Can a Cheap Jeep Liberty Keep Up with a New Wrangler Off-Road?
Ultra-cheap Jeep Liberty proves to be a heck of a lot of fun on the trails for very little money, which begs a couple of important questions.
The Jeep Wrangler has earned a reputation for being one of the most off-road capable vehicles one can buy today, straight off the showroom floor. Then there’s a burgeoning aftermarket chock full of goodies designed to make it even more so, with the limits here quite literally being the depths of one’s wallet. Problem is, not everyone has tens of thousands of dollars to spend on a new Wrangler and an array of aftermarket parts, yet they still may want to have some fun off the pavement. Thus, something like, say, a $5,000 Jeep Liberty might seem appealing.
That’s precisely what the folks at The Fast Lane have right here – a Jeep Liberty that’s been modified in a variety of ways, yet the YouTubers have invested a mere $5,000 in it, all in. They also just so happen to have a brand new, $65,000 Wrangler in their possession, which makes this the perfect time to answer the question – do you have to spend big bucks to have fun off-roading, or can you still build a capable rig on a small budget?
This fortified Jeep Liberty has over 200k miles on the clock and is equipped with a cheap $500 lift kit, steel wheels, Falcon WildPeak all-terrain tires, and a homemade push bar up front. On the flip side, we have a new Wrangler Rubicon with the Extreme Recon Off-Road Package and an air suspension, which makes this seem like an unfair fight. But is it, really?
With its rather short wheelbase – particularly compared to the four-door Wrangler Unlimited used here – the Jeep Liberty proves to be a pretty darn capable machine in the Rocky Mountains, which should perhaps come as no surprise. The entire TFL team comes away impressed, in fact, admitting that the pint-sized Jeep is every bit as fun off the pavement as the Wrangler, too, though it may not be quite as capable.
This result presents us with an even more interesting question – is the Liberty underrated in today’s crossover and SUV-obsessed world? These things are dirt cheap and plentiful, that’s for sure, and while they may not be quite as reliable as something like, say, a Toyota 4Runner, you’ll also be paying roughly 75 percent less to bring one home, and that makes it a pretty darn appealing buy in our humble opinion.
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