Originally Posted by
SkyLich
To compare the ride quality of the 60 year old CJ-5 (WW2 era) antique on leaf springs to a Gladiator or Wrangler strains credulity.
Admittedly, I did use the term 'ride' in my post, but the ride wasn't bad. I thought it probably was what it should have been. The drive OTOH...
It's your choice whether or not you want to believe me, but that was indeed my exact thought about a mile after pulling out of the rental car lot. "This thing drives just like my old CJ." Is it likely to be an exact comparison? No, if for no other reason than the passage of time, but there was enough there that I thought it.
These are thoroughly modern designs, sharing nothing beyond 4 wheels.
That it is a modern design is much of my confusion. That's all they can do in 60 years? On one hand, I get it. It is built to be an off road machine, and there are decisions made to further that goal, like a solid front axle. But I refuse to believe that they can't make a solid front axle steer good, and it's more likely that they just don't care to (read: care to spend the money.) Same thing on down the line... For way north of $50k, put some thicker sway bars on it.
Wranglers are very polarizing, and the people who dislike them seem to hate them, which is fine, but let's not exaggerate. They've been top sellers for decades with high rates of repeat buyers for good reason.
You paint me as some sort of Jeep hater, and I get it. We see it all over the net. Somebody has a contrarian opinion, and the pitchforks come out. If anything, I'm a (or at least 'a was-and-could-be-again') Jeep enthusiast. I've had the aforementioned CJ, an XJ, and a ZJ. I loved 'em all, but they were what they were. And the Gladiator I drove was what it was. And I'm sure the modern Wranglers are what they are. And what they are is untouchable off-road compared to anything else that comes from a factory, and even more so with mods. But with that off-road ability comes on-road compromises. If I were to buy one, I wouldn't do it because it drove good or bad on the road. I would buy it because I would want something that I could take off-road. Another confusion is why these are even in the rental fleets. Sure, they add some variety, but they're not very good just to go around town. (As we all know, off-roading is against the contract, and nobody would ever do that.)
Read professional reviews of the current Wrangler to get a more objective view.
I'm not sure how reading someone else's opinions of it becomes objective, but that won't help me one bit. I felt what I felt. I don't need somebody else to either validate or attempt to negate my opinions.