IFS is easy to bend/tweak off-road. Coming from an H3 (still have it) I worried about about half shafts and alignment constantly. In the live axle jeep, I don't think about it.

 

They need to get with it on a small gas V8 that has the grunt and fuel mileage. Diesel would also be great but the GOV taxes the crap out of it and regulates it such a point its almost a wash. I'm not cracked about IFS set ups. Had it on one of my full sized Broncos. Sucked. Ride was ok but always worrying about alignment and always wore the crap out of tires. Didn't have much of that problem on my strait axle Old
Broncos and CJs.

 

My only issue with the diesel is that all the car manufactures are going in that direction and they are all going to be dpf injected witch is fine but dont u think that once the market gets flooded with diesel cars suvs and trucks that the demand for the dpf and diesel fuel will go up and the government will probably raise the heck out of the prices on it. I believe thats what will happen and it sucks if it does i own a diesel vw. besides that if u truely due the math if u are buying a diesel to save money u might want to recalculate. You may have to keep it for 10 plus years to regain any of ur cost due to the added cost up front of the diesel option witch will probably be in the $3500 to $4000 range and the cost of dpf and the 30 cents more a gallon for fuel plus added oil cost But if ur a motor head like most of us fuel does not matter in a jeep its all about the wow factor at least for me it is. my vw is for fuel mileage the jeep is for fun and to turn heads.. deisel is the way everything is going but im just not sure its the right app for an off road vehicle. There is a reason dodge never made a diesel power wagon. off road vehicles need to be light and snappy in my opinion... just my 2 cents....

 

Diesel: HELL YES!

IFS: HELL NO!

3 speed transfer case: YES!

Unibody: I'm not sure??

 

What the right hand drive market needs is a Wrangler designed for right hand drive as the JK is not which leads to my left foot being cramped and leads to a sore hip.

Better seats due to being too soft in the JK.

Better fuel milage on the V6 as the diesel engine option is to expensive being an extra $4000.

 

I've owned a lot of Jeeps in my life (33 Jeeps in the 40 years I've been driving). But I think I'll pass when it comes to buying another Jeep for off road use. The Jeep I have now should last a long time, plus there are much better choices for off road use now a days. And there are much better choices for on road use, like the Jeep Grand Cherokee for example.

 

What are these better choices for off road use?

 

There is no reason to be against diesel engines: the most part of european, asian and african off road paths are full of them. The higher torque at low speed is suitable for rock crawling and slow movements in general.

I drove it in Italy with a VM Motori 200hp, waiting to buy one :-( maybe next year :-)

The engine is full of torque, especially with the auto transmission. I own two bmws (one is 123 diesel with 204hp): analysing the engine by itself I haven't found any unpleasant gap on the road vs the bmw. It's only noisier (it's bigger...) and less refined, but without any turbo lag or hesitation through the torque curve.

The torque is concentrated between 1500 and 2500 rpm and it's ok for technical paths with 4H and 4L

The weight of the body is the only aspect negatively impacting the overall good performance of the engine. With a lighter structure also this problem could be solved...

My only concern is about IFS: I'm not an old guy, but I prefer tradition over innovation in this field! :-) Diffs are more protected by a solid axle scheme and the complicated system to keep them at the right height while wheeling could be:

- difficult and expensive to improve via aftermarket
- maybe more prone to faults with an higher number of silent blocks and articulations

That's my idea :-)

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods...

 

I disagree with some of you regarding the new Cherokee. Such awesome cars. I know, I own one as well as my JK. I mean face it, the days of body on frame SUVs are done. The sun has set. There is one, and I mean one, vehicle sold today that has some true rock crawling ability. (Caveat-- I saw a full size toyota 4runner on a trail the other day and it performed amazingly.)

What I mean is that the market for rock crawlers is really low. Jeep isn't going to make money on cars that appeal only to offroaders. The wrangler is the rising tide that lifts the rest of the Jeep "boats". Rest assured the next generation of wrangler will do just fine offroad, and that tech will trickle down to the less hardcore products that Jeep offers.

 

Well for pure off road use I was thinking the new wave of side by side vehicles are a little better choice. You need a trailer to get it to the trail, but it works better when you get it there, and the most trail dedicated Jeeps and buggies get to the trail on a trailer anyway. If you roll a side by side over, big deal, just roll it back upright, and keep going. Even the best of them are half the price I have into my Jeep. The last time I was at Moab I did Pritchett Canyon, and I was the only Jeep on the trail that day. But there were dozens and dozens of side by sides. These little things are taking over where I live, and they work really well. So I'm thinking that I'm done spending $50K to build a trail Jeep. My current Jeep will last a long time, but it won't be replaced with another trail Jeep. I'll still buy a Jeep for a daily driver, but probably a more comfortable one than a Wrangler.

Here's a picture of one of the better side by sides I'm talking about. Keep in mind this is completely stock, like it comes from the showroom floor. It even has (gasp) independent suspension, ... but with 18" of suspension travel