JL Rockies wrote:
The RAV4 doubled Toyota's income though... and that's saying a lot considering even in the early 90's Toyota had enough $ to buy Ford and Chrysler and still have a billion $ left liquid.
The Liberty exists only for the RAV4... Chrysler wanted to cash in on the success Toyota had and they were successful... for a little while the KJ was the #1 in the class but as Toyota and Honda updated their vehicles, the Jeep stagnated and by the time the KK came around, no one cared anymore.... no one. Lots of Jeep peeps were really supper pissed that Jeep came out with a KJ... just sayin'
FIAT (Fix It Again Tony) is following the trends just as the Jeep brand has in the past. If it means changing the Liberty to a car-based mini-ute to make a bunch of $ they owe it to the stock holders to do so. I've said it before many times, it won't be long before the entire Jeep line will be IFS too.
The rav4 is just a camry,built on the same line.Sure it did sell but the KJ was never built to compete with it,nore should be even considered in the same class.The KJ was the "revamped" XJ to fill a niche that the XJ was just getting to old and outdated for.Gas prices have killed the KJ/KK not the rav4,crv,and Escape(camry,accord,and Tauras).New CAFE/CARB standards forced the compass/patriot to the lineup and the even newer CAFE/CARB standards is killing them all to crossover's for mpg's.
I know where your KJ has been,been on a few of those trail runs with you.Do you really think you could have gone on those trails with a camry?
I see many KJ's at work every week,and as well known worked on many through RL,and for the most part no major issues other then normal maintenance stuff.Sure there not perfect,but like every other vehicle that comes through have been far more trouble free in the major issue area then any toyota and honda as a whole.That is not being biased since I own a KJ just a factual statement from what I have personally seen at work.