Dear readers, we have a confession to make. Your favorite Autopian writers are deeply, hopelessly in love with the vehicles produced by Jeep, Dodge, and Chrysler during its real low points in the 2000s. The DumberChrysler era, as some of you call it, produced some real polarizing cars and you readers aren’t falling for our love of them.
We’ve been praising a lot of cars from this era lately. I’ve said some positive things about the Chrysler PT Cruiser while my colleagues have spilled ink praising the Jeep Liberty and Dodge Nitro. Heck, it wasn’t even that long ago when I said I wanted a Jeep Liberty CRD. As it turns out, I actually love a lot of cars from this era of Chrysler. Apparently, I’ve been a closeted Mopar fan all of this time, but that’s a story for a different day.
For now, we have you jokesters taking shots at us for loving the Jeep Liberty. V10omous:
“Why the Titanic Design Didn’t Deserve the Hate”
-By A Retired White Star Line Engineer
Hotdoughnutsnow:
I just couldn’t get past the name. It felt like they were cashing in on patriotism in post-9/11 America, and that didn’t feel right. … and then came the (checks notes)… Jeep Patriot.
Speaking of which, I missed some great ones in David’s piece about a manual Dodge Nitro. D0nut:
A shit car with a stick is just a less shitty shit car
05LGT:
A turd with a stick in it doesn’t become a popsicle.
Amusingly, you had great jokes twice today as you returned for another round in that aggravating story about a lady who was arrested for scraping a tree. Sid Bridge:
I hate to be the one to go for the low hanging fruit here, but I’ll also go out on a limb and say this is ridiculous. She should have contacted another branch of the authorities for sure. Maybe checked in her trunk to see if she had another camera to record things with. Boy, did Florida’s PD come out looking like a bunch of saps here, just barking around at nothing. When you get down the the roots of what happened, it’s all just best if you leaf it alone. At least I wood.
V10omous (again):
Was the tree community demanding this unrepentant tree-scraper be taken off the streets?
I imagine they just didn’t want anyone in town to be arboring a dangerous fugitive.
Ash78:
Based on the dendrochronology of events, I’m applauding the live oak for promoting her to branch manager.
3WiperB:
The cop just wooden let her go. Knot on his watch.
Have a great evening, everyone!
Hey, hate all you want on the KJ. My wife bought a new one on ’02 and that sucker is still running, in spite of terminal oxidation.
Granted, it never gets great mileage or has a lot of power aside from good low end torque. Handling is decent for what it is. However, it will go through almost anything – deep snow, off-road trails, insanely cold Wisconsin winters, giant pot holes, etc. If you take a look at the suspension and look at things like control arms, springs, etc., the KJ was built like a tank.
As for how it drives, it has its charms: Great outward visibility, good driving position, simple gauge lay out, and plenty of head room. They’re basically shaped like eggs which is a very efficient shape.
If there was a zombie apocalypse or some other nasty societal upheaval, I’d probably take the KJ as not much is going to go wrong and you can drive over stuff that would stop most anything else on the road that isn’t a Wrangler.
Reliability wise, well, aside from an odd penchant for failed blower motors, this damn thing has been bullet proof.
Would I buy another one? Probably.
And yes, I owned an XJ prior to the KJ. Was the XJ better? In some aspects yes, in most aspects, no.
Dodge Nitro: Named after a cardiac medication to treat angina and/or heart attack. Other names for future products: Dodge Metoprolol, Chrysler Levophed, Ram 1590 Epinephrine.
How about Preparation C?
Dodge digitalis
Hey, I admire dustbuster vans. We all have a weakness for objectively bad cars.
You’re welcome? mr 3 names attacked me for saying the Nitro is shit. and I was shadow banned and have had comments removed. Are you trolling me Mercedes?
Looks like you’re back up and running! I think the editors wanted folks to cool down a bit.
Personally, I’ve been thinking it’s hilarious how much everyone hates these cars.
How dare someone compare the Jeep Liberty and Patriot.
TAKE IT BACK!
(source: best friend owned a Patriot for a long time; got similar fuel economy to my van)
Jeep 2005 wk haver.
Lifter tick be damned the 3.7 is still chugging along albeit with terrible mileage.
The nag1 transmission has some issues with the connector orings and the speed sensor but they are relatively cheap to fix
Can’t help but wonder how many Daimler Chrysler products met an untimely fate over what ultimately is like. 90 dollar part. Both of those issues the leaky oring and the speed sensor will make you think your transmission is donezo
To be clear, I’m not anti-Chrysler (how could I be), I just have some questions about the objectivity of the source.