I had to laugh at this, as we also have a JK.
Yes, that forum is quite different than this one, but to be fair, there's far less that needs to be upgraded/repaired on the JK, simply since it is so much newer.
In our case, we have an '03 TJ SE & a '15 JKU Rubicon.
When things start failing on the JK's owners will adjust.
I’m the worst for fun at the expense of others -
As a proper southerner you can never lift yourself up- you put others down, then say “bless their heart.” Like “@John Cooper is a duck toting pervert, bless his heart.” The word bless gets you a pass into heaven later is what we are counting on.
Truthfully, there are several dynamics going on-
With me, I like to poke fun of percieved or cultural differences- but more importantly I’m pointing at marketing strategy- in truth the success of the JK is totally because Jeep saw a new market - just like Harley Davidson did . And boy did that throw some people a curve. Amidst the heresy of change, we have to remember companies that don’t do that are often destined to fail. The landscape is littered with solid companies that failed or nearly did because they failed to adapt or adapted too slow - Schwinn, Buck knives nearly did , Wilson sporting goods, K-Mart, Sears, Big K, Hardees, JC Penny, and countless others.
To sell more of anything to the public you have to cater to the norm-and invariably the new is evil, soft and likely to lead you down a path of shame and disgrace, maybe you will end up doing things in the shadows you wouldn’t want your friends and family to know. The end is always heroin and homelessness.
The first jeep guys in big numbers were likely the CJ era guys- they smoked camels, hunted, fished, had a wife and 2 girlfriends and wore English Leather- they were men among men. There are remnants of that era still around. They would scoff at our fluffy coil spring, air conditioned, automatic transmission and reclining seat TJ world.
And here we are , with most of our posts geared around keeping them alive or fixing what someone did trying to “improve” them and staunchly defending the “last real jeep” as the 4 door crowds the highways and eclipses every civilian jeep sold to date combined in sales.
Also, to be really honest, there are many, many seriously built Jks and Jls, done by seriously capable owners.
The old eventually has to give way to the new, it is often just the ego, the pride and money invested in the old that has to be defended or people would then have to admit maybe something is better, maybe someone is smarter or just maybe they have more money or make better decisions. This is all said knowing there are strong arguments for views on all models. And I know for a fact many guys here can afford either- some of us have enough in Tjs to want to hide it from the government and some guys have both Tjs and the Jk/Jl/JT. My case is it would be fun to have one, but I have so much invested in what I have I really just don’t want to try to convince my wife to go along with it as she stands there and says “ok, sell those others then meathead”.
The sheer numbers of Jks sold make some weaknesses a little more evident, the power to weight ratio is less than stellar like the TJ, the track bar/coil spring suspension is sensitive to change just like ours, and anything made after 2006 inherently has more technology-
All that said it is one of the greatest automotive successes of our lifetimes, seats four comfortably plus cargo and drives great.
And the TJ is a fun, simpler platform that endears itself to owners as well.
As a whole the TJ does attract a crowd that is quicker to wrench, liable to get junior out of school to help install a lift, is likely predominantly male, would likely out drink and out cuss the competition and doesn’t want to get involved with any of their goofiness like angry bird grills and ducking each other . Bless their hearts.
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