Jeep Wranglers

Rubicon Unlimited owner chiming in. My wife and I take our 2005 Rubi off road at least once a week. Sometimes mild sometimes a little tougher. The extra room and longer wheelbase make it really comfortable. There is no way a stock H3 is going where my Rubi has been, period.

My Rubi is used only on weekends and in 10 months I've put 10000+ miles on it. Think we like it? FYI, my other cars are a 2003 Vette and a 2004 Pilot. Not shabby vehicles to drive. The Vette got 3000 miles last year, love the Jeep.

We belong to a club and to get the real off road expeience we did a trail rated 3.5 on a scale of 1-5. We were the only unmodified vehicle and the guys were pretty impressed that we completed the run without help. 10 miles in 4 1/2 hours!

Some guys on a Jeep Forum did go wheelin with some H2s and H1s and were pretty impressed. Our trails tend to be two track and can be very narrow, no place for wide vehicles. I wheel with a tricked out Samurai and that little guy is impressive.

I really don't think you can build a Rubicon for less than Jeep charges. And have the warranty! Why would you buy a stock vehicle and then spend all that money to have it perform like a factory model.

The Jeep is fine for daily driving. About the most I do in a day is 200-250 miles, out to wheel and back. If I run over 65 the mileage plummets. I think I got about 12.5 coming back one day at 85 mph.

I'm intersted to see how the V6 performs off road. The 4 door has absolutely no appeal to me. I added rocker bars with a step and the backseat is easily accessible.

Win

My Jeep:

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I really don't think you can build a Rubicon for less than Jeep charges. And have the warranty! Why would you buy a stock vehicle and then spend all that money to have it perform like a factory model.
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I have had friends who have bought old YJ Jeeps and put 3-4k in them and they can outperform a stock rubicon easily off-road. The total cost was around 7000. That being said they're strictly off-road vehicles and impractical to drive everyday. If you do have the time you can build a much more capable off-road vehicle without too much hassle as long as you know a good mechanic. My friends lift kit 6" he got installed for 100 would have cost him 1500 to do at a jeep dealership.

Care to offer up a reason or two on why you think that?
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I hate coil springs for off-roading. I like leaf springs a lot better. with torsion bars up front.
 
My first truck was a brand new 1974 Jeep CJ-5 Renegade with Meyers steel cab, Meyers push plate bumper, and a 3-speed stick. It was ultra noisy and had a punishing ride. The AMC 304 CID V8 blew up at 32,000 miles while I was 900 miles away from home.

Drove it on and off road, across the country for the next 6 years and only got stuck once -- in deep snow. The steering was squirrely. Reliability was poor. It was easy to work on, but required frequent work. It was fun to drive until speeds hit 40 mph.

Jeeps have changed a lot since 1974. The later Jeeps pushed the wheels outside the body for more stability, added air conditioning, automatic transmission, padded dashboard, etc. Most of the small, later model Jeeps I've seen are driven by young women.
 
Here's a liberty in it's natural habitat. Poorly equipped I might say. Going to change that soon enough.

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TheKnifeCollector said:
wrenrutt: Did you make up your mind whether or not to get a Jeep?
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I got a VW Golf... more practical and I love it..the comments really helped me decide,,,thanks to everyone.
 
I've had fours jeeps a 94 YJ, a 98 cherokee sport, a 94 TJ and now a 06 jeep unlimited. I love having a jeep they have always held up well for me and I have never had any serious issues with them and I've always gotten 200,000 miles out of them before i traded them in. I use them for off roading and as daily drivers, I drive 100 miles a day round trip to work and back, the soft tops are a little louder then the hard tops but if you get full hard doors with the soft top it really quiets the jeep down, I have never had a problem with any of my soft tops leaking and they hold the heat as well as a hard top. I live in WI and keep a soft top on thruogh winter and dont have any problems, after the jeep wams up I can take my coat off in the jeep even in below 0 weather.gas milage will blow on the freeway if you start to go over 65 or 70 you will see the ga milage drop quickly. Are there better cars to commute in ? sure there are, is the jeep the worst no its not. As far as off roading goes i have never seen a stock samuri or other stock jeep type vehicle beat a stock jeep. the rubicon is a very good off road vehicle right off the show room floor for someone that is only going to do moderate off roading and you couldnt build a jeep up with everything a rubicon has for the same price as a rubicon.As far as comfort goes the 97-06 are a world of difference then the older YJs.
 
I'm still happy with the Jeep I got about a month back. Gas mileage leaves something to be desired for a four banger. The 5 speed manual trans is one of the worst I have ever driven. The noise on the highway is remarkable if not bone chilling but there is just nothing else even close to the cool factor, its just do damn fun to cruise around without a top or doors, I dont think I'll ever go back.
 
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