re: How reliable are Jeeps?

I have a 2014 4 dr unlimited Sahara with 71k miles.

Only thing I had to have done besides basic maintenance is the recent airbags recall(paid for) and some chain broke in my passenger automated window (covered by extended warranty). Also had thermostat sensor break (also covered by extended warranty).

I don’t go crazy off roading with mine though all the time. But it has done some off roading.

Meh.... for a teenager who isn’t gonna be putting a million miles per year on it and driving around town I think it is fine. Bought my son the same thing

as someone else mentioned check insurance rates first...the FJ maybe alot cheaper. Ive owned 3 jeeps in the past; 79, 81, and 04. I knew the older ones would need work so i can;t say lots of maintenance was unexpected. I never had any trouble with the 04 TJ. Again as someone else mentioned alot of jeep guys work on them due to off roads mishaps or they just want to change stuff out. I have zero experience with the 07 and newer JK's and JL's. You do hear of some problems with them but it is mainly due to they having so many options available now. There are tons of used jeep parts on craigslist and facebook groups if needed.

If you want to teach your son to appreciate a vehicle and have him learn some maintenance a jeep may not be a bad vehicle. Hell when i was 16 i wish i had a jeep.

Wranglers are toys. I’ve driven 50-75 of them, TJs and JKs, from bone stock to heavily modded and lifted. They all drive like shite to varying degrees on the road, they’re loud, they’re uncomfortable, unsafe at any speed etc. I would be fine to have a Jeep as a weekend vehicle, but as a daily? Kill me.

I sell used cars for a living. We see a lot of Wranglers that, for example, will be 8 years old and have 4-5 owners. People get tired of them and get rid of them, just like any other toy.

Maybe your son doesn’t know enough about cars for it to matter, or he just may not care because he’s a teenager and Jeeps are like crack to teenagers.

Re: reliablility, as others have said, they’re mechanically very simple and have covered wagon suspension, so they’re not hard to work on. Most of the issues our shop has with them are electrical, which is typical Chrysler. Also, you’ll want to watch out for oil burn and lifter issues on the 3.6 as they age.

FJs, on the other hand, are basically rebodied 2nd gen Tacomas/4th gen 4R’s, which means you’re basically guaranteeing yourself 250k miles without major issues.

Personally, I’ll trade all the Jeep bullshite for an incredibly solid, nice-driving vehicle that will hold its value better, with blind spots.

ETA i will second the votes for an Xterra. I had a 2011 for 6 years and beat the shite out of it in the mountains. Great vehicle.

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Get him a 2wd Tacoma

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Garbage

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Their V6 is really bad to spin bearings. Go on Google and search "jeep spun engine bearing" and see what all comes up.

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Why don't you actually quantify that for us, we will wait.

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Their V6 is really bad to spin bearings. Go on Google and search "jeep spun engine bearing" and see what all comes up.

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Why don't you actually quantify that for us, we will wait.

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Not sure on the new JL's but on the JK's 2007-2008's had an issue with lots of spun bearings. supposedly due to a defect on the cranks coming from a Mexican plant. In regards to other models, I dont know

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Look at nissan xterra, fj, 4 runner

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I drove an Xterra for 10 years (my first car) and then moved on to the 4Runner. Would recommend both.

Do you want him to flip? Because this is how you flip

I had a couple of things go quickly (but under warranty) like oil pump and easily five recall fixes, but my Grand Cherokee has been mostly good up to 80k miles.