TJ Buyers Guide

[outback joe]

I am looking at starting The Jeep Thing, by getting rid of my pathy and getting a Tj for my daily commute.

From reading up a lot about the TJ, the paperwork says they pull 10-12L/100 but I am reading many horror stories of them coming in at 20 and even 1 the guy was only getting 200Km from a tank at 35L/100 with just 31" tyres.

I'm trying to get away from the 20L/100 I get now in my pathy for the 50Km/day trip to work, and the Tj looked fine and dandy because I can take the top off and have natural AC lol

But these horror stories of rediculous fuel readings are making me want to stay with my thirsty pathy drinking premium fuel like a camel.

What should be the avaerage fuel figures for a stock TJ?
I don't plan on many mods for my future TJ as my offroading days are over, so just lights, radio, UHF and stock tyres would be the go...for a while at least lol

What other things should I be looking at when hunting around?
As I won't have a lot of cash to spend to buy otherwise I would be looking at a 4door TD JK.
Also how does the rear seat in the Tj go for putting a child seat in?

[Mudnguts]

With the stock tyres (27") I was getting about 500kms-ish (I've never run it from full to empty) you can fit 2 full booster seats in the back though the kids are close enough to still hit each other! A stroller will fit in the boot but a full pram wont.

[wes]

I don't plan on many mods for my future TJ as my offroading days are over, so just lights, radio, UHF and stock tyres would be the go...for a while at least lol


Famous last words **)

[Ando_13]

On 235/75R15's I was getting around 10.5-11L/100kms (which was better than my 2.8 D Hilux).
However now with 300kgs of mods and 33s, I get 15L/100kms.
This is normal city driving with plenty of hard acceleration upto 80km/h :-)
I also run a child seat for an under 2yr old - she loves the rough noisy Jeep....

[Cornelius]

Between 11 to 14 liters per 100km is going to be the norm depending on your driving style and mods.

And I agree with WES ..........buy a stocker and see how long you go without mods !!!!

What I would be looking for to buy would be the lowest km most stock hairdresser TJ I can get. And then dress it up a little .............

Good luck

[furkew]

I agree with the above comments as well.

Buy and ex- hairdressers car and go from there

I helped my son buy a 97 TJ recently and although I know it had had a hard offroading life I wasn't really prepared for almost another $6k it has since cost to get it properly sorted (did buy it reasonably priced luckily)

[Richo]

Plenty have been off road and well maintained.
Buy a modded one and you are only paying about 1/3 of the retail cost of the add ons. Sure, spend a bit on maintenance and fix ups, but you save more up front.
I paid under $20k for mine, easily would cost around $60K to build it.

Flexy's rig is for sale for as low as 13k, he's spend 3-4 times that to get it to where it is now. With patrol diffs most of the typical TJ issues have been effectively removed.

There's plenty of heavily modded jks around now, some owe the owners damn near $100k. What do you reckon they're worth right now as a second hand unit..... Or in 5-7 years time?

Figure out what level of off road work you want to do, and buy a sorted one accordingly.

[sssboi]

I get 17-19L per 100km without any mods

[Cornelius]

Plenty have been off road and well maintained.
Buy a modded one and you are only paying about 1/3 of the retail cost of the add ons. Sure, spend a bit on maintenance and fix ups, but you save more up front.
I paid under $20k for mine, easily would cost around $60K to build it.

Flexy's rig is for sale for as low as 13k, he's spend 3-4 times that to get it to where it is now. With patrol diffs most of the typical TJ issues have been effectively removed.

There's plenty of heavily modded jks around now, some owe the owners damn near $100k. What do you reckon they're worth right now as a second hand unit..... Or in 5-7 years time?

Figure out what level of off road work you want to do, and buy a sorted one accordingly.

100% agree this is the way to go for the more serious offroader. I also scored big time on mine doing what you said. However my eirlier comment was for the man who said he is not realy interested in an offraod weapon but more a lightly modified daily driver :D

[lifted TJ]

I was getting 300km to a tank on 33s and 4.11s auto.

[lifted TJ]

I was getting 300km to a tank on 33s and 4.11s auto.

[low ranger]

I get 350 plus km per tank on the highway running 4.56, 33`s & a snorkel kit. The snorkel was the single biggest improvement to the economy.
Rick

[Squall]

Wow some of those fuel figures look bloody scary. I have 31"s and a snorkel with full bar work all round and a roof rack and when I dont have the camping gear on top I still get 12.4Lt per 100km on the highway and 14Lt per 100km in the city(Sydney).

The soft top is great for a baby seat in the back as you can unzip the side windows to get your bub out. My sister loved this aspect.

As for the modded vs un-modded question. All I have to say is who would give up their pride and joy, that they had spent some big $$$ on unless, they are moving and cant take it, they now get a company car, their missus told them to, or there is a ticking time bomb under the bonnet.

No one builds a Jeep just to sell it once its done, we build it to use it and sell it before it blows up in our face. Also some of those mall crawlers may have had a worse life then an offroad weapon, all it takes is one weekend where someone thinks they might give it a go and before you know it they are selling the car before XYZ breaks.

[Wooders]

Even if you're not building a rockhopping monster, getting a unit that has been lockered, regeared & SYE'd makes a LOT of sense.
Stock ratios generally suck and the stock slip yoke design is just stupid. 2 expensive items youd save heaps if it's already done.

[Richo]

Interesting re fuel usage.
Mine is probably one of the more heavily modded Tjs..... And the motor has been stroked to 4.7, bigger throttle body, higher flow injectors, it's turning 4.88's and heavy bastard 37's.... Reliably gets 20l per 100ks.
Same as or damned near some lightly modded stockers.

[driftdave]

Close to 18-20L/100 round town.
33's STOCK RATOS. 3 Speed : (

Cheers
Dave

[Yank]

I've got a '97 TJ, 4.0l motor, 5 speed transmission, 31 inch tyres and my share of dramas (evidenced by all off my Wooders receipts and bumper stickers :) ) so I've replaced the entire distributor assembly, cooling system, upgraded the wires and plugs, etc.

I'm getting about 10.5 liters per 100km.