Help me find a car

[Rekarp]

Jeep Cherokee XJ with an AMC 4.0 I6. There are a ton of XJ offroad goodies out there, and the 4.0 is probably one of the most durable engines to come around since the Slant-6. A quick CraigsList for sale by owner search found a few clean ones for under 4 grand. (I searched Providence because I'm not sure where you are, but if they survived this well up here in the rusty northeast...)

I second this. The 4.0L I-6 is probably one of the most bullet proof engine in history. Known to go well over 300,000miles. Usually the car gives before that engine does.

Can't go wrong with an old XJ or YJ on the offroad. My 99' TJ has almost 150,000k miles on it now.

And for the love of god DONT get a V6. Large V6's are nothing but trouble.

If you are actually going to do a bit of offroading then try to get an automatic. For reasons I won't discuss Automatic >>>>> Manual when it comes to offroading.

[Triton]

We used to have a Mitsubishi pickup (the one they rebranded as the Ram 50 back in the 80s), and it was a gutless wonder.

presumably the 4g54, 2.6 liter 6 cylinder, same motor as the mitsubishi starion, which was a pretty peppy car, all that truck needed was a turbo swap from a starion! or it could be the 4g63 or similar like the eclipse, they had those turbo too!

[Bush]

And for the love of god DONT get a V6. Large V6's are nothing but trouble.

.... what? V6 is pretty much the standard size for ANY car. Do you perhaps mean v8? I don't know how i'm supposed to get around packing only 4 cylinders, its a bit hilly where I live and that's just way too small anyways.

[Black Six]

And for the love of god DONT get a V6. Large V6's are nothing but trouble.

.... what? V6 is pretty much the standard size for ANY car. Do you perhaps mean v8? I don't know how i'm supposed to get around packing only 4 cylinders, its a bit hilly where I live and that's just way too small anyways.

I believe he means you should get an I6 as opposed to a V6.

[Bush]

Whats an I6?

[bicostp]

Inline 6 cylinder engine. All the cylinders are standing in a line instead of arranged in a V.

Inline engines somewhat easier to work on (especially transverse mounted like in front wheel drive cars), but really there's nothing wrong with a V6 vs an I6.

[Bush]

Ok thanks.

[Rekarp]

EVERY car I have come across with a V6 is loud (not in a good way) and has bad vibrations. This is especially apparent when the car has lots of miles on it as the motor mounts will be worn.

V6's need lots of flywheel to keep them balanced and need to be properly set up when made from factory which inexpensive cars ARE not. A Mercedes or BMW should have a properly set up balancing.

The reason V6's are used instead of the superior I6 design is that they are cheaper to make, lighter, and smaller. Oh and people just go "Well its just 2 less then a V8 so it must be good" mentality. No one knows what an I6 is. The way inexpensive cars get around this is by capping the RPMs of the engine to the sub 6k region and gearing the transmission to work in that range. Hitting that redline in a V6 you can tell that the engine is moving pretty good.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engine_balance" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I would pit that my 10 year old I6 Jeep runs smoother then the new V6's that are in the new Jeeps (hell it runs smoother then my roomies F4 in his WRX). The I4's they stuck in jeeps is terrible as well. Goodluck hitting 75 on the Freeway.

If your area is really hilly I would suggest not jacking up your vehicle as well. Besides making you look like a tool it significantly reduces your low end torque. 30"s on a stock XY, YJ, TJ look big enough any ways.

[bicostp]

It depends on who makes it. Everybody knows Chrysler can only make V8s (and sort of I4s), and Mercedes sure as hell didn't teach them engine design while they owned them. The RG was probably their last good 6 cylinder engine and SURPRISE it's an I6 (just at a 30 degree angle from perpendicular to the ground).

GM's 3300 and 3800 60-degree V6 engines aren't bad. Honda's J30 engine is probably the best V6 I've come across. The only thing I don't like is that they set it up as a drive-by-wire in the 7th gen Accord because they want you to have ABS and stability control and traction control and all that crap. Ford's been doing some pretty amazing stuff with their V6es, but the only V6 Ford I've driven is a Ranger with the 3L Vulcan engine (truck engines need a wide, low RPM power band anyway so it's not the best example).

[Rekarp]

It depends on who makes it. Everybody knows Chrysler can only make V8s (and sort of I4s), and Mercedes sure as hell didn't teach them engine design while they owned them. The RG was probably their last good 6 cylinder engine and SURPRISE it's an I6 (just at a 30 degree angle from perpendicular to the ground).

GM's 3300 and 3800 60-degree V6 engines aren't bad. Honda's J30 engine is probably the best V6 I've come across. The only thing I don't like is that they set it up as a drive-by-wire in the 7th gen Accord because they want you to have ABS and stability control and traction control and all that crap. Ford's been doing some pretty amazing stuff with their V6es, but the only V6 Ford I've driven is a Ranger with the 3L Vulcan engine (truck engines need a wide, low RPM power band anyway so it's not the best example).

agreed. I have not been to overly impressed with GM's V6's. Fords where pretty bad but in the past couple years they have improved (since 2005). Chrysler can only make V8s imo. The I6 in Jeeps was of AMC design.

uggg drive by wire....have fun steering your car when you get an electrical problem!

[bicostp]

Yet another reason old trucks are the crap. What power steering?

(Actually our D200 has power steering and a wheel two feet wide, so it's really friggin easy to steer. It's obviously a factory-installed option; it runs on its own belt and the fluid reservoir is attached to the pump itself. Yay 1958 engine design!)

[jdmlight]

uggg drive by wire....have fun steering your car when you get an electrical problem!

This is what always worried me about drive-by-wire. At least with regular power steering, if something goes wrong, you can still steer, it's just harder.

I would third(?) getting one of the older Jeeps with the I6. They're about as bulletproof as you can get. (Although I haven't had any non-wear-related problems with my '99 Grand Cherokee w/ 4.7L V8, and it's really a blast to drive)

[vskid]

If you are actually going to do a bit of offroading then try to get an automatic. For reasons I won't discuss Automatic >>>>> Manual when it comes to offroading.

That mainly comes down to individual preference and what kind of offroading you're doing. I think most hardcore offroaders prefer manuals.

EVERY car I have come across with a V6 is loud (not in a good way)

If your area is really hilly I would suggest not jacking up your vehicle as well. Besides making you look like a tool it significantly reduces your low end torque. 30"s on a stock XY, YJ, TJ look big enough any ways.

My Comanche had an I6 and was loud in a good way. A Magnaflow straight-through muffler will do that. It didn't have a tach, and I'm pretty sure I usually undershifted it. Unfortunately, it sounded so good that I couldn't resist putting my foot on the gas a bit more than needed, and I'm usually a pretty conservative driver. If I had a place to work on one, I would probably get a Cherokee, but having just the cargo area to store tools and a parking lot to work in would make me not want to offroad with it, making it difficult to justify the poor fuel mileage.

Lower gears would compensate for the bigger tires to a certain point. But, unless you want to get really into it, I wouldn't go more than 32" and lift it just enough for them to fit.

[Rekarp]

Lower gears would compensate for the bigger tires to a certain point. But, unless you want to get really into it, I wouldn't go more than 32" and lift it just enough for them to fit.

Lower gears cost money . To get the diffs changed your looking at $1k easy for labor+parts for both sets. Ive test driven my friends YJ jeep with 32" with stock diffs and lets say it had zero pull and chugged a bit on the big hills north of Austin when towing. I do a fair bit a boat towing so ill stick with the 30's.

Manuals are just straight inferior when it comes to offroading. Probably the most fun (to me that is) is mudding and getting mud in your clutch pack aint fun . Pulled way to many friends out cause there clutches where slipping out (this was also probably due to the clutches being really old). Now for street driving and stuff manual is the way to go.

[Triton]

ask dragonhead and marshall, there ARE some good v6 engines out there. the mitsubishi 6g72 3.0l v6 and the volkswagon VR6 v6 are both AWESOME motors. but if i had to choose inline 6 engines are my preference lol