Anybody have a Jeep Wrangler?

[PaulB]

Way off tractors here, but there is a lot of experience on this board so I thought I would ask. Regarding the Jeep Wrangler (the one that looks like a "Jeep'), any experiencces good or bad relative to the available 4 cylinder (2.5 litre, 120 horsepower) vs. the 6 cylinder (4.0 litre, 180 horsepower) motor? The base model comes only with the 4, and is really stripped from the factory, but even with the options I need added (rear seat, radio) it still comes out a couple thousand less than the "sport" version which has the 6 cylinder. Is the bigger motor worth the cost? I do not need to satisfy my Tim Allen side with my car (I have my Kubota to do that!), but I also would spring for the bigger motor if performance and/or longevity were vastly superior to the 4 banger.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Unless you are using it as a shuttle bug on the farm get the six. Not only is freeway merging much easier, the all important low end torque for dirt roading is much greater. I thought about the 4 cyl since it's lighter and my Wrangler is eventually going to see duty behind my RV, but found the 4 cyl anemic. I'm no speed devil. Saw a 318 V8 Wrangler at a Jeep show (Chrysler built). Don't think there are any plans to make it. That would be overkill in my case (until I drove it /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif)

I have a 98 with about 20K on it.

[email]oldcarparts@mygarage.com [/email]

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Strongly recommend getting the 4.0 L 6 cylinder. The increased torque and HP will make it an all around better vehicle for both on-road and off-road. Gas mileage difference will be minimal. My mileage on 97 TJ average 15-19 mpg.

Have owned several CJ's and Wranglers from a 74 CJ5 with 304 V8 to current 97 TJ Sport. The TJ has more HP than 304 but less torque. In my view, still a better engine for everyday use. Good luck.

 

[W5FL]

Mine is a Jeep Cherokee. The 6 cylinder is a really nice engine. The 4 was not satisfactory in the Cherokee and they finally quit selling them in it. Jeep is not a troublefree car by any stretch of the imagination. Either buy a 70,000 mile, 7 yr service policy or buy something else.

At least with a Kubota, you will have something running to pull the Jeep on the trailer to take it to the dealer.

 

[Boots]

I had a 92 Wrangler for a while and it had the 4 cyl. I had no complaints with the engine power. I used it for a daily driver but finally traded it after I was plagued with transmission/clutch problems right after the warranty ran out. I do get off road quite a bit and found out quickly that my jeep did not have limited slip differential. I know the new style (TJ) has quite a few improvements over the YJ that I had, but if you go off road, make sure you get limited slip. My mileage on the 4cyl was 15city/19hwy. In spite of the tranny problems, this was the most fun and impractical machine I have ever owned, and hope to buy another one one day AFTER I buy myself a tractor.

 

[JimBinMI]

PaulB,

I had a '93 Jeep Grand Cherokee with the 4.0 liter six in it and loved that engine. My brother had an older CJ with the 4 and the six has a lot more guts. It had enough torque to pull my travel trailer that weighed close to its max. pulling weight. The best mpg I got with it was 24 highway. I hear people say that Wranglers with the six in them run like...well let's just say they run fast! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Good Luck, JimBinMI

We boys and our toys!

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Miscellaneous Mumblings...

No other choice but a Wrangler...

Once I began running out of "hair-ink", once the hair on my head got misrouted and began coming out my nose and ears instead of the top of my head, once I noticed my 140mph turbo car was languishing in the garage, once I began finally thinking of the Harley (or Norton, Yamaha etc) I wanted as a 19 year old and realized my doctor and ACCOUNTANT road them (no offense to doctors and accountants), once my wife told me if I fell off she would only hire someone to water me, once I realized I thought 60 was fast and multiple lane highways were strictly for the uneducated unwashed masses it had to be a Wrangler. True it's never been even tested, I was on a forest service road feeling like a cross between Indiana Jones and a Viking Explorer (weren't there forest roads when the Vikings came?) I realized a guy in a 4 door Mercedes sedan was FOLLOWING ME.

I like to go watch the maniacs drive in the mud in their Jeeps and dirtbikes, then go home and drive my Kubota over logs, in quags, through brush, laying waste to all that is before me. (and then trying to "fix" it up, again realizing that final grading is one of those things that separates the MEN from the men-who-think-they-are-tractor-operators! (I'm in the latter group)

The red on my "Street Kubota" Wrangler doesn't match my Kubota Orange but it's close.

Go slow, take the grey or dotted line on the map, you'll feel better. Who was that that said, "I took the less traveled road...and it has made all the difference"

del

enjoy life, anyday you can be told by your doctor...I'd be willing to bet a bunch of us are getting to the place where friends and family and acquaintances are slipping away.

[email]oldcarparts@mygarage.com [/email]

 

[PaulB]

del... it was Robert Frost. On my way to work this morning I was saying to myself "This Cavalier starts right up in the morning and runs fine, and yes it is a bit sluggish on the gas pedal and does have some rust, and is a boring automatic transmission, but it is reliable and really is all I NEED to get to work, so why not just keep it till the junkyard wouldn't take it, and get the Jeep whenever, surely this is the practical thing to do", and i am sure it is in fact the practical thing, but after reading your post, well maybe it will be time to sell the family gas miser and get that Wrangler sooner rather than later...

 

[Anonymous Poster]

An then for the real macho ego driven guys there's that $6000 conversion where they replace the body of your Wrangler with a scaled down Humvee body!

del

Hey, just for fun lets all find a Jeep board and post some Kubota comments and start talking back and forth and see how cordial THOSE guys are to the off-post invasion!

del

 

[PBMAX]

del, mabye he could wait and see if GM is actually going to produce the yuppie Hum V.../w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif...I saw it on I think it was Car and Driver on TNN...They said if they produce it the price would be around the mid 20's..It appeared to even have the same type of axel set up as a hummer...for clearence...It looked /w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif if nothing else...

Lil' Paul

Laziness is the Father of invention.../w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif