Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Jeep Question

IMHO, a new style 4 dr in stock form might be OK for a kid.

Nothing lifted or of similar type having shorter wheelbase.

It aint how good a driver they are. Ice or somebody bump them at speed........can't do diddly.

Had two CJ5's back in the day. Thrashed 'em, what a BLAST! Probably a great idea to have dropped production of those.

Have driven a variety of newer Jeeps.
Probably best power, weight, wheelbase the XJ.
Had two, 5" of lift, no swaybars. Civil compared to a CJ IMHO. I beat the hell out of them, on and off road.
Pretty fun.

Older, fatter, worn out.....I run ZJ's now. Just DD and fetch deer from the woods. Last one 3.5" lift, pretty tame. Dunno if the 98 is going taller and buggy next yr.

Wrenching on Jeeps quit being fun a while back.

IIRC Chrysler took over Jeep in '87.
With CJ's rotting out in the midwest, quite a few folks got YJ's and put on CJ doghouses.
Now most of the YJs are rotting out.

My 94 ZJ rotted out, 235K miles.
Got a clean 98 (not 5.9L though). Just a 5.2

Might turn it into a wheeler next yr.
Dunno.

Depends on what doc says about my spine.

Affluent burg has Jeep dealership.
Went there to test drive the Rubicon's when they first came out.

Guy said the #1 problem they get..........people play in some mud and pressure wash the engine (hippies and yuppies don't like dirty Jeeps)........puts gremlins in electronics/sensors.

Don't do that.

I have an 89 wrangler I bought new. Has 130,000 miles in it. It has been a good vehicle

Well since this thread started we traded in our '08 Rubicon for a new one.

This new one drives way better. More power, trans has been upgraded to a five speed that works well with the little v6. It has a 3" lift and is running 35" tires from the dealer, and drives fine even on rough sections of freeway at speed. I'd have no problem letting a responsible kid drive it. It's the irresponsible adult males that seem to find limits!