musical cars: vw jetta for jeep yj?

[jeepster]

Ok, first version of this was ridiculously long and involved. Let me simplify

Wife and I are looking for a replacement for her 2008 VW jetta. It runs and drives fine, but doesn't fit our life style. Blue book puts it at around 5000$ as it has 100k miles and is a few years old. This past weekend we were out and about and found a 1995 Jeep YJ wrangler with 150k miles for about 5000$ at a dealership and are considering looking into a trade for the Jeep.

Any experience with the Jeep 2.5? Does this sound like a worthy swap? The jeep will allow us to do more things and go more places, it would look good parked next to my TJ, and two Jeep's are better than one, right? Would you guys do it?

[Duckslayer89]

A Jeep with 150,000 is probably going to be more of a gamble then the car you already have. I would be looking for a Toyota if you want reliability and resale value

[Wazukie]

My son payed $6000 for his 95 YJ, it had 103000 miles.  Between 5k-6k seems to be an average price for them.  The 2.5 is a good motor and will go for a long time when taken care of.

[jackelope]

Have you driven a 4 cylinder wrangler? Hopefully there are no hills in your driveway as it may extend your commute time. I agree, it's a good engine, but wow... Are they ever gutless.
Exhaust manifolds crack on them so pay attention to that.

[Wazukie]

Runs down the freeway at 65 no problem.  Of course he's only running 31's.