I am not mad about anything. I found the 3.6 wrangler not a “really useful“ amount of power for me. It constantly ran at dangerously high temperatures. I no more can afford a 392 than you. It required sacrifices that I was willing to make that you are not. But what I am not doing is running down or saying any model of wrangler is better than any other. Seems you own the market in that. I accept that for what you do with your wrangler a 2.0 is sufficient. When I had a choice I made it so that I would not experience the same problems I was having with my 3.6. I opted for more power so it would not have to work as hard. I am not alone in this as I have seen respected members here trade in their wranglers.
See here is the reasonable take that this thread needs. The Wrangler is the last bastion of go anywhere you want to go and explore the great unknown. None of that is made better by a heavy, over powered for the drive train 392. As Ive said time and again if you want it cause of the noise and rah rah V8 good for you but lets not pretend its a better Wrangler than a base Sport which will do 90% of the same stuff at <40% of the price.
I’d love the see this list of 100.
The point of a Wrangler is still based on that lineage- Jeep Universal, The Worlds Most Versatile Motor Vehicle. Capabilities including Runabout, that was low on the priority list. They were highly promoted for Tractor capability, Dad got the 3A from a farmer who got a real tractor. They gave an attempt to improve Runabout with the Tuxedo Park model but they weren’t truly on road capable until 66 and the Buick V6. I was quite pleased to give them the 392 money, which by the way was only about $5K more than an equivalent Diesel build. If you wanted a truly road friendly Jeep before the 66 you had to swap or upgrade virtually everything as I did on my 63 except the body, to both improve off-road capabilities and on road comfort, steering and handling, and haul a trailer packed with gear over the steepest grades at 65-70, let alone just achieve 65mph. It took 80 years for The Worlds Most Versatile Motor Vehicle to be nearly perfected. A Keeper- family heirloom Jeep number two.
It is but, Regrettably disagree due to opportunity missed. It’s way to big to be the best “possible”ever- the 2dr gets no love yet again . ?
No justifying here.
Hey Wanderer, I got distracted with the age old "Is a 392 worth the money" debate, and forgot to answer your question about whether or not the 392 is a good daily driver. The short answer is "Yes". The long answer would be that I've owned a number of Jeeps, and the 392 is the best driving Jeep of them all. So if the best driving Jeep of them all isn't good enough for a daily driver, you may wish to buy something other than a Jeep for a daily driver.
You have touched on another improvement. In the carburetor days if you lugged it on long steep climbs they would load up and you got proficient at 3 pedals with 2 feet to clear it out. Lesson learned the hard way. ?
So glad I missed those carb days offroading. had them in my first few cars and sucked when on a hill trying to get going with a handbrake that was non existent.
