Hello! I’m looking into buying a new car in the near future, and considering a Jeep Wrangler. I’ve heard a few negative things about them, however. Any advice? Thanks!
Y’know, you could have put that and your Rav4 question in the same post.
People I know who have Rav4’s like them. People I know who have Wranglers like them. People I know who have Rav4’s use them as regular daily driver cars. People I know who have Wranglers drive them daily, but like their off road capabilities. They fish, camp, canoe, ski, and mountainbike.
Both are vehicles that cater to a specific taste, and both are different. It’s a highly personal choice.
I agree with the same mountainbike. I loved all my Jeep Cherokees but I still hate the Wrangler.
I can’t imagine dealing with a Wrangler on a daily freeway commute but they are great when used as they are suited. There is now a 4 door model that can be optioned out quite comfortably, though. Drive one on your usual routes and see how it works out. Most who own them in this area are repeat buyers for what that’s worth. I have worked on many and they are relatively reliable but the 4X4 system is an expensive system to repair and maintain.
See if you can borrow or rent a Wrangler for a few days to try it out. There is no in between, you either love them or hate them. They are great off road, but are harsh and noisy for a daily driver.
I had a Wrangler as a rental twice. Road noise was objectionable at 65 MPH, but it was fine around town. If you are not using it for high speed commuting, it could be a fun car. But there are many other fun vehicles that get a lot better gas mileage. I’d only buy one if I wanted to use it off road. It would be great for getting to a remote fishing hole or base camp for hunting or hiking. But for around town, I’d look somewhere else.
I’m with Steve. Friend had two Wranglers and loved them, even on trips. That was him. I hated riding in it so much, I volunteered to take my car and still give him travel money. Others in our profession did the same.
Pros: there are some but I don’t know them since I have driven them.
Cons: It’s a Chrysler
Seriously, just from what they are I have wanted one for years. But I do know for a fact that Chrysler’s rust quickly and easily.
Wanting to have a Wrangler is usually a life stage thing. It lasts 2-4 years. There are exceptions though. I know of a few people who have kept theirs for while. For a long commute I can’t believe they will be comfortable but comfort is a very personal thing.
Drove one for a couple years, but that was before ChryCo took it over. It was fun off road, not so much on the road. Loud, windy, and in the North, cold. There’s a huge following of the original Jeep (think CJ’s), but I think they’ve got downhill since the takeover. The only Jeep that’s worthwhile for trips is the Grand Cherokee, which can also tow a fair amount with the right motor. But, if you’re gonna buy a GC, why not just get a better SUV? You can get the same towing, capacity and comfort with better mileage in a few others - not made by ChryCo - and better reliability.
A buddy of mine used to drive them…after several miserable failures, and lots of time and money spent on repairs, he finally got rid of his GC and bought an F150. Don’t get me wrong, it was a beautiful vehicle…very nice to drive, lots of amenities, comfortable, but spending a great deal of time in the shop, and thousands of dollars in repairs was a killer.
The Liberty is OK, but small. I couldn’t find anything special about it, and I tried. For longer trips, it wasn’t very comfortable. Same friend as above had one for a couple years. He didn’t really like it after very long, either.
That’s all I’ve got. HTH…
Ever drive a John Deere lawn tractor? Driving a Wrangler is a very similar experience.
A few more negative things. The Wrangle is excellent climbing out of ditches as my friend and two time owner told me. It has plenty of practice as the short wheel base finds it spinning more often out of control on ice and packed snow, even with the archaic 4 wd engaged. Drive very slowly in slippery weather.
I have a 1998 Wrangler. Love it, to a point. For trips of more than an hour, it’s not so great. Back in Colorado, the Wrangler was the daily driver and the Subaru was for weekend and holiday road trips. Now, Bavaria is home. The Jeep is great in our nasty winters and it maneuvers well on these little European streets. But for cross country and international trips, I just take the train. And I NEVER take it on the Autobahn. It’s a great daily driver, but it’s not exactly built for speed or comfort. Whether I would recommend it depends largely on where you live and its intended use. I do a lot of off-roading. For that it’s awesome. I would also recommend a hard top. You can always get a ragtop later. In the summer and winter, the soft top has about the insulating quality of a fishing net and the fabric catches cross winds and wakes from big trucks like a sail.
The best part about Wranglers is they’re SUPER easy to work on and to accessorize. If you’re a shadetree mechanic, the Wrangler is the perfect project vehicle. It has about as many moving parts as a skateboard and most stuff you can just bolt on.
I’ve never spun mine, but then I grew up in the Colorado hills and lived in parts of the world with awful winter weather; Colorado, Alaska, Maryland and now Bavaria. So, winter driving is second nature.
I have a '95 Rio Grande Edition hard top with 175,000 miles I bought new and still use as my primary vehicle here in the Rockies, but I live in a rural area. I’m an engineer by trade and I’ve learned over the years not to mess with things too much that run well, and this thing does. I follow recommended maintenance and inspect it but never touch anything else. Like the power plant I work at. I’ve only replaced the water pump, and that was done on the original warranty, a few of the radiator hoses in recent years, and a rear transmission seal that I had to pay for after it was ten years old. About an hour job by my mechanic. My garage floor is always dry under the vehicle, except when a change of weather happens in the middle of winter. It’ll leak a few drops of oil when the temp. gets close to zero, and clears up when it goes back into the 25 degree range. It gets cold in Montana!
Otherwise, it’s a fun vehicle to take off road, and I take it to the upper lakes in the 9,000 ft. range in the forest. I’ve always been amazed what it can do. This one is like owning a tractor because it’s so reliable and has been around so long in the family I always call it ‘girl’ It’s scarrry! Happy Halloween!
"Seriously, just from what they are I have wanted one for years. But I do know for a fact that Chrysler’s rust quickly and easily. "
Where do you get that idea? Maybe in the late 70s -early 80s when the automakers bought some inferior steel. My 94 is just now starting to rust. It really depends on how well you take care of a vehicle and how much exposure it gets to road salt. (I live in the rust belt)
Personally I’d be happier with a Grand Cherokee, but that’s just me. The Wrangler is a good looking, durable off-road vehicle that’s fine for city driving. If you go on long trips, the road noise, lack of aerodynamics, harsh ride, and vague handling all make it an unpleasant highway vehicle IMHO, but that’s not what it’s meant for. Plus with a soft top, anyone with a knife that wants your belongings is in.
The GC on the other hand is almost as capable off road, and is composed and comfortable to drive in most any situation.
Oblivion…I agree that Chrysler products are no more suseptable to rust. Wranglers and purpose designed vehicles like trucks often don’t have the body drainage built in to stave off rust. I am tired if working on friends vehicles that prematurely rust because proper drainage sometimes compromises other design intent. It’s then time to apply motor oil and grease in the frame and body cavities on these types of vehicles.
It really has little to do with the steel as for the most part, all car manufacturers use inferior steel relative to rust prevention, especially in connector hardware. Proper material is often only used when longevity is mandated by govt. regulation. This is true for all manufacturers and I would never pick on Chrysler without including rust buckets built by other companies like Toyota and Honda.
Truly though, Chrysler and some other manufacturers imported some bad steel from Japan in the late 70s. Problems with frames rusting out were common, something previously unheard of. Cars that had bad steel would rust, while different model year vehicles with the same design would be fine.
I hear you “oblivion” and agree…But, my response is two fold. First, I hold no car company responsible now for what they did in the 70’s. Secondly, the design of a vehicle in this day has much more to do with drain hole location and coating precision then the steel. There is so little difference in the amount of chromium and other alloys that, drainage becomes more important. All car manufacturers use minimal rust detering alloys and thickness as they can get away with.
My proof lies in the fact that the vast majority of rust accrues precisely in the lowest areas of immediate water collection pockets. If the steel were that bad, rust would occur everywhere due to exposure to the atmosphere and where poor under coating and paint methods were practice. They did, as you say, happen with earlier exposed frames, but still do today.
ANY car that I have ever owned from any manufacturer including early Subaru (the worst)Toyota, Mazda, Chevy and Ford “rust o matics”, I have been able to maintain rust free in any area I can get my oil wand to. That tells me it’s drainage and poor preparation of metals capable of rust to begin with. All car companies but a very few use body metals that rust…
"…manufacturers imported some bad steel from Japan in the late 70s. "
I disagree. Automotive steel was quite sophisticated even then. And the Japanese were fully competitive in all aspect of steelmaking at that time. They made steel belted radials possible with their exceptional research and steelmaking capabilities.
Price controls of the Nixon administration were quite detrimental to the steel industry and the effects lasted many years.The domestic price controls together with the OPEC oil shortage was a real hardship for Detroit and all American industry and Detroit seemed to be the worst managed industry of all. Datsuns sold for $1,000 above the MSRP and the dealers would not take a 2 year old Cadillac as a trade in. Nixon put the Japanese and Chinese steel industries ahead of USS steel and caused the near capitulation of the domestic steel industry… Thankfully this thread is in the general topics.