I agree that KJ's are underrated off road, and there are many nicely built ones over at Lostjeeps.com. Tommudd's is especially impressive. My Jeeps stay close to stock as I don't wheel recreationally but need a sturdy vehicle for reaching remote surfing and fishing spots and getting to the mountains in the winter. My 2004 KJ had catastrophic engine failure just out of warranty that my local Jeep dealer made right for me by honoring the warranty and then taking it in as a trade towards a new WK at a fair price. My 2005 KJ that I owned at the same time had seats that I found very uncomfortable and attracted stains and water marks badly. It also leaked badly at the rear and front window seals which caused electrical issues. At about 100k miles the suspension and steering were worn out and it started having engine gremlins that I was never able to track down (may have been carbon build up from cheap gas?). I traded it in to the same dealer for a slightly used KK I drive now. Both my WK and KK have been excellent vehicles. There were things that I liked about the KJ (I think they look good with a lift/tires and I think you'll see a lot more off road as they get older and cheaper and I also liked the size which was big enough for my stuff but compact enough to be very maneuverable) but I never loved them like I did my XJ's and am starting to feel about my KK. I also had a lot more issues with them than I did my other Jeeps. I owned my XJ's for at least twice as many miles with similar upkeep.
Edit: Even though the ground clearance on all my Jeeps has been pretty similar I found I dragged and scraped the KJ's a lot on trails my other Jeeps had no issues on.
Edit: Even though the ground clearance on all my Jeeps has been pretty similar I found I dragged and scraped the KJ's a lot on trails my other Jeeps had no issues on.
