The car's styling forgave a multitude of other sins, including a penny-pinched interior, mediocre fuel economy and a rather heavy, trembling, fundamentally unathletic chassis that no amount of spring rates nor summer tires could mediate.
Basically, the old Liberty was very capable off-road, but it did not keep up with consumer demands, which now value refined road manners, good fuel economy and lots of interior space more than the ability to hop boulders and ford streams.