At $4,500, Is Buying This 2005 Jeep Liberty CRD the Patriotic Thing to do?

Is there anything more fitting for Nice Price or No Dice on July 4th than an almost all-American Jeep? let’s see if this Liberty is priced well enough to make even the most jaded patriot proud.

There’s an old joke about a guy who claims to an audience to be in possession of a talking dog. For proof of his claim, he asks the dog questions, each with a similar answer. He first asks “what’s on a house?” to which the dog responds “ruff.” Next is “how does sandpaper feel?” which gets a “ruff.” The last question is “who was the world’s greatest baseball player?” with the dog answering “ruff!” With the audience dispersing in disappointment at this underwhelming display, the dog looks at his owner and says, “maybe I should have said DiMaggio?”

If that dog saw the 1991 Chevy Corvette we all considered last Friday, he would have curled his tail between his legs and barked “rough! rough! rough!” That’s because the car was rough in all sorts of ways. No joke. Fortunately, the seller saw that too and set a reasonably low $1,500 asking price for the abused beast. That engendered a lot of consternation in the comments and eventually a remarkably narrow 54 percent Nice Price win.

Hey Americans! Happy Independence Day. It seems like these days there are a lot of different kinds of folks claiming to be patriots for all kinds of contrasting reasons, but let’s just keep all that out of our discussions and stick to cars and trucks that best express both an independent and uniquely American streak. Oh, and no actual streaking, please. Nobody wants to see that.

This 2005 Jeep Liberty is about as American Pie a vehicle as you can find. After all, it melds both the ethos of a tough, American spirit with the value and promise of a newcomer to this land.

That’s all melded into the KJ diesel by way of its Toledo Ohio birthplace mixed with its VM Motori oil burner engine. NOt a Toledo native, that engine immigrated all the way from Cento in the Ferrara province of Italy.

At 2.8 liters, the R 428 DOHC diesel in this Liberty is a big mother for a four-cylinder. It sports an 1800 bar common rail fuel delivery system and a KKK turbocharger to deliver 160 horsepower and a hefty 295 lb-ft of torque. These are pretty solid engines save for some of the emissions system elements, and this one has done 206,000 miles as reasonable proof.

Backing up the Italian diesel is a five-speed automatic and Selec-Trac 4WD system. Nothing is mentioned in the ad regarding any issue with any of the mechanicals.

Aesthetically, the Jeep doesn’t seem to show much wear for its years and heavy mileage either. The Inferno Red two-stage paint seems to still hold a shine, although that might be because the seller seems to have chosen to shoot the car after a bath and before the toweling off. Wet cars always look shiny. That also might give us a false image of the gray plastic trim which can tend to discolor with age.

We also don’t get to see much of the interior, although the pictures we do see—doors and the back seat—don’t show anything untoward. On the plus side of things, the seller claims the front end to have been rebuilt and realigned just 10K back. Now the Jeep is described as being in “good running and driving” condition. The reason the present owner gives for the sale is a job change. The title on the Jeep is clean, and there’s an amazing flag and bald eagle spare tire cover on the hatch.

With all that in mind, it’s now your patriotic duty to weigh in on whether or not this Liberty is worth its $4,500 asking. What do you think, is this seemingly capable diesel Jeep also capable of commanding that kind of cash? Or, does that price tag feel like fiscal tyranny?

You decide!

Kansas City, Missouri, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

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