Okay, I am a guy who just retired. I have owned a lot of different vehicles. Porsche, Audi, Camero, Cutlass, Fiat, Toyota, Aerostar Van, Pickups, GMC Jimmy Envoy, Cadillac, Tahoe, and Xterra to name a few.
I now live in the Phoenix valley where many people are Wrangler nuts.
Jeep has a classic tough 4 wheel drive vehicle — The Wrangler.
There is the Wrangler in various models. Sport at the bottom, Rubicon at the top. There are also various appearance packages, one of which is the Sahara. All Wranglers are two door and small back end and wheel base.
There is also the Wrangler Unlimited in various models. Sport at the bottom, Rubicon at the top. There are also various appearance packages, one of which is the Sahara. All Wrangler Unlimiteds are four door with the longer wheelbase.
All 2016-7 Wranglers and Wrangler Unlimiteds are 6 cylinder. A better engine than the prior engines before 2010. All Wranglers come base with rag tops which are insecure, hard to deal with and glorious for the outdoors.
The hard tops can be substituted or purchased as an option which are a bitch to store and a bitch to mount (two strong men and a donkey). They can also be had on a new vehicle instead of the rag top.
Jeeps leak oil or have bad seal or gasket problems. Some people say hardly ever, some people say weekly. If it is tough to be in the dealer for repairs, this might not be your vehicle.
If you want to Rock Crawl up mountain or canyon roads or drive though a low-water crossing with 8” of water over it for around 30k, this IS your vehicle. It is also good in deep snow but so is a lot of other things. You want to run gravel back roads twice every week a used Toyota CJ or a truck might be better.
If you drive the interstate a lot or like a quiet ride this is not the vehicle for you.
I like the interstates but I like the back roads and a rigid frame vehicle. I cross medians and drive over curbs. I drive up fire roads and across fields. I bought a two wheel drive Xterra which they no longer make. Got the cheap model and put Killer tires on it — 10 ply Alpine Mountain rated KO2s.
It goes through snow like 4 wheel drive and still rides on the interstate at 80mph. It does not go through soft sand washes and certain things that are 4 wheel drive mandatory but I do climb up mountains on fire roads.
You need to explain what you want this vehicle to do.
Go through a blizzard?
Rock Climb?
Tow?
Rescue
Be a Ice breaker with guys?
Highway driver?
As the only vehicle?
These are special purpose vehicles that are like no other. I had guys that worked for me that would not own anything else in Arizona. I had others that keep one as a weekend toy and drive a nice small truck other days. These are not trucks, SUVs, travel vehicles, vehicles with locked trunks — these are for crossing terrible terrain like no other vehicle.
I have a somewhat odd situation myself, I'm looking for an auto trans 4WD vehicle that can be flat towed (no dolly, all four wheels on the ground) behind a motorhome. The automatic is so the women in my life can drive it. Need to keep it around or hopefully even under 3,500 lbs. Would prefer soft top for open air driving when weather permits.
There is, as far as I can tell, only one vehicle that fits that profile whatsoever. The 1999-2004 Chevy Tracker, and the previous Geo Tracker/Suzuki Sidekick. I know nothing about them. I do know what I'm looking for is hard to find and more expensive than it should be, because of others buying them for the very same reason I'm looking for one.
Another thing that bugs me is the styling. I'm leaning 2nd gen due to it being a little more civilized as far as creature comforts, and it has more modern safety equipment. But, it's the epitome of a "cute ute." Bleh. I did manage to find photos of a mildly customized one that I wouldn't feel emasculated driving, and feel pretty confident that the look can be achieved without breaking the bank. Well, maybe that top would be a little on the ka-ching side, the fit of it is much better than factory, so it's custom and it looks like Haartz cloth. I could do without the pink ZR2 sticker, too, lol.
