Buying a new car... jeep alternative? (vehicles, air conditioning, traction, sedans)

[Shellysocal]

Ive been wanting to trade in my honda civic to get a 4 door jeep wrangler. I want a car that can handle any weather, snow, not get a flat if you drive over some branches out in nature. When I had my Hyundai I got so many flats. Those tires could not handle anything. And I slid all over in the snow. I want the kind of car that can plow right over that snow, without getting a truck. I want a 4 door, big strong tires, but NOT a truck or mini van. A jeep seemed perfect for me. But everyone Ive talked to says Jeep has a lot of problems. That they break down a lot. Even when they are still new. Is Jeep still the best way to go? Or is there a good alternative? Something not crazy expensive that wont break down all the time.

[CarnivalGal]

I agree that Jeeps are not that reliable. Check out Subaru. They're pretty great in snow.

You know, you can change the tires on anything.

[Electrician4you]

Subaru. Forget Jeep.

[earthisle]

Buy a current generation Jeep Grand Cherokee. They're excellent vehicles

[Regajohn]

Snow traction ... It's not the car, it is the tires. A front wheel car on dedicated snow tires will outperform an all-wheel drive on All Season (no season) tires. (on the road ... obviously acidic with no tires isn't going to do well on Forest roads with two feet of snow)

Jeep Wranglers are great for a second or third car ... maybe a primary car if you never go anywhere other than four or five miles to work or into the Woods. but they're horrible road trip cars and I wouldn't want one as my only ride.

Where do you live?

[notnamed]

Tacoma.

And yeah most factory tires are junk on most vehicles and you should look at replacing them asap if you do any sort of spirited/enthusiast, winter, or off road driving.

[JonahWicky]

Any AWD car with decent tires will do what you want. Stay away from Jeep...the reliability is dismal. Subarus are particularly good winter vehicles. An Outback or Forester gives you extra capacity without being a big SUV. I've owned several and never had any complaints.

[Corerius]

I'm no wuss when it comes to cars, but Jeep Wranglers can be downright scary. Not as bad as a VW bus, but pretty bad.

I'd simply buy a SWB 4WD reg cab Silverado if you put a gun to my head to buy a new car, but I'll honor the 'no trucks' deal.

Maybe go look at a Honda CRV or whatever the Toyota thing is called.

side note: A know several guys that make a semi-living working at home out of quasi-professional car shops, smarter than your average bear, and to a man they all absolutely hate Subarus. Lots of problems, hard to fix.

[AlaskaErik]

I own a Jeep Wrangler. I bought it to go off roading. But it makes for a terrible winter vehicle. It's also a terrible daily driver. It gets poor mileage. And FCA vehicles rank at the bottom in terms of reliability. Get a Subaru or RAV 4 or CRV. But definitely stay away from Jeep.

[Redraven]

I used to have a 2006 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited 2-door. It was a great vehicle, on and off-road. I made several trips to Moab with it.
In fact, I drove it several thousand miles at freeway speeds on trips that took 2 or 3 days. I would turn on the heater or the air conditioning, load the 6-disc CD player up, set the cruise control, and happily roll down the freeway at 70 MPH, getting 18 MPG.
In the winter I seldom had to put it in four wheel drive, because I had traction lug M&S tires on it.
The Jeep was pretty much trouble free for the few years I had it. About the only problem I had was with the steering damper. I had to replace that thing every year or so.

I have also owned AMC Eagles and Subaru Outbacks. Of the two, the Eagles were the best winter vehicles, IMO. In both brands I had both the wagons and the sedans.
All wheel drive is better in the winter than four wheel drive, IMO.
However, both require real traction tread winter tires!