Jeep is one of the most popular American brands ever to exist. People love how they look, how capable they are, and the attention they get when they’re in one. Driving a Jeep is a statement that you love to go off the beaten path. To understand the love relationship with Jeeps, it’s essential to know how and why they were created in the first place.
Why do people like Jeeps?
The Jeep brand had taken some heat from the national news organization 60 Minutes for being too easy to roll over. Investors grew weary of ownership changes and needed this model to work. With adjustments to the body for improved safety, including a perimeter frame, semi-elliptical leaf springs, and a front stabilizer bar, the Wrangler was offered multiple options up to 112 horsepower.
Over 632,000 of these were built through 1985, leading to many more iterations of the Wrangler models, which would begin to appear everywhere you looked. Popular culture has always taken notice of the Jeep. But as the decades and models evolved, the demographics for the audience were no longer limited to veterans, farmers, or the off-roading enthusiast. There are 5 main reasons for people like jeeps:
Ladies love Jeeps
Girls like men who drive jeeps, and men want to fulfill the girl’s desire. Jeep is one of the best vehicles you can have for that. They’re always excited to hop in the jeep. You’re cool if you drive a jeep pretty much across the board.
Easy to clean
If you’re someone who doesn’t want to wash your car all the time, jeeps look good, dirty with mud all over it. You can’t get away with that with a BMW or a Mercedes. You’re lazy who doesn’t wash car. So if you buy a Jeep and slacking on the cleaning, no big deal.
Jeep is convertible
Jeep is everything all wrapped into one. You can put the seats down, and throw a bunch of stuff in the back, not quite as much as a pickup, but you can put a lot of things in the back. You move the seats, lay them down like a bed, and go there. Also, people can sleep there and camp in a jeep too.
Customization
Customization is the main reason why people love Jeeps. The Jeep Wrangler has the most aftermarket parts. You can buy anything for the Jeep. If you want to change this, you can change it out, boom. There are a million different companies making products all the time.
If you wish to go big money, you can buy super nice aftermarket parts, or they have aftermarket parts from China. Jeep builds about six or seven unique concepts to attract people and keep updated every year.
Affordable price
People can go as expensive or as cheap as they want. But either way, over time, if you save up money, you can build your dream vehicle. You can have this vision of what you want your vehicle to look like.
How did Jeeps become popular? (The history of Jeep)
Everybody wanted a Jeep. In 1979, Jeep CJ7, nicknamed Dixie, was driven by Daisy Duke in the show Dukes of Hazard. Another white Wrangler showed up in Clueless, introducing the idea of a younger female Jeep driver. Women had been featured prominently in Jeep ads
in previous decades, but only as passengers.
- The jeep continued reinventing the Wrangler with more upgrades, features, and power.
The 1948 Land Rover was designed by an engineer who had used Jeeps on his farm, and even the much more modern Land Rovers carry some Jeeps characteristics. The brand is constantly boasting its adventurous, off-road nature and capabilities, still marketing itself like the indestructible military-grade vehicle it once was.
- Jeep started trends that are still evident and alive today.
Take a look at the Toyota Land Cruiser. It has military roots in the Korean War. When the US still occupied Japan and urged the island nation to produce a military vehicle domestically. By 1951, they had the Toyota Jeep BJ, inspired by the military spec Jeeps driven by US forces stationed in Japan.
Toyota renamed the Land Cruiser vehicle and sold it in the US in 1958. The 2016 Wrangler unlimited hard rock mostly lives up to its Jeep reputation. It’s powered by a 3.6 liter Pentastar V6 putting out 285 horsepower tour and 264 pounds of torque and an optional five-speed automatic transmission.
Also, it’s outfitted pretty damn well for off-roading, but Land Cruiser beats out the Wrangler by giving the 200 series model a 5.7 liter V8 to gain 381 horsepower and 401 foot-pounds of torque.
They overshadowed the Jeep’s power by almost a hundred horsepower and added features that upped the off-road capabilities. Successful sales or anything that resembles a Jeep tells us the iconic look is something we love. It says something about who you are identity with off-roading culture, but even that has its splits, subcultures, and infighting.
Countless Jeep jamborees happen anytime in the country for Jeep owners to meet up and check out each other’s rides and swap stories.
According to one Jeep owner and former Jamboree attendee, even those can be pretty competitive. Also, there’s some hostility between stock Jeep enthusiasts, vintage Jeep owners, and those who go all out modifying their ride. Before buying a Jeep, you must talk to the Jeep dealership to know the real specification (Jeep parts) because online is not fully trusted.
Learn more similar topics:
Why Are Japanese Cars So Reliable?
Why Are German Cars So Popular?
Sources:
Statham, Steve. Jeep Color History. MBI Publishing.
FCA Appoints Meunier as Jeep Global President.
Chrysler Group LLC. InsideView company data. Chrysler Group LLC operates as a subsidiary of Fiat North America LLC.
Gunnell, John. American Cars of the 1960s: A Decade of Diversity. Krause Publications.
Peterson, George. “Jeep Guns For 2 Million In Annual Sales”. Forbes.
