shawn.dearie

I have been heavily looking over the past few days, and I've come across a few JKUs that fit my budget and needs. I am looking at keeping it in the $18k range to pick up a used JKU, and there are a few out there from the first 3 years of the JKU. Everything I am looking at has around 80-100k miles.

Does anyone have any strong recommendations for or against any of these three model years? I am going to likely go with the auto for the convenience of DD and for the spouse. I am not planning on modding this thing out to the 9's, but I want to put a lift, beef it up a little, and do some very light trail riding.

Any insights would be hugely appreciated!!!

Mark Doiron

Honest? "very light trail riding" means you don't need to do a thing to your Jeep. It is way more capable than anything you could possibly imagine without doing a darn thing to it. Take it out and try it on for size. You'll be surprised. Then, after that, well, that part about "beef it up a little" you may find very difficult to actually follow. But, at least you'll be smarter about what you're doing.

Here's some "very light trail riding" before I really went bonkers on my '07 ...

BillyJack

No real difference in the 07 - 09. Early 07 had an easily scratched dash but they corrected that mid year. Go for the lowest miles and best condition. Good luck!

EHarris

Id stay away from the 07 and early 08. They had problems with leaking freedom panels. I also feel the hindges rust easily on these. Just my two cents.

Bonedoc

I'd keep looking and be open to all model years, even newer ones. I found mine on auto trader.com when I was looking. It was an '08 model and I purchased in the fall of 2010. It only had 4900 miles on it. The original owners had traded it in because the husband purchased a manual and the wife wouldn't drive it. It is a Sahara model and I paid 21K for it. I know that is higher than you were looking but point is there are great deals to be found.

Good luck

shawn.dearie

Thanks for some of the early feedback on this guys. I appreciate it.

Mark, those pics are great! I think my statement was foolishly misguided on my part. I was talking about aesthetic stuff not structural modifications.

As I pick up info on here, I am putting it all in a list so I can know what I need to look for and/or avoid when I go out to look at a JKU. Thanks again, guys.

kyle521

you can probably get one with even lower miles for that price. I got my 07 jku a year ago in january for $14500 with 84,000 miles and havent had any issues with it other than i had to replace the wheel bearings

JDub23

Picked up an '07 last Dec with the same intentions... "Couple mods, and some moderate trails..." FAMOUS LAST WORDS!

Mods are never "done"... And you'll always look to do the next trail, the next mod, and creating your own Jeep "Thumb Print"

Best groups of people and community you'll ever find.


~JDub

Sent from this Dang Thing

MarwanJeeper

i'll stay away from 07-11 coz the minivan engine
i trade mine with 2012. really hate that engine.

lkinmond

I'd personally stay away from '07 as it's the first year of the JK - lots of kinks. I don't think your budget is enough for a pentastar year so I'd reco trying to find an '09 or something...