2004 Jeep Liberty Sport 4x4 Verynice4door 3.7liter 6cylinder Withairconditioning on 2040-cars

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Chrysler 3.0L EcoDiesel V6: Autoblog Technology of the Year finalist

Offering a diesel engine in an American pickup is anything but new - Ford, General Motors and Chrysler all offer excellent and almost impossibly powerful oil-burning engines in their various fullsize trucks. What is new and novel about the 3.0L EcoDiesel, though, is its size, and the variety of vehicles that use it. It's the smallest engine, as far as displacement is concerned, currently offered in a large truck in the US, and, for 2014 and 2015, it is available in the Ram 1500 and the Jeep Grand Cherokee.
Though it may be small, it's got muscle. While 240 horsepower isn't particularly impressive these days, the engine's 420 pound-feet of torque more than makes up for that. The torque rating is even greater force than even the big 5.7-liter Hemi can muster. Chrysler's well-regarded eight-speed automatic transmission makes the most of all that bull-headed pulling power in both the Ram and Grand Cherokee. Chrysler claims the Ram EcoDiesel 1500 can tow as much as 9,200 pounds when properly equipped, which makes it "90-percent of the Hemi with a night and day difference in fuel economy."
Make no mistake; it's that promise of a sizable fuel economy improvement that many long-haul truckers will be most interested in. In the Ram 1500 that we tested for our Tech of the Year competition, the diesel engine costs $2,850 more than the gas-fed V8, and Ram estimates that EcoDiesel buyers will pay off their investment when compared to the Hemi engine in less than three years, which is considerably less time than the 4.5 or so years the average buyer will keep his or her fullsize pickup. The more you drive, the more you'll save, and the math proves equally as effective in the Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Ram and Jeep diesel emissions allegations spur class action lawsuits

This shouldn't come as a surprise. Last week, the EPA issued a notice of violation to FCA after it determined that Jeep and Ram installed eight undisclosed auxiliary emissions control devices on diesel vehicles. Since then US law firm Heninger Garrison Davis, LLC and Canadian firm Sotos LLP have launched class action suits on behalf of owners. These latest lawsuits are unrelated to a previous class action suit brought against FCA and Cummins over NOx emissions in 2007 to 2012 Ram models. The violation notice – and the subsequent lawsuits – covers 2014 to 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Ram 1500 models equipped with the 3.0-liter turbodiesel V6, a total of about 104,000 vehicles in the US. The EPA says that while the emissions control devices aren't necessarily illegal, installing them without disclosing them to the EPA is, as they produce more emissions in real world use than in testing. Skirting certification in this way might be a violation of the Clean Air Act. FCA could see fines of up to $45,000 per vehicle, depending on the outcome of the EPA investigation. FCA denies that these are cheat devices, and has proposed software updates to bring the vehicles into compliance. As for the lawsuits, Heninger Garrison Davis says that "Fiat Chrysler marketed those vehicles as environmentally friendly with enhanced fuel efficiency, better performance, and lower emissions. Although the diesel vehicles were successfully marketed as 'clean,' their environmentally-friendly representations were deceptive to consumers." The suit seeks an undisclosed amount of compensation for owners of these vehicles. In Canada, Sotos LLP is seeking $250 million in damages on behalf of owners. This suit, filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, also claims deception on the part of FCA, "resulting in losses and damage" to owners. These are similar claims to group actions against Volkswagen with regard to its diesel emissions cheating scandal. While VW is fixing or buying back many of the affected vehicles, the company is defending itself against some suits on behalf of owners, saying it expects " no decline in the residual values of the affected vehicles as a result of this issue." Don't be surprised if FCA mounts a similar defense.

2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee pricing leaks out

With our deep dive and auto show coverage of the 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee revealed at the Detroit Auto Show, we brought you as much information as Chrysler would allow us to, but one thing we're still left in the dark about was the pricing. It would seem that Jeep Garage might have the answer for that. The Jeep enthusiast forum claims to have gotten its hands on the ordering and pricing breakdown for the updated Grand Cherokee, and while a Jeep representative has yet to get back to us as to the validity of the site's claim, these preliminary numbers look pretty kosher to us.
In base form, the two-wheel-drive Laredo will reportedly start at $28,795, which is a $1,100 increase over the 2013 model year, and the new Grand Cherokee Summit trim level starts at $47,995 for 4x2 models and $50,995 for the 4x4. Waiting for the new diesel engine? The torquey new 3.0-liter oil-burner will be a $4,500 option on Limited, Overland and Summit 4x4 models, but 4x2 pricing (and availability) are not known. As for the range-topping Grand Cherokee SRT (no longer called the SRT8), this added performance could run you an extra $2,700 with a new starting price of $62,995. More importantly, loaded to the gills with all available options, the 2014 Grand Cherokee SRT will top out at around $72,400 - or around $6,000 more than a fully loaded 2013 GC SRT8.
We'll let you know if the gang over at Jeep get back to us with any confirmation, but until then, head over to Jeep Garage to see the pricing details it has listed.