Rock crawling is only one very limited application to four wheeling. I have no interest in it. What I want is a rig that can drive at a decent speed while providing a smooth ride over rough terrain.
The best rig I have ever ridden in for that was an old military Jeep. It was a USAF rig loaded up with over $100K of radios. We used to control aircraft over the drop zone in the pre-Hummer days. This Jeep was very top heavy due to the heavy radio equipment it carried. I didn't like driving it over 50 mph on the pavement. However, it rode superbly over rough ground at decent speeds.
The Z-71s I owned alo had a fantastic ability to travel at a decent speed over rough terrain. They were capable of much higher speeds than were the straigt axle rigs I have owned and drove in/ridden in.
For several years my wife's car was a '74 Jag XJ-12 with a Chevy 350 I built and a 700R4 tranny. The Jag had four wheel independent suspension, and was
very stable at high speeds. Also, the guys I have talked to who have driven Hummers only complained about the ones with armor and a mounted M-2 (50 cal) machine gun in terms of being top heavy.
As such, I guess I just don't buy the 4 wheel IFS being inherently unstable at freeway speeds or consider it's not so great rock crawling performance as an issue. It is all in how you set it up. Yes, I want more "Baha-like" performance out of a hunting rig than rock crawling. As such, IFS is the way to go. BTW, they make some really beefy CV joints. Check this out:
http://www.bigelowgroup.com/ 
