Cars and More Cars

Recently I joined the masses by moving to an SUV. My old car was awesome and had low mileage but I wanted something more specialized rather than a sedan like my ’98 Mazda 626. At first I considered some of my dream cars like a Miata or Mustang, but they lacked the utility of a 4x4 to go off road.

I liked the Jeep Liberty and decided that over the summer I’d keep my eyes open for a pre-2008 as this year’s model is all new and pretty ugly. It had to HAVE A SUNROOF, something I missed since my ‘98 Civic.

As luck would have it I came across one a week later and it was at a local dealer. It was a Limited model with chrome alloy rims... really too pretty for the woods of northern Ontario. I looked at some comparables but most seemed too abused.

I’ve been driving it for the past two weeks and it’s quickly become my favourite vehicle over my Civic. I can’t wait to go out in the woods in the fall. If you check out Youtube you’ll see what the liberty is capable of… not quite a mountain goat as a Wrangler but Liberty is Trail Rated and built to go off road, unlike most cuteutes.

The gas mileage is not that much worse than my old 626 believe it or not. I live a kilometre from downtown so 90% of my driving is stop and go, I get a hard 15 mpg which sucks but it seems to be the nature of living so close to downtown. I noticed this effect with my Civic and I thought it was because it was an SI VTEC.

On the plus side I live 2 kilometres from downtown which means I don`t have to travel far to get to work. I should get off my ass and walk… sigh!

I’ve added a trailer hitch on it and moved my Sony head unit over from my Mazda. Aftermarket stereos are so cheap now, to replace an OEM unit would cost much more! I was reading in a forum that the 6.75" factory speakers had amazing bass… I was wowed by this fact when I had a listen myself! On the down side, the midrange response is slow and not as clear as I'm used too. I have to find some aftermarket speakers with the same base!!!

As for the utility... I took some spring cleaning… 7 large bags, and 3 buckets of crap to the dump this morning and I still had half of the space available in the back. The rear seats take up much space but after you put the seats down, cargo capacity increases to match other vehicles in it`s class.

The major features of the Jeep are..

tire pressure monitor
sun roof
17" chrome rims
upgraded interior with AU trim
cargo organizer
body colour fenders