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I have a ’99 Jeep Cherokee, purchased here three years ago for $8000. It has never failed me and I can leave the Japanese crap boxes behind while scaling the heights or crossing rivers. I have never had a problem with service or parts. And with a six cylinder engine, I can top the hills and keep the A/C on. 😀
Jap Crap box? Really?! I have experience with Jeeps and Japanese 4×4’s and Jeep is the crap box. ( I will excuse Daihatsu since I have only limited experience in CR with renting them
Why go for inferior US designed crap where parts are hard to find in Costa Rica when you could go with a better designed and better performing Japanese 4×4? The Toyota FJ Cruiser will do anything a Jeep can do and ride better on the potholed CR roads too.
Look around in Costa Rica and count how many Japanese vehicles you see compared to US vehicles. There is a good reason you don’t see many Jeeps.
Again, thanks to everyone who replied. The answers confirmed what I thought already so no matter how much I am attracted to the Wranglers here in the States, I’ll refrain from buying one. The Toyota FJ Cruiser isn’t on my list due to price and how UGLY it is. Ugh. I’m going to look at used Land Rovers and newer Hyundais and Kias too. I’m still trying to figure out the import duty thing too. As I understand it, the older the car, the higher the percentage. What can y’all add to my knowledge base?
There is a website where you can look up the import duty on vehicles. Sadly, I don’t know what it is. Anyone??
[quote=”sprite”]Jap Crap box? Really?! I have experience with Jeeps and Japanese 4×4’s and Jeep is the crap box. ( I will excuse Daihatsu since I have only limited experience in CR with renting them
Why go for inferior US designed crap where parts are hard to find in Costa Rica when you could go with a better designed and better performing Japanese 4×4? The Toyota FJ Cruiser will do anything a Jeep can do and ride better on the potholed CR roads too.
Look around in Costa Rica and count how many Japanese vehicles you see compared to US vehicles. There is a good reason you don’t see many Jeeps.[/quote]
The reason you see so many is not that they are so good, but that they are cheap to purchase and maintain here.
Having owned a Toyota 4Runner as well as LandCruiser back in the Old Country, I can assure you that the Jeep is a far better quality product. And, from personal experience, it is not difficult to have it maintained here.
The last great jeep ever built was a “Willys Jeep.” I drove jeeps with the military police in Vietnam, Germany, Panama and a few other classified locations. They worked like mules, when they worked! Chrysler bought the Jeep brand in 1987 from American Motors, and the brand went to hell. I bought one jeep product (for the shipment to Costa Rica.) It had mechanical problems after mechanical problems. After only two years, I traded it in for a Toyota 4Runner Sports Edition (which I shipped to Costa Rica.) Aside from the fact that the Toyota is more dependable, it also has a higher resale value, and easy access to parts and experienced mechanics. The Toyota 4Runner and Costa Rica, are a marriage made in heaven! So much so, that I will be shipping a new Toyota 4Runner to Costa Rica next year. Remember, whatever brand you choose, mechanical dependability is paramount!
No one can base an opinion on just his or her own experience with a product like a vehicle which is mass manufactured. Experiences vary too widely.
DV, you say the last great jeep was built before Chrysler took it over. Well, I must disagree. I bought a new 1971 CJ-5 manufactured by AMC which was the single worst piece of mechanical garbage I have ever owned. I had it for the longest thirteen months of my life and have never been as happy as the day I unloaded it. It spent more time with its wheels off the ground than on. Based on my experience, if someone tried to give me one I’d run like the wind.
My CJ-5 was an “updated” version of the World War II military vehicles that are so renowned. If we’d been dependent upon this thing, we’d have lost in Grenada.
The last great Jeep produced came off the assembly line long enough before 1971 to have given AMC plenty of time to screw it up.
David, I agree and disagree. In short, I currently have the opportunity to buy the Jeep at a deep military discount rate. However, I would not take one, if they gave it to me free!
[quote=”Disabled Veteran”]David, I agree and disagree. In short, I currently have the opportunity to buy the Jeep at a deep military discount rate. However, I would not take one, if they gave it to me free![/quote]
Sir, I’ve said for years that if I won one in a contest I’d change my name, move, and leave no forwarding address so they couldn’t find me.
Others’ experience obviously has been better or the things wouldn’t have been in production this long, but once burned is twice wary.
The only Jeep I have owned I could not keep maintained (in the US) and it was the only vehicle I’ve ever lost money on.
The problem with Jeeps is the company went from making its own, to buying engines and transmissions from the big three, back to making its own. . . and then being taken over by Chrysler (who uses Japanese engines in many of it most popular models). The one I had was an overhead Cam straight 6 (similar to a Mercedes engine) that the DOD insisted on and Jeep built ONE year. The government bought thousands of them and they are ALL in wrecking yards. . .
A friend of mine has a Jeep Cherokee in New Zealand. It is his toy and is like maintaining a sports car. He does most of his own work and buys parts from the U.S. . .
The most common OLD 4WD vehicles seen in CR are Land Rovers. Occasionally you see an American truck with giant oversize tires, but the rest are Japanese.
If you want something easy to maintain in Costa Rica, buy a Japanese vehicle in Costa Rica.
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