Anyone else notice how short the ground clearance is on new Jeeps are ?

[candymancan]

I didnt pay much attention to this, but my neighbor has a 2017 grand cherokee, and i live ina townhouse so they are 2 spots from my wagoneer, and next to the 98 4.0 ZJ.. I was looking out the window.. and man those new Jeeps are short.. very little ground clearance.. Same with the cherokee and renegade.. Looking at the bumper for example they are only like 1/2 inch higher then the concrete curb... lol the wagoneer is like over a foot higher at stock height with my new springs...

The ZJ is probly 6 inches higher as well.. Looking at the ground clearance on the body like at the rocker panels ect.. I cant slide my 300lbs ass under that new jeep without my chest seriously getting crushed... On my wagoneer i can go down without any jacking of the vehicle.. remove my exhaust put my new exhaust on, do frame repair and all kinds of other repairs.. same with the zj i can take the transfercase off without any lifting of the vehicle..

Then looking at the new wranglers... the wagoneer is as high as a wrangler lol, ZJ is pretty close as well. I dont see how these new jeeps drive in snow deeper then 4 inches ? The bumper would be a snow plow..



EDIT: also they are tiny inside, the grand cherokee my neighbor has looks massive on the outside.. dwarfs my ZJ, and longer then it, "waggy is still longer though" and he had his lift gate open and i looked inside, and im like thats it ? There is hardly any cargo room... Its narrow and not very tall, my ZJ seems like its at least a foot wider inside. I use my Wagoneer and ZJ for alot of hauling. Be it house hold stuff to the storage unit, to driving accross states when we moved, to going on vacation and visiting family with the dog and baggage... To my landscaping business putting 30 bags of multch in the back stack to the ceiling almost.. With these new jeeps you could probly carry half that many bags of multch. I visited my brother and his kid this winter and i got him a wooden toy train set, with one of those big table tops for it. it was like 33 inches wide and 60 inches long and i tilted it sideways so it was 33 inches up and down.. no way a WK could do this... i had my mom and my german shephered and our baggage in the Jeep and i just highely doubt that new grand cherokee could do that.. The size of the trunk it wouldnt fit the toy set i got.. Hell ive put a full sized double door fridge in my ZJ..

I put a 135 gallon fish tank with stand in my wagoneer.. 72 inches long both were.. side by side and i could close the tailgate and the window.. seats up all the way of course.. With the tailgate down and some straps and mounting points i could fit a 8 foot long fish tank if i had too...

I guess my mom and I growing up have used her ZJ and then my two jeeps when i got them for ALOOTTTT of hauling and i dont see how itd be possible to do what we did over 20 years in a WK. I remember as a kid my mom moving stuff from one house to our new house in her 4.0 ZJ, she put huge wooden hand made german wall units in the back for crying out loud.. no way a wk could do that lol. Ive slept in the back of my ZJ with a full sized air mattress and could stretch out my 6 foot frame easily.. a wk couldnt do that... I dunno the new jeeps just dont seem practical ?

[KJ Ryu]

I can haul a 55" TV in my KJ through a hell of a lot more than 4" of snow. Can't wait to put the lift on it. Oh wait, that's not a new Jeep any more, is it?

[candymancan]

55cinch flat screen tv ? I can haul a 55 old fashionaed t.v but i get what youre saying haha... and no a kj is what 15 or something years old now lol ?

[bigun]

They are re-badged Fiats not Jeep anymore

[Stuka]

Fuel economy improves a lot when you sit lower, although the only thing that really sits low is the air dam. Trailhawk versions have a lot better approach and departure angle. Crash standards (Especially the roll over standards) have also reduced interior space. Ever seen a ZJ roll over? Its BAD for the occupants inside. Its not like newer Jeeps are any different than every other CUV/SUV out there in this regard. But Jeeps do lead their classes in capability offroad.

Plus, ground clearance isn't everything. A Trailhawk Cherokee will do better than a factory stock ZJ offroad in most cases. A JK/JL will run circles around ANY Jeep made before them offroad. Even a mid trim sport will easily out wheel most any previous Jeep. Or even a decent modified one. I know, as I have owned several of both, stock and modified. Things have come a LONG way in terms of capability. A JK/JL won't match an FSJ in style or class, and they are certainly WAY more common, but they are also more capable (With the exception of towing, long travel suspension hurts towing a lot).

As for snow, plenty of KL/BU's around here that routinely go through very deep snow (BU is the Renegade). This winter has hit us pretty hard where we had storms dropping 4-6ft of snow in 24 hours, roads were terrible for weeks. Never saw any newer Jeep having issues, and this is in steep terrain. Modern traction control, stability control, etc, makes newer vehicles very good in the snow. Its almost not a challenge in most cases.

I am not trying to make out older Jeeps as being bad. I still love them. But in almost EVERY vehicle class, newer vehicles are superior. Trucks dwarf what older trucks could do. In the 60's towing 5k lbs was a big deal. Pulling it was sketchy, and stopping was even more sketchy. Now the big three all have pickups that tow THIRTY THOUSAND pounds. A new Mustang/Camaro/Challenger will wipe the floor with every single iteration of their past selves. I mean, its now common place to see 700hp cars driving around, or the new Ram 3500 with 1000ft lbs of torque.

Anyway, trying to bad talk newer vehicles for things that are outside of a manufacturers control is pointless. The pros easily outweigh the cons.

[Stuka]

They are re-badged Fiats not Jeep anymore

No Jeep can be considered a "re-badge". The Renegade/Compass are close, but even that is a stretch as the only thing Fiat is the platform. Every body and interior piece is not found in a Fiat. A re-badge is what GM does with nearly every vehicle they make. The Cherokee has bits of a Fiat platform under it as well. The Grand Cherokee uses a Mercedes platform, and the Wrangler is its own.

Besides, even if they have Fiat pieces, why is that a big deal? Every single vehicle has bits that are used in other vehicles. Its a global economy with global companies. Name one production vehicle that doesn't have bits in it from some other car company. I cannot think of a single one.