Jeep Owners

[bobman1235]

So, I'm curious how many Jeep owners or former owners we have out there. Wranglers specifically.

I've always loved Jeeps. Never had one, unfortunately. But my Dakota is pushing 60K miles, and I'm either going to have to dump a bit of money into it (tires, brakes, etc... regular maintenance), or maybe trade it in. I'm seriously looking at getting myself an '06 Wrangler. I don't particularly like the looks of the '07, nor do I like buying a car on the first year of a major change.

Anyways, I'm not a big "off-roader", it would mostly be a daily driver. I'm fine with the gas mileage - it's about the same as my pickup, and I deal with that just fine. I mostly like it because I'm not a car guy - I need a truck or SUV. I don't particularly need a pickup for any reason - I'm a computer engineer, it's not like I carry things at my job.

The main appeal to me is the convertible in the summer / 4WD in the winter / go anywhere feel. Plus I like my car to be simple - bells and whistles and nav systems and electronic whatzits are just more things to break, the way I see it.

ANYWAYS, I'm just mostly curious about people's feelings on them as daily drivers, love / hate / don't care.

Plus I want to get rid of the pickup - I'm sick of helping people move :)

[audiobliss]

Cherokee owner here, so I don't guess I can speak too much to the Wrangler, but I love my XJ. I, seriously, don't see myself ever getting rid of it. Hopefully I'll have a second car by the time it gives up the ghost. When I do get a second car and have some expendable income, I'll be going through the engine, tranny, rear end, and start lifting it and making it an off road maching, though a mild one.

If you can eat the gas mileage, I'd say it's a great SUV. I'm sure the Wranglers are pretty good, too. I know a family who had a Wrangler, sold it/traded it to get an Xtera Supercharged. They're selling the Nissan to get another Wrangler.

[exalted512]

Personally, Id never get a Jeep as a daily driver. The ride sucks, solid front axle sucks for daily driving, they are loud(road noise), heating and cooling systems are there, but might as well not be non-existant, and are very susceptible to break ins/vandalism(slashed soft tops).

Great off-road machines, but thats where I'd leave em, off-road.
-Cody

[audiobliss]

Hmm, interesting. I don't know how different the Wrangler is from the Cherokee, but with my Jeep the heating and cooling work great, and this is a 10 year old vehicle. I do have a solid axle up front, though, and I have to say it rides well. Again, not like my Dad's Suburban, but it's rides smooth enough, and handles great for an SUV.

[bobman1235]

I've heard the heat is pretty great on the Wranglers, it's just if you have the soft top it dissipates quickly, so you have to have it blowing on high in the dead of winter.

It obviously depends on the person, though. If you like a nice smooth ride, obviously it's not for you. I personally don't give a crap about that....

[Early B.]

Can't comment on the Wrangler, but we have a Jeep Grand Cherokee. It's our second Jeep. The first one was a Jeep Cherokee Sport. Total of 10 years. Gas it up and go. No major problems on either vehicle.

Go for it.

[F1nut]

The short wheel base and solid axles with a high center of gravity makes for a choppy ride. The front tires will wear very quickly if not rotated often. Emergency handling is dreadful. The soft top will start leaking air/water in less than a year. Even though it's been tamed over the years it is still an "off road" vehicle and not designed as an daily highway driver. I understand the new Land Cruiser's are pretty nice on the road and if they are anything like the vintage ones off road, will eat any Jeep, any day.

[dkg999]

1990 Jeep Cherokee - 340k miles prior to parking it in back of the shed. 1995 Grand Cherokee - 220k before trading it on a 1999 Grand Cherokee. 1999 Grand Cherokee - 182k and running like new prior to taking a Dodge truck in the rear end and totalling it. 2002 Wrangler - bought with 40k on it and a high front end hit, rebuilt with 3" lift and yellow/black tiger striped paint, only put another 15k on it prior to trading for an F350 Ford Super Duty for the farm. The Jeep 4L straight 6 motor is rock solid and will run to 400k miles with normal maintenance. The Wrangler's are fun! I would make sure I got the hard top along with the soft top. It pains me that for the first time since 1990 I don't have a Jeep vehicle! My new Yamaha Grizzly 660 ATV is now my off-road vehicle.

Like the sign says "It's a Jeep thing, you wouldn't understand!"

[exalted512]

The short wheel base and solid axles with a high center of gravity makes for a choppy ride. The front tires will wear very quickly if not rotated often. Emergency handling is dreadful. The soft top will start leaking air/water in less than a year. Even though it's been tamed over the years it is still an "off road" vehicle and not designed as an daily highway driver. I understand the new Land Cruiser's are pretty nice on the road and if they are anything like the vintage ones off road, will eat any Jeep, any day.

exactly
-Cody

[dkg999]

The best accessory you can have for a Land Cruiser is a Jeep to pull it home :p

Seriously, I have a friend who buys and restores old Land Cruisers and they are pretty awesome!

Go old school or go home :D

[ND13]

If you want one for a daily driver, get the Unlimited. 10" longer wheelbase(equals much better ride and handling), 6" more rear legroom, and 1' 6" more behind the rear seat. Much more sound deadening in firewall and under carpet and still one of the most capable off-roaders, period. Get it with the dual-top option, too...it's a must. They have a pretty cool hardtop that opens up in front like a sunroof.

[John in MA]

I have a '94 ZJ (Grand Cherokee) with the 4.0 six, 42RE tranny, and the offroad 231 transfer case. Previous owner didn't do much with it, so I'm slowly catching up on all the maintenance due. Easy to work on for a modern SUV. Great heating, but AC doesn't work because of a Jeep-wide design defect with the evaporator. Rides great even with a solid front axle. Once I'm done with all the work I'm going to start with offroad mods. Already have tow hooks on the way.

If the last Wrangler you guys drove was a YJ, or something older like a CJ-7, they've come a long way in on-road handling. Especially the new JK that just came out. Heaters have generally been very powerful. But I'm not sure it's the best vehicle for someone with no offroad interest. If nothing else the Jeep guys will be after you for being a poser. :)

New Toyotas (or most current SUVs) will never be fully capable offroad vehicles because of the suspension. For guys with a lot of money it's popular to torch off all the stock hardware and replace it with a solid axle setup. The FJ40 is being pushed as Toyota's offroad truck right now--don't believe it. Check one out navigating a real trail and you'll see how much of a joke it is.

But Jeep's gone the same way with everything but the Wrangler. The KJ Libbys and the new WK Grand Cherokees are mainly just sporty highway SUVs. Old ZJ and WJ Grands and XJ Cherokees will slaughter almost any current trucks off-road. In fact, with about $100 work, plus better tires, a ZJ/WJ will out-wheel a Wrangler as long as there's enough space.

Oh yeah, the new 4-door Wrangler is _much_ bigger _and_ heavier than the Grands. They also dropped the 4.0 engine, the new V6 blows offroad. Something they don't tell you.

[Frank Z]

The new FJ from Toyota are the ugliest things I've seen in a long time.

Old FJs were/are capable...cause they were modeled after Jeeps!

The TJ rag tops are top notch. Jeep really built a winner starting in 97 with the switch from front leafs to coils. Get a hard top for the winter and a bikini top for the summer.

XJ's are excellent vehicles for both on and off road driving. Plenty of room for all your stuff, easy to wrench on and modify.

[John in MA]

In case anyone's into trivia. When the XJ was killed in 2001 it was the last AMC-designed vehicle still being produced. Second was the ZJ which ran from '93-98 but actually was drawn up in the '80s before Chrysler bought them.

[Holydoc]

Well here are my two cars:



And the Jeep:



The Jeep is a 1999. I bought it as my primary car up until 2002 when I purchased the Trans Am. I never had any leaks or problems with the Jeep. I bought her to play with. On the drive home from the dealership a pickup in front of me kicked up a small rock and cracked the windshield. I just shook my head, turned into the woods, and took her 4-wheeling. When I finally got home with 200 miles on her, she was so dirty you could not even tell her paint color. My neighbor came over and said, "So that is your new car eh?". I responded, "Yes...ain't she a beauty?" hehe...:D

Well anyway, they have a great heater and A/C. They are not built for comfort and have a lot of road noise. I highly recommend the soft top if you plan on removing it a lot. Hard tops, though they will quiet the road down a bit, are hard to remove and very heavy. Also get the soundbar that attaches to the rollbar. Without it the speaker system is basically useless.

As far as maintenance, I have replaced the tires (got the largest I could fit without a lift kit) and oil changes. She has been covered in mud, buried in ditches, sitting on mountain ledges, and up to the door in salt water (today launching the waverunner). Dolphin pictures from the waverunner using my camera phone. Was talking on the phone when I took them:



The car has been very reliable and fun. She is very loud, flaps terribly in the wind, eats the gas, but... can go anywhere, and do anything.

PM me if you have any particular questions.

[Holydoc]

Oh I forgot to mention, the convertible top is nothing like the Trans Am convertible. You have to plan to remove the top from the Jeep. In other words, I can pull up to a red light with the TA, press a button, and the top is down. To put the top down in the jeep, you have to get out, unzip the side windows, unzip the rear window, unlock the top, unhook the top from the jeep frame, manually fold it back into the rear of the jeep.

On the other side of the coin, the jeep has always kept me dry no matter how big a rainstorm. The TA always leaks.

*shrug*

[exalted512]

If you want one for a daily driver, get the Unlimited. 10" longer wheelbase(equals much better ride and handling), 6" more rear legroom, and 1' 6" more behind the rear seat. Much more sound deadening in firewall and under carpet and still one of the most capable off-roaders, period. Get it with the dual-top option, too...it's a must. They have a pretty cool hardtop that opens up in front like a sunroof.

that could be an option. I havent ridden in one but they do look a bit more spacious.

My old roommate has a 98 TJ. Rode like shat, very noisy, very cramped feeling on the inside, back seat should just get taken out.

I would love to have an old CJ. My dad actually had one for about a year but he sold it. Great condition too.
-Cody

[audiobliss]

On the drive home from the dealership a pickup in front of me kicked up a small rock and cracked the windshield. I just shook my head, turned into the woods, and took her 4-wheeling. When I finally got home with 200 miles on her, she was so dirty you could not even tell her paint color. My neighbor came over and said, "So that is your new car eh?". I responded, "Yes...ain't she a beauty?" hehe...:D

ROFL! That's hilarious!

[ohskigod]

ND hits the nail on the head regarding the unlimited. If your not doing heavy offroad, thats the way to go.

I had a Cherokee I got rid of last year after 10 years of faithful service. If you can get the wrangler with the inline 6 (4L) get it. its the engine I had, and it is friggen bulletproof. its not the most refined engine in the planet, it can actually be a noisy horror show (much better now than in the past though) but it can take a beating.

if your going with the 2006 and back jeep, avoid the auto tranny (if its still the threee speed). they suck something awful, get the 5 speed manual.

[bobman1235]

Yeah, the '06 actually comes with a six-speed (rather than 5), and I'd definitely get that over auto. And def the inline six over the four as well.

The '07s come with a V6, they did away with the old I-6, and that's part of the reason (other than the ugly styling) that I want an '06 over an '07.

We'll see, I still have to test drive and whatnot.

Thanks for all the input guys.

[ohskigod]

Yeah, the '06 actually comes with a six-speed (rather than 5), and I'd definitely get that over auto. And def the inline six over the four as well.

The '07s come with a V6, they did away with the old I-6, and that's part of the reason (other than the ugly styling) that I want an '06 over an '07.

We'll see, I still have to test drive and whatnot.

Thanks for all the input guys.

6 speed?.....NICE. I missed that memo!

I new the dumping of the I6 was coming. friggen shame, the v6 (assuming its the same one in the Liberty) is Ok, probably quite peppy in the wrangler, but feels weighted down in the Liberty (the thing is heavy)

[bobman1235]

Wranglers aren't exactly light, even though they're smaller (they're like 4500 pounds to the Liberty's 5300 or so)

[hearingimpared]

We just bought a 1993 Cherokee for $800 Saturday. Knew the owner, it is in near mint condition and he took good care of it. We purchased it as a third car for carting things around and stuff like that as an suv.

I know this is off the Wrangler route but I just wanted to say that this Jeep is solid as a rock. You can feel the quality when you are driving it.

[krabby5]

funny...I was starting to look at Liberty's....I like the look...

I am looking for a smaller SUV to go along with the Stratus RT....

need more room..

[ohskigod]

the Liberty is nice, but after thoroughly looking at it while I had my Cherokee (it was considerred for my next new car purchase), I just couldnt get into it. I would say jusy make the jump to a base model grand Cherokee, which I like far better.

[audiobliss]

As a side note on the I6 4.0...

One day a friend and I decided to go all out on the highway on the way home, so I had the go pedal flat on the floor until I ran out of room. We hit just over 100, as best we could tell (speedo gives out at 85), but that's not the point. I got to my exit and stopped at the stop light after just having her pegged at redline for who knows how long (about a minute?). At any rate, we quickly noticed she was overheating. Man, the temperature was rising FAST! It usually runs about 210, and the red starts about 240, and the gauge stops at 260 (going by memory here as I'm not looking at my dash). I pulled into a parking lot and decided to shut it off when I saw it wasn't colling off at all. When we popped the hood, I had lost almost *all* of my coolant.

So, to make a long story short(er), we ended up off the charts on the temp guage (meaning close to 300?). After letting her sit for about 10 minutes and managing to fill up the radiator again, she started up and got us home just fine and seems no worse for the abuse.

[dkg999]

The quick rule on how to buy a Jeep 4.0L inline six cylinder motor, new or used ............. if it idles smoothly it's a piece of junk :( Only buy the ones that idle rough (which is most of them) :)

[audiobliss]

^^ Why's that?

[bobman1235]

So... audiobliss.... was that supposed to be in support or against the I-6? Not many engines handle being red-lined for any amount of time (that's why it's a red line?), so if you're blaming the Jeep for that, well....

[audiobliss]

No, I'm the idiot who redlined it and made it spew out all its coolant (well, the leaky radiator helped with that endeavor, too). That's definitely in support of the I6. I'd say that little event really proves it's a stout engine. IMO, it went beyond the call of duty putting up with my abuse like that.