The long awaited Jeep Liberty CRD is finally here! I was anxiously awaiting the release of the Jeep Liberty CRD, and I am one of the first CRD owners in the US. The Jeep Liberty CRD is the first American SUV diesel sold in the US in 20 years. There is one other SUV diesel sold in the US, and that is the VW Touareg TDI. It costs about twice as much as the Jeep, so it's out of most people's price range.

I won't go into much detail about the Jeep Liberty apperarance, dimensions, etc... there's already write-ups about the '05 Liberty, so I'll mostly talk about the differences of the CRD verses the gas Liberty.

First of all the motor is made by VM Motori. VM is from Italy and is part of the DaimlerChrysler family. It is a 2.8L inline 4 cyl turbo diesel. It gets 22/27 MPG. I've had my CRD for 3,000 miles and I'm getting over 25 MPG average.
Some may say this isn't very good mileage for a small diesel SUV. The CRD weighs 4,300 lbs. This is 1,000 lbs more than the Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V.

The Jeep Liberty CRD is a true off roader and is built strong and heavy and loves to hit the trail. I've taken mine out on the trail and into the sand dunes and it performs flawlessly. The low end torque of the engine helps greatly on tackling obstacles. Just a little push on the peddle, and you can make it over boulders at low RPM's without needing to rev out the motor like on gas engines.

The CRD comes with Selec-Trac. This is the transfer case that gives you the choice of 2 wheel drive, 4 wheel drive, all wheel drive, neutral, and 4 wheel drive low-range. Selec-Trac is very cool because you can keep it in 2 wheel drive for normal driving. Or put it in all wheel drive if the roads are wet. Or put it in 4 wheel drive for off roading or snow. Or put it in Neutral for towing behind a motor home. Or put it in 4 wheel drive low-range for hard-core off roading. Most "soft-roaders" only give you all wheel drive, and none of the other options.

The CRD 5-speed automatic is a different automatic than is used on the gasoline Liberty's. The gas Liberty's come with a 4 speed automatic. The CRD 5 speed automatic is much stronger, since it needs to be able to handle the torque of the diesel, and is actually the same transmission that's used on the HEMI's. The tranny performs great and doesn't downshift unnecessarily. It holds onto the gear and uses the engine torque to go up hills.

The motor is rated at 160 hp and 295 lb/ft torque. On paper you may think that 160 hp isn't very much. However it's the torque that moves the Liberty, and it comes on strong at 2,000 RPM. Accelerating away from a street light never requires more than 2,500 RPM's. The CRD actually does 0-60 a second faster than the 3.7L V6 gas Liberty. Plus the CRD gets about 30% better gas mileage.

The CRD makes a little bit of noise in the morning, but once it's warmed up, the engine isn't very noticeable. The CRD is much, much quieter than the Dodge Cummins diesel, but a tad louder than the new VW TDI's.

The CRD is rated to tow 5,000 pounds when equipped with the tow package. This is a much higher rating when compared to other SUV's of this size. The CRD's 295 lb/ft torque is equal to the torque of a V8 gas engine, so towing is effortless!

You may have heard about it's hard to find diesel or that it's of poor quality. I've never had a problem finding diesel. If you've never owned a diesel before, you'd be surprised how many stations sell diesel. The owner's manual recommends Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD). This fuel will be required in the US in June of 2006. So most stations don't carry it yet. If you have a station that sells ULSD, keep filling up there till other stations start to sell it. If you can't find ULSD, fill up somewhere that a lot of other people fill up their diesels and you'll be fine.

The CRD is actually a package. You get the engine, 5 speed auto, Selec-Trac, engine block heater, anti-lock brakes, and 16" premium aluminium wheels. Plus the CRD only comes with 4x4. Depending on which package Liberty you get, the price premium on the CRD will be between $1,240 and $2,870.
This is a great price considering the improved transmission, mileage, performance, and all the other extras they add to the package deal.

If you're trying to decide to either get the CRD or a hybrid for improved mileage, the CRD is a proven design. The CRD gets real world mileage and does great towing and off-roading. There's less maintenance required for the CRD and there's no expensive battery packs to replace down the line. Diesels also hold their value, usually worth thousands more than gas engine vehicles when it comes time to sell. Historically diesel has been cheaper than gasoline too.

If fuel prices keep going up, you can consider running the CRD on biodiesel, which is usually made from soy beans. Prices on biodiesel run about $3 - $4 a gallon. So it's a renewable resource which is more environmentally friendly.

The Liberty CRD is also only currently available in 45 states. California has different smog laws and it is prohibited to buy a CRD in California or the other 4 states that follow California smog laws (CARB states). However after the CRD has 7,500 miles on it, you can buy a used CRD and bring it into a CARB state.

I am very pleased with my purchase. It was worth the wait and so far I have 3,000 trouble free miles with it.
Amount Paid (US$): 30,000
Condition: New
Model Year: 2005
Model and Options: CRD, Limited 4x4, G package, tow package, Trac-Loc, Sunroof, Sirius