Jeep Unlimited questions

So, somehow I have an itch to replace my '08 GTI with a Jeep Unlimited. I still have a '96 Miata as my fun car so I don't mind DD-ing a Jeep. My commute is about 16miles each way in very little traffic. Questions: 1. I need a 4 door so I am thinking '07 or newer particularly '11 or newer to get the updated interior. Is it worth getting the '11 over say '09 or '10 other than for the updated interior?

1. Is there any Model Year with more known issues compared to other MY?

2. Having asked question #2, what are the most common issues of this SUV?

3. I am not a big off road guy so I'm thinking about getting the Sahara trim instead of the Rubicon. Is the Rubicon much better than the Sahara? Should I just get the Rubicon and change the tires to a more asphalt friendly tires instead of the off road tires they install on the Rubicon?

4. Anything I should know about besides the fact that the Jeep's handling is slightly different compared to my GTI?

Thanks all.

The 2007-2011 got the old 3.8L minivan engine. The interior did get updated in 2011 but if you can swing it, I'd get a 2012+. It has the Pentastar 3.6L and a modernish 5 speed auto (6 speed manual is standard). The Sahara has the 18" wheels, painted fender flares and leather interior. The Rubicon has the Dana 44 front axle, high pressure gas shocks, electronically locking differentials, front swaybar disconnect and a better transfer case.

Some of the early 2012 builds had cylinder head issues on the 3.6L. They also used sand cast blocks and some of the sand got left behind and clogs the heater core. That issue seems pretty rare though.

The Sahara is the more road oriented but it is still plenty capable. In your case, I would pick the Saraha over the Rubicon. Look for the Max Tow package as it ups the tow rating from 2000lbs to 3500lbs. There is no mileage penalty with the auto and it is waaaaay more civilized than the six speed manual.

As far as handling, its a full frame SUV with solid axles at both ends. It will feel like an ox cart compared to your GTI. I'd drive one to make sure you can live with it everyday. The modern Wrangler is pretty nice but it is still a rugged Jeep at its core.

I have a 2012 Sport 2 door. Some days I wish I would of bought an Unlimited with the auto. More room, higher towing capacity and a nicer ride.

My wife traded her '11 GTI in on a '14 Unlimited Altitude Edition (black grill, black hood sticker, black wheels, and piano black interior trim) back in May. It has plenty of power and pretty decent road manners. It does suffer from quite a bit of wind noise at highway speeds, but that is to be expected, as it is a brick moving through the air. Go for the automatic, its a truck. you are not going to be sawing through the gears and it makes a commute much nicer.

I can't fathom wanting a jeep for a dd if you aren't going to off-road it. Ride is sucky, handling is sucky, not much room, etc

icaneat50eggs wrote: I can't fathom wanting a jeep for a dd if you aren't going to off-road it. Ride is sucky, handling is sucky, not much room, etc

It's an image thing...You wouldn't understand.

Is the Unlimited a new Jeep model I have not heard of ?

So one person traded a GTI for a Jeep and another wants to. What does that say about the GTI?

Driven5 wrote:

icaneat50eggs wrote: I can't fathom wanting a jeep for a dd if you aren't going to off-road it. Ride is sucky, handling is sucky, not much room, etc

It's an image thing...You wouldn't understand.

I'll give you I'm the ultimate uncool Middle Ages guy but exactly what image does a jeep provide?

"It's a JEEP thing"

Image? Young, hip? Used to be they MEANT you were an off-road type. Now (in Ma. at least) it means you're a 20 something girl or possibly a "dude" that wouldn't know an Air-Locker from a Foot-Locker.

I'll never understand buying a Wrangler unless you knew it was going to be used in the dirt. But then again I've said that about Discovery's too.

It's not like most GTI owners couldnt do 99% of everything they do with a base model Golf. The Jeep is the SAME way. It makes some compromises vs a 'normal' SUV to have abilities that will not be used 99% of the time. People still feel attracted to those abilities. And unlike the GTI, the Wrangler is not a tarted up version of a completely pedestrian automobile. It's built from the bottom up to do stuff most people will never do with it. If you value that then you will probably not care that it drives like a solid axle 4wd truck.

Unlimiteds are much heavier but the 2dr 3.6 Wrangler is actually about as fast as an older GTI. They will do low 15s in the 1/4! I would do whatever it took to get the 3.6/5spd over the older 3.8/4spd, and this is coming from a guy who considers himself a fan of the 3.8 and the 42rle trans. They just dont do the rest of the vehicle justice.

I'm a jeep guy, I get it. But I wouldn't buy a four door JK. Jeeps are great off road because they are small and light and agile. Unlimited jks aren't that. Jeeps became popular with people because they used to be so simple that a mediocre lawn mower mechanic could work on them, JKs aren't that. Wranglers always sucked as road vehicles but you lived with it because they were fun to wheel and great fun to pop the top in the summer. Its kind of like jeep took away all the good reasons to own a jeep with the four door. I haven't driven a 3.6 but the 3.8 was garbage, weak, wimpy, stupid, oil burning garbage. I would buy any american four door suv before the jk as a DD. If I were you I would buy an explorer or blazer or trailblazer, and buy a 4.0 tj to scratch the jeep itch.

I wouldn't do the Jeep as a DD, particularly in a softtop version, because they just are not good vehicles. (ducks rain of bottles bricks Molotov cocktails) They ride poorly, get poor fuel mileage, the softtop is useless as weather protection. A hardtop is somewhat better but not really that much. Driving the thing on the I for long distances reminds me of being in a washing machine on spin cycle with a bowling ball inside.

This may sound like I'm being a wuss, but when a full fledged family fight pulls up in a Wrangler on a 100 degree day, the A/C is cranking wide open but the only cool spot is a 'cloud' about 12" from the center A/C vents which are drooling condensation down the dash, well I have to wonder how much image is worth.

I do have to agree with one thing: if you definitely want to pursue it as a DD hold out for a Pentastar 3.6 version. Despite its problems such as the aforementioned core sand thing and some valve issues which appear to be worked out, it overall is a surprisingly competent engine which is MUCH more liveable than the old 3.3/3.8 V6. I just wish Chrysler would offer it in a 6 speed RWD Challenger...

It sounds like a Sahara would be a good fit for you. Its a really nice daily driver package.

Get the 3.6. Its an awesome motor. I loved mine. Better fuel economy and driveability than any other Jeep I've owned. Yes, even better than a 4.0.

Be prepared to deal with smugness from people that think they should decide what car you should drive. Also be prepared for other Jeepers to be smug shiny happy people because everybody knows that their choice of Jeep is the last "real" one. I dealt with that with every jeep Ive owned.

Also, the jeep wave may be silly but it makes people happy and the world needs more of that.

Why not buy a convertible car with NO PLANS to ever put the top down?

Makes as much sense as buying a 4x4 that was designed to be of the best off-road vehicles currently made with no plans to use that capability.

Is that any different than buying a Kawasaki KLR-650 knowing you won't ride in the dirt?

I'm all for driving whatever you want, it's nobody's concern but i will say there are many more sensible choices out there.

(I've owned 5 Jeeps and I STILL don't "understand")

logdog wrote: Also, the jeep wave may be silly but it makes people happy and the world needs more of that.

I drove a '99 TJ as my dd for years and I always liked the Jeep wave. I try the Miata wave (somewhat successful), the Subaru wave when I'm driving the WRX (almost never works), and the Mini/MINI wave when I drive the Mini (works if the MINI people see me, most of the time they are oblivious).

I've even tried to start up the Econoline wave, but that one so far hasn't taken off.

Just like any group of enthusiasts, you've got good folks and D-bags, smug D-bags are not synonymous with Jeep drivers, though you do tend to remember the D-bags, when they do D-bag things better than the good folks. I've had interactions with the entire spectrum, but in my experience, they generally skew toward the okay side of good folks.

I've never initiated the "Jeep wave," I think it's silly, but I'm antisocial, even in on coming traffic, but I almost always reciprocate at least a friendly gesture, couple fingers off the steering wheel, head nod, maybe a wave.

I DD'd a soft top, 4 banger, auto TJ for 6 years, and then off and on for another 3 or 4 years. I'll agree it would not be my first choice as an ONLY vehicle, far from it. Wind noise, and NVH will flat wear you out on long trips, fuel economy sucks, and getting passed by everything else on the interstate is depressing.

My soft top only really leaked after it was worn out, unless the wind was strong enough to bow the soft upper half doors out. I put a Bestop Replace-a-Top on and was good as new until a tree fell on it in an ice storm. I'd sure pick a hard top as my first choice though.

I've got limited experience with the JKs, but they seem to be much more supple than the previous Wranglers. Even at that, they're still an ox cart with some road manners. I'd own a 12+ 2 door JK Rubicon in a heart beat, but I would have any number of more fuel efficient, and comfortable vehicles to commute daily or road trip in.

• Lee

Thanks for the input guys. I'll focus my search on '12 model with the Pentastar 3.6 engine. I'm more of an autocross guy (hence my Miata) but I'll definitely try some light off road. Why the hell then do I want a Jeep? Honestly I am not sure why. Well, at least the it holds value really well so worst case if I don't like it I should be able to sell it quickly and not lose too much money if I buy it right. I bought my '08 GTI used in 2010 and got an awesome deal that even if I sell it to Carmax now I'll lose only about $4K after about 4yrs/32kmiles use.

My wife DDs a 2012 two door arctic edition wrangler, previous to that her DDs were 03 Mustang Mach 1, Solstice gxp coupe, Solstice Gxp vert, Audi cab, and 2 door Cherokee. I think out of all of them she loves the wrangler the most. It's loaded, has a hard top ( with removable targa section), and is actually a pretty nice place to spend time in. The bonus for me is I can take it off-road when I want, but we have eight 4x4s, so the wrangler doesn't see as much off-road action as some of the others.

I can't stand bland and boring cars, so we don't own any. My DD is a k1300s motorcycle. I say if you want the Jeep go for it. They have excellent resale so if you decide it's not your thing it'll be an easy sell.

Other observations: she averages 21-22 with the 3.6 which I'm pleased with for something shaped like a brick and where the primary driver doesn't drive with any concern for economy.

The comment about the hardtop being only marginally better than the hard top or 'freedom top' in our case is absolutely ridiculous. We've owned both and the current hardtop is light years ahead....no question.

ebonyandivory wrote: Why not buy a convertible car with NO PLANS to ever put the top down? Makes as much sense as buying a 4x4 that was designed to be of the best off-road vehicles currently made with no plans to use that capability. Is that any different than buying a Kawasaki KLR-650 knowing you won't ride in the dirt? I'm all for driving whatever you want, it's nobody's concern but i will say there are many more sensible choices out there. (I've owned 5 Jeeps and I STILL don't "understand")

'Sensible' and 'practical' disappear from my mind when I shop for cars, bikes, etc. it's way more fun that way.

Cotton wrote: 'Sensible' and 'practical' disappear from my mind when I shop for cars, bikes, etc. it's way more fun that way.

I agree completely. As seen by my years of daily-ing a Samurai with a spring-over, double-low transfer case, plastic racing seats from Spider-Trax, 33" Super Swampers, no doors, no top and no tailgate. It was my only vehicle for a long time.

It was neither practical nor sensible. But if I built that Samurai with no intentions to take it off road? THAT'D be senseless.

Cotton wrote:

ebonyandivory wrote: Why not buy a convertible car with NO PLANS to ever put the top down? Makes as much sense as buying a 4x4 that was designed to be of the best off-road vehicles currently made with no plans to use that capability. Is that any different than buying a Kawasaki KLR-650 knowing you won't ride in the dirt? I'm all for driving whatever you want, it's nobody's concern but i will say there are many more sensible choices out there. (I've owned 5 Jeeps and I STILL don't "understand")

'Sensible' and 'practical' disappear from my mind when I shop for cars, bikes, etc. it's way more fun that way.

Wouldn't "sensible and practical" lead to either a Prius or a Minivan in most cases?

I've got about 13k miles on my 2012 JK. I've never had the soft top leak, even in the deluges we get in south Florida. The only time the interior gets wet is when I forget the top is down and we get sudden storms (again south Florida). I know the hard top makes the interior quieter and more secure. You can even buy insulation kits that make a ton of difference. Sometimes I wish I had a hard top, like on long freeway drives but for the most part, I am completely satisfied by my soft top.

The Freedom Top is like the best of both worlds. You can remove the front section for that open air feeling but it is still a hard top. One thing to look for is leaks. The JK forums are rife with complaints of water leaks. The panels fit together very specifically and if you don't get it right, they will leak.

I only have a couple of qualms about my JK. One is the lack of towing capacity. The 2 doors are capped at 2k lbs. I'm pretty sure that is due to the short wheelbase. The other one is the A/C. It works but it takes awhile to cool the cabin. I bought a Bestop Soft Top headliner on clearance to try and cut down on the heat.

the 3.8 was garbage, weak, wimpy, stupid, oil burning garbage

I think it's funny someone would call the 3.8 an oil burner and then recommend a 4.0.

Ask 20 million caravan owners how many of their airboxes are full of oil and you will probably get almost 20 million confused looks.

People who question the practicality of a Jeep confuse me. It's not about practicality, it's about smiling. Smiling when you walk out to it in the morning because it makes you happy. Smiling driving with the top and doors off because it makes you happy. Smiling because you can look over at the person in a Camry in traffic and gloat because they drive a Camry and you drive a Jeep and you're awesome and they're lame.
Cars making people happy is the best thing a car can do. It is a cars highest purpose. Jeeps do it well.