Overview & Reviews

If you're thinking about purchasing a vehicle rugged enough to finesse rocky trails, chances are, one make comes to mind: Jeep. This specialty automotive manufacturer has a long history of producing trucks and SUVs capable of off-highway adventures — so much so that the term jeep is used by many to refer to all SUVs, whether the vehicle in question is a true Jeep or not.

Jeep took root in WWII as the name of the now-iconic four-wheel-drive military vehicle produced by Willys-Overland and Ford for the U.S. Army. The name's origin is somewhat of a mystery; popular belief is that it morphed from "GP," or "general purpose," though others have suggested that it was a nickname derived from a character featured in the Popeye comic strip of the time.

The mid-1940s saw the introduction of the first civilian Jeep, the CJ-2A. It offered many features not available on military versions, such as a tailgate, an external fuel cap and a side-mounted spare tire, and was targeted mainly toward farmers and construction workers.

Civilian Jeeps caught on with the public, and by the 1950s, new models such as the CJ-3B and the CJ-5 had been introduced. The CJ-5 had the longest production run of any Jeep vehicle, continuing for 30 years after its introduction in the early '50s. The company changed owners during this decade as Willys-Overland was sold to Kaiser in 1953.

Jeep broke new ground in the 1960s with the debut of its Wagoneer. Geared toward active families, this early SUV was the first four-wheel-drive vehicle equipped with an automatic transmission. A new "Dauntless" V6 became available as an option on the CJ-5 and CJ-6 in 1965. This was the first time that a Jeep CJ could be equipped with a V6. Packing 155 horses, the engine's horsepower almost doubled that offered by the standard four-cylinder.

By the 1970s, Jeep had changed ownership yet again, with the purchase of Kaiser-Jeep by American Motors Corporation. New models like the CJ-7 and the Scrambler were rolled out. Additionally, the company unveiled some new technology with the introduction of the world's first automatic full-time four-wheel-drive system. Dubbed Quadra-Trac, it was available in the CJ-7 as well as in full-size Jeep trucks and wagons. During this decade, Jeep's fortunes soared as four-wheel-drive vehicles became increasingly popular with large sections of American buyers.

The 1980s saw the introduction of the Cherokee and Wrangler. The Cherokee was one of the first of the new breed of SUVs — high-riding midsize wagons that skyrocketed in popularity as the decade progressed. The Wrangler replaced the CJ series in 1987 and offered the raw functionality of the CJ along with more comfort features. That year also saw the purchase of American Motors by Chrysler, with the Jeep brand becoming part of Chrysler's Jeep/Eagle division. One of Jeep's most popular models, the Grand Cherokee, debuted for 1993. This handsome, midsize SUV offered considerably more comfort and luxury than the smaller Cherokee while still providing stout off-road capability.

Jeep fell under the umbrella of DaimlerChrysler after Chrysler and Daimler-Benz merged in 1998. This partnership resulted in a few new models, such as the Liberty and Compass, though none were able to attain great sales success. In 2007, Daimler sold the Chrysler Group to a private equity firm. It is now under control of Fiat.

More recently, the company has added a couple of enticing models to its lineup (including a four-door version of the Wrangler and the pavement-scorching Grand Cherokee SRT8) and made substantial performance and quality improvements under the hoods and within the cabins. As such, we expect Jeep will not only maintain a loyal group of customers but will also bring new fans into the fold.

User Reviews:

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  TIRES - 2007 Jeep Commander
  By CASEY - March 27 - 3:13 pm

  I bought the SUV in June 08 and I havent had any problems with the vehicle yet. The gas mileage is horrible but the car drives wonderful. I ran over a large screw driver this weekend and I drove 15 miles with it in my tire because I couldnt pull it out. The guy at Tires Plus had a very hard time pulling the screw driver out of the tire. It took him about 15 minutes to get it out. When he finally got it out of the tire, it didnt need to be replace. He put the tire in the solution and there was no damage. Wow!!! I hope I have good luck with the rest of the car like I did with the tires. Also I wish the 3rd row could have a been more comfortable.

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  Its definitely a Jeep thing! - 2006 Jeep Wrangler
  By Terminator - March 27 - 11:16 am

  I love this Jeep. It is amazing what it can do off road. One of my favorite things to do is ride with the top down and the doors off. I have been impressed with how reliable this vehicle has been. I have had better service with this Jeep than I have had with my high end imports. I now have 20k on it and its still going with no issues.

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  was looking for a used found i could afford a new - 2011 Jeep Patriot
  By leafman - March 27 - 4:12 am

  I read all these car mag reviews on the patriot and they play down what a great and fun suv this is. Guess they dont know how to drive a manual tranny, most of their issues are with the patriot being sluggish but I have no problem beating others off the line at a red light and I know an automatic trans is the worse thing you can have on a four cylinder engine. the price was what really sold me got mine (after some price war dealing between two different dealers) for $14000! If your planning to buy a new suv sometime soon I say test drive this baby and try the manual, youll love it. PS you will get every bit of 29+ mile to the gallon with your manual trans.

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  The Family Jeep - 2005 Jeep Liberty
  By Dan - March 26 - 11:53 pm

  This Jeep has been a great purchase. Since I purchased it this Jeep has gone everywhere and done everything that I asked of it. It was inexpensive to purchase but has given me excellent on-road and off-road performance. In all my off-road adventures, and I do a lot of off-roading, this Jeep has only left me stranded once when I bottomed it out in some muddy ruts. My previous CJ5 would have been stuck in the same spot. On the highway it has made a lot of trips to Salt Lake City and to Reno and has been as reliable as my Timex watch. The only real work that has been done on it was the recall for the ball joints. IMHO this is the best of this class of 4x4 SUV. 4x is built in, not added on later

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  Wish Jeep still made this vehicle - 1998 Jeep Cherokee
  By Dyscrasy - March 26 - 4:26 am

  I sold my Jeep Wrangler because I got tired of messing with the tops, and bought my Cherokee used, in perfect shape. I take it camping annually. ItÂ’s great on back roads, or no roads. Ive taken him through streams, sand, on slick rock, over sagebrush and rocks, ditches and snow. It holds all my gear with room for me to sleep in it. Mine is a white Limited model, so it looks classy, but I bring it back covered in dust, mud and bugs. Great sound system, comfortable, powerful, great turning radius, great ground clearance. A perfect car for all purposes. The only thing I dont like is my back road and expressway combined trips average only 15mpg, not too good, but not bad enough to sell it!

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  HORRIBLE ELECTRONIC SHIFTING SYSTEM - 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee
  By Paul - March 26 - 2:28 am

  I strongly suggest that you should not purchase one of these vehicles until the terrible, dangerous, unreliable, finicky electronic shift program is changed. 1) Every time I start this Jeep and pull back the console shift lever to put it in drive, nothing happens the first time. I have to repeat this action twice to get the transmission into Drive. Because this shift lever is not connected mechanically to the transmission, it relies on sensors to read what position (Park, Drive, Reverse, Neutral...) you are trying to get the transmission to shift to. This system is either very poorly designed, is made up of faulty components, is poorly programmed, or (you fill in the blank...) When I want to back up, it often takes several tries to get the vehicle to move into the Reverse position. With almost every other automatic transmission ever built, there is a detent, or notch that you feel when shifting into a different gear. Not so with this terrible design. The console shift lever has a Home" position that is resides in until you try to convince it to "sense" the gear that youre trying to shift to. When I am going through an automatic car wash and get to the end, I cant just move the transmission from neutral to drive quickly to get out of the way of the vehicle that is just 2-3 feet behind me. NO. Instead I have to push the button on the shift lever (no big deal) AND step on the brake pedal before I can get it into Drive!!! This really freaks out the driver behind me, often causing them to hit their brakes when they see my brake lights come on. Since they are still on the transport system of the car wash, this then crashes the car wash drive and they have to stop and reset their system. I have owned close to 40 cars and trucks, most of them with automatic transmissions. I have NEVER had one that requires the driver to step on the brake pedal when shifting from Neutral to Drive. This is stupid, cumbersome and DANGEROUS. I have taken this vehicle to the dealer many times, asking them to fix these problems, only to be told that pretty much everyone who owns one of these has brought it back with the same request for "repairs". The answer is that there is NO REPAIR or adjustment available. They actually designed it to work this way. I wish I had not purchased this vehicle and feel sorry for everyone who has one. If there is any good news in this at all, it is that our lovely Federal Government is now engaged in an "Engineering Review" of all the complaints about this vehicles electronic shift program to see if it needs to be elevated to a RECALL. I dont know how it cant be.

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  2002 "JIBERTY" - 2002 Jeep Liberty
  By DAVE SOREN - March 25 - 10:00 am

  LOVE IT. AWKWARD WINDOW CONTROLS; OTHERWISE GREAT VEHICLE.

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  I wish I never purchased it! - 2006 Jeep Liberty
  By Brian - March 25 - 1:16 am

  The car has a gear/spinning noise between 25 and 35 mph. Dealer tried to fix, replaced rear axles, then returned car with same noise claiming Chrysler district manager told them the noise is normal. Chrysler customer service is refusing to tell me what the source of this noise is. It is very unpleasant during city driving. This is a 2 month old car and my other brand 4 year old SUV is a lot better car.

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  Our Grand Cherokee almost killed my wife - 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee
  By Scott - March 24 - 11:56 pm

  Our Jeep Grand Cherokee had the 5.7 Hemi with the Quandra Drive II transmission. Last week the entire car was engulfed in flames and my wife and in laws were lucky to get out in time. Luckily a police officer was directly behind the car when the fire started, stating he thought that transmission fluid leaked onto the exhaust system and that cause the fire. However, what started small got aggressive real fast, entering the passenger compartment in under 90 seconds. Car was back to the dealer 9 times for the same problem, the transmission. Stay away from this vehicle. Chrysler cant fix their own product and it could have killed by wife and her parents. Never again Chrysler.

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  Unstoppable - 1995 Jeep Wrangler
  By turbo jeep - March 23 - 8:13 pm

  I have owned jeeps all my life cj, xj, and now owning the yj for the past 10 years Ive racked up 279,786 miles only replacing the transmission due to my ongoing driving thought deep water the transmission had filled with muddy water after driving it for a month the 2 gear synchronizer exploded nothing else has been replaced on the engine is getting a bit noisy but still runs good I am building a new 2.5 L and adding a turbo for bit more power it will probably be really close to 300,000 miles on it by the time I get the engine put together this vehicle has surpassed every thing in its path