The Jeep Wrangler is going to be a fairly harsh vehicle as far as noise (wind, road, engine) compared to most other remotely comparable vehicles, and the ride will not be as smooth. It’s intended to be a fairly rugged body and interior, and for the most part it is. It has an excellent 4WD system for off-roading. There are better 4WD or AWD systems for poor traction situations on pavement, for instance Subaru, but the Jeep is still no slouch even there.
The issue is Chrysler, and AMC before them. Build quality hasn’t been all that great. Seems to be spotty, some have a great experience, others have bad ones.
The automatic transmission sounds to me as if it could be a problem area. I know personally of an instance where a couple rented an automatic Wrangler out on the Outer Banks of NC, so they could go into the 4WD areas with no roads, that’s where many of the best beaches are. The vehicle was practically brand new, the transmission failed while in their possession. Dealership tried to blame them for abusing the vehicle. They didn’t. Dealership finally dropped it after unwanted publicity. Chrysler has been known to build questionable automatics for years.
There are far more people who have Wranglers who love them, than there are people who hate them and regret it. If you like the look, don’t mind it being a little industrial and a little rough, then I say go for it. One thing that would be good to have, would be a complete service and repair history. Logs, detailed service records. Not just CarFax. Better still would be to know the owner who is selling it, that kept those logs and records.
Automatics and CJs never went well together. Throw in that abysmal Quadratrac and have a recipe for problems.
A lady that is in the building across from me has a Chrysler minivan that is about paid off. According to her the transmission makes loud noises sometimes and acts really strange but the mechanics can’t find the problem.
I guess Chrysler could never copy the C4/6 or the Turbo 350.