Suitability of a 4-door JK jeep

[4wdswagman]

G'day folks,

I managed to convince my Mrs that rather than sell my 2-seater ex-army Land Rover Perentie it would be best if she sold her Subaru XV hatchback and bought a 4x4 we could fit a baby seat into and use not only as a daily driver for her, but for family road trips and off-road trips. Don't ask me how I did it, I'm still scratching my head hahaha

A four door JK jeep Wrangler is on the shortlist.

How suitable is one of these jeeps for long range overlanding trips and off roading with small kids?

 

[NatersXJ6]

I’ve used to for those purposes as well as daily driving for over 8 years and 140k miles now. I would say very suitable.

Depending on the ages of the kids, some adaptations are needed.

1) Find the smallest car seats possible and get them out of those seats as soon as you can.
2) I still have to lift my 5 & 7 year old girls in, they climb into mommy’s car by themselves.
3) JL vs JK have some important kid friendly adaptations. Notably, the doors stay open on JL, meaning less dirty clothes and finger pinching. I believe JL models also have heat/ac vents in the back seat area, I had to add fans to my JK for the kids in their car seats.

Remember that the vehicle outlasts the stages of childhood. The annoyances that come with loading littles are temporary and pass quickly.

 

[shays4me]

I bought one in 2013 and it worked well for hauling two teenagers and a grade schooler. I had four kids at the time and that ultimately lead to it's departure. Since then we've had kids moving out and now we have two of them. One of them has been in use since 2018 and the other was purchased this year. I have mine setup with a UM J30 top that we camp with and my wife liked it so much that she wanted her own. We found her a JKUR four door. Things that weren't factory when we purchased it have been replaced with OEM components with the exception of an AEV tire carrier and a cat back exhaust system. The tire carrier just made sense to keep (I have the same one on my JK) and the cat back exhaust was too costly to change back for it to matter to her. She doesn't even want a lift or winch or anything for that matter. She likes it as is. Our two Jeeps as it turns out are the same model, year and option package which was not planned. They were even made in the same month and it has proven as an asset to be able to compare a modified Jeep to a stock one. I'm surprised that her Jeep is incredibly capable off road just the way it is. I tend to forget that the vehicle was designed to do that in the first place. As for on road manners, it isn't a Cadillac, but it's a long ways from a CJ7 or YJ as well. We take our longer distance trips in one of the Jeeps over our Impala, which says a lot. Your wife will be giving up some things getting into a Wrangler, but she will be gaining a lot as well. If she has an open mind she will enjoy it. I can't help but smile every time I sit in my Jeep, which might explain why we have three of the dang things! Best of luck!

 

[Jupiter58]

A four door is definitely do able. Lots of good advice. Especially about the car seats.
A stock jeep is the most capable stock off road vehicle made and moving up to a rubicon puts it in a class by itself.
That being said, it isn’t a Cadillac but it is doable. The less mods you make on it the better off performance and driving wise you would be. A stock rubicon come with 33s now and for 4 grand option for 35s, lift, gears, axles, brakes is unbeatable. It lacks interior space but it will go places no other vehicle can.
If it will be the wife’s primary ride, get a new one with the 8 speed auto and for gas mileage the turbo 4. Lots of options now.
There are better riding and more spacious choices but nothing more capable and you can take the roof off or put a soft top on.
Only the bronco has that option and it is not as capable. But I don’t envision you and your wife rock climbing with the kiddos so it is possible a less capable vehicle is more appropriate.

 

[AggieOE]

Lots of good advice here.
We initially bought our 4-dr Jeep with the plans to have kids and still have a cool fun around-town car. So far, with a 15-mo old, its been great!
The car seat does sit tight in the backseat. Facing backwards, the back of it is against the back of my driver's seat. I thought this was bad at first but it's actually been a blessing! Without turning, I can reach my hand around and hold my kid's hand for soothing or whatever need be. My wife can also comfortably turn around, from the passenger seat, and reach anything our kid has in their hands. This alone has made road tripping quite doable! Especially compared to our 4Runner. There, my wife has to crawl into the back seat to mess with the kiddo since it's another foot further back... Not that that is really a bad thing.

Speaking of, have you considered a 4Runner? It's more roomy, smooth, still rugged and off-roadable, reliable, safer, and also gets bad mileage.

One of the big considerations I started having post-kids is safety and unfortunately, the Jeep is NOT the safest for rear occupants.
Unless we're on a purposeful Jeep road trip for trails and such, we always take the 4Runner with its 10 airbags as compared to our Jeep with only 2 front ones. The Jeep sees mostly local, low-speed, trips around town.

Also, our Jeep is a 2016 withOUT rear vents. Our 2015 4Runner has rear vents and, being better insulated, cools down WAY faster than the Jeep. Just another consideration.

 

[SDDiver5]

Cant put much input on the jeep aspect but how about rear storage for all the baby stuff AND your stuff? I don't know about you guys but when we load up to visit friends even a few hours away we end up absolutely packing the back of my wifes X3 to the brim. Not sure on rear storage of a JK compared to an X3 but think stroller, baby bag, baby gear, your bag, wifes bag, etc etc.

Also, on the topic of car seats, I don't think getting the smallest one to fit is more logical than getting the safest and highest rated one... just my opinion.

 

[NatersXJ6]

Not sure on rear storage of a JK compared to an X3 but think stroller, baby bag, baby gear, your bag, wifes bag, etc etc.

When we started leaving my wife at home and only taking the stuff that my kids and I thought we need… packing got much easier!

 

[SDDiver5]

When we started leaving my wife at home and only taking the stuff that my kids and I thought we need… packing got much easier!

Lolllll. Noted.

 

[billiebob]

A stock jeep is the most capable stock off road vehicle made

THIS ^^^^

And the JKU is perfect for a young family of 4.
PS go 2012 or newer, the 3.6L engine was a massive improvement on gas mileage.

On the safety thing...., For the driver in a single vehicle accident.... the Wrangler has one of the highest safety rating thru the Insurance Institute based on driver fatality rates. I have not seen rear seat statistics but the Wrangler is a brick with a pretty massive roll cage. I'll bet it does well for kids in properly secured child seats too.

There is always a lot of spin about perceptions of what is safe. I think the Wrangler is one of the safest vehicles on the road period.

The car with the worst rating for driver survival in a single vehicle crash.... ie "I drove into the ditch".... is the Nissan 370ZX...... Safety is also about a drivers attitude. I'll bet a base F150 has a better safety rating than a Ford Tremor.

 

[NatersXJ6]

Additionally, Enterprise and some other major chains rent 4-door JLUs in various trim levels. Not sure if that $2000 hard top is a good idea? A $300 weekend in a soft top rental might tell you quickly… etc. I was set on upgrading JK to JL until I spent a long weekend in a rental. I know I’ll have to upgrade someday, but that $500 probably saved me $65k for at least 4-5 more years.

 

[4wdswagman]

A much-belated thanks for the advice, fellas.

It took until May 2024 to pull the trigger, but here's a pic of my Mrs' new-to-her 2013 JKU. We bought it cheap but it's in good condition mechanically and the body is rust-free but a little rough (scratches mostly). It's fully pimped with much desirable bolt-on paraphenalia.

It's a 3.6l V6 petrol/gasoline engined model.

Hard top with Front Runner roof rack
ARB front bar
Stedi LED lights and spotties
Warn 10,000 lb winch
Smittybilt Atlas rear bar with swing-away tyre carrier

All of the above needs some TLC and a clean up to make it look better and remove surface rust. The paint on the doors and rear corners is seriously scratched so we'll hit it with some cutting compound to reduce the scratches and pretty it up a bit. She's talking about hitting it with an all-over vinyl wrap or plasti-dip paint so it's a lustreless wolf grey colour, which I think is pretty rad.

At the moment it's sporting a 3 or 3.5 inch suspension lift and dynamic rims with 35 inch mud tyres. It sits a bit too high for her, so we'll downgrade to 32 or 33 inch AT rubber and look at reducing the lift to a basic 2.5 inch lift. This reduces clearance off-road obviously, but it will improve handing on-road, which is the most important consideration for a vehicle with doubles as her daily driver - same reason for going with all terrain tyres rather than mud terrain tyres as per the two army Land Rovers.

We tore out the DIY drawers which were in the rear so we can fit a stroller and a dog in the cargo section. I've been tasked with working out how to install the rear-facing car seat for our 16 month old son. We'll put him in a forward-facing seat when he hits the big 24 month milestone.

Attached is a pic next to my older Land Rover Perentie FFR which is being prepped for a resto-mod. The Jeep has a seriousy tough stance and is a good deal higher than the Perentie which has a 2 inch lift (done by the army to all 4x4 Perenties) and teeny little 7.5R16 BFG mud tyres. I'll have to think twice before next mocking the Jeep as a "Barbie car" hahaha

I'll create a proper thread for the vehicle elsewhere in the Jeep forums, but I just wanted to show you folks first.

Cheers!

 

[14JKURX]

Looks like a ride she can enjoy!

 

[Ozarker]

G'day folks,

I managed to convince my Mrs that rather than sell my 2-seater ex-army Land Rover Perentie it would be best if she sold her Subaru XV hatchback and bought a 4x4 we could fit a baby seat into and use not only as a daily driver for her, but for family road trips and off-road trips. Don't ask me how I did it, I'm still scratching my head hahaha

A four door JK jeep Wrangler is on the shortlist.

How suitable is one of these jeeps for long range overlanding trips and off roading with small kids?

Oh, she must love you, she really loves you, if she lets you talk her into getting rid of her Subby fora gas guzzler 4x4 male status symbol, she must really love you. Ahhh, but don't worry, some day you'll hear about it and you'll pay dearly for years to come. Good luck....

 

[4wdswagman]

Thanks! She's always wanted a jeep, so I hope she takes that into consideration when it's time for me to pay the piper haha

So it turns out the Jeep as purchased is a little less than legal in this corner of the near-dystopia known as Australia.

Rules brought in a couple of years ago in this state at least mean that the biggest rubber we can chuck on the vehicle will be 33s. So we replaced the 35 inch Maxxis Razors MTs with a set of 33 inch Kumho ATs. This served to reduce the ride height somewhat. The bigegst lift legally available is 2 inch, so the vehicle is going in for new shocks and springs to take the lift down to a more reasonable 2 inches.

We had one bloke tell us that the Warn winch protruded so it was illegal, but it doesn't protrude past the edge of the front bumper so we'll ignore that warning. He also said the 9 inch Stedi LED driving lights protrude and are illegal, and he's probably right about that, so we'll replace them with a nice and compact LED light bar which won't block as much airflow to the grille and radiator as the Stedi lights.

No one has mentioned it as yet, but the chopped exhaust can't be legal, so next week I'll take it into an exhaust shop and see if they can't replicate a factory exhaust.

Now we're looking at ways to improve fuel economy. The swapping of the tyres increased fuel efficiency a little bit, and the next thing we'll try is to take the roof rack off unless we're going to use it. That'll remove about 40-50kg. The rear bumper's swing-away wheel carrier is pretty hefty even without a spare wheel on it so I might see if I can remove the carrier for daily use and find a factory rear door mount for the spare and a license plate bracket too.

So far, my Mrs loves the Jeep. The only bummer so far has been repeated attempts to pair her phone with the radio. Haven't had any luck as yet because it's like the in-car microphone isn't working for the voice commands. We tried connecting an external mic to the Aux jack, but that didn't work either. At the moment she's stuck using an auxiliary cable for music etc.

 

[alanymarce]

Not quite the same situation however we bought a JK 5 door and put in a bed to go wandering. Drove it 53,000 km around Canada in 11 months. It did a great job. The difference was that we were travelling as a couple, however we did spend 5 weeks travelling with a third person - took out the bed and travelled with two ground tents; then when we continued the trip as a couple put the bed back in.

For the three of you I'd suggest keeping the rear seats and going with ground tents, or a RTT (although this does affect wind noise and fuel consumption).