The Liberty is definitely a step up from that light in the ass, XJ Cherokee series. For once they finally added steel instead of taking it out. The mid 80's Cherokee SUV weighs in at a measly 3150lbs, the Wrangler actually weighs more. The Liberty is a full 700lbs heavier. And if you look underneath them, you'll see why. The Cherokee doesn't even have a frame, it's a straight pan uni-body design. All the new Grand Cherokees and Liberty's have built in sub-frames with heavy A-arm coil/live front and rear suspensions, thus all the extra weight. Both now have decent suspensions with plenty of travel. The Liberty has 8" travel stock. It will definitely won't be as easy/cheap to upgrade, but the whole point is that you should be able to leave the road stock without Adding 5-10k in suspension add-ons. You're basically creating a brand new car.
I can't tell you how many times my best friend had to change his blown out shocks and bushings. "Rancho" the good stuff. Those leaf springs just suck for suspension travel. His XJ bottomed out in the rear every time we hit a rut. This never happened on the same road with a stock 4 Runner.
Hopefully, Jeeps new "leak free" engines are up to the hype. My buddies XJ Cherokee left every color of the rainbow in his driveway and gutter. I remember pulling up behind his SUV one day only to notice a shower of trani fluid sprinkling all over the street. And I thought my old Mustang leaked oil, Man, what a mess!
He now drives my dads used 11 year old, still running great, Toyota 4 Runner 210,000+miles. His 9 year old Cherokee, 120,000+???the speedo broke 2 years ago, sits in a junk yard rusting away. The interior didn't last too long either.
Have you ever wondered why you only see 4 Runners, Land Cruisers and Unimogs in 3rd World countries? Countries where the term "road" is used loosely? Suspension, fluids that actually stay in the car and mechanical/electrical reliability. Hopefully, Jeep has taken notice and applied these qualities to their SUV's. I know that they have at least addressed the first two with their latest line.