And, of course, I wanted reasonable fuel economy. All of this had to come in a package small enough that it wouldn't overtax the Incorrigible's 5000-lb towing capacity.
After considering the compact-SUV options, I selected a Jeep Liberty. The recently-redesigned Liberty is compact and has gotten more suburb-friendly, but hasn't quite jumped on the crossover bandwagon and lost the ability to get seriously dirty. A lockable four-wheel drive transfer case and body-on-frame Jeep toughness mean that it'll be able to deal with whatever I can throw at it, but the new interior with YES! Essentials stain-resistant fabric, Sirius satellite radio and 64.6 cubic feet of total cargo space mean that it'll be able to handle the day-to-day grind as well.
Additionally, I owed the Liberty a second chance. I was a big fan of the original Liberty, especially the diesel, and my first drive in the '08 model was decidedly disappointing. I found the new Liberty to be ugly and considerably less capable in the dirt than before--in a comparison test, a Saturn VUE and a two-wheel drive Honda CR-V outperformed it when climbing a steep dirt hill. Oh, the humiliation! The new Lib didn't live up to my expectations, and I wasn't shy about saying so. Still, it's a good vehicle at heart, and I felt that it deserved a big second chance. What better way than to spend a year with one?
Our handsome Light Graystone Pearl Liberty Sport 4x4 arrived with a decent level of equipment, but it's not loaded to the gills. The standard 3.7 liter V6 with its four-speed automatic transmission is a good, all-purposes drivetrain, well suited to both in-town and freeway travel. We hope it'll be torque enough to tackle some trail riding as well; the Liberty's Trail Rated status suggests that this won't be a problem. Anticipating adventures, we also equipped the Liberty with a skid plate package, trailer-towing package, stain-resistant interior fabric, a 115-volt auxiliary power outlet and of course the new Sky Slider powered canvas roof, the better to let the great outdoors come inside. All told, the Liberty Sport starts at $24,325 and ours stickers for $28,045.
To haul the Liberty, we chose a Demco ExcaliBa towbar. This relatively lightweight (47lb) bar attaches directly to the coach's trailer hitch, and a swiveling mount and telescoping arms make it easy to attach and detach the towed vehicle once the matching baseplate is installed.
That took a bit of doing, like everything must. Attaching a baseplate to the front section of the Liberty's frame entails removal of the front fascia, and requires that extra holes be drilled. This was a bit beyond my ability, so we visited the folks at Sparks Auto in Westland, MI, where we've been taking our personal cars for years, and Gary and Nick were happy to tackle the installation. Demco's instructions were clear and concise, to a point. What the instructions didn't tell us was that the bar was designed for a Liberty without the optional skid plate and tow hook package. Removing the tow hooks and lower radiator protection got us down to where the bar could be installed, but the mounting rivets for the radiator armor interfere with the bolts for the Demco bar. With some skilled trimming and grinding of the bar, Nick was able to get it installed and the radiator skidplate reinstalled. The tow hooks, unfortunately, are not compatible with the Demco bar and had to be left off.
Once installed, the bar is relatively unobtrusive, protruding only few inches out of the lower air intake, and hooking up to the ExcaliBar took about five minutes and required no difficult maneuvering. Jeep has fitted the Liberty with an automatic "neutral" setting on the four-wheel drive system that allows it to be flat-towed without any modifications; just press the correct button on the dash, put the transmission back into Park, disconnect the battery and you're ready to go.
Thus far, with just 740 miles on the clock, the Liberty is repairing its tarnished image in my eyes nicely. It's an affable companion around town, with enough space to haul antique-store finds and sufficiently nimble handling for sightseeing. Of course, we haven't gotten it dirty yet, but I'm willing to admit that the '09 Liberty is like a good friend who's just gotten a makeover or a new outfit that we hate--not as much fun to look at, but still the same old buddy underneath.
