The New Ride
The grand ol’ Caddy DeVille finally bit the dust. I bought the car used about 8 years ago for three thousand, on the road, including taxes. For that price and the fact that nothing hardly ever went wrong with it other than the usual stuff like brakes, tires and the like, it did me very well, carrying me about 150,000 km over the 8 years I owned it.
It had a trunk that would easily fit three bodies. But I never transported bodies, but it could hold all my camping gear as well as fly rods and my son David in the back seat with enough firewood for three campfires. Sadly though, enough things went wrong with it all at once that it just wasn’t worth fixing a couple of weeks ago.
I’ve never spent more than six thousand dollars on a vehicle before, and have always done pretty good. This time, I wanted something that I could go camping with, maybe throw a canoe on a roof rack (one thing I didn’t like about the DeVille was installing a roof rack was just about impossible or not practical), and be able to drive down old lanes where small cars won’t go.
Colleen and I looked around and we finally settled on a nice 2006 Jeep Liberty that was for sale. I purchased it partly on the reputation of Jeep as well as the reputation of the dealership. And it was nice to drive when we took it out for a test.
Turns out this vehicle is now the one that cost the most I’ve ever spent on one.
I don’t mind the stiff suspension although I was warned the “ride” would be different than the Caddy. But I’ve driven enough old trucks, tractors, and other vehicles that were nothing like the Caddy that a stiff suspension doesn’t bother me at all. And there is surprisingly quite a bit of leg room for my 6′ frame while driving it.
It’s not going to win any drag races for sure, but I was surprised at how peppy it could be at highway speeds when I had to pull out and pass another vehicle the other night. The engine also has a nice rumbling noise to it.
On the highway, the Jeep Liberty is not as good as the Cadillac was though, believe it or not. At highway speeds on long drives, there were times I could get in excess of 30 mpg (Imperial gallon) and could get in excess of 700 KM out of a single tank of gas. It was brutal though driving short trips and around town.
On a trip to Montreal last weekend, the Jeep Liberty only got about 25 mpg (Imperial gallons). I was hoping for a little better fuel efficiency, but around town and on short trips, it does better than the Caddy.
A couple of other design issues I’m not keen on:
1. Seems cruise control is an option – I have never bought a new vehicle so I’m not sure if cruise is still just an option and not standard on most vehicles, but it seems to me that these days, cruise should be standard. Even though there is enough room for my long legs, my knees still get cramped when my foot is holding down a gas pedal on long trips.
2. The tilt steering is a bit weird. When its tilted, I can’t see the speedometer. I have to look over the top or under to see it which is annoying.
3. Who thought up the idea of putting the power window switches on the centre console?? When I go through drivethroughs to get my coffee, I am still not used to that and am locking or unlocking the door.
These are pretty minor though compared to how much I enjoy driving the Jeep, overall. It’s also rear wheel drive when not in 4X4 mode – but I can’t use my teenage experience of doing fishtales and donuts in the snow – it has some kind of electronic anti-slip thing that detects wheel spin and automatically applies the brake to whatever wheel should be slowed down. Which is kind of nifty I guess, but I like doing donuts and fishtales even though it’s been almost three decades since I’ve been a teenager.
One thing I am concerned about though has to do with the windows. The other day while driving in -12C temperature, the driver’s side front window just fell. I drove about 45 minutes, unable to get the window up.
Seems that Jeep Liberty’s have a problem with their window regulators. And they are not cheap to replace at 350.00 a shot. From what I’ve read, it seems that this really should have been a Jeep recall issue. I can’t imagine having my 7 year old son sitting in the back seat while we’re driving through a major rainstorm, and his window falls down and won’t close. Apparently some Jeep owners have had to replace their window regulators quite frequently.
But so far, other than that, I am enjoying the vehicle and looking forward to doing some camping and fishing with as soon as spring hits. Right now, it’s been terrific when David and I have gone cross country skiing.
I’ll post photos of it when I remember to take some.