Any Former Jeep Owners Out There

Traded a jeep for my tacoma. I like the truck on the road. Off road i miss the jeep.

 

Thanks for all the replies. Man this is a hard decision. I know I would miss the off road capability of the Jeep and miss taking it to Ouray Colorado. I do need something to tow my 19ft Ranger bass boat better. The Jeep doesn't do that well, but the lake is only 10 minutes away. I'm not into rock crawling, and have been wanting to get more into Overlanding. If I got a Tacoma I would want a camper shell probably, but can I put a tent on top of the shell? Wondering because I will have a couple of kayaks to carry also. Also, the Jeep now has 65,000 miles on it and although I have only had to replace the front drive shaft under warranty, I wonder about the reliability past 150k. I know the Tacoma taken care of will do 200k easy. I don't have any pics on me, but my Jeep is pretty much identical to this one except for different wheels.

 

Former Jeep owner here.

 

Very clean and simple look! Do you have to anchor the platform or is snug with the tailgate closed?

 

To each their own. To me its apples to oranges. I would choose my Tacoma over a jeep any day.

I would think jeeps would be more suited for a day trip, if you have it setup for rock crawling, or in tight spaces.
But if you need to take any gear or RTT then I would choose the Tacoma.

I had a 2002 jeep that I took my drivers license test in. Parallel parking was a piece of cake.
We never did much off-roading in it but it was nice to put the top down on summer days and crank up the volume.
The only thing that I really miss about the jeep was the V8.

I have an old 78' CJ with full time all wheel drive and no power steering that I use to plow snow at my shop.

 

Owned a 94 YJ, 12 JKU and just got rid of a 15 Rubicon Hard Rock. Honestly I got over taking the top and doors off. Once that thrill was gone then the JK became pretty unbearable. This is my second Taco. Road manners are a million times better and I really missed having a truck bed after getting rid of my 11 Tundra to get the JK.

Two completely different vehicles. . You'll be pretty impressed with how far you can push a Taco though.

 

My previous vehicle was an 11' JKU 4 door Rubi, mostly stock, drove it for 5 years. It was great off road, but it was the only vehicle I've owned that had quite a rattle in the front suspension, dealer says normal, the only vehicle I've owned that made a loud crack at the base of the windshield when going into a big dip in the road, evidently the body was flexing quite a bit, the only vehicle I've owned that at the same time had a very stiff skateboard ride but also bounced around on up and down and curvy highways, had to be very careful to keep it in it's lane. Doors and rear tailgate rattled, top leaked. The 3.8/ 4 speed auto combo averaged about 13 mpg.
My 17' Taco DC OR jbl rides much better, is much more stable on the highway, and is averaging 18+ mpg. I haven't off roaded the Taco much yet but I think it'll be almost as good as the JK, maybe better. The Taco has a few off road features the JK didn't; multi-terrain and crawl control, but lacks the JK's front locker and sway bar disconnect.
I like that I can open and close from the drivers seat of course the 4 side windows and also the sunroof and the rear window, its pretty open when they're all down, not as open as the JK with the top off, but it was a pain to take the top on and off.
The JK was a great design, but imho not executed very well, so far Toyota quality is world's better.

 

Boo, sell jeep get a tacoma and buy a samurai, or if you wanna stick toyota 1985 pickup!

 

Current JK and TRDOR owner, plus my wife has a JKU(that will never see dirt, rocks, sand or god forbid mud)

My JK is a mild built Rubicon that has been wheeled in Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Michigan and driven, not trailered, to each destination from Iowa. There is no way I would take or that I believe my TRDOR could make it on some of the trails we have done in CO, WY, SD or MI. Sheer physical size and wheelbase issues, period.

There is no way my JK can pull our enclosed two place snowmobile trailer, haul a loader bucket of mulch, or get 22 mpg driving 65 mph. The wife's JKU can, exept for the mulch, she'd kill me. We've actually had times were depending on what we are packing we can get more in the back of her JKU than we can get in the box of my Tacoma under the tri-fold tonno.

When it comes to on-road driving comfort, the TRDOD bests the JK-JKU pretty much across the board. I do find the seats in the Wranglers a bit more comfortable because of more adjustments and capability to raise and lower them, but the Tacoma is our go to for long trips. Smoother ride, less cabin noise, comparable mpg to the JKU and more stable in high wind.

The Tacoma is my daily driver for work, but once the weather gets nice and the top and doors come off the JK, my truck may sit idle for days at a time. The JK is hands down alot more fun in my opinion. I travel as part of my job and many times on a nice day I'll run 200 miles in the Jeep on sales calls, absolutely loving it. Throw in some rain, and it's a Tacoma day hands down.

Only you can decide what will best fit your needs. There simply are some things a Jeep can and can't do, and that a Tacoma can and can't do. How they align with what you need and what you want to do are truly up to you. Life is short, worst thing that happens is you try a Tacoma and it doesn't work out for you, you can always go back. Think of it this way, you are dealing with two vehicles that consistently have the highest resale value, going back and for won't be as salty on the pocket book as some other trades.

Best of luck!

 

I had a 1990 XJ with a rubicon express lift back in the day. It did pretty well everywhere even on just some regular KOs. The 4.0 was solid but got terrible gas mileage everywhere. 16mpg on the freeway max. I remember it took a 1/4 tank to drive to this girl's house and back near my base that I was stationed at and always asked myself if it was worth the gas money to go there LOL.

Anyways I ended up basically giving it away because it was so crappy compared to my c55 amg that I got when I got out of the army. The tacoma is a nice blend of daily driver with creature comforts and off-road ability. The bed is especially useful if you own a house and do house projects. Tacoma > Jeep.

 

You folks that say the Tacoma is as capable as the jeep off-road are out of your mind. The jeep far surpaces the Tacoma, solid front axle.

You same folks are correct that the Tacoma drives better gets better mpg has a few more creature comforts.

 

Toyota surpaces Jeep at the mall

 

Yeah, but then they come and say, but can you go prerunning through the dessert in a jeep, and I respond no, but neither vehicle can take the abuse of highspeed hits in the dessert without frame reinforcements and LT suspension.

Stock 40k truck vs stock 40k jeep the jeep far outshines the truck in offroad capability in every way.

It's on road that the truck wins.

This is not talking about anything to do with practical as a jeep is not practical.

Edit: i'm serious, i've saw a member on this forum mention prerunning his 3rd gen tacoma and that a jeep could never compare.

 

Not quite as good but I can hit the whoops at about 55 mph. I also did a king coilover conversion on my jk.

 

It's a true choice of pick your poison. I have a 99 TJ parked in storage because my current life situation doesn't have room (physically) for my Jeep. I still love it and plan to get it back up and running in the near(ish) future, but it will never be my DD again, it's uncomfortable and inefficient. My Tacoma still has a small cab (I'm 6'3" and it's cozy, albeit larger than my TJ), but it is capable for 90% of the offroading I do and I don't think I could live without having a truck bed. Once life changes again my old TJ will become a trailer queen for trips to Moab while still being pretty and have good enough road manners for weekend runs around town with the top down and doors off.

Like everyone else says, if money wasn't a problem most of us would own both, but since it is most of us have gone to the Tacoma for on-road ability with the minimal sacrifice off-road.

 

If my XJ dies my plan is to get a 84-85 Yota pick-up, remove the bed, add a shorty flatbed and make it an off-road mountain mule.

But man that old 4.0 XJ is still ticking with 225K on the odo....

 

88 YJ is sitting in the driveway at the moment. Debating on selling it or completely overhauling it into a buggy/crawler. Its running the AMC 258 with multie port injection 4" lift with boomerang shackles, 33" tires though should be 35." Ford 8.8 waiting to go in and currently trying to perform a tummy tuck on the trans skid.

 

Got a rip ass chuckle on this guys listing- https://bozeman.craigslist.org/cto/6023609501.html

 

Are Tacoma's really that practical? Small, can't tow, back seat is uncomfotable, not that great fuel economy, still can't figure out how to haul plywood, more expensive than a 1/2 ton, the chica's don't care much for them.

A Tacoma with a camper shell is pretty similar to a JKU. I still stand behind Wranglers and Tacomas are life style vehicles.

I vote for both.

 

Eh not a whole lot of stock in that front D30 and even the newer Jeeps have fake D44's they are basically a fancy D35. Having owned both, my Jeep has needed significantly more modifications than the truck ever will in order to be capable.

Why do you think the most popular swap in a Jeep is the front and rear axles? Is it really that more capable if its needs a swap?