This Jeep Liberty Is the Bargain of the Day – Or Is It?

Both scenarios have their downs, from the usual depreciation to the maintenance and other work that could cost a small fortune depending on the model, as well as their ups, like the hassle-free ownership of a new ride or getting something from the upper class when it comes to used car buyers.

A third category finds those less fortunate. Some of us have struggled at one point to make ends meet, and we couldn't even dare to dream of ever owning a nice vehicle. And it's these people that we target with our 'cheapest used car for sale on eBay' series of stories that includes some interesting rides, as well as others that are pure crap.

But where does the pictured Jeep Liberty stand? That would be somewhere in between. More on that in a few moments, as first, we have to remind ourselves a bit about this model. The American company launched the first generation in 2001 and kept it in production for the next five years. It shared many components with the era's Wrangler and Grand Cherokee, and there was nothing special about it from an enthusiast's standpoint.

Mind you, owners did get a nice truck for their money that could deal with occasional off-roading if they modded it. The Liberty story continued with the second generation. It came out in 2007 and was dropped after the 2012 model year. Like its predecessor, it was offered with standard rear-wheel drive or optional four-wheel drive and was based on the same platform as the Wrangler, Grand Cherokee, Commander, and Dodge Nitro.

Jeep dropped the Liberty to make room for the (then) new Cherokee, and while there have been some rumors about a possible comeback, it appears the automaker is not interested in a new one. Not yet, anyway. Still, with the electric crowd hovering over the car industry, Jeep might look for some traditional monikers from its past and use them on new high-riders. Thus, we wouldn't say never when it comes to a potentially new generation.

Now, while the Liberty may be dead and buried, countless copies have withstood the test of time. These usually cost decent money, and a 2005 model is usually a four-digit affair, or five if you're only interested in the best-preserved examples with not that many miles (for such rides). Why mention the 2005 Liberty specifically? Because that's when the one pictured in the gallery came to life.

It's a great-looking one at first glance, with a lot of shininess in the red finish. The five-spoke wheels look good, and so does the exterior trim and pretty much every component. The gray upholstery isn't in top-notch condition, but we've seen far worse. It is a nicely equipped example, too, with a sunroof, four electric windows, a multi-function steering wheel, and a few other things that weren't standard on all cars two decades ago.

A 3.7-liter V6 engine powers it, and it is connected to an automatic transmission. This Jeep Liberty is far from being a low-mileage vehicle, as the odometer reads over 207,000 miles (~333,000 km). Nevertheless, it appears that it still has enough life left in it for a few more years. Nothing out of the ordinary so far, and the pricing will probably convince you to buy it. You see, at the time of writing, the vendor, a used car and parts dealer, was asking $2,300 for it.

The 4x4 is located in Granite City, Illinois, and if you're thinking about buying it, you should try and see it in person before transferring the funds. Moreover, we haven’t told you what's wrong with it, and that would be a salvage certificate. It appears that whatever damages it had have been solved, so if you don't mind the fact that it was crashed at one point, then you should go ahead and buy it, yet not before seeing it in the flesh, if possible.

We found this 2005 Jeep Liberty here on eBay, with a little over a week left in the online auction. It was also the most interesting cheap used ride on sale there at the time of writing, and to get something that can be driven, you will have to cough out a few hundred dollars more. For just under $3,000, we found a nice Chevy Cruze and an Equinox with some visible damages that was $1,000 more.

Thus, the offering certainly isn't vast, and the days when you could buy a functional vehicle for a few hundred dollars are gone. So, if you had a daily budget of $2k, would you spend it on this Jeep Liberty, or would you keep searching the used car market for a different ride?