My wife's daily driver is an '05 Rubicon. I've had a few Jeeps now with the 4.0 straight six. Absolutely bulletproof.

The straight six is pretty ancient technology. Started off as AMC's carburated 4.2. While reliable and torquey, it is not very efficient, and may no longer meet emission standards.

The new JK wranglers were out when we bought the TJ. My wife likes the older style better, and I like the straight six.

Any comments on reliability? I've often thought a TJ would be a fun daily driver. I'd be interested in a straight-6 with a manual combo.

The coil-spring TJs are much better both on and off road than the older leaf-sprung Jeeps.

They suck quite a bit of gas, and sure don't go around corners like a Porsche, but other than that, fun to drive. Easy to park anywhere, instant friends with other Jeep owners.

The basic engine will go forever. Early TJs had exhaust manifolds that cracked. Most have been replaced by now. Borla makes the best aftermarket replacement. Most of the others are known for not fitting as well.

Over several years, outside of normal maintenance, our old '98 TJ needed a wiper motor and a tranny rebuild. It had the old 3-speed automatic unit that is known to be a piece. I like the manual trannies better. If you want an auto, get the later 4-speed/overdrive unit. Much better driving, much better reliability. I don't remember what year the switch was made.

Is the 4-cylinder 5-speed combo totally gutless? I drove a 6-cylinder 5-speed on the highway and it struggled to maintain 70 MPH, but that was with oversized mud tires and the top off.

Jeeps
 

The old inline six was a great engine as far being pretty bulletproof though the later ones had lousy radiators. The newold 3.8 is taxed by the four doors weight but so would the inline six given it has less torque out of the box -less HP as well.

The newer Jeeps could use more power (what couldn't)-the new 3.6 or a diesel would be nice.

We have had a coupla Cherokees and four Wranglers in the family with the most current being our four door Wrangler.

It has been surprisingly good off road for camping and such. Ours isthree years old and has been a tough reliable vehicle - Jeeps ain't for everyone and they are still sorta noisy regardless of the top but for my money the 4 door off road convertible is a good time.

mFlo

4 cylinder Jeep
 

And one other thing -had the 79 four banger and yes it was totally gutless as well as agricultural in tone.

Run from that engine

Mflo

HA! :D ...it may have low-hanging diff's, and leaf-springs of a 70y/o design, but at least it swamps the engine with ease.

Let's see how the germans do it...


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Float much?
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Jeep guys are like Porsche guys defending whatever generation or technology they are used to. But like Porsche, the best one is not made yet (to paraphrase Ferry). Jeep is getting the injection they need to remain relevant.

The basic engine (JK - editing this is I didn't see TJ there - my bad) is pretty reliable, but it damn well better be because it's being serviced by the boobs at the Chrysler dealership. We took the four door JK back to the dealership 3 times for door rattles. They kept saying "we can't hear anything and we drove it EVERYWHERE." LIARS! I took the service manager in the passenger seat, drove over a speed bump in the parking lot and sayd "THERE THAT NOISE" to which he replied "oh, well it wasn't doing that before." Uhhh... yes it was that's why we keep bringing it back...

We had two JK's, one auto and one stick. I REALLY preferred the stick. If you get the stick, buy the trailer tow package because it comes with the lower gears, otherwise you need to step into some higher equipment packages to get the ratio. The stick is REAL long legged. With the standard axle, I could not even put it into 6th until I was going around 75. Otherwise, you are shifting under the idle speed...

The 3.7 benefts significantly from an airbox replacement and headers/better muffler. My fairly reliable butt-dyno says that was worth 25 or 30 hp even with the automatic. The auto gets the shorter final drive across the line.

Steve and I have had Jeeps on/off for close to 30 years. In stock form, the JK does every thing a jeep is supposed to do, and does it better than the predecessors. It's like when someone asks, what 911 should I buy? The answer is the newest one you can afford if you're talking about "stock." The JK is much more comfortable then previous Jeeps, actually handles decently on the highway, is quite manueverable and every hop-up part in the history of the known universe is now available. You are stuck with that damn mini-van rough running nasty V6 (unless you buy one converted to the Hemi powertrain - but that's $$$$). Really wish that hadn't ditched the straight six. That engine could pull stumps, drive vertically up a cliff without any oil pressure (seen it done) and not die.

angela

In my opinion, Jeep should have not even offered the 4-cylinder engine.

Changing gears is part of having a Jeep with oversize tires. Our '98 had the optional 3:73 gears, and was marginal with 33" tires.

Any 4-cylinder Jeep needs gears so low that you may as well be in an old CJ-2 or Willies. No fun in modern traffic. I guess it would still be a hoot for rock crawling, though...

That's why our current Wrangler is a Rubicon- Comes with 4:10 gears and beefier axles. Cheaper to buy a Rubi than to get a base model and start spending on upgrades. The 4:10 gears work pretty well with the 33" tires that are on it now.

Crazy as it sounds, I looked at jeeps before buying the Bullitt Mustang. Came to my senses after driving a V-6 demo...it was horrible on pavement...gutless. Realizing that I'd be on pavement more than in 4 wheel drive, I came to my senses...

Though it isn't the type of jeep everyone is discussing, I used to have a 1988 jeep Comanche 4x4 truck. It had the 4.0 six with auto tranny. I took it on many trails and it was fantastic offroad. I foolishly traded it in on a new 1993 chevy 4x4 with IFS and regretted it the first time I took it off road. I really miss that jeep. One fun trip I made was driving from Tucson to Area 51 and Rachel Nevada in the winter. Encountered some good snow in some of the mountain passes on the way to Rachel Nevada and the jeep ran great. I would love to have a 4 door rubicon but my wife wants an Xterra.

Are you kidding? An Xterra versus a Jeep? Jeez, even with the Chrysler dealership / return-repeated-to-attempt-to-repair-shop involved, the Jeep is hands down the winner over the Xterra, on road, off-road, parts availability, performance upgrades, customization, on-line forums/fun groups, you name it.

Not even close.

angela

The problem is my wife likes the cute SUVs like the rav4,xterra,crv. She can't stand jeeps, hummer (I agree with her on the hummer) and anything else that is boxy looking. As I said before, I Iike the 4 door jeep rubicon. I also would love to have a land rover defender 90. I can't even talk her into a Toyota land cruiser.

As far as longevity with the 4 liter / manual combo, my '94 XJ (Small Bodied Cherokee) is coming close to 300K. I put a clutch in it around 225 K. If you want comfort, and speed, don't even think about a Jeep. The new JK is the most stable platform Jeep has ever had. I helped my friend mildly build his Rubi with 35's, and the stock gears. It feels rock solid in way off camber situations, and during climbs. The articulation is pretty impressive for a basicly stock setup. Leaf springs on a trail rig? puhhleeze..... Give me coils, and long arms any day. They drive it from Southern Illinois, to Moab UT twice a year, and have done most of the trails out there. They actually have some video of them with Dan Mick. Pretty cool stuff.

Not crazy. I traded my 2005 Mustang GT in on a 2003 Rubicon. They're both icons, the Jeep is just better. :D

And since I brought up my Rubi, this was it:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5007/...fe39cb18_b.jpg

:cool:

very few people in N. America will be otherwise

if Africa, the situation is different

most people in the US will drive 10 miles on blacktop for every mile off road or even on 2 track

of course, you don't want to get stuck in the outback...

someday, I hope the air suspension systems will be perfected and I can drive along in a low slung sports car; then turn off the Hwy; flip a switch and be in Pinzgauer mode...

Sad to say, but in countries where your life depends on the ability of your 4x4, they're not driving Jeeps. From what I've seen the Land Cruiser, Nissan Patrol, and Mitsubishi Montero/Pajero are the vehicles of choice in the Outback, Africa, etc.

It's not that Jeeps aren't capable or reliable, it's probably the lack of space. The Wrangler is very small, and the "trunk" can hardly carry a thought.

Great for goofing off in the sticks, kinda sucks when there's groceries to haul.