They should have made TJs until 2010!

Jeep ought to make a smaller Jeep...with the way the side by side market is exploding...if they offered a 20k to 30k street legal Jeep SxSish the market would eat it up.

Bonus points for offering propulsion methods for all... electric... hybrid...gas and diesel...flux capacitor...

-Mac
 
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Arthurius said:
largely what the CJ/YJ/TJ was
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Well one thing you have to consider is they weren’t selling enough to keep the company afloat- Americans were getting accustomed too nicer and nicer vehicles even in small 4wd trucks - I think it’s possible if the YJ had of had Round headlights and A little more traditional styling along with the better interior that it would’ve been better for jeep - But really there were two things going on at the same time, Lee Iococca was trying to save the vehicle and the company- So the TJ became the platform to increase sales and it was successful enough that they decided if they can make it roomier and a little more family friendly that It will be a hit- I don’t think they had any idea how massively successful it was going to be- I bet if you asked them they wouldn’t change much of anything-

At the same time in light of what you are saying I have also always thought they should have offered, maybe in the Rubicon trim package, A sturdy simpler version that was more readily modified -

I have questioned what would the vehicle be to day had general motors or Ford purchased the company-

Also rather than they should’ve made it until 2010 my feeling is they should’ve updated the motor In the early 2000s in maybe would have increased demand enough to consider extending production-

The 3.8 caravan engine as disliked as it is made its way into a lot of vehicles that sold really really well- And established the wrangler platform in the four-door very successfully- I’m not a proponent for it I’m just amazed at how successful they can be with something that is no better than it is sometimes.

Jeep owners have always been willing to tolerate a lot of odd things in order to be a jeep owner- People will go to great lengths or do all sorts of things to have fun- And having a jeep is so fun.
 
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Arthurius said:
I think the Wrangler line should have stayed largely what the CJ/YJ/TJ was. I think when Jeep decided to expand their most heavily cherished utility vehicle into a more diverse market share they made a mistake. If I was king I would have kept the new Wrangler generation unchanged and released a vehicle like the JK as the re-release of the Cherokee. The JK almost looks like an upscaled XJ.

That would have freed up their smaller SUV's to be their economical options and the Grand Cherokee could have filled the role of a large family vehicle. I think this would have gave them the same kind of diverse control of the SUV market that they had in the 80's and 90's. Instead through the late 00's and 10's they've released largely unremarkable vehicles. Imagine if they released a new generation of TJ with a mild diesel option from the factory? And then dropped the 'Cherokee' JK?? The market would have ate it up.
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The JK/JKU saved their ass and the sales numbers paint the picture of success for Jeep corp. Kind of hard to argue money.
 
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macleanflood said:
Jeep ought to make a smaller Jeep...with the way the side by side market is exploding...if they offered a 20k to 30k street legal Jeep SxSish the market would eat it up.

Bonus points for offering propulsion methods for all... electric... hybrid...gas and diesel...flux capacitor...

-Mac
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I believe some of the sXs offerings have better approach and departure angles, 33's, and a lot more suspension travel than the JL, even more more than the TJ.

But Jeep has a small offering that comes in under budget, the two door JL.
 
Fouledplugs said:
The JK/JKU saved their ass and the sales numbers paint the picture of success for Jeep corp. Kind of hard to argue money.
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I'm not saying it didn't, i enjoyed my JKU. But I'm not sure it was the natural, next generation of the Wrangler. In seems more in line with the XJ than a TJ, and the Cherokee re-release has been plagued with poor reception and performance. I think they should have held the Cherokee nameplate for the JK, and kept the Wrangler as the compact utility vehicle it is.
 
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csaxj3 said:
Asian QC is far better than US QC.

Well based on my limited sample size.
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I can't disagree, but I'm sad about it. I'm not sure about Stellantis QC (current Jeep parent company headquartered in Amsterdam) but I guess that most profits on JL sales don't end up in the US even though they are manufactured on shore. I grew up in Detroit at a time when a lot of Americans were figuring out that Japanese cars were often a better product and it was difficult to watch the economic effects of that.
 
Fouledplugs said:
But enthusiest rant about wanting just that. Simple, minimul, and easy to work on. :unsure:
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So true brother even my beloved simple two stroke dirt bikes are now fuel injected and I don’t even know where to look under the gas tank if there’s a problem-

Really the YJ Was not that far off from where they needed to go To make the CJ A better daily driver-

I don’t know what point a manufacture gets to where they decide to scrap something and start over, But the TJ Was the jeep unlike anything before it- probably long-term the coil spring / control arm suspension was the direction they were looking to build

It would really be interesting to see how suspension designs make it to the marketplace-

The Rubicon itself was fought for it just was not an obviously” let’s do this deal” - Motor trend did a good story called almost canceled the jeep Rubicon story
 
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Enthusiasts no longer drive automotive design. For every enthusiast who really wants a small, solid axle f/r, easy to work on vehicle (low profit margin), there's 10 people who'll buy a brand new Rubicon and never take it offroad (high profit margin). Plus enthusiasts are way more likely to buy used.

Same thing happens with manual transmissions- enthusiasts beg and beg for them but won't don't buy them new, so the manufacturer has no incentive to sell them.
 
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Duredel said:
Enthusiasts no longer drive automotive design. For every enthusiast who really wants a small, solid axle f/r, easy to work on vehicle (low profit margin), there's 10 people who'll buy a brand new Rubicon and never take it offroad (high profit margin). Plus enthusiasts are way more likely to buy used.

Same thing happens with manual transmissions- enthusiasts beg and beg for them but won't don't buy them new, so the manufacturer has no incentive to sell them.
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Exactly! Don't demand manufacturers to build a thing for you, and then not buy the thing directly from them... Also, don't diss the thing when it is made, because it isn't made the way you would...
 
Compare that to the more than 200,000 wranglers made annually now, and the TJ/LJ platform just keeps looking better and more unique by the year. They should have just kept making a TJ like vehicle, period. Introducing the 2022 TJ, no changes or update at all from the last 25 years.
 
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97' 4 Popper said:
Compare that to the more than 200,000 wranglers made annually now, and the TJ/LJ platform just keeps looking better and more unique by the year. They should have just kept making a TJ like vehicle, period. Introducing the 2022 TJ, no changes or update at all from the last 25 years.
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Literally not legal. Emissions requirements, safety requirements, backup cameras are required in all new vehicles now so you'd need a screen, etc. Nothing like the TJ will ever be built again.
 
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Duredel said:
Literally not legal. Emissions requirements, safety requirements, backup cameras are required in all new vehicles now so you'd need a screen, etc. Nothing like the TJ will ever be built again.
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I was joking, the emissions topic was already covered in the first page. I didn't know about the back up camera being required though. Wow federal requirements are so lame :rolleyes:
 
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