So what should i get?

[Thereand...]

Decided I want to do some 4 wheel driving. Love the look of a tough Wrangler (needs to be an Unlimited due to 2 kids), talked the wife out of a Defender when even Richard Hammond admitted the Wrangler is better.

But no experience beyond a 6 mth subscription to 4WD Action (yes they have had 1 story on a Jeep).

Wanting to spend about $30K. Think I want diesel for the torque(and economy but wont do enough miles to get that value - maybe in resale), auto (torque multiplier effect, easier up steep slopes). Love the look of 35" muddies on black gloss rims, a bit of a lift and those flares with the multiple bolt depressions (but probably would not spend money to pretty up a car whose function is to go bush). Maybe I will do some club stuff, sand dunes at Lanclin, hope to go rock crawling! I will drive it around town but probably only once a week, I walk to work.

So do I try to get something with a lift, 35's (33's?), front bar with winch, rear bar, modified diffs/axles/lockers/sway bar disconnects etc - harder to sell so great value on all the mods, look for low Kms? Or unmolested, never been off road, standard will do everything I want till I have some experience and then know what I want to modify and do it right later?

I have driven a JK with 4.5" lift - looks too high (did not have any sidesteps/sliders) and think it will be a pain getting kids into car seats.

Any tips for whats great - what leads to problems or anything appreciated.

Ta.

[AroGantz]

Hello Thereand, I have only very recently bought my first 4WD as well (3 weeks ago) and I'm very happy with it. The way I see it is an unmolested Wrangler is perfect for us beginners because:

We are not as likely to bite off more than we can chew and take them onto radical trails without the experience to back it up but if we had a beast with all the bits we probably would. We'll still take them out and test them but we'll learn at a steadier and safer pace.

It would also be someone else's perfect vehicle and not yours as you would have missed the fun of searching for the parts to make a stock Wrangler Thereands Wrangler.

You can bet a radical machine has been to radical places so what stresses have been put on it?

There is a discussion going on in another thread at the moment about legal lifts, we are stuck at 50mm maximum lift here in WA so a stock one (or one with only a mild lift) should be road legal.

These are only my thoughts and I'm sure you will get a lot more replies to help you with your decission, whichever way you go you will have fun

[Postal]

Hey mate if you have no experience a standard jk will likely take you further than you comfort zone can handle. However if you are thinking about all those mods look for one already dine because that is some serious cash (think 20k) you have listed there. Unless you want to do hard core crawling you don't need it tho.