William Maley

Editor/Reporter - CheersandGears.com

April 12, 2012

We've been talking about the new Jeep Liberty for the past couple of months. We've learned so far the new Liberty will use Fiat's new CUSW Plus platform, and come with a new 3.2L V6 and nine-speed ZF transmission. Now, some new spy shots from Automobile Magazine show a new powertrain undergoing some tests.

The spy shots show a raised Alfa Romeo Guiletta mule (Jeep Liberty) wearing a prominent sticker warning that premium gasoline must be used. The front end features a large intercooler.

If this Jeep mule does have a turbocharged engine, it could be the 1.4L turbo four from that will be offered in the 2013 Dodge Dart. Also, there is a rumored turbocharged version of the Tigershark 2.4L four-cylinder.

Source: Car & Driver

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Haha. I like how Chrysler keeps using the same Guilietta skin for all its mules.

I assume the new one is going to look similar to the new Grand Cherokee and Compass theme. Which isn't bad, but I was rather fond of the retro-boxy style they had on the Patriot, current Liberty, and Commander.

Bring back the Cherokee name for it, and make it a slightly bigger more rugged Patriot. I always thought the Patriot was a clear modern homage to the classic Cherokee. I've never been much of a fan of the Liberty, though I prefer the first gen to the current model.

Jeep CEO Mike Manley has hinted at the possibility that they could drop the Liberty name in favor of Cherokee for this vehicle. As for styling, Swordfish has it right from what I understand; this Liberty Cherokee Liberkee (?) will probably favor the design of the current Compass and WK2 Grand Cherokee a bit.

Some great options, my son just bought a 2012 Patriot and loves it. He looked at the compass and liked the nose but hated the rest of the body. Reminded him of an old persons auto and too girly.

They need to keep some of the jeeps butch if they want the rugged guys to buy them.

They need to keep some of the jeeps butch if they want the rugged guys to buy them.

I'll take this moment to say the next Compass is supposed to be more "butch-looking" than the next-gen Liberkee, so we'll see.

Sounds like the last current-gen Liberty is going to be built August 21st. At least a year or more until the next gen is due..sounds like they didn't plan out the end of the current gen and start of the next gen very well.

That's ok, the current Liberty can only just harm the Jeep reputation if it was allowed to live.

Wonder what the gas mileage will end up being on these new engines.

I've been around Jeeps all my life; learned to drive in a '48 CJ2...I have to say I actually like the Compass in its current iteration (!). Besides the CJs & Wranglers up until the current generation (too big for me), I really liked the 1984-2001 Cherokees. Especially those 1987-2001 models equipped with the 4.0L inline six.