bob987909

A little about my driving... I wheel two or three times a month at Hidden Falls and various beaches in Texas. Likewise, I commute 60-70 miles a day for work. I need a semi-reliable vehicle to commute with and to have fun with.

However, my current 2014 JK is having serious maintenance issues (blow 2 head gaskets, melted the heads, destroyed an intake manifold, thrown a rod, had 2 ABS sensors go, etc......), and it has had these issues since a month after I purchased it. It has gotten so terrible I am filing a lemon law complaint with my state to get it repurchased...

I love my Jeep and have modded it do death (I was about step it up and throw on some d60's for it), but the amount of mechanical issues it has had over it's 30k miles and the headache of dealing with Chrysler (I had to get an attorney to sort through this) is really pushing me away from the Jeep brand.

A few of my buddies race rallyX and recommend a wrx or forrester xt if I want to stay away from Chrysler. They can be modded for some mild off road use and have loads more ponies.

Has anyone else had this much trouble with their JK? Or did I really just get a bad draw?

Also does anyone think I will regret the switch to a subi if Jeeps really are this much of a pain?

FYI: I posted this question of subi forum and now am posting on a Jeep forum (to even out the bias)

shabbernigdo

bad draw im thinking. i have a 2012 and have had 0 issues with it. i know some have had a few issues but with as many as you have had i think you just got a bad one or something.

sa29560

What you're really on the fence about is commuter over capability.

A Ru will never hang with a wrangler on a trail. Dirt road, depends.

Lemon it, and buy a 16 wrangler. I'm biased I suppose, I can't see being without a jeep. My little granny car works great for the a-b.

MavisJk

I would say bad draw as well. I haven't really had any mechanical issues other than the trans cooler line rubbing against the AC condenser. The hard top leaked from day one but I have worked that out too.
I feel like a Subaru wouldn't be as satisfying after owning a Jeep. Off-roading in in a Jeep vs a Subaru cant really be compared in my opinion. I picture a Subaru doing more dirt drifting or prerunner type stuff where as a jeep would be more slow rock crawling, mud or overland type stuff. I'm not saying that a Subaru wouldn't be fun, I would love to have one for a DD, but the two are almost apples and oranges. Good luck on your choice!

junoh

I think it was just bad luck. I've had a few issues over the years, all very minor. I haven't had any problems with the wrx.

I do average 27.5 mpg in the wrx vs 18mpg in the jeep. I drive mostly highway 70mph. Although if you want to cruise at 80 mph it will drop a couple mpg's and more if you have some weight in it. Not to mention if you want to take advantage of the turbo and be Mr. Speed Racer everywhere you go then it will go down even more.

Jeep is Moderately Modified, u can check my profile, the Subie is only short sifted with rally armor mud flaps and tint. The engines are very sensitive and require tuning to get more power safely, even with something as simple as an intake( and you will want to do much more than than).

Jeep is also much easier to work on/crawl under, but both have huge support through online forums and aftermarket parts.

To be honest when i met my wife she was on her 3rd wrangler. The Rubi is "her" 4th, the wrx is mine. If we had to go down to only 1 vehicle then the Jeep would win hands down.

I bet the Subaru forums are saying go wrx

bob987909

Surprisingly the subi forums are having a debate based on what I prefer to do.

The wrx is definitely suited for rally racing and dirt road type things as mentioned in a previous comment which I guess I would be forced to get into if I go with a wrx.

However if all of the 3.6l owners are saying I got a bad engine than I guess I'll probably stick with the jeep. I really enjoyed doing anything from rock crawling to driving flooded streets after a heavy storm

Smudgeontheglass

Lots of 3.6L drivers on this forum will say they've had no issues, me included. The only issues I've had I believe have stemmed from off-roading and water. I've seized an idler pulley / snapped the belt and had a cracked thermostat. Although truth be told my 2012 rubicon has about the same mileage as yours, just hit 45k km this last weekend.

I have seen some videos of Foresters lifted and inch or so and meatier tires put on. It is much tougher to do but it does put you in the range of a stock base 4Runner. A stock JK will still do laps around it on tough trails, but it is much better on light to light-moderate trails due to the traction control and AWD systems.

Its-a-JK

Tally another one for a bad draw. I bought two JK's in the past year, mine n my daughter, love the 3.6 for what it is and my understanding is it is a all around solid motor. Back in 93 I bought a Grand Cherokee with the 4.0 and wound up going thru the lemon law for the buy back as Chrysler wouldn't do the right thing otherwise, trany would slip and they never figured it out and they replaced everything. A 96 GC v8 was what replaced the 93 and I didn't drop a dime outside of maintenance into it until it hit 93k on the OD and that was only $1200. If you really like your Jeep give it another go but it really depends on gut feeling n needs. I swore I wouldn't by another Chyrsler but the 93 is the only one I had problems with.

Chuck-The-Ripper

Daily driver and then weekend/trail rig... I daily 80 miles a day too. My 08 has 140k miles and other than shit I've caused Offroad or clutches it's had no problems.

warpeg

Hmm....I may be able to help. I own both a WRX STi and a JK. Bottom line = these two vehicles cannot be evaluated against each other easily; it's an apples vs oranges comparison. On one hand, I enjoy the JK's dominance in the mud and on the rocks, but a Subie just isn't designed for that kind of situation. The JK is a supreme all terrain vehicle, but the Subie is really just a fast rally machine. On the the other hand, the Subie is incredibly fast and responsive on the street and dirt roads, the JK is slow and a brick.

If I had to pick one and only one, then I would go JK. Why? No disrespect to my WRX, but the JK is just more fun, more versatile, and it's retained value percentage is higher.