Diesel is no longer a thing at Jeep as the company ended its experiment with the Ecodiesel engine late last year . While that V6 diesel was the torquey engine that Jeep fans had been waiting for , it wasn’t the first time the brand tried offering diesel models. Starting in 2005, the powers that be at Jeep wanted to test the waters with something new.
This resulted in the first generation Jeep Liberty getting a diesel. Called the Liberty CRD, it was supposed to gauge the public’s response to the oil burning engine. The Liberty CRD was the first Jeep diesel since 1987.
Power for the Liberty CRD came from a 2.8-liter turbocharged diesel I4 built by VM Motori in Italy. It made 160 horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque, 60 more lb-ft than the gas powered V6.
This was paired with a five-speed automatic transmission and a Command-Trac part time four-wheel-drive system. A full time system was available as an option. Performance was decent.
It could hit 60 mph in 10 seconds. And thanks to all that torque that was available from a low RPM, the Liberty CRD had a 5,000 pound towing capacity. Gas mileage wasn’t bad either at 22 mpg city/27 mpg highway.
There wasn’t anything particularly special about the Liberty CRD though. Other than a “CRD” badge on the rear hatch, the diesel Liberty was identical to the gas powered ones. You could even have it in Sport and Limited trims.
Initially, Jeep planned to only offer 5,000 units for the first year, but in the 16 months the model was of.