[MrMischief]

Crash tests:

I do not believe the Patriot we're looking at has side curtain airbags. But really the easy solution is don't fiddle fart around in intersections.

 

[MrMischief]

Man in those crash test videos, that Liberty got thrashed. In the side impact, most of the interior came apart and became a projectile. In the front offset impact, it hit with such force that it was launched in the air and turned almost 90 degrees. The Patriot absorbed most of it, then did a little hop and stayed in almost the same spot

Sent from my HTC using AutoGuide App

Yeah the Patriot may have absorbed most of it (much less momentum I'm assuming) but the dummy hit the steering wheel through the airbag, then rebounded and hit the b pillar. Overall, they both have the same rating unless you get the optional side bags in the Patriot.

 

[MrMischief]

Okay I'm just getting back from test driving both. I was going to wait until Saturday, but we had really strong winds today so what better time to test the Liberty for wind noise on the sky slider?

Let's start with the Patriot, since I drove it first. It is the limited trim, sun and sound package, leather and FDI. It has 15,000 miles and looks good. The roof rack though has the black paint peeling off of it. Strange. I also noticed that the seals around the front windshield, seemed flimsy I guess for lack of a better term. It seemed like it sat an 8th inch off the windshield and bent easily. These seals extended half an inch or so above the door and sort of stuck up in the air some. Seemed odd to me, maybe a leak source? I checked closely for water stains and dampness, couldn't find any, although it looks like they very carefully shampoo'd the carpets. The carpets had plastic wrap on the floors which said "must be removed by dealer at sale" or something like that. There were the all weather rubber floor mats in the rear. One thing I noticed, the rear gate on the FDI opens to a height exactly where I can nail my forehead on it. Sandstone's FDII doesn't have this problem for me. 1 inch is a big deal I guess. When I first fired the Patriot up, idling though the lot making a sharp right turn through a drainage area I heard what I thought may have been a ball joint, sort of a pop. I didn't feel it in the wheel. I couldn't recreate it either. That scared me. Other then that, man I had forgotten how quiet and smooth the Patriot is. Jumping straight from the TJ to that, it felt really great. I like the CVT. There I said it. One thing Jenn noted, at full throttle it sounds like you're playing "Pole Position".

The 08 Liberty Sport. It's a stripper, sky slider is the only option worth mentioning. Man it looks great in black with the side steps they have on it. Okay first thing we did was open the sky slider. Of course it's awesome. Closed it before we left the lot. To get something in the back of the Liberty you have to lift it pretty high, I guess that's one of the downsides to a live rear axle. The Liberty has a much more powerful feeling seating position. I feel I can see out of the Liberty better then the Patriot. The Patriot is nice, but everywhere you touch in the Liberty feels higher quality. It rides more rough then a Patriot, but smoother then my TJ and I think smoother then the Charger. The motor sounds like it wants to be powerful. It took off from the dealer's lot at a quicker pace. Then..... roar, roar, roar.... Matching road speed. Dove into a lot. did some tight turns at slow speeds, nothing noticeable. I find the jack and get the front end in the air. CV joint on the front left is shot. Not sure if this is a common problem or what. Drop it back down and continue my test drive. The Sky slider has some wind noise. I don't feel it's any worse then my TJ though, so I can live with it. If you have anything else though, I can see where people would complain about it. I view it as a trade off I can live with. The Liberty felt faster, but going into a very strong head wind at 55 the transmission hunted a couple of times. Get on the interstate with the wind at my back, floored it and thought it was clearly faster then the Patriot. However at the bottom of the ramp I was at 75 - 80, with the Patriot I was right around that same speed. Not scientific at all, but I'm convinced the "slow" Patriot is primarily the CVT being deceiving. I'm not saying the CVT is fast, but it is acceptable.

So here's where we're at. Jenn and I both prefer the Liberty. Concerns are of course it's broke. It's at a Jeep dealer though so I expect it to be fixed correctly. I need to research this. If it's just going to break in another 40,000 miles I'm not interested. The gas milage, yeah it's not good but it has never been my top priority. This is a Jeep dealer, what do you think the salesman was pushing us toward? You'd be wrong. He really thought we should buy a Suzuki SX4 they had. Sure the price is nice, but it is considerably smaller then the Patriot and I don't know if I'm prepared for that yet. Didn't test drive it.