Thread: Has anyone bought a Jeeeeep

The one and only brand new car I have ever owned was a Jeep scrambler, CJ8, I think they called it. A ute (under)powered by an isuzu 4 cylinder diesel. Couldn't get rid of it quick enough.
Also had a Jeep cherokee 3.7 litre v6 pertrol, auto transmission couldn't handle the soft beach, always over heated. I don't have a lot of faith in jeeps these days after seeing one burn to the ground a couple of years ago.
As has been said before freelanders are a good little car. Subaru ?

Originally Posted by workingonit

Hard to tell where your own kids interests are going to take them, if your own youth is any guide.

A soft roader will be a good all round compromise, but from my experience, for not much beyond poorly maintained public dirt roads, sand drifts and maybe beach. In 2012 took a work mate in his then new Grand Vitara and my old Disco 1, both bog standard, to a spot on the upper Adelaide River. Was a very mild bush track. On return to the main road we found the Vitara rear fender was torn off its steel bracing on the bottom edge and the nudge bar via its chassis mounts had been pushed into the bonnet! Just no worthwhile ground clearance for even the easy stuff. Front suspension was very limited, with traction control having to be coaxed into action. I think it had dual range, but you wonder why?

I resolved the vehicle issue for my daughter and son by getting them a cheap Disco1 Tdi each. Prado or Pajero would have been nice, but too much for my pocket, plus rust. No garage room for so many vehicles - who cares if the Disco spends all year outside in the weather. Having 'twisted' my daughters arm a little over the issue also means she now has some savings!!!!

Work mate had a Wrangler, maybe 2006-ish. Nice to drive with the top down, but limited fuel range (fuel consumption combined with smallish tank) and limited carrying capacity. The new four doors look the role as a serious 4x4, although what is with the park bench that doubles as a front fender?

I'd do everything I could to stop my kids driving a top heavy "body on chassis" type 4wd. A 2000'ish model 5star safety car can be purchased cheaply these days. If they "had' to have somehting that looked like a **** tank ... ie: "boxy like a 4wd"... I'd probably go renault scenic or similar... ie: something very much "pretending" to be a 4wd.

The likelyhood of them needing a real 4wd would be so remote .... that if it ever happened I'd point at the old Rangie and say "your driving that there .... Your feeding it, bring it back when your done".......... Given they'd be feeding it, it would be back approximately 90seconds after they'd finished offroad That way if it gets bogged/broken, there not going to destroy it trying to get it back to suburbia. How would you drag one of the "no chassis" type pretend 4wd's out of a bog hole without breaking it

I don't get this "fashion" where everyone wants a 3ton **** tank to be seen in

seeya,
Shane L.

Originally Posted by DoubleChevron

hell would freeze over before my kids would be driving a top heavy "body on chassis" type 4wd. A 2000'ish model 5star safety car can be purchased cheaply these days. If they "had' to have somehting that looked like a tank ... ie: "boxy like a 4wd"... I'd probably go renault scenic or similar... ie: something very much "pretending" to be a 4wd.

The likelyhood of them needing a real 4wd would be so remote .... that if it ever happened I'd point at the old Rangie and say "your driving that there .... Your feeding it, bring it back when your done".......... Given they'd be feeding it, it would be back approximately 90seconds after they'd finished offroad That way if it gets bogged/broken, there not going to destroy it trying to get it back to suburbia. How would you drag one of the "no chassis" type pretend 4wd's out of a bog hole without breaking it

I don't get this "fashion" ............

seeya,
Shane L.

So who's talking about 3 tonne boxy 4WD's. The original post was asking for info on small, economical soft roaders. Big difference I think. Perhaps you'd better go back to the start and read again.

As to a Renault Scenic - we had one in our "office fleet" in Perth. It generally got left parked in a corner under the office as nobody wanted to drive it. Was certainly one of the worst pieces of garbage I've driven for a while. Has since been replaced with a new Commodore - which is a much better car.

And - "How would you drag one of the "no chassis" type pretend 4wd's out of a bog hole without breaking it " - quite easily actually, if you know what you're doing. But I probably wouldn't attempt to do it with a Renault.

Originally Posted by BMKal

So who's talking about 3 tonne boxy 4WD's. The original post was asking for info on small, economical soft roaders. Big difference I think. Perhaps you'd better go back to the start and read again.

As to a Renault Scenic - we had one in our "office fleet" in Perth. It generally got left parked in a corner under the office as nobody wanted to drive it. Was certainly one of the worst pieces of garbage I've driven for a while. Has since been replaced with a new Commodore - which is a much better car.

And - "How would you drag one of the "no chassis" type pretend 4wd's out of a bog hole without breaking it " - quite easily actually, if you know what you're doing. But I probably wouldn't attempt to do it with a Renault.

I meant getting them Disco's. Scenic... I mean anything like them ...eg: the little "normal" cars they have tried to jack up and make boxy looking so they'll appeal to the women that want 3ton **** tanks, but can't afford one.

There's no way I'd ever want a pretend 4wd eg: rav4/scenic/etc... A family wagon would be way nicer to drive with similar space .... but pretend 4wds are certainly going to be far safer handling and crash wise than a body on chassis 4wd. A lot of accidents with beginner drivers are single vehicle/highway speeds.... where big 4wd's suck the worse ( big 4wds are best in accidents in town where they basically destroy the smaller car they hit ).

I really don't understand why people want to drive big heavy 4wds as a shopping trolley.... Don't they enjoy driving There's so many "fun" cars you could be driving rather than a truck.

seeya,
Shane L.

Forget the Jeep. Tell her to get something reliable like a Nissan X-Trail, Honda CR-V or Toyota RAV-4.

My wife's work collegue has owned the small jeep (I think patriot) diesel and has had very little issues at all with it and it is very good fuel wise km/100ks.

My daughter has the top of the range SRT (what a weapon) 6.4ltr hemi V8 crap fuel economy but has had no issues so far. Oh because it is a fully imported model they cannot supply the factory roof bars for it here only the crap looking after market ones so she goes with out.
Servicing is what you would normally expect with the high end car.
cheers

Go a jeep wrangler, preferably the 2.8tdi as it will be more economical.
I had an older 2000tj and it was fun to drive, the soft tops have zero security but the options list is longer than a defenders and cheaper. Bars, sliders , lift kits, wheels/tyres. They even have/had a "city pack" which has a lot of chrome blingy bits like the grille and a twin chrome front nudge bar. They also all have ABS and dual airbags.
Being your in Darwin, the majority of prangs are in town with DUI, get a bulbar, sliders and a rear bar and if she does higher K's look into a longrange tank. This was highlighted when the open speed limit was dropped several years ago and deaths actually went up. They investigated location and cause, some of the main ones where DUI, unregoed, fatigue with speed way down the list.
There are numerous filterkits online,same a TD5 landies, just beware the Mopar oil prices as they are severe.
Jeep Wrangler 2 8L Turbo Diesel CRD 2007 ON AIR OIL Fuel Filter KIT JK 2 8 Pack | eBay

I did not choose the Disco for the '3 tonne **** affect' - I chose it for the '2 tonne **** affect'. My kids had no choice initially - no money, no jobs, no vehicle **** options. I agree, its a waste of time buying a 2 wheel drive vehicle that looks like a proper 4x4. We go boat fishing, camping etc so its also useful to have a contingent of 4x4 handy, rather than just one for the whole family that might be stuck somewhere.

I chose the Disco 1 for each of my kids as they were a good all rounder for the price (the vehicles) - on average $3500 a piece, with less than 200,000km on each, and I can service/replace/rebuild everything myself bar the auto box (but I'll give that a try one day). And as previously indicated they weather OK, bar the clear coat (fur coat? ) The full time 4x4 is also handy for the heavy rain on highway and slushy dirt roads in the wet (we live rural).

They are third party insured, which covers everyone else. Comprehensive insurance for 'P' platers was going to be quite expensive until I was asked about accessories. Once the insurer realised the accessories outweighed the value of the base vehicle they declined comprehensive. Assuming the kids are OK in a prang then I'm not worried if the vehicles get badly damaged as I have two more Disco's over to which I can transfer stuff.

The Disco is the same length as my wifes 1991 Corolla. And when compared to a small car the Disco can carry far more and has better visibility.

Encap gave both the Disco 1 and Corolla of that same era a rating of 1 - the lowest safety score. Monash University (I think it was) studies real life accidents in Australia and NZ and rated the Disco 1 as 5 (top score) while the same Corolla persisted with a score of 1.

In standard tune Disco 1 are not speed machines and dampen enthusiasm to drag which is good in my books for young drivers. Good with urban traffic and a reserve for highway overtaking.

Reasonably economical with approx 10kms per litre around town.

I have no trouble getting Disco parts from Brisbane in about 4 days - compared to over 2 weeks for a brake booster for the Troop Carrier, one of the common vehicles in Darwin!

And I will soon have a Range Rover Classic with 4bd1t to point them to as well - finally found someone who could make me the adaptor shaft and casing to take the MSA box to the LT230, yeee haaa.