rather than the Brinks-truck feel of the X5, the ML430 allows a decent amount of road feel. It’s a big confidence boost.
All Mercedes vehicles have a four-wheel independent suspension, and race car-like double wishbones at all four corners made the ML430 a delight on the highway and curvy four-lanes. Thanks to the smooth, controlled ride, Mom didn’t notice that we put on a bit of extra speed to make it to more sights than we otherwise might have.
Then of course, there was that hailstorm. At first we decided to tough it out. When the hail kept falling, we took cover under a tree to save the ML430′s paint job and body panels, but frankly, no tree offers much protection from marble-sized hail. When I decided that waiting it out wasn’t going to do any good, the ML430′s all-wheel-drive wasted no time in getting us through ice-slicked grass and back onto the road without drama. Open differentials front, center and rear allow power to go only to the wheels with traction. If we spun a tire on the ice, no one noticed. Mercedes’ excellent traction control and Electronic Stability Control (ESP) kept the ML430 so civilized through the blinding downpour that my mother-in-law was reading contentedly in the back seat while the hailstones cracked like rifle shots against the glass and bodywork.
New for 2001 is Mercedes’ Tele Aid system, which is now standard on all Mercedes-Benz vehicles. Tele Aid provides concierge-type and emergency services by using an integrated cellular connection to automatically phone for help in the event that the airbags are deployed. An “SOS” button allows ML430 drivers to request assistance for other emergencies as well. Tele Aid can use GPS tracking to locate the vehicle and send police or other emergency personnel. A second Tele Aid function allows drivers to call Mercedes for roadside repairs or answers to questions about the car. Tele Aid even allows Mercedes representatives to unlock the doors remotely, should you lock your keys inside, and can track the vehicle if it’s stolen.
The ML430 may be one of the most competent real-world SUVs. As with every Mercedes-Benz, though, the downside is that you get what you pay for. First off, fuel economy is dismal; at 16 city/20 freeway it’s little better than a full-size American land yacht. And the ML430 requires premium gas, so it’ll hit hard in the wallet every time you fill that nineteen-gallon tank. ML430 pricing starts at $44,200. Our test vehicle featured the Sport suspension package and a sunroof, which brought the total cost to $49,725. Considering its competition from BMW and Land Rover, however, the ML430 offers a great deal more real-world competence with less trade-offs, for about the same price.
Specifications:
All specs are for the 2001 Mercedes ML430, which we tested.
Length: 180.6 in.
Width: 72.2 in.
Height: 69.9 in.
Wheelbase: 111.0 in.
Curb weight: 4696 lb.
Cargo space: 40.4 cu.ft (seats up); 81.2 cu.ft. (seats folded)
Towing capacity: 5000 lb.
Base price: $44,200
Price as tested: $49,725
Engine: 4.3 liter SOHC V8
Drivetrain: five-speed automatic
Horsepower: 268 @ 5500
Torque: 288 @ 3000-4500
Fuel capacity: 19.0 gal.
Est. mileage: 16/20