How did Jeep lose the plot? It became a rolling fortress for tin soldiers.
Well you just got me to listen to a guy rant in his basement bar for 25 minutes
I’ve revisited his channel off and on over the years. Most vids are, as the channel name implies, reviews of regular cars. I think it’s the first long form video of his I’ve seen tackling a brand and what has become of its image. The humor and dry delivery is up my alley, and I figured it was worth sharing here.
I’ve also got family in rural PA and his basement bar could be any one of theirs. Those small towns and their old houses are frozen in time.
There actually two guys. This guy (roman) handles most of the technical stuff for their videos, and often makes long form historical videos about the car industry.
Shit. I made edibles. Had to test them. Now high. This made me laugh way too much 🤣🫠
I camp on jeep trails all the time but I’ve never owned a jeep. Currently driving a lifted Subaru. Thinking about a Tacoma for the future.
Stick with the Subie unless you need a truck bed.
My Dad owned a CJ4 for offroading out in the desert. POS broke down all the time. Ended up getting a Pathfinder and it was more capable and reliable.
Across Africa, Toyota Land Cruisers do the work. Defenders look cool and break a lot.
Jeeps were really innovative when they were created… in World War 2. That’s when they really were off-road vehicles. The pattern was repeated again with the Humvee, or HMMVW. It’s not just converted military vehicles either. It’s also race cars and rally cars. Some series have rules that to be legal a car also has to be a production model. Sometimes if you get that exact model you get a race-capable car. But, mostly the cars they sell are variants of the race design, which maintain the fast-looking design, but one which would handle terribly if you put it on an actual racetrack.
I think a JLTV or Unicorn Stadium Super Truck is where the smart post-collapse money goes.
The JLTV apparently has a curb weight of 6.4 tonnes, that’s almost 4x the weight of the modern oversized F150 at 1.8 tonnes. Not ideal for a post-collapse world where energy is expensive.
Those Stadium Super Trucks though. Also impractical, but those sure are goofy fun to watch.
Any car is no longer practical in a high energy cost world.
Now, a mule OTOH
“Off road” pretty much always means “on crude roads,” and this bothers me more than it should
Some of those crude roads have boulders over a meter tall littered all about.
Every person I’ve known that has a Jeep: I LOVE MY JEEP!
Me: You never have any problems with it?
Everyone: Oh yeah, all the time. But it’s a JEEP!
“Just Empty Every Pocket,” or “Just Expect Every Problem.”
Honestly, never had a problem with mine for 7 years of abuse, significant offroad included. Daily driving city mileage, shit roads, off-road nonsense, salt air, beach driving… Thing was a blast. Went all over the country, did the national parks, overlanded in extremely remote areas.
Then the rocker arms gave out and I had a kid. So no more jeep. Edit: oh, and the dog we rescued ended up being 120 lbs. So a bit more room was kinda needed
The 4runner is almost as fun though. Almost.
My parents bought a Chrysler/ Stellantis product to tow their camper after I told them to buy literally anything else. Unsurprisingly it’s a heap of shit.
The engine has a plastic oil cooler - sits in the engine valley, it cracked and leaked oil everywhere at 40k miles. Their plastic intake manifold leaks and sometimes when you start the shitbox there is a strong odor of gasoline 60k. The plastic valve covers leak 70k. Needed an entire front accessory/pulley assembly because the water pump was leaking - made of…plastic 80k. Shocks and struts are shot and causing tread cupping on the tires - 90k. In addition to this, when i drive it around I notice a few things - it’s loud as shit. The engine sounds like it has shit timing or a flat cam or something. Exterior noise is terrible you hear everything. It shifts like an automatic from the 80s and it has 27 gears so it shifts constantly. I’m so sad for them but Dad got a great “deal” on it, I wonder why.
The Chevy Cruze I had until it ate a deer wasn’t quite that bad, but now that I think about it it was way worse than my Kia. purchased at ~50k miles, it ate a deer at ~110k miles. Notable breakages are the drivers side window become impossible to roll up/down 3x (fixed twice. Literally relies on a single bolt which holds the window glass in place entirely by friction) at ~80k miles the plastic coupler on the engine coolant line cracked. around 100k miles the plastic intake hose also cracked causing the engine to produce a partial vaccum when it shouldn’t and run super rough.
My in-laws have been having a similar experience with their brand new Ford Edge (last model year car so best it’ll be, right?). First 6 months they had it it spent more time at the dealership than in their possession…
My Kia is currently approaching 100k miles (acquired at 7k miles!) and in that ~90k miles we’ve put on it…I’ve had to replace the windshield 3 times and once I needed to clear the clogged AC water drip but nothing has broken that wasn’t a wear item or otherwise to be expected. Oh and the interior actually feels like it was designed and tested by people who have driven cars before, unlike the Chevy. This is also 10k miles after it was totalled by a hail storm so its really a trooper!
Unless something changes I’m never buying another car from an American brand because they’re clearly all shit
It’s always been like this. Jeeps famous inline 6 that everyone raves about had the oil filter directly over the alternator so every time you change the oil you spill dirty oil all over the vehicle’s main electrical components. It’s like it was designed by monkeys and no owner has ever seen a Toyota
Most Often Parked At Roadside. Company Highly Recommends You Start Learning Engine Repair. Doing Overhauls Daily Gets Expensive. Fix It Again Tony.
I think they might have gone with “Stellantis” because it’s harder to make a derogatory acronym out of
You forgot Really Ain’t Moving.
Like the Alfa Romeo loyalists in Europe. I’ll admit the 156 and 159 series are still nice looking automobiles, but they are rolling junk.
I’ve got an '11 and have never had any problems.
I’m pretty sure my first gen Subaru Forester with a 1.5" lift has been in more fuckass places than 80% of jeeps ever sold.
Also more than 90% of pickup trucks.
My first car was a Nissan altima, I pulled apart to get running. I wanted to go off road at a friend’s property, there’s not much difficult terrain, like bouldering or anything, just bumpy and filled with potholes that catch cars every time they hosted large events.
I put a 2in lift kit on it, and after becoming confident it won’t get stuck at my friends house, I got a winch that I could store in the trunk, an extra scissor jack, took that fucker to the woods and tried a few trails popular with jeeps and Subarus.
It’s crazy what kind of stuff you can get up to if you don’t care a ton about the car you’re driving. Eventually put the extra stuff in my pickup, and that car slowly got used less and less until it blew a gasket into cyl 5 and I decided I didn’t want to pull the entire engine apart a second time.
So has my Audi A6 Allroad, bone stock. Actually, I think I took my Chrysler 300M to places no shiny new grand cherokee will ever be taken and that’s a low fwd sedan. People used to ask me if it’s been lowered and I told them it was just the factory handling package.
Stock jeeps, besides the wrangler and that pickup thingy maybe, aren’t much good off road anyway. Which is fine because nobody who buys a brand new vehicle goes off roading with it usually. The Grenadier folks may be an exception.
Stock jeeps, besides the wrangler and that pickup thingy maybe, aren’t much good off road anyway.
Eh, I’d add old XJ and ZJ models to that list of exceptions as well. Those things could do some shit. Not quite as good as the Wrangler, but they were also much more reasonable daily driver vehicles, too.
Oh for sure. I mostly meant in terms of new or newish stock Jeeps. Back in the day they actually managed to make a decent SUV.
With the back seat folded up, the wrangler is a good daily as long as you’re not commuting far.
I used to daily one, sure.
It’s a usable daily, not sure I’d call it a good one. It’s still highly compromised, poorly insulated, loud, prone to roof leaks, etc.
Mines 15 years old and I haven’t experienced roof leaks, even in car washes. It is loud, not as loud as my MX-5 though. My biggest complaint with the jeep is driving on the highway when it’s windy. That shit is scary AF.
You sound like me - my 20 year old “toy truck” has been offroad lots more that most of those garage queens (and looks it).
I don’t look to go off road, sometimes it’s just necessary to get somewhere like a neat campsite, and it can do it.
my 08 outback with no lift and my old 99 tercel base model have been more off-road than 80% of vehicles that people bought because they might need to drive down a maintained gravel road to a parking lot to start a hike
I backed over my neighbors’ flower bed. Does that count?
Oddly enough the only time I was heckled about driving a 4x4 in a city was when it was clean.
If I left the mud splatter on the wheel arches I never got heckled.
If you don’t “look the part” then people will judge harshly regardless of how (in)capable you are at something.
Goes for a lot of things in life.
I don’t wear a black hoodie to indicate that I know computer stuff, but it is remarkable how much more receptive non-techies are when I wear one. It’s like a lab coat for computer doctors.
That’s funny and fascinating.
I never clean mine or have bothered fixing panel damages and paint scrapes. But I take the time to oil and fluid change every 5000 kms lol
It wasn’t made to be pretty, it was made to be reliable and capable.
It’s almost 100% off-roading but gets used as a back up car when the much more efficient and sensible one isn’t available.
Because you’re not, in fact, a pavement princess.
If I wash the mud off my truck I’m a pavement princess in the eyes of the public for the duration of the trip from the car wash back to the garage.
Big trucks and SUVs tend to be horrible off road
I would rather a old minivan
Depends how off road. Cottage dirt road? Yea thats fine. Genuine off road trail with 2+ feet of water in some puddles and rocks/ruts that you actually need some bumper height for? Mini van probably won’t cut it.
Other than that classic front grill and round headlights … those things are just glorified hatchbacks with a lift-kit
The rubicons do have a good kit and package for off roading, they are rarely used for that when new these days. Locking differentials and thick metal skid plates for example are typically an off road specific feature.
I’ve known several friends who have gone out to buy and own Jeeps … a few with Rubicons … and I have yet to see any of them take them off roading, or even on a rough dirt road. I had one female friend who constantly kept hers shined up and would get terribly upset if any mud or dust accumulated on the paint finish.
The culture has changed. The rubicon has been a package offer for several models and years. Usually its the 3rd or 4th owner that finally takes advantage of the package.
Glorified hatchbacks with a lift-kit and a cult.
Google once took me the back way up a mountain on a mild 4x4 trail while I was towing my 18’ trailer with my 17 year old Toyota sequoia. I’ve not respected a jeep driver since
They’re fun to drive, they just break incredibly easy in weird spots. Like the seatbelt holder/guide? Why would that break. We don’t own one, but have rented a few of them when we go to Hawaii.
Thats the Chrysler curse.
I’m sure they are fun to drive off road, but the only time I’ve been in wranglers has been pavement princesses and they are super uncomfortable and drive like steaming dog shit on paved roads
They’re fun to drive on pavement too. They have good turning radius and they’re fast. I wouldn’t own one though, I think they’d be in the shop a lot.
Well, if you’re renting, you have no idea what the previous renters treated it like. Just remember, you’re sharing a planet with idiots. They might have just been punching the seatbelt holder for no reason. And then you, not having that information, are like “why’s the seatbelt holder broken?”
It was pretty fucking cheaply made. There were other things that were odd too, I just don’t remember them all. I understand what you’re saying though, especially in Hawaii. Even having taken that into account, there were some really odd, cheaply made decisions on jeep’s part.
We don’t own one
Translation: I own multiple cars
rented a few of them when we go to Hawaii.
Translation: Has disposable income enough to go on multiple trips to Hawaii
How dare someone manage to claw themselves into the middle class! For shame!
Seriously dude take a chill pill
I doubt anybody clawed themselves to anything. People rarely are able to change their class just by working hard. It almost always takes a generational wealth transfer of some sort
Sure? We live in Seattle, it’s pretty cheap to go to Hawaii. I’m not sure of what you’re trying to say, tbh.
I just don’t like your class privilege being bandied about frivolously. You are in minority of people who could even come close to affording those things, and you don’t seem to even care
Edit: Also, who is “we”? You and the mouse in your pocket? The royal we? Do you have multiple people using this account and commenting?
dude, you are talking to fricking Pele… have some respect. (also a really wierd take to complain about using “we”, you could just assume that they are either talking about them or their family, who fecking cares?)
We do things very inexpensively in real life so we can afford to go to Hawaii every so often. We have super old cars so we can afford to go to Hawaii every so often. I know you’re trolling, I just don’t get why. Last comment.
I’m not trolling. Rich people just piss me off. Everybody else is doing things “very inexpensively” and and still not affording those trips.
This is middle class, nowhere close to rich. This is actually how most of the western world lives.
It sounds like you’re a very bitter, miserable person to be honest.
Let me help you then.
- Hawaii flights from Seattle are less than going to anywhere else in the country, if you look for them on sale through Alaska or Hawaiian. Make sure you sign up for their miles account because that’s how you get the deals.
- You can also find deals on small hotels or airbnb’s (in Honolulu only) for very cheap if you get the ahead of time. You have to do everything at least 6 months in advance.
- I rent the cars usually through Costco and then watch them. Sometimes it goes down. If you rent on Costco, you can cancel at any time, so if you find a better price, take it. They also don’t do the scammy shit if you do it through Costco.
- We eat out once and do lots of free shit, because Hawaii is awesome for free things to do if you like to hike or explore.
Oh fuck off, going on holiday is something plenty of people can afford.
Not defending that fool, but, " plenty of people can still do it!" is a pretty fucking brainless tangential excuse and no reason at all. For anything.
That’s the same shit logic people use when discussing what should be made illegal. “We cannot regulate corporations because plenty would still be able to do bad things!”
OK then… Let’s ignore the accelerating economic crisis because some people still have money! Hooray! Everything’s easy when you can just ignore problems!
Affordable to whom? People who have high enough paying jobs to actually save and are also able to take time off from work? That’s “plenty” of people, sure. But they’re all assholes. At least here in the U.S.
You would’ve had a point if you didn’t label them all assholes.
That’s a very interesting way to view the world.
My hybrid bike has seen more mud in the past month than most trucks will see in a lifetime.
I FUCKING HATE THIS GRILLE SO MUCH
I live where being able to have the option to go off-road would be useful. But I took a Wrangler out for a test drive and it was like trying to fit in a Power Wheels. Thing was way too small for my tall ass. They didn’t have the bigger one to check out at the dealer I went to. :(
I had a 1998 Jeep Wrangler. I’m 6 ft 6 in and and 255 lb. I fit in that pretty well. The box style cabin was very open and easy to get in and out of. Maybe it’s different with the newer ones. I haven’t tried one yet
I am the same height. I don’t even remember what year make the one I tried was. I’ve always wanted one tho because they are actually well suited to off-road stuff and you can just take the doors and roof off to have a kick ass convertible.
