Wrangler or Tacoma?

I've owned more Jeeps than I care to admit. Jeeps were my first wheeling rig. I currently own a '19 JLUR that has just about every option on it. It's my wife's and she enjoys it but I think she is ready to get something a bit more enjoyable to drive, we'll park the Jeep and keep it for a weekend rig. We never take it anywhere because it's not a fun vehicle to drive. I've also owned many Toyotas and currently have a '20 Tacoma and a '16 4Runner. Despite my love of Jeeps, I'll take a Toyota over a Jeep any day if I had to pick one or the other.

 

A Jeep will get you there, a Toyota will get you home. I've said before that I definitely got pulled through obstacles by my TJ friends with my 2007 Taco but I've also helped pull them to main roads on more than one occasion since I was the only one with enough rated tow. You take the good with the bad and have to choose uncompromising capability or generally dead-nuts reliability.

Personally, I'm a former ASE Master and Jeep tech who did mostly electrical diagnostics... I'm not afraid of the Jeep reliability now that they have that ZF unit in there. A Rubicon out of the box will still run circles around any Tacoma build that doesn't involve a SAS swap and that paired with an actual payload is what really appeals to me.

 

Xterras are the bee's knees.

Death. Wobble.

End of story. Lol

 

Very good analogy.

 

love my 07 xterra 4x4. bought new in 2006. 146k mile son her. not one rattle or squeak. no rust. no leaks. perfect. al lthe plastic is like new etc etc.... she's my "sports car" of the bunch now. what with the mighty vq 4.0 with a tune and catback.

 

So, I’ll add my 2 cents. I own a 2018 TRD Off-Road and a 2018 Jeep Wrangler JLU Rubicon. I’ve owned several Tacomas/Toyota Pickups and a bakers dozen Jeep Wranglers. It truly comes down to what you will use the vehicle for. For purely an off-road capable vehicle, without dumping tons of money into, you will not beat a Jeep Rubicon. For a daily driver/run to Lowe’s for 2x4s, a Tacoma is hard to beat. Honestly, the Gladiator Rubicon is my ultimate rig. I’m seriously considering selling my Tacoma and going to the Gladiator. It is true that a Toyota is a super reliable vehicle. That being said, I had more issues(electrical) with my Tacoma than I have had with my Jeep.

 

But.....but....JLUR and JT are inferior vehicles.
Everyone here says so, so it must be true.

 

The problem with Gladiators is they are ugly as shit unless you put 40” tires on them (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing).

 

Lol very true. Until they get behind one on a real trail.

 

Jeep looks great! I am still a little disappointed I didn't fit in the JL very well. If i did, I might have one in my driveway right now. I would still like to own a Jeep at some point. Maybe not as a daily for me personally. Enjoy the hell out of that thing!

 

....Oh wow. This thread was started Oct 2017 LOL. Missed that part. Should've known you had bought something by now.

 

I’ll agree that they aren’t the most beautiful things when they are stock. But they’ll clear 35s perfectly on stock suspension without any issues.

 

Probably depends on where you live too. If you live in So Cal, AZ, NV or anywhere with desert trails (woops, dunes, jumps) then a soil axle jeep will be limited to slower stuff. Even if you try to KOH out your jeep with LT long arms and 2.5" shocks all around it's going to flop flop very badly. A mid travel Taco will dominate the jeep through any "higher" speed stuff.

I know it's all subjective but high speed stuff is way more fun vs crawling especially when all the desert OHV parks are less than 1hr away.

 

Yeah they do, but they’re still ugly on 35s

 

If only 35s were all you needed. 35s are small anymore.

 

I’ve actually wheeled with a JT and ZR2 and they are indeed inferior vehicles. They need modifications just like the Tacoma.

I currently wheel with a variety of vehicles to include JK, JL, 4runners, a Suburban, Tahoe etc. The jeeps are no standouts.

My buddy’s rubicon is on 3.5” long arm on 37s. Is his vehicle more capable? Maybe but there isn’t a trail in Colorado he can go that I can’t.

 

Er... you’re obviously over your Tacoma and love your Jeep, why are you still here? You’re not going to convince anyone that the reliability issues with the JL are somehow made up, especially when the JL forum even admits that they’re real. Tacoma’s aren’t perfect, but they’re a great all arounder and are undoubtedly more reliable than the JL. Conversely the JL is a better trail rig without a doubt. Instead of sitting in here all insecure and sniping, why not go enjoy your JL on their forum?

 

I'm not against the trail superiority of Jeeps, but I don't quite get the lure. I would not want to take a 50k+ Wrangler on the trails and beat the piss out of it. You could do all that and more (maybe not really deep water crossings) with a much cheaper and more capable ATV with a cooler on the back. Case in point, my brother thought his AEV Wrangler was invincible, until he hydro locked and ruined the engine in the JK Killer at Rausch Creek.

I'm not personally into black diamond trails, but if I was, I'd do it with an ATV for a fraction of the cost. My basically stock Taco gets us and all our crap pretty far into the wilderness, where I can't afford to unnecessarily test it's "trail worthiness." That's just how I use it, though.

 

The Pentastar engine makes good power. Not sure what you're talking about. Ive owned an '08 2-door JK, and a '14 4-door. The '08 had enough power but when I drove pre-2012 JKU's I found them to be lacking. They bumped the HP in 2012 and I bought a '14 Wrangler 4-door. Does just fine.

Keep in mind, there are plenty of complaints about the Tacoma's power. I don't have a problem with it, but I'm also not 19 like most of you. I have a 500hp '65 Mustang for that stuff.

 

Death wobble is literally lack of maintenance. The hard part can be finding the worn part, if you just guess and replace random shit the wobbles will tear those new parts up so it can be a vicious cycle but not rocket science.