3.7 powerband.

I bought a really clean 2012 Liberty back in May. I was not real happy with the initial acceleration since first gear is much taller than I would have wanted. However I do now notice if I give it about 1/3 of the gas pedal and hold it steady, when it reaches 3K rpm, there is a surge almost like a turbo engaging. After I pulled a heavy trailer for 1K miles it now holds off the upshift longer than before. This indicates the computer can learn driving style. Has anyone else noticed that?

Several sites list that 2012 liberty with 3.7 engine as doing 0-60 in ten seconds. Not impressive by today's standards. However it seems to me if first gear redlined at 30mph that Jeep could do 60 in 8 seconds. It is geared so high, if I mash the gas pedal, it will do 42 mph in first, 75 in second. That is some tall gearing. I have no intention of learning how fast third gear will redline.
AS far as I know the engine is factory stock.

If you want to go fast you bought the wrong car! My old CRD will keep up with traffic but it's no flying machine, drags a trailer well thought.
If you want faster acceleration and more pulling power put a set of 4.10 diffs in, you'll loose a bit of top end speed but i tend to chicken out above 80 mph anyway.

KJowner said:

If you want to go fast you bought the wrong car! My old CRD will keep up with traffic but it's no flying machine, drags a trailer well thought.
If you want faster acceleration and more pulling power put a set of 4.10 diffs in, you'll loose a bit of top end speed but i tend to chicken out above 80 mph anyway.

Click to expand...

Thanks, but have you noticed the power surge at 3K?
And it seems to accelerate at 1/3 throttle as it does at full throttle.

I knew it would not be a hot rod, I needed 4x4, able to pull heavy trailer, at a reasonable price and that little girl fit the bill.

jeepman1946 said:

Thanks, but have you noticed the power surge at 3K?
And it seems to accelerate at 1/3 throttle as it does at full throttle.

I knew it would not be a hot rod, I needed 4x4, able to pull heavy trailer, at a reasonable price and that little girl fit the bill.

Click to expand...

Mine comes on boost at 2000rpm and pulls like a train from there on, the V6 is a bit light on torque compared to the diesel so dropping diff ratio will certainly help.

It likely downshifts to 2nd and that's why you see 3000rpm.

The auto is pretty terrible at using the 2000-2500 range, which is kind of a nice sweet spot for driving with a manual trans. I've had the displeasure of driving automatic 03-07 KJ's (3.73 axle ratio) and they're really doggy unless you drive with the foot to the floor, or downshift it one click (which is 2nd.)