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-   -   Onroad performance of Jeeps (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/4x4-vehicles/85312-onroad-performance-jeeps.html)

Before I am attacked by the 4x4 enthusiasts here, let me ask you all:

How does a Jeep perform onroad?

I have gone through many posts / threads here as well as on the internet reading up about how the Jeep is a great offroader. What I am unable to find is how does it perform on the road?

When you compare the Jeep to a modern SUV or even a sedan/hatch, what are the points in favour of the Jeep and against it, as a city vehicle?

There is one upcoming Jeep (if I may say so) which will take behavior of Jeeps into a different league altogether.

Spike:D

Spike All is fine ,but when is the launch :Frustrati ,enough of suspense

will it have interiors at least like bolero? if not scorpio

If anyone could, I would like to know the following:

1. Can a Jeep be customized to reach cruising speeds of 80+kmph on highways?
2. Can a Jeep return FE figures of 15+ on the highways and maybe around 13 in the city?
3. Can a Jeep be customized to suit a family?

Has anyone ever tried to make the Jeep a capable onroad vehicle too?

1. With the Thar (the upcoming jeep that spike refers to), you can reach highway cruising speeds of >130km/hr!

2. I'm not too sure about the mileage.

3. I'm sure you can customize the Thar relatively in a more easier fashion to suit a family. Try n find some of the show-car photos of the thar. They'd decked it up with 4 bucket seats, n what not. AC would be pretty easy to add-on, if we don't get it factory fitted. NVH levels would be better than most existing jeeps if im not wrong!

Perhaps the others could elaborate more...

It is not too difficult. 80+ is not that unachievable. Though 80 is the safe maximum speed limit for jeep IMHO. For a petrol jeep, options for on-road performance upgrade are endless.

Can be done by adding comfortable seats, rear CFL to improve the ride, A/C in case a proper top is in place. But the family members also need to adjust to some extent because a jeep is a jeep and not a car:D. FYI, my family has happily agreed to travel to places like Corbett, Chakrata etc even without a proper rear seat arrangement...lucky me!

I 've tried to some good extent to strike a balance between a decent on-road & capable off-road vehicle. But mine is a petrol jeep, so the situation changes altogether because the NVH level is far too better than the diesel jeeps. You can check my thread for the details of modifications done to serve my purpose of a multipurpose jeep, decent enough for touring/daily drive & offroading:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/4x4-ve...-mm-440-a.html

Though THAR will definitely be capable of doing this speed, i am skeptical how safe/comfortable it would be to handle a vehicle with the structure of a jeep in that kind of a speed & without added safety features like modern cars.

Thanks Kandisa for the info.

Petrol at present is ruled out because it's starting to cost a bomb now. I am even finding it hard to keep using my Santro. Plus after having to wade through the numerous potholes (or were they craters?) and water, I have developed a fancy towards Jeep like vehicles.

While the travel would not be as comfortable as a sedan, I guess with good seats the famiily members could be convinced to accept the tradeoff. The front seats could be changed to bucket ones. I guess a soft top would help reduce the weight of the vehicle as also offer protection against rains and heat to some extent.

I am unable to get concrete / firsthand info on many of the aspects of the restoration:

1. How do you get the engine change endorsed on the registration certificate by the RTO? What kind of hassles would you face?
2. With an engine/tranny change what do you need to get it insured/endorsed by the insurance company?
3. What about PUC? Do these restored vehicles conform to the present day PUC norms?
4. What about fitness certificate? How hard is that to get?

I also came across a few posts where the owners have hunted for a used/scrapped engine. The only case of GTO being able to procure a brand new engine from Mahindra. What's the procedure involved if I were to source an engine and tranny from Mahindra?

hi , honey bee, i have the same setup as kandisa , believe me i have driven diesel jeeps a lot , driving a petrol one is much more comfortable and now with the diesel prices somewhat at par with the petrol i personally think its worth to go for a petrol jeep.

If you use the jeep as the daily drive or the primary vehicle to commute then definitely the cost comparison of petrol & diesel makes sense. But i doubt whether you will do that. Chalk out the approx usage per month and then may be you can compare. Offcourse finding an MWB petrol jeep is a herculean task altogether!

Bucket seats & soft top are the basics, every restored jeep has those. When it comes to weather protection, a hard top is more practical.


1 & 2 are tricky and involve quite a lot of hassles presently, at least in major cities. 3 isn't much of problem if the engine is in decent condition and these vehicles 've different PUC norms (based of year of manufacturing).
Btw, looking at the queries and y'r plannings, why don't you consider the upcoming THAR? Will save you from all these hassles and running around and in all probability it will come in an A/C + hardtop version. Offcourse the price, in all probability, will be a damper for sure:D.

For the thar, it's the price that's keeping me away for now. Also i am not sure if it's only for exports.
If i have to go the jeep way, i want to make sure that those of my family who don't claim to be petrolheads or 4x4 enthusiasts are not discouraged from riding with me.

it would be a daily ride if i could have a say. So diesel is important. Also a brand new car will run up the mileage very fast, which i don't want.

Yes price definitely is the most important factor. And just to confirm, THAR is not only for export, sooner or later it will be launched here for sure.

So you dont really need a 4x4?

Dashboard/IP area will be similar to Bolero, door trims will be somewhat similar to earlier ones.

~130 kmph anyday!

Correct!

Spike

Not for true blue offroading, no. So if the vehicle has 4x4, so much the better. But if it doesn't, I am not going to add one to it.

Spike Arrestor, if I were to pick up a stock Jeep today, could I scale it up to run at 80+kmph on a tarmac, WITH the stock engine and tranny? I am guessing the engine change route goes through pretty muddy waters, so would like to avoid it as much as possible.

And how about disc brakes at the front?

Spike will thar have a front facing seats at least as an option ,and if yes will it have good quality seat (like innova 2nd row) and lock for pushing it forward to allow rear passengers.Hope it is not like the Tempo traveller where the front passenger seat is not adjustable.