Vman
JK Enthusiast
Absolutely on the smile factor. That was my point. The jeep does things nothing will.in terms of capability or fun My FJ, Z71 and FX4 are more comparable to my mach one than my Rubicon. And the Rubicon isn't stupid bad on road either unless it's been screwed up with poor fitting tires and lift. I took mine to the east coast a few times. Cruise on 80 or 85. Couldn't hear myself think and didn't get to pass up many gas stations but it handled just fine. I took mine to Tellico about a week after I got it. Lol. But even majority of jeep owners (ones who don't trade to keep a warranty) will admit reliability is pretty abysmal. There are a million gm, Ford, and Toyota with 300k that still have miles left. The aforementioned FJ, z71 and fx4 will see 300k. Ive taken engines out of gm and ford and Toyota with 300k and put into other vehicles. No way id take out any Mopar engine made after the LA blocks (318,360) with 300k and offer any warranty. Not even the 4.0 which I like. Usually I'm taking a hemi out of one with 150k and rusted apart and putting into a ram with 150k and a good body. Lol. The last one I did this year was 2 identical ram with 200k one rusted apart. When I pulled the donor I found out that the engine in it was a 360. It already had one engine in 200k. Ive run a shop and my family have car sales lots. It's incredibly rare to see a Mopar (especially a wrangler) that is decent mechanically after 150k unless it's all replaced. Rare to see a subaru, Toyota, Honda, GM, or Ford ( truck based vehicles) fail before 300 Mechanically. A company I deal with builds majority of the emergency vehicles in the USA, and several abroad. They dropped Dodge many years ago. It seems when ambulances are reliable....people get mad. They still have Nissan,GM, Ford and Mercedes.
Things like Tipm, constant head gaskets, misfires and transmission problems have plagued the jeeps since they dropped the 4.0. Coupled with the fact that the company changes hands and new engine transmissions and designs come by the time the first problems are ironed out.... hasn't helped. My little anemic 3.8 has been ok though. And my 6 speed is fine. I drive several old vehicles, many with I beams and straight front axles. Death wobble is just a thing. Lol .
And yeah....buying a used BMW or Rover is about bottom of the barrel. (Or Nissan with CVT) I have a friend who bought an x5 with 200k. Super fun ride. But in two years he has put 10k in parts. Lol. I had a neighbor with a twin turbo v10 (m something) . That sucker was a beast and nice too. He drove a duramax for his reliable car though wife drove a Denali. Lol
I dunno, I just think a lot of it is anecdotal and due to poor maintenance (generally speaking).
Ford certainly had it's issues with the Tritons and their ecoboost. Even Honda with it's VTC actuators.
I'll be the first to admit there are definite issues with the pentastar, and they've made poor choices in the powertrain with the transmissions and/or gearing. Lot of that though is due to modifications with people lifting and sticking on larger tires and expecting it to be fine though.
With about 1% of all vehicles going over 200k annually, we're dealing with a tiny fraction of vehicles anyway. I doubt most people keep cars a lifetime like they used to.
My wife has a mini cooper, so I'm well aware lol. Wanted to buy a samurai sword to commit ritual suicide after replacing the power steering pump, lines, reservoir and cooling fan.