Rick if you're planning on using it off road, a few must haves:

Winch
Tow straps
Hi-Lift
Gas Can + place to mount it
Sliders(the sheets to protect your undercarriage from rocks, in addition to the rails you mentioned)
CB Radio
Portable air compressor
basic tool kit


If you want to go crazy:

Long-arm suspension
Bumpers front and rear, to your taste(ARB makes some nice ones)
Roof rack + accessories for what you need(bike mount, ski/board mount, etc)
Lights, front and undercarriage if you are doing night time OR


Super crazy:
AEV Brute conversion, so sexy.

 

Decided to go with the Sport rather than the Rubicon. I wanted an "overland" style rather than a rockcrawler. It'll see plenty of deep snow, but not dirt. 3.5" lift, Pintler wheels, rear tire carrier - all from AEV (AEV is the equivalent of Ruf for Jeeps). 35" BFG km2 tires and regeared to 4.10 axles. Not designed for speed, but 0-60 in the high 6s versus 10 seconds for the old engine/tranny.

For added points, guess my favorite color.

 

Not big into wranglers unless using for a weekend toy, but we've had our 00 4.7L grand cherokee since new, about to roll 150k miles. Has been a fantastic vehicle (wife's daily driver). Will wait to see how the new 11's hold up before probably going that route. I have been strongly eyeing an 07/08 (maybe it's 06/07, I can't remember the two years) CRD to replace it, but just haven't pulled the trigger yet. What I just don't understand is how we can get better mileage with our 12 year old v8 JGC than the new v8's get today. Hence why I have been eying the diesel.


I do have a buddy who bought a wrecked 4 door wrangler awhile back, pulled the body off the bent frame, bought a brand new frame setup from jeep for 1800 bucks, and is dropping a big hemi motor into it. I can't wait to see that thing done.

 

Ahhhhh, Jeep Wrangler. Fond memories. Poor gas mileage, slow, would take a lot of time to get up to highway speed. But it was my daily driver - not the pcar. Pcar stayed in the garage. Jeep - needs no washing - can park right up front at the store. Very care free and liberating vehicle.

To me - really the opposite end of the scale of the Porsche. I like em both a lot!

 

The Grand Cherokees with the new Hemi engines get fairly good gas mileage (20 - 21) because they automatically switch to 6 or even 4 cylinders when cruising. They also haul *** now! Very fast. I love to get on it when pulling onto the highway, but then the computer shows me getting about 8mpg when I do!

 

Sad, but true. Look which two are tucked in the back of the garage and which two are in the easy-access zone. Jeep is the perfect urban assault vehicle: sits high above traffic, laughs at curbs, can't be door dinged due to the fenders/running boards, and not flashy enough to draw key-wielding vandals. And...with the 40% more powerful Pentastar engine and 5-sp auto, gets up and goes. I work at a food bank and, for socio-economic reasons, can't drive the 997 to work.

 

They only switch to 4cyl mode traveling between 40-60mph so not much help at interstate speeds, but 20-21 is better than I thought. We run about 75-80 out here in the midwest on the highway, so that highway economy usually takes a beating.

 

We like jeeps (the wife has always wanted a Wrangler), but when we decided to start camping and offroading with the kids we decided an Xterra was a better fit. 1700 miles and multiple offroad excursions and it has yet to fail to impress.

 

Jeeps are for girls!! You never saw the bumper sticker?

 

Well, not a Jeep exactly, but this is what I built to wheel in Moab..........

1969 FJ40, 1 ton Dana 60 front, 14 bolt rear, LS1, turbo 400, 42" IROK's

 

Build is an understatement! Awesome crawler!