If I am not mistaken, it uses the same 3 liter Mercedez/Freightliner motor that is used in some of the smaller Dodge/Mercedes/Freightliner vans. We saw one of those motors inexplicably go bad in a 2004 van and required a bunch of work. I saw the inside of the motor when it was apart (something in the head had gone bad) and it had huge carbon buildup for the age. We think maybe the previous owners had it sitting at idle for long periods of time so the miles on the odometer were not really the best indicator of vehicle wear and tear.

I don't have any personal experience with that particular model except that I worked at a Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep dealership a few years ago when those were being sold and they were pretty hard to get back then, sort of on what dealers call "allocation" meaning that they were limited on how many they could get in a model year.

Diesel sales went way down when the price of the fuel went above super unleaded in most places, which offsets the better fuel economy the Diesels get, but for survival purposes, you still have that issue of less cargo space being required to carry fuel to get you XYZ number of miles.

I say if you are not getting hosed on the price of the rig and it is in decent shape and you are not paying a major price premium for it, it is worth trying out.

Personally, I would go for it if I could afford it, but right now I am looking at doing a small fleet of mid to late 1980s Isuzu troopers. They are very cheap, not majorly difficult to work on (but not as easy as the Mitsubishi Montero/Dodge raider) and a decent 4X4, although I think the Montero/Raider of the same era is slightly better. I am looking at an absolute max of $2500 per vehicle including mods and OD green paint job. Think street legal enclosed ATV, but with more interior room than a Samurai.

Isuzu and Mitsubishi made Diesel versions of their small SUVs back then which now trade at a crazy premium due to a combination of being light enough to tow easily behind a motorhome and being tolerant of slightly off spec biodiesel. The problem at this point is just plain age, which makes vehicles like the Liberty attractive if you can get one at the right price.