Thread: HE BOUGHT A JEEP

Originally Posted by Homestar

Don't jinx yourself!

I said that once about my L322 - it cost me $7K a few days later...

Well I guess I did!! but not the jeeps, the lander. The seat recline motor died! not died because it still goes down but not up! LOL

The guy who bought my 240,000km 15 year old D2 had bought a new $46,000 Jeep three weeks earlier, not sure what model. Anyway, soon after taking delivery of the Jeep the brakes failed and he narrowly avoided crashing it. Returned it to the dealer who couldn't replicate the problem and suggested the new owner take it back - naturally he wasn't keen to drive something which had already exhibited a serious and unrectified fault. Jeep wouldn't take it back so he sold it and bought my D2.

Hello. i enjoyed reading this thread and saw it started so long ago, plateaued and then came back to life again recently. I've had the pleasure of owning three Jeeps over a number of years. I've had 10 Landrovers over a longer time. I have 4 of the Landrovers at home now and have had one lemon in all of that- a 6 cylinder Landrover Series 3 wagon, but all of the Jeeps were fabulous. The first Jeep was the "real" Cherokee- the big square wagon the size of a 60 Series Canned Loser except it out engineered that thing in every single respect. The roof was 100 mm lower than a Poo-troll or Loser yet had more ground clearance on 15 inch rims and tyres. It had a good undercarriage and some of the best running gear in Dana and a New Process 4 speed gearbox. It could turn its quite large body around in about 11 and a bit metres and had ability to spare when off road. It drove at 17 mile per gallon and towed at 15 and I was a little upset when it was traded in. I was devastated when the 2.8 diesel Rollux that replaced it pulled less, drank more and turned around in a lot more space yet it was considerably smaller in size. Engineering... oh what a feeling..... mediocrity.
The next Jeep was the XJ Cherokee diesel that replaced that Rollux 6 months later... happily. Its only fault was its own physical size. We outgrew it as a family so it was traded on a new Jeep Commander in 2006. That was the update of the older big Cherokee and a great vehicle. It was let down by the 17 inch tyres as they were fairly new in 4wd circles and all that was available were highway rated tyres. Apart from a flat battery we had no dramas at all with it.
However, I wouldn't get a newish Jeep as I just don't like the looks of them. Reliability wise, having to drive all manner of makes and models for work I'm finding all makes and models of new stuff are playing up as they're cheaply and lightly built cars masquerading under tougher looking sheet metal and are fit only to be pretend vehicles in an urban environment. Utes can't get close to carrying their rated loads off the factory floor without major suspension work and the engines in anything are only tolerably economical while the thing (ute or wagon) is empty and on a highway. It's sad to see everybody embracing this mediocrity.... and enthusing about it. I'll keep my old Isuzu Landrover tray-back thank you, and am looking to supplement any wagon work with a big old Cherokee again. It's such a shame they're so thin on the ground.
I love my Landrovers, but I love my Jeeps too.

Are you referring to the chassis SJ or the re-issued 94- xj version?
My uncle has an xj and he feels about it the same as you do about your s3

I like the old 2 door sj look from about 74. A lot of character, like 2 door rrc. Certainly not the prettiest, but purposeful.

Good luck finding one though - apparently they are as equally sought after as early 2 door rrc's... Would be nice with a transplant modern hemi, 722.6 and quadratrac 2, but a lot of work... And money...

Why did you hate your s3 so much? And what was the unmentionable? An alfa?

It was a chassis model SJ 4 door. The Sportsman. It was white with rear quarter go fast stripes in tan, brown and orange wit Sportsman in blue. Looked a bit better than it sounds. Originally a 6 cylinder Rambler but a 308 Holden blue V8 when I bought it. A few people said it looked (& sounded) like an overrated pose machine until it got into the bush and was basically unstoppable.
I'd be reasonably content leaving another one stock for awhile if I found one until I knew what I wanted to do with it.
It was sadly replaced with a 2.8 diesel Hilux. It was reliable I must say but so so boring...... and thirsty, slow, uncomfortable, cramped and mediocre in the bush. That's the unmentionable.
The Series 3 was just one of those things that was doughy,slow thirsty and always seemed to need work. It was a 9 seater 6 cylinder with a screaming Fairey overdrive and the only Landrover in my 10 I've ever been glad to be rid of.

I'd have one of these J8's if they sold them to the public.

http://www.jeepolog.com/UserFiles/en...oad%20test.htm

Pricey

Personally I'm not a fan of the Wrangler front and never have been, but the engineering of the simple Jeep is awesome straight out of the box, and that J8 looks capable. It does read well with good specifications. It's a preference thing and in that I liked the big square Cherokee and the squareness of the Commander also hit the mark aesthetically for me.
I always wanted to test the Commander as it came with 17 inch low profile highway terrain tyres from new and there wasn't anything in that tyre size at that time that was remotely off road friendly. It had an awesome V6 Mercedes diesel engine and a 5 speed auto with good low low gearing, so had the potential to be an awesome off road machine with just a bit of clearance. Now there are kits for lifting it and fixing the small issues they had, and I miss it.
They were a little better put together than a Defender- they felt like a nice solid quiet car- but they were two different types of vehicles in a similar configuration, yet possibly equally as good in the rough stuff. I would most likely be pretty happy with either.

2 words: Wrangler Hellcat

Gimme gimme. Come to poppa!