ok guys, I need your help! I'm trying to decide between the xterra and the liberty. i know the specs of each inside and out, but i need opinions! i've driven both, the x seems underpowered, has less leg room front and back and seems a little less refined than say a limited. the liberty, however can cost more, its harder to get the right packaging.

they both have pluses and minuses, but you guys have driven the x more. what do you like and not like?

Go with the Liberty!

Your on an Xterra board - what do you expect for responses?

I love my X. I love the styling, the options and most of all the price.

Also, it's not a chrysler product, so it will more than likely stand a good chance of spending more time on the road than at my mechanics garage.

To each his own. You need to pick whichever one floats YOUR boat - my opinion only really matters to me since I drive my vehicle, not yours.

If you really can't make up your mind, rent 'em both for a week. I know budget rents Xterra's - I'm sure other places rent liberties. Go to the airport and troll the rental counters - you can get deals for as little as $20-$30 a day if the car rental place is having a slow day/week, or you can get coupons from online or even check with your credit card company - many have deals and specials with rental companies.

In the end, YOU are the one driving your vehicle - so test drive 'em both (and not just from a dealer - really drive 'em around) and pick the one you like.

For example - on the whole "power" thing - you really can't tell how a vehicle feels for power unless you drive it - the liberty may have more HP, but be geared or weigh more so it feels less responsive - or vice versa. I have a 5 speed and the SC, and I have no problem cutting across three lanes of traffic to get to the carpool lane in the morning

I love my X - and that should be no suprise, I own one and hang out on an Xterra message board

i love my X and i have heard that the Liberty has alot of mechanical problems............... The X looks a whole lot tougher then the liberty also.

Do a search...Off Road or one of the truck oriented mags that are online did an article comparing the X and Liberty...the link to the article is out there on these boards somewhere.

Edit:
I did the work for you...here's the link:
Hmmm....seems that someone is f'n around with me...looked up the post this morning, found it and posted it here for you...now it's a dead link. Post doesn't exist anymore. Thanks OffroadX for posting the link right to the article!

I like them both, the Liberty has one negative though. DCX and their eagerness to not honor warranty for what they call "abuse" and most of us mild offroading. Ex. if you actually drove your Jeep to the locations that they show in their ads, your warranty would be voided.

Well before i got to X, i test drove Liberty (yep, here i admit it.. i did research first 8)).

I went with X b/c of: better leg positioning/room, better head room, steering response, safety feeling, better rear windows/positioning of rear seats - so my son could actually look around, while sits in his booster.Also i was trading in my Gr.Ch. Laredo, and i had my lovely share of issues for that brand of SUVs, so i weighted all the things and went for X.

Then again - like guys said - there was nice article on Liberty vs XTerra, that you might want to find and read.

BOOOOO!!!!

pal. the liberty is so freaking gay there is no comparison. jeep took the stalwart of suv's, the model that really started it all the cherokee and turned it into the abortion known as the liberty. my wife used to say the dodge neon's looked like skittles. well, the liberty is the skittle of suv's. you think they have better leg room? i sat in the back of one (i still have nightmares) and was cramped beyond belief. the x has stadium seating! how sick is that! your passengers in the backseat can actually see out front. the roof rack is solid as a rock, have you seen the new roof rack's on the liberty? i think the engineers at chrysler played "how much plastic crap can we fit on the roof?" i used to love jeep, but the liberty has tainted all that was great with their line. the x is today's cherokee. rugged (performance and looks), comfortable and with every feature an outdoor enthusiast needs. get an x, and laugh at all the douche bags that bought a liberty.

sorry if i offended anyone but i really hate liberty's.

be cool.
-ct

i rented the liberty for a weekend before i got my x. the liberty does have good engine power. but had a alot of body roll side to side when driveing even on smooth roads. in early 2002 they lowered the liberty by 1 inch. the liberty i rented was one of the lowered ones. i took it on some basic trails and the bottom frame was hitting the ground all the time. plus there is no inside cargo room. plus there is no roof rack i cant even put my fishing poles up there no cross bars on the rack. you really wont go wrong with either truck u get.

I'd say get one of THESE

I was shopping yesterday.....I was getting ready to leave the parking lot ( :p ), when this guy approached me in my X and starting asking me all these questions about my ride. Turns out he has been a dyed-in-the-wool Jeep guy, but has been eyeing the X. Then he said, after seeing my rig, that his mind was made up, after doing research for a while.

Told me he was going to go buy his X today.

Nice Post! I'll add:

• I hate the looks of the Libery also. Yea, I agree the "Skittle of SUV's"
• The Liberty I drove felt much more peppy than the Xterra. The Xterra feels underpowered.
• The Xterra isn't a Jeep and that is exactly why I like it so much!

I like the skittle reference!!!
I still can't understand how you don't have leg room in the back. I feel just the opposite. As for the power, my wife and I drove it and almost couldn't get on the highway. Will an aircharger and cat-back system help this?

The Liberty is a POS!!!

A bunch of guys I work with always go fishing the first week in March up to Sunnyside, NV.

Really cold but worth the fishing. Anyways, one of the guys rented a Liberty to drive up with cuz he only has a mini van at home.

Well we playing a little follow the leader one day.........and the poor little Libery went over the same exact rock I did and he bent the lower control arm so bad the tire was rubbing the fender.

So if you are getting it for gas mileage and tooling around town...........sure. But if you really want to use it and not have to be afraid of it ripping apart on a trail someday....... then get the X.

Full Frame vs. Unibody you decide.

I haven't driven a Liberty, but I couldn't get past the part of trying to fit myself in the driver's seat. I didn't care for the high seat and the narrowness in the shoulder area. I like the Xterra because the front seating is more like that of a car and much more comfortable for me, plus there is plenty of shoulder room. I wouldn't mind another inch or two of legroom, but other than that it's great.

I have driven Grand Cherokees and didn't like the way they rock side to side...I wonder if the Liberty does that too?

I guess Jeep took the easy way out on solving their rollover problem with the Liberty by lowering it instead of reworking the suspension.

i think the cargo area point made a few posts back is really a huge one. when i took a ride in that liberty (shudder) i checked out the back and there was less room than the cherokee had, or so it looked. also the interior looks like it would mark up and rip up easily. the x's cargo area is great. i love the hooks for strapping shit down and i love how the seats go down. plus you gotta love the first aid kit. i've used it. but seriously, i don't really go off road for the sake of going off road, but i kayak, hike and snowboard and to have the extra room (plus the gear basket, for spray skirts, pfd's and muddy boots it's perfect)is key. go x!

My last vehicle was a 2000 cherokee, and I looked at the liberty prior to deciding on the X. I leased the cherokee and was prepared to buy it until I found out that I would have been financing several thousand $s of depreciation. So I let it go and looked for something similar. I have to say the solid front axle was great in the jeep, and with a mild lift and 31s it was impressive. Since I knew chrysler would give me more for the cherokee, I started with the liberty. Less room, no in line 6 cylinder (one of the actual durable parts of the chrysler drive train) and a pain to lift and put decent sized meats under. So, to be sure, we test drove a rental on some mild offroad. As was posted earlier, the front end dragged on everything over 5", or so it seemed. It was dissapointing. I started looking at the Toyota tacoma 4 door trucks with the TRD package. I figured the locker would make up for most of the IFS. It was close, but I needed an SUV. Forget the price on even a base 4 runner! On to Nissan. What I got was a dependable engine (though underpowered compared to the 4.0 I left), bullit proof rear end, good cargo room, I could put 31s on without a lift (possibly 32s with a little crank of the t-bars), some actual skid plates and tow hooks (if you include the rear hitch), and reasonable off road prowess. One thing I hated about the cherokee was the unibody, as it was notorious for popping body seam welds under rough conditions. I suspect the liberty will be worse as you have to pound it to get it through the same areas the cherokee walked through. I would have to say to remember you are on an Xterra board. Having said that, I was fairly objective going into this purchase and feel I made the right choice. If you can afford a bit more $$, you might look into a discovery (blasphemy on this board), but expect to do more preventive and corrective maintenance. Or a 4 runner (the new ones are ugly but solid) as you can get more after market parts such as LOCKERS.

thanks guys this is good info, i made an offer on an XE today, couldn't get the price right though. Maybe I can get a good deal on the SE

Good...get on [url=HTTP://www.nissandriven.com][url=HTTP://www.nissandriven.com][url=HTTP://www.nissandriven.com]HTTP://www.nissandriven.com[/url][/url][/url] , and design your Xterra, print it out and show it to your salesman....Good Luck..

The same thing happened to me more than a year ago when I came out of an REI store. An old beat-up Isuzu Trooper was parked beside my X and the driver was walking around my truck and appreciating the beauty from every angle. He asked how I liked it. I wrote down the SCCX and XOC websites addresses at the back of my business card.

My wife and I considered the liberty quite seriously, we also liked the power, but overall found that it was just to small. Off road ability seemed ok at the time, but as I've since found out the Xterra is much more capable than I'd thought. We plan on some upgrades to remedy the lack of power, and are looking for a small offroad trailer(the dog takes up the back end)
MV