I understand why people don t like them, when looking at the perspective of a purely off-road machin

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Wrangler went on a summer tear last month, more than doubling its July 2009 number, and leading SUVs to a strong rally. The segment s top 18 nameplates all improved their year-over-year numbers last month, as gas prices look to hold steady through the summer (only the Suzuki Grand Vitara lost ground). SUVs should be way up again (year-on-year) this month as well, as Cash For Clunkers limited SUV sales in August 2009. Strong sales in this segment could continue into the fall on the strength of new launches like the Jeep Grand Cherokee, and Ford Explorer. norwegian dawn cruises On the other hand, with the Explorer moving to a Crossover platform and lines between SUVs and CUVs generally blurring, it s becoming norwegian dawn cruises increasingly important to compare mid/large CUVs against this SUV segment. Based on that comparison, it s easy to see that the mass market tends to pick road-oriented people-haulers rather than offroad-oriented rock crawlers. SUVs may be booming this summer, but in the big picture they re melting away into the ever-expanding Crossover category. Hit the jump for a bonus graph of Luxury-brand SUV/CUV sales in July.
While is all the more reason a diesel would be a perfect fit for the Wrangler. Top speed isn t important, if you can hit 80mph on the highway you are good to go, you really don t want to take a Wrangler much beyond that anyway.
Considering that the 3.8 makes 240 lb/ft by at over 4000 rpm, even a very small engine tuned for efficiency over power like the VW 2.0 would probably help driveability with it s 236 lbs/ft at 1500 rpm. The Wrangler has plenty of space under the hood though, so you could easily stick something like the 4.9 liter diesel from the Mitsubishi Fuso line in there that makes close to 400 lbs/ft of torque at around norwegian dawn cruises 1600 rpm. Even the previous VM Motori diesel used in the Liberty made close to 300 lbs/ft of torque at a low RPM, and owners of those vehicles seem to love them so much you rarely see them on the used market at a reasonable price.
Nullo makes a good point, but I do not expect norwegian dawn cruises you could swap Mitsu diesel into a Wrangler and remain CARB compliant. In fact even Liberty s CRD diesel was not (it had a 49-state emissions compliance). Also, you probably can only do it on a manual. norwegian dawn cruises I do not see 42RLE slushbox taking it, so here comes transmission swap, and to what exactly?
It would appear that Chrysler/Jeep norwegian dawn cruises owns this segment. As much as we talk about Chrysler s stale product, the Wrangler is quite recent. It has gotten a little big for my tastes, but it seems to be selling pretty well. I was surprised. There is a significantly improved interior on the way (according to Allpar) which will not hurt it.
Still, I say they re not out of the woods or even close to it until they have a competitive mid-size norwegian dawn cruises sedan. They new 300c and Charger could be knock-down, dragout gorgeous inside and out but without a real offering in the mid-size market they re not going to come back.
That s why I m still far more sanguine about the future of GM and Ford than Chrysler. Whatever you want to say about Ford and especially GM, they do have very competitive and in some aspects class-leading norwegian dawn cruises entries in that field. norwegian dawn cruises Imagine if GM was still pushing 2005 Malibus and Ford still pushing the 2004 Taurus. That s what Chrysler is doing with the Sebring/Avenger.
It pains me to defend Z71_Silvy in any thread, but the SRX appears to be selling quite well. The 648 sales figure is from July 2009; for this year, it sold 5,723 units in July, which is the second-highest number in the segment. It s hardly a failure at this point, and much more of a success than the Lincoln MKT.
I agree that the SRX really shoulda been a Buick. With how well the SRX is selling and Buick on the rebound, I wouldn t be surprised to see GM sell a pure RX competitor with a tri-shield badge in the near future.
There s also the problem that the Flex is so nice, most people don t really need to spend the extra money on the Lincoln variant. The Flex is holding steady in the mid 3,000 sales per month range, which would put it pretty high up on the luxury SUV/CUV chart, which, even though Ford isn t a luxury nameplate, the average transaction price on Flexes is more in line with the luxury models than with the mainstream brand ones.
Wow I still don t get the Wrangler sales. Can t comment on the 4DR but the 2DR is such a useless waste. Wonder how many of those sales are 4 doors? That might explain it. When I vacationed in Hawaii they were everywhere on rental norwegian dawn cruises lots. I rented a minivan.
I ve also heard that the four door is more popular, but I would never buy one. The only Wranger to get, IMO, is a two with the soft top and the half doors. As much progress as the Wrangler has made in the general comfort category, I think most owners will still be unsatisfied with one as a daily driver or family-conveyance vehicle. Get the two with the soft windows and top so that you can take them all down and make it look good.
I bought a 2D version mostly for the purpose norwegian dawn cruises of having my midlife crisis car at last. It basically is a Miata 4 4, only more customizable. The 4D is way more practical: 1. can tow 3500 (2D limited to 2500), 2. fuel tank is bigger, 3. can carry 4 adults and their luggage, which comes into play when you re picking relatives at an airport. The fuel mileage is about the same. The local off-road area has some obstacles that are easier to take on a 2D, but you can do everything norwegian dawn cruises necessary in the 4D as well.
I own a two-door Wrangler with a soft top (A lifted 00 TJ with a broken hardtop), and my next vehicle norwegian dawn cruises will be a 4-door Wrangler Unlimited. Not because I m unsatisfied with it in any way-DDing it is getting norwegian dawn cruises a little old, with 20 minutes of highway driving, a rough transmission and a lot of vibrations, as 12-year-old, lifted Jeeps are wont to do-but because the 4-door version offers 99% of the utility of the 2-door (Turns a bit wider, but otherwise every bit as capable as far as I ve seen), norwegian dawn cruises but with the added utility of a real trunk and back seat.
I understand why people don t like them, when looking at the perspective of a purely off-road norwegian dawn cruises machine, but for a DD and something you want to drive around for any period of time, possibly with your friends and/or stuff and can STILL beat around offroad on weekends, it s a hell of a machine-I test-drove a 10 Rubicon, and the improvement in road manners over my 00 is amazing.
Plus, you can stick 32 s under them off the lot (The Rubicon and Mountain have them even), wheras norwegian dawn cruises I had to lift mine to do that. Once the 12s come out with a Pentastar and/or norwegian dawn cruises Fiat-sourced diesel, I ll be on that like a fat kid on a sundae.
I bought norwegian dawn cruises a 2010 back in April. They had been out since Sept, and up to that point, I d seen, on the road, maybe a half dozen. Since I ve purchased mine, I ve seen them all over the place. I think the lack of advertising made most people unaware that it was redesigned at all. When I told a few friends that I had bought a new 4Runner, they were shocked when they actually saw that it wasn t the 4th gen and was a new design instead. I think awareness of the new model is starting to increase and that has helped sales since January.
I doubt the sales will ever return to the levels of the mid 00s, but that is because the Highlander is a better value for those that don t want to get too far off the beaten path. It has far more interior space, probably gets better fuel economy norwegian dawn cruises in the real world, norwegian dawn cruises rides much smoother (not like a BOF SUV, haha), and you get more options for the money.