Jeep wrangler

They look good, they hold the road well, they use juice like it's going out of style.

Son in laws 2012 Wrangler diesel (auto) is relatively economic, compared to the petrol version. had some minor leak issue's, that comes from swapping from hard top to soft top. Back seats cramped, from ok for me 5'8, son in law is 6'5 and he said its better than a Commodore for him.

Off road, does very well, I have driven it on a return trip of 4 hours and it was fine. Son in law parents live in Bundaberg so he travels a couple times a year from Cairns to Bundy and back.

IMHO the current swb wrangler is quite economical with the new v6 and 5 speed auto .AFAIR from driving one for a few weeks it returned about 12l per 100 km on a mix of Sydney urban andM1.

No room for luggage of course. The engine has little torque down low so changed down on M1 hills but this was no big deal as the ratios are close .
I quite liked it except the dash is high and seating low.
Despite many press test comments on deadness of steering it to me was very if not too reponsive at 110 becoming twitchy to me.
Regards Philip A

Spaanderman

Firstly a 3 litre Nissan , now a Jeep wrangler !!!!.
If you have a mate who is a mechanic talk to him.
My opinion is Toyota first than any of the Jap fourbies after that.
There are big question marks on all the common rail diesel motors .
But at least you stand a better chance with a Toyota.
As my mechanic mate has always stated , If the blinker control is on the left hand side avoid it.

Cheers

The 2.8 diesel motor in the Wranglers has been around for at least 8 years. It's in my son's 2006 Cherokee and is nice to drive and economical (sub 10 per 100km). My experience with petrol Jeeps is that they use too much fuel and they only have a smallish tank. All Jeeps are 1: great off road, 2: mostly look better than Jap cars, 3: they can have a lot of annoying problems. Things like electrical gremlins, door latches, air con or heater problems. People fall in love with them for the first 2 things and put up with the 3rd. If you don't take them off road, the love fades and the annoying problems will kill the relationship. Jeepers are a nice community, easy going....they have to be. :-)

Mate bought a used Wrangler. He sold it again after 18 mths. Problems he encountered;

1. Lack of serious towing ability
2. Poor dealer service and general lack of spare parts
3. Too much cheap plasticky trim and other small components that fell off
4. Used a lot of fuel for a 4 litre petrol engine
5. Expensive parts
6. Marginal braking system with short pad and rotor life
7. Marginal Cooling system (hot days and slow traffic meant high engine temperatures)

He never really took it "off road", I might add!

Cheers, Ron.

A work colleague who was transferred from the UK to Brisbane bought a Jeep, brand new from a dealer when he arrived here. $35k ish

After 2 yrs he was transfered back to the UK.

It was never taken off road, log-book serviced & well looked after.
He tried to sell the jeep but couldn't. He advertised it for $15k. Even the dealer he bought it from didn't want it.

He had 1 offer of $8k

I have no idea why. He had it for sale for 4mths prior to leaving. 2 days before he left he ended up selling it for about $5k I think.

This happened approx 6mths ago.