17-year-old daughter/first time driver

[DerbyD]

Hello, I would like to seek the advice of liberty owners, so here goes.
I am strongly considering to help my 17-year-old daughter/first time driver in buying a 2004ish liberty. With her price point in our area, from what I have seen so far, she can afford a used 4x4 with around 100k miles. I have many questions but for now I’ll just ask for help on the basics. 1. Safety; From the reports I have read driver safety rates very good. Do you all agree? 2. Reliability; “if” the Jeep was well cared for and “if” she does not abuse it (side note she will not be off-roading it) what repairs should she be setting money aside for? 3. Can you offer a ball park mileage-mark before major engine, ******, ect.. repairs are expected? 4. Bottom line question; if it was your daughter would this be your vehicle of choice for her? I would appreciate any feedback you may offer. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

 

[jharrisliberty]

This was my second vehicle that I got when i was in high school. It was reliable and I have had mine since 2009. If it only has around 100K miles on it as long as the maintenance was kept up it should run for quite a while longer.

 

[HoosierJeeper]

It could be if it's in good shape and she's good enough with maintenance to check the oil etc, make sure it never overheats. I'd get one with Selec Trac so she has AWD and doesn't need to make the call between 2wd and 4 high. I love that feature.

 

[Dave]

Welcome to the forum.


Very difficult to answer not knowing the person. A mature and responsible 17 year old with proper driver training and a little bit of basic vehicle knowledge should be ok. The Jeep will get her higher off the ground than any car and provide a better and therefore safer road and traffic line of sight.


17 year old new driver rule #1 ---turn off cell phone when driving......rule #2---any questions, refer to rule #1....(this could be applied to everyone actually)


Just my opinion.


Good luck and be safe.




Dave

 

[CzarKJ]

It's a very safe vehicle and has been reliable to me but has to be maintained well. For a younger driver though it is a taller vehicle that can roll much easier than a car. If I had this vehicle in high school I can guarentee I would not be posting here.

 

[tommudd]

Great vehicle bought an 04 new , drove it 12 years and 221,000 miles
Suspension ***** on these even brand new
Otherwise keep up on maintenance
Find one that you know has been taken care of .
I bought an 03 as a new DD last year from an older couple who bought it new, with service record from day one , always garaged etc, 79,000 miles .
But as far as driving , common sense if she has that and drives good she 'll be fine

 

[dude1116]

This was my first vehicle at 17. Although the gas mileage was tough on my pocket (gas was up to $4/gallon at some point during ownership) it was a great vehicle. Enough acceleration where needed and fantastic in the snow when needed as well. I've used the cargo space more times than I care to count to move things to and from college and other places. I haven't regretted getting this as my first vehicle.

Got mine in 2009 with 51,200 miles on it. She just turned over 165,000 today.

 

[DerbyD]

Thank you all for your feedback. I am going to do my best to find a Liberty for her.

 

[renegade 04]

With the proper care and attention to detail you can really make the liberty fun to drive and also make it a even safer jeep. I would say to get a OME lift kit to help with the handling as well as adding a rear view camera so you daughter can back it up safely.

 

[CzarKJ]

With the proper care and attention to detail you can really make the liberty fun to drive and also make it a even safer jeep. I would say to get a OME lift kit to help with the handling as well as adding a rear view camera so you daughter can back it up safely.

See I wouldn't recomend making it any taller until she can get the feel for it. SUVs and other high vehicles can be a challenge to newer drivers when it comes to panic maneuvers.

I do agree a OME kit would be a great idea after a year of driving.

 

[justjeeps]

Hello, I would like to seek the advice of liberty owners, so here goes.
I am strongly considering to help my 17-year-old daughter/first time driver in buying a 2004ish liberty. With her price point in our area, from what I have seen so far, she can afford a used 4x4 with around 100k miles. I have many questions but for now I’ll just ask for help on the basics. 1. Safety; From the reports I have read driver safety rates very good. Do you all agree? 2. Reliability; “if” the Jeep was well cared for and “if” she does not abuse it (side note she will not be off-roading it) what repairs should she be setting money aside for? 3. Can you offer a ball park mileage-mark before major engine, ******, ect.. repairs are expected? 4. Bottom line question; if it was your daughter would this be your vehicle of choice for her? I would appreciate any feedback you may offer. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

The Liberty has a lot of heavy metal around it....pretty safe vehicle to be in when in an accident....I ran in to the rear of a Lexus when trying to change lanes in traffic. It tor up the front clip on the my old Liberty but it buckled the trunk and both quarter panels on the Lexus and I mean not just a little buckle either. My wife was hit in the drivers side door head on and her old Liberty was totaled but she walked away.

My daughter has my old 03 and she likes sitting up high enough to see over the hood.

It would be a good idea to take the potential jeep in and have some one go over it before you buy it. I just replaced my 03 with an 02 and even though it only has around 92000 mi on it we have put a total of about 7000 in it which includes the 2300 for the initial purchase. That s not paying for any work just parts, tools and supplies.

 

[CIPuyleart]

Too early for me to tell, but I just joined here because we just bought an 04 for my daughter for her first car (she turns 16 in a few months). This is our first Jeep in the family, but she's a pretty responsible and well-mannered driver, and the AWD feature and sitting up higher is what my wife really wanted to make sure she had (we live up in the hills where we commonly get snow in winter). Good luck - it's not easy finding that first rig...

 

[JeepinJarhead03]

I had an 87 bronco II when i was in highschool, and i flipped it and broke down a telephone poll with it, with out a scratch, just a concussion

I'd say the liberty is built just as well or better than the bronco II's were, ive seen a few in person that were hit hard and basically tripped by a tree or tall curbing and rolled and they all held up , the roof and pillars are extremely strong for this classification of vehicle.. and is actually quite a bit less likely to roll over than the bronco II's were. I've slung my KJ around pretty hard, hard enough to put those bronco II's on their lid. So unless she drives it harder than we do, which is probably unlikely, it's a great vehicle for a teen. especially a well mannered driver and responsible teen - it should serve her very well

we will be here when she comes to you after a few months and wants to talk to you all serious like about how important a lift and bigger tires are. haha