Jeep

Review: 2010 Jeep Liberty Limited Four-Wheel Drive

Family Friendliness: 7.5

Recommended: No

Specifications apply to this test vehicle.

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By Keith Buglewicz

For off-road enthusiasts, the Jeep name is legendary. Originally born from the military transport made famous in World War II, the Jeep line expanded over the years to include different models with more family-friendly features, such as roofs and windows. Today, Jeep is still popular among outdoorsy families, and at first blush the 2010 Jeep Liberty sounds like it might be a good pick for them, with room for five, rugged off-road gear and cool options like a wide-opening canvas roof. But after a week of living with this SUV, it became clear that families considering the 2010 Jeep Liberty might want to think twice before signing on the dotted line.

Model & Pricing

The test vehicle Jeep provided was a 2010 Jeep Liberty Limited 4x4. This off-road ready wagon boasts a base price of $29,480 including the $745 destination charge. That buys you a 3.7-liter V-6 engine and a four-speed automatic transmission, stability and traction control, four-wheel drive, heated front seats, power driver and passenger seat with driver-side memory, and Bluetooth connectivity. Options included the $1,200 Sky Slider canvas roof, a $545 towing package, $225 worth of underbody skid plates, a $445 full-time four-wheel drive system, and a $1,255 navigation and audio system. Put it all together -- including the $225 for our test Jeep's Inferno Red paint -- and you have $33,965.

Safety

The 2010 Jeep Liberty offers up good crash test scores and standard stability and traction control. However, it's not really a class leader when it comes to safety. Its IIHS side and rear impact scores were only Marginal and Acceptable, although recent roof-crush tests by the IIHS gave it a Good score in that critical test. There are two LATCH points in the rear seats, but if you're looking for things like active cruise, collision avoidance or even a backup camera, you'll have to look elsewhere.

Behind the Wheel

The 2010 Jeep Liberty's 3.7-liter V-6 engine is pretty big by today's standards, but it only puts out 210 horsepower, well below many of its competitors and even other Jeep V-6 engines. The upshot is that it launches from a stop well thanks to 235 lb.-ft. of torque, but it labors on the freeway, and the four-speed automatic is also a gear or two short compared to many competitors which reduces both responsiveness and fuel economy. The freeway ride was smoother than we expected, but still lagged behind crossovers like the Toyota Highlander. The stiff suspension is probably helpful off road, but around town the Liberty had a stiff and uncomfortable ride. On the plus side, the Jeep's narrow stance and nimble steering made it very maneuverable in tight parking lots.

Utility & Comfort

Off road capability is part of the 2010 Jeep Liberty's mission, and its design reflects that. This is a tall but narrow vehicle, and while that makes it easier to get between tight spaces off road, it means that the Liberty is inherently compromised in a few ways when it comes to around-town duty.

Take the cargo area for example. On the plus side, it has a nifty reversible center floor panel. On one side it's carpeted, but the other boasts a shallow tray, great for medium sized items that you don't want sliding around. Under the panel is a hidden storage area for more valuable items. Maximizing cargo space is easy enough with flat folding rear seats, and you can even fit long items inside thanks to a fold-flat front passenger seat. However, cargo room behind the rear seats is limited. There's not a lot of floor space due to the narrowness of the Liberty, and the off-road ready height of the truck means that the lift-over into the cargo area is pretty high. A week's worth of groceries were practically falling out of the Liberty, and that was without a stroller or other family-related items in back. The hatch glass opens separately, which at least lets you keep your groceries from rolling onto the ground.

When it comes to small storage, the Liberty falls short. There are two cupholders molded into the center console in front, small door pockets, and a shallow glovebox with a narrow opening. A small tray on top of the dash is handy for a cell phone, and there are a couple of other small storage pockets here and there in front, but nothing very substantial. Even the center console bin is narrow and shallow. In the rear it's even worse, with storage space limited to a pocket on the driver's seat and two floor mounted cupholders.

We'd be more forgiving of all this if the Liberty was comfortable around town, but here too the Jeep falls short. The narrow stance and big engine mean that the transmission tunnel bulges into the front seat area. The upshot is a ridiculously tapered footwell for the driver and front passenger. The gas and brake pedal are off to the left, and it feels like the space gets smaller and smaller with each passing mile. There's a lot of wind noise around the blocky shape, which combines with a drone from the engine to make freeway cruising a chore. The rear seat is also uncomfortable. Not only is there very little leg and foot room for adults (although headroom in all positions is generous), the seat bottom doesn't slide, so it's hard to get comfortable without requiring the driver to slide forward. Although there are three seatbelts in back, whoever sits in the middle will be especially uncomfortable, not just because of being squeezed between the outboard passengers, but also because of the cupholders on the floor, which pretty much eliminate room for your feet.

Then there's interior quality. While the window and audio control switches were generally pretty good, and the color scheme was pleasant, many of the materials used inside seemed cut rate. The option sheet may say leather-trimmed seats, but they felt like vinyl. There are virtually no soft-touch surfaces, and the hard plastics that pervaded the inside of the Liberty weren't the most durable feeling, either. Fit and finish was also poor, with numerous problems like mismatched seams, loose-fitting panels, mold lines left on plastics, etc. Maybe it's all an effort to give the Liberty a hard-edged feel, overall it felt more rustic than rugged.

Family Friendliness

The 2010 Jeep Liberty sounds pretty family friendly, at least on paper. Crash test scores are pretty good (if not spectacular), and it has stability control, anti-lock brakes and all the airbags that make our lives safer these days, plus four-wheel drive to boot.  The navigation system works very well, and it's easy to sync your Bluetooth cell phone with the system's uConnect interface. The Liberty's Sky Slider canvas roof was definitely a hit, and it really does give the Liberty a convertible-ish feel when driving around.

However, in real life there are some things to keep in mind if you're considering a Liberty as a family hauler. First, if you already have two kids, then either don't have more or consider another vehicle, as fitting three across in the rear seat is very difficult. Second, make sure that they're strong enough to comfortably operate the Liberty's pushbutton door handle, since it takes more thumb strength than the average five-year-old can muster. Third, this high-riding SUV already requires a high step up to the rear seats, and the door opening and intruding rear wheelwell only exacerbate it. That lack of leg room mentioned earlier? It also means that an infant seat will be right against the front seat. The narrow and small cargo area is largely eaten up with a stroller, leaving little room for groceries, much less big-box store items. Then there's fuel economy, which averaged just 13.9 mpg during mixed driving.

Conclusion

If you're childless, then the 2010 Jeep may be a great choice if you're looking for a smallish SUV to hit the open road, the dusty trail, or the sheer rock escarpment. However, if you plan on carrying junior and all his stuff around town, then the Liberty's weaknesses as a family vehicle outweigh its strengths. The cargo area is too small, the rear seat is too narrow and hard to access, and fuel economy was lousy, considering the Liberty's size. Throw in the as-tested $34,000 price, and at the end of the day we can't Recommend the 2010 Jeep Liberty as a family friendly vehicle. If you're enamored with the idea of off-roading and camping with your family and only need two rows of seats, then check out the new 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee. It offers more modern styling, a comparatively luxurious interior, a roomier rear seat and more cargo space, along with a more powerful and more fuel-efficient V-6 engine, and the base model Laredo's price undercuts this Liberty's as-tested price to boot.

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