I am not prejudice against jeep owners, however, what the crap is with all of the 45+ women driving jeep compasses and patriots? I just do not get it, I thought jeep appealed to those who actually know wtf they were supposed to stand for, and not simply "tough" daily drivers for soccer moms.

 

Attachment 31360 I inherited this from my mother, In spring of '08. (It was her grocery getter.) She 84 when she died. She owned for about 14 years, before I got it. Which is why it only has 70,000 miles on it now.

 

If im not mistaken the Cherokee was a grocery getter for a little while before people realized it's potential.
But no car company can bank on just selling cars to offroad enthusiats because the market simply isn't there. As soon as jeep kicks solid axles they will be horrible. The new IFS vehciles they push are "off-road capable" aka a dirt road with 1 pot hole. From what i've noticed and could be wrong, is these are also targeted by the "subaru" product. It can go offroad! ... not really. It's more so people can feel they have a "rugged off road beast" Atleast that is my assumtion cause none of those vehivles have i ever seen lifted and offroad, atleast the new patriots.

 

It'd be hard to lift either one seeing how they're built on a front wheel drive platform. They have 4 wheel drive, but it's still a front wheel drive system that sends power to the rears. But neither were designed for the offroad enthusiast anyway. They were designed for people who pretty much wanted the light off-road capabilities, cargo, and mpg ratings of a Subaru, but with the Jeep name/heritage/look.

 

Thats exactly how i feel.

 

You make valid points, however, my main concern with the new Jeeps is that they are slowly beginning to cater only to the "weekend warrior types" or folks who will never take it off road. I just hope Jeep realizes that by going mainsteam they will eventiully be no different than a kia sorrento in terms of sport/utility.

 

Hi

My wife drives our XJ as our daily driver and I get to play at the weekend and there are lots of women who like driving Jeeps because of what they stand for!

As for the new Patriot etc they are only making what the market demands which if they did not others will and Jeep would be no more!

Look at Landrover they do the little Freelander and the high class Range Rover but have not forgotten their roots and still make the awesome Defender!

Stuart

 

Actually one of the major criticisms of Chrysler during the whole "bailout" fiasco was mismanagement of the Jeep brand. The primary point being that Jeep had three vehicles in the "small SUV category while all other auto manufactures were making one. The three being the "Compass", "Patriot", and "Wrangler". Their point was that it was poor judgment to saturate that segment of the market with sub-par products instead of making one or two solid small SUVs. Given that the Wrangler is such a unique vehicle in the small SUV category I can understand producing another vehicle to compete with vehicles like the Ford Escape, or GMC terrain. But both the Compass and Patriot are very poorly designed vehicles that devalue the Jeep brand.

Hopefully Jeep will move away from producing cars (the compass), and return to making reliable SUVs. Although with Fiat running the show I wouldn't be surprised to see them force Jeep to produce a smart car.

 

The compass just looks gay IMHO. The patriot actually looks very nice and can be done up nice for wifey.

 

Have you seen the new Grand Cherokees? There are being made to make sales! For most jeep owners the most "off-roading" they will do is driving in a bit of snow to and from work! They dont need the capabilities of a real Off Road truck, luckily the Wrangler is still a serious off road machine!

 

I wouldn't buy it, but have to admit that that does look pretty good. The compass is a joke if you ask me, I had one for a rental car and wanted to put tape over the jeep logos so no one knew it was a jeep. Embarrassing to the company if you ask me.

 

My wife has a 2010 Patriot. She bought it for the 28 mpg and the 4x4. She loved driving the Cherokee and Wrangler and thought it would be a nice fit for her to own a Patriot. She has the Limited package in Sunburst Orange with Tan leather interior. She loves the way it handles on the long trip to work on the turnpike. She could not of found a more perfect vehicle for her needs. Great grocery getter and perfect turnpike traveler. The Patriot seems to be perfect size for women, its just a little too small for me.

As for the Compass, it is being totally redesigned for 2011. I have not seen it yet and haven't heard anything about it. I didn't like the last version, the styling was just not there for me. I am glad my wife bought the Patriot instead of the Compass.

 

Heres a Grand Cherokee that looks a little more than a Mall Crawler.

What model Jeep is this one.


So I found it, its a Liberty,
Still not bad for what is a DD and Weekend Warrior.

90% of of our XJ's was bought new as a Grocery Getter that mom would drive. Nothing wrong with that. Just the demographics they was built for .

Mine was ordered by the Government someplace, got a whole in for roof for the antenna, maybe it was Forestry, I don't know. Don't care to be honest.

Independent Suspension is tougher to lift and work with to get right, but its still doable, unless you for an S15 Jimmy. then it sucks.

 

I was just looking at Jeeps site and specing out a new Grand Cherokee.
Not happy with options, only engine is 3.6L unles you go to the $40+k OVerland model then you can get the V8.
The V8 would be ok, but with lowest diff ration of 3.45.
If I want to buy a new Jeep, I want to spec it the way I want.
I could live with the V6 if I could get off road package with 4.11 gears, and all the skid plates etc.

Jeep really lacks selectivity in specing models to make people happy.
But for $44k I'd buy a Ford F150 Raptor.

 

this actually looks real good,i would have this for a daily driver and occasional offroad then have my xj as a play toy