Who here has driven one or owns/has owned one? I'll be graduating from college after this coming spring semester, and once I have a steady job and proper finances, I plan on getting an SUV of some kind.

I love the tC, and it'll be hard to part with being it's my first car, but I'm getting tired of the manual and being so darn close to the ground. I'm at the point now where I would love to just jump in my car and drive wherever I'm going without having to bother with shifting all the time and having to constantly be conscious of potholes, curbs, speedbumps, curbing my rims, etc. And I'd also like a little more cargo space. Basically, driving the tC just isn't the "fun" that it used to be and really seems more like a hassle.

So, as a replacement, I'm really looking at getting a Wrangler probably around this time next year. I haven't come to a firm decision on whether I wanna buy used or new, and if used, whether I want it to be bone stock or already modded. Either way it'll probably end up with a small lift (2-3 inches) and some slightly bigger, more off roady tires, and that'll be it. Don't wanna go rock-crawler status with it, but I do want it to be slightly more trail capable than stock. And preferably hard top unless someone convinces me why a soft top would be better. Next choice would be one of the "new" Toyota FJ's.

So, on to my questions for anyone who knows about them:

Do you like how they drive?
Reliability?
How easy to work on (in terms of maintenance AND modification)?
Hard/Soft top, which do you prefer? Why?
Costly to mod?
I'll add if I think of more.

Thanks in advance!

 

I haven't driven the new one but I know a LITTLE about them so let me give some of my thoughts...

as far as how they drive I've enjoyed them..they';re great cruisers..been awhile since I've been in a stock one though..my uncle has a 2003 unlimited that's built for offroading/rock crawling so it's far from stock.

They are fairly cheap to work on for the most part. Don't know much about reliability but my uncle hasn't had any real issues with his since he bought it.

If you want something that's farily trail capable from the get go get into a rubicon. They are pretty much already built for off roading from the get go.

Hope that helps a bit..I know it's very vague