2007 Jeep Liberty Reviews, Pricing & Specs

The Liberty takes several of Jeep’s iconic styling elements and combines them in the body of a compact sport utility. The result is a rugged-looking small vehicle with decent ground clearance, plenty of black plastic body cladding, and tidy proportions. The Liberty adopted the Jeep Wrangler’s signature grille design and the Wrangler’s round headlights for a familiar but altogether new look. A side-open rear door with exterior spare tire adds to the rugged look. The Sport trim gets 16-inch steelies, but the Limited Edition adds 17-inch alloy wheels.

The Jeep’s interior provides a generous amount of room for adult passengers and is simply but handsomely finished with aluminum accents and attractive chromed-plastic buttons, controls, and gauges. From behind the steering wheel, outward visibility is solid in most directions, but large rear pillars make blind spots larger than they should be. Optional features like leather seats, and a power sunroof up the luxury factor considerably.

A standard V6 highlights the Liberty’s performance specs, but it’s not all good news. The powertrain is tuned more for off-road performance, which means that gearing and torque are both more effective at low speeds. Highway driving and moving around town both tax the Liberty’s engine more than they should, which leads to a roaring engine without much actual power delivery taking place. The now-discontinued diesel engine would have made the Liberty much more efficient and could have delivered even more low-end torque for off-roading.

Handling and steering both suffer from that focus on off-road capabilities as well. Despite its tidy dimensions, the Liberty lumbers along at times, leaning and showing body roll at the faintest sign of a curve.

Decent interior space, a full-size spare, and a reasonably sized cargo hold make the 2007 Jeep Liberty a solid choice for the family on the go. The front seats are roomy and flat, and they could use more support, but they're well-padded and comfortable nonetheless. Behind the folding back seat, the Jeep can hold up 821 litres of cargo, and with the rear seats folded down that number grows to 1,954 litres of cargo space. Those aren’t gargantuan proportions by any means, but they’re nothing to sneeze at.

Beyond its off-road prowess, the Liberty excels when the weather turns bad. Its ability to keep moving when conditions change is both confidence-inspiring and convenient. One big knock to the Liberty’s family-hauling abilities is its small rear doors. They make it difficult for people with mobility issues to enter and exit the vehicle, which can make loading kids into car seats a real pain.

Standard tech in the 2007 Liberty includes 12-volt outlets, power windows, air conditioning, an AM/FM stereo with CD player, and six full-range speakers. Available tech includes a six-disc CD changer, GPS navigation, satellite radio, cruise control, an Infinity premium sound system with six speakers, and hands-free phone connections with Bluetooth.

Though the offerings are basic, it all just works. Simplicity is key here, as the Liberty’s uncluttered dash and intuitive controls make using any of the audio and entertainment functions easy when the Jeep is in motion. The upgraded Infinity sound system sounds great and is capable of filling the little SUV with deep, rich sound.

The 2007 Liberty struggled in testing performed by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). It got a "marginal" rating in moderate-overlap front crash tests and "poor" ratings for its head restraints and seats. It fared a bit better in testing performed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). There, it earned a five-star rating for front driver-side crash safety, four stars in front passenger-side crash tests, five stars in both driver-side and passenger-side rear crash protection, and three stars for rollover-resistance. The lower rollover-resistance rating isn’t abnormal for SUVs and pickup trucks, because a higher centre of gravity makes it much easier for these vehicles to tip over.

Standard safety equipment includes traction control, anti-lock brakes, brake-shift interlock, child-protection doors, remote keyless entry, advanced multi-stage airbags, a rear-seat LATCH car-seat anchor system, a seatbelt alert system, and a sentry key engine immobilizer. Available features include a tire-pressure monitoring system.

In Canada, pricing for the 2007 Jeep Liberty starts at a new car MSRP of $30,390 for the Sport model before destination charges, taxes, and fees, which includes a standard 4WD drivetrain (the rear-wheel-drive Liberty is not offered in our market). Upgrading to the Limited Edition costs $34,135.

That doesn’t sound like a steep price, but consider that the Liberty’s competition is priced competitively, comes with a longer list of standard features, and many scored much better in US government crash tests. The good news is that dealerships often offer strong incentives when they have the Jeep Liberty for sale.

Fuel economy isn’t a winning category for the Liberty, either. Its V6 is thirsty, which makes the Jeep’s fuel economy ratings look like those from a much larger SUV. With a manual gearbox, the Liberty returns fuel consumption of 13.4 litres per 100 kilometres in city driving and 10.0 on the highway, while opting for the four-speed automatic changes those figures to 10.4 L/100 km city and 9.9 highway from the 77.6-litre fuel tank.

Note: Images show a US model.