Why not. Kill the Cherokee and Renegade and replace them with a JL-Mini and JT-Mini.
100% with you. Bought one for my son, and enjoyed it so much I just found another for myself. And I would much rather continue using the JT as my daily.
I am with you.
The sxs manufacturer's succesfully swept in and overtook the " old small off-roaders" market. The market was always there, is here today, and will still be viable tomorrow. When Jeep sued Mahindra over the Roxor's design, I thought Jeep might enter the market with there own resurrected CJ. I would have bought one if they did.Nope
If I was allowed to (restriction on driver's license) I would probably own a power wagon.
I think if I needed something smaller I would buy a new Jimny or a cj tj yj and resto mod it, or go full buggy and trailer it to the locations.
Overlanding I just need space (bonus that the gladiator is a beast if it does get dicey).
TBH there is no market for the old style small off-roaders. Some would point out how much less space and comfort (see the jeep wave and why most did it) they offer compared to other small SUV and all they have is some more capability. The people that want, need and can afford a second/third brand new (talking price here) vehicle or are single, no family and don't need the space, is such a small margin.
Check out Stan Fuller on youtube, grandpa's jeep. It's amazing where he takes his old Willys cj. 40's are definitely over rated and completely not required to have a great time off-roading, even rock crawling.
This made me laugh out loud.
These articles do a great job of explaining why we have few option's to buy small wheelbase vehicles. It could be construed as political so I won't discuss the issue here as I don't want to get your thread shut down by whoever.
Hear you, but I disagree.
Only if it's more than 25 years old. Otherwise, we're not allowed to import anything. Customs will have your butt if you do in the states.
That explains the land cruisers and Buhankas making their way to the states.
If it was purchased only as a pure off-road vehicle, with no kids, I'd agree. But my jeep is my daily and my offroader. And when it's my offroader, I still like to bring the kids along. It needs to be able to do jeep stuff, truck stuff, and family stuff, for me. Cars and vehicles are just so much more expensive than they were in the 80s and 90s, even adjusted for inflation. So the Jeep is to me a do everything vehicle, rather than just an off-road toy. If I was much older (kids out of the house), or much younger (no kids), I'd go for a regular cab. But as it stands now, in my 30s with 2 kids, one in a bulky doesn't-fit-in-a-2 door-wrangler car seat, the gladiator and 4 door wrangler are the perfect work and fun vehicles. People with kids are just such a large portion of the buyers for these vehicles now, and car seats are way bulkier and harder to get in and out of than they used to be.These articles do a great job of explaining why we have few option's to buy small wheelbase vehicles. It could be construed as political so I won't discuss the issue here as I don't want to get your thread shut down by whoever.
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/10/how-cafe-killed-compact-trucks-and-station-wagons/
https://news.pickuptrucks.com/2013/04/is-the-regular-cab-pickup-doomed.html
I will add that you are not the only one who is questioning the over bloated size of pickups and suv's sold in the U.S. today. This issue is discussed with much less defense and more productive dialog on other off-road enthusiast forums. For some reason, many Gladiator owners feel the need to defend there purchase of the current long wheelbase, crew cab, tiny bed, configuration. Most looking for a small rugged, nimble, strictly off-road vehicle have already crossed over to the SXS market as it offers many jeepish platforms yet a market for such a vehicle to serve as a daily driver is minimal. We have the JL and the 2 door Bronco, which are fantastic, but we do not have a small off-road pickup. The new Colorado, Canyon, Ranger, Frontier, and Tacoma are no longer small, nimble, pickup trucks and some are only available as a crew cab with tiny bed configuration. The suv based Maverick, Montana, and Rampage so called pickups are not intended to serve as off-road vehicles and are also only available as crew cab tiny bed configurations. There is a market for smaller 2 door SUV's and pickups. The J6 would be a prefered off road platform by folks who don't need room for extra passengers and value having more cargo space in the bed and a more practical shorter wheelbase. The J6 will not be offered with an ICE due to CAFE regulations. A hybrid version of the J6 is much more likely.
Long live the remaining '80, '90's, and early 2000's Ranger's, S10 ZR2's, and Tacoma's.
No worries there, I will continue to build my JT.
Jeep does not offer a 2 door Wrangler 4xe in Europe because of going hybrid and electric. The 2 door cannot house a system with range and emissions that justifies it in the market.
