Are Jeeps getting to street civilized?

[KaiserBill]

You mean $1750.00 plus tax and auction fee on a Government Auction Site or the price that the US Government originally paid in 1970 for a truck designed in 1949?

Here is what I have to say about American vehicles-- sub par in a lot of respects. Take a look at the capabilities of the Unimog 5000 series (I think MB is also screwing up the works by overly complicating the design with needless features) or Tatra's T 810 series trucks and you will find vehicles that have amazing capabilities off-road.

As for the gadgets-- I don't see how sat-radio, power mirrors, cruise control, climate control, alarm system, USB, Power Outlets, sat-navigation, alpine sound system, a built in thermometer, compass, heated seats, humidity sensor and so on and so forth makes for a safer vehicle.

ABS great for the highway not so good on the trail, Airbags-- also great on the highway-- no so good on the trial. But okay, I'll say those are at least productive features.

But what features would make the Jeep in my eyes more attractive are the following:

CTIS
Portal Axles
Driver controlled differential locks in any range at any speed.
Transfer Case with operator controlled locking differential in it. That way you could run say 4x4 at speeds above 55mph without putting as much stress on the system. Then when you want to lock up the entire system for hard terrain bam-- hit the locks and 100% traction is afforded to you.
Ground Clearance about 11 inches minimum.
Turbo Diesel Engine with about 200hp and 520ft-lbs of torque operating at 2400-2600rpm with a load on it.
Gearbox-- 8spd manual type unit.
Capable fording 48 inches from the factory.
Grade Capability: >100% on certain surfaces.
Side Slope: >30%

That to me would be the ideal Jeep vehicle. Something that is basically a 75% off-road and 25% happy on the road type truck. And you frankly, I would leave out all the electronic do-dads that are really only for comfort out of the design. From my perspective those things are basically just things designed to sell a vehicle to people who plan on being in traffic all day long. Instead I say build a vehicle that is about really going places way out of the way.

[Snarf77]

Yes, I was talking about the original acquisition cost. If I buy a used JK in 20 years, maybe it will be $1750 plus auction fees. Meh.

All my points stand. There is zero market for a portal axle Jeep with any of those features, and there never will be. Would I have one? YUP. Would I pay what it would cost to build one of those? Nope. You probably wouldn't either!

BTW, you can buy a base-model jeep without any of those annoying comforts. I like my USB outlet.

[KaiserBill]

Yes, I was talking about the original acquisition cost. If I buy a used JK in 20 years, maybe it will be $1750 plus auction fees. Meh.

All my points stand. There is zero market for a portal axle Jeep with any of those features, and there never will be. Would I have one? YUP. Would I pay what it would cost to build one of those? Nope. You probably wouldn't either!

BTW, you can buy a base-model jeep without any of those annoying comforts. I like my USB outlet.

Well the US Armed Forces procured my vehicle in 1970 for the amazingly stupid price of $72,560.00. Which I have to say was about 80% profit for either Kaiser-Jeep or Am General depending on exactly how far long it was in the production process during the big switch over. Either way the US Armed Forces paid top dollar for a truck that designed in 1949 and not sufficiently upgraded between 1956-1993 until the Am General ESP M35A3 program was initiated. And then they really paid out of the nose to make then nearly 50 year old design up to 30 year old standards! So, if were to take a tip from the Pentagon the Jeep JKU would have 30 year old technology and cost three times the price you paid for it.

There is only one reason you don't have portal axles on the Jeep right now-- the cost of retooling the factory at Dana to make the axles is considered to expensive. So you get standard Dana 30 and Dana 44's with modest changes because it is far more cost effective for Dana to make as few alterations to the axle design as possible while getting the best price for them.

And the Base Jeep is sort of a joke. As for the USB Outlet it is really rather needless.