2003 Jeep Wrangler SE from North America - Comments

I bought my Jeep last evening. Therefore, nothing has had time to break. (And I hope that it stays that way for a long time!)

The original owner failed to keep up with tire rotation. There were some stars in the windshield. The air filter was very, very dirty. There were a few chips in the paint from stones. There was a bit of rust (?) in each paint chip's exposed metal (I thought these things were really well rust-proofed!)

The dealer (Honda) put two new OEM tires on the rear. The stars were fixed as well as possible (one old one was only partially filled due to air or water in it. Air filter was replaced. I will do the paint work myself.

I am coming to this vehicle from a 1990 Volvo 740 with 250000+ miles on it. (I hope to get it up to 500000.) My wife's car is a 2001 Honda Accord Value Package (between the base DX and the nicer LX).

I have never owned a new (or even "nearly new") vehicle in my 39 years. This unusual vantage point will inform my review from top to bottom.

I purchased a 2003 Jeep Wrangler SE with low miles that looks very nice. It has some upgrades and aftermarket goodies, but it is still devoid of any security devices. It has dark, metallic green paint, chrome trim on the grille ribs, a very nice air conditioner, a good CD player/stereo with a removable face plate, and the premium aluminum wheels rather than one of the two steel choices. Also, it came with the soft top and half doors.

I intend to add (and you will need to consider this if you choose to buy one of these vehicles with a soft top) :

A hood lock (now)

A locking lug nut set (now)

An alarm (very soon)

An ignition kill switch (soon)

Jeep's optional "Add-a-Trunk" (later)

A hard top (much later)

5 BF Goodrich AT tires (someday)

Purchasing one of these can initiate a lifestyle change in the new owner; it is different.

Here is how I feel right now, after 200 miles of first-day, 2WD-only driving:

The first gear is great! The manual 5-speed box likes to shift at higher RPM's that my older 5-speed Accord. I stay in 4th for a longer time when getting up to highway speed. The shifting is crude-feeling compared to a more civilized sedan; it works well so far despite this. I am concerned about it, however, as I keep reading horror stories (mainly here, heh heh) about the 4 cyl 5-sp Jeep tranny. We shall see, and I will post updates here at each big mileage/service point.

Thus far, this thing has been a blast to drive! This morning I took off the windows and folded back the top. I removed the rear seat. I put in a good CD. I started driving. Two hundred plus miles later I am in my living room typing this; and I am still smiling.

The visibility is very good. While being up higher that a sedan, the upright seating position accentuates this. I am 6' 2", weigh 350 lbs (I know, I know...) and have short legs (31" inseam) with a long torso. With the seat all the way back and reclined just a bit, I fit quite well. But my large posterior causes me to sit slightly off-center as the driver's space is very narrow. This causes me tho have a problem using the cup holders, which are now under my right leg. Why D/C chose to put the cup holders so far off center is a mystery to me. But if I lost weight I do not thing that this would be an issue. My Jeep does not have tilt steering or cruise control. I really wish that it did. But it is so fun to drive that I will only miss these features when I drive on very long trips. The folks that gripe about the TJ's (Wrangler's) comfort and ride are either used to a land yacht or are chronic whiners. Mine is fine. A Jeep is not a "Cute-Ute". It is a genuine UTILITY TRUCK with lots of low-end torque and a spartan interior. And mine has pretty comfy seats/seating position and is pretty easy to get in to and out of. I will thing nothing of driving from Jackson to San Antonio in it other than the mileage, which is not too hot. I am getting about 21 thus far (which is good for a Jeep). I really need to finish off two or three tanks to get a better idea of my average MPG.

This TJ SE is ready to go off-road from the factory, but in a limited way. If you purchase one with the stock Goodyear Wrangler tires and want to go four-wheeling frequently, then you will want to add the tires that I listed above and research the topic on the Internet. I have learned a lot by doing this and will stay away from loose or wet sand until I upgrade my tires!

I am a professional symphony musician and was very pensive about the space and security in this vehicle. I have my Volvo, but intend to make the Jeep my main vehicle. Surprisingly, WITH THE REAR SEAT IN (folded down) I can fit BOTH of my tubas (each worth as much as the Jeep) in the rear. I will see how the stiffness of the ride jolts them around. If ANY damage occurs then my trusty Volvo will have to be my work car for rehearsals and performances; period. Also, with some adjustments to the seats, I can fit my upright bass, amplifier, bar stool, full size music stand, and other small equipment in this vehicle. It is very tight, but it does indeed fit. The bass is an old plywood Kay (for any of you bassists out there) and my combo amp is only middling in quality. I am not afraid of any damage occurring to this equipment due to the TJ ride. I have yet to try either the tuba or the bass load-outs

without the rear seat in place. There will be much more space, but absolutely no padding at all - it IS a steel floor after all. I might make a heavy duty floor pad for my instruments later is I really need the added space enough to remove the rear seat.

I love this vehicle and intend to take very good care of it. Even my wife loves it. It looks great and drives very well. I will come back here when I have anything to add. I hope it will all be good...

Good luck!

glad to hear that your excited, im buying my first wrangler tomorrow, i hope, a 1997 Sport 6cyl.

seriously, its a jeep! almost everyone i know has wanted one for as long as they can remember.

Well, we're waiting to hear how the Wrangler is working out.

Any updates?

I have a 97 Wrangler SE with manual transmission - got it with 36K on it in 1998 - still driving it at 168K.

Original transmission, original engine, original clutch.

Don't listen to the nay-sayers on the tranny!

On a recent trip, I rented a Jeep wrangler. It was tons of fun to drive; now I'm thinking seriously about buying one.

While I have never owned a Wrangler (hope to, soon), I have owned a 97 Cherokee Limited. By the time I got rid of it I had clocked over 250,000 miles, on and off road. Of course there are things that have to be replaced with that kind of mileage, but the majors were no problem. The engine still purred like a kitten (never re-built), the transmission shifted great (also never re-built), the front and rear differentials performed flawlessly (again, never re-built). What can I say? Contrary to the aforementioned “naysayers”, the Jeep is a great vehicle that will get you anywhere...and for a long, long time.

~Jonathan.

Okay, so I have had this thing for a year now.

It kicks butt!

I have had a few minor issues that were all warranted. The dealership has given me zero problems about anything at any time.

I have had the dreaded "mystery leak" in my cab and it floods a little during heavy rain. TJ's have this in two main areas, each caused by different problems, and rarely fixed by the dealership, since it is hard to duplicate the hours-long drenching of an all-night rain storm. It seems to be some leaves caught in the hood intake. But I do not care.

I took my carpets out – probably for good. I got larger and FAR BETTER tires that the crappy ones that came on the Jeep. I bought some serious armor plating for going off road, consisting of front and rear bumpers and rock rails. I purchased tow hooks, fog lights, and a full-sized spare and matching alloy rim (most come with these, but mine was the base model).

I have removed most of the security stuff and have learned that the best security with soft, plastic windows is to leave the Jeep TOTALLY empty and TOTALLY unlocked. This was hard for me to get used to. Now I have no problems. I have kept the wheel locks. I plan to get a different engine kill system soon. I only rarely use the radio, so the faceplate is usually at home.

The gas mileage sucks, plain and simple. This also bothered me for a while. But with gas prices shooting up so quickly, I have just given up caring about it. I am going to drive what I want to drive, despite the Sheiks' best attempts. At some point, I will purchase a hybrid and the cost of the Jeep will be negated to a certain degree. (I am getting about 15 in town and 20 on the highway.)

The soft top is such a breeze now. It only takes me about 5 minutes to raise or lower it properly.

If you get one of these, PLEASE read the directions in the manual or get some help in order to learn how to do it properly. I see idiots on a daily basis that are ruining their soft tops by, well, just doing it totally wrong! (Plus, it just looks stupid to shove it back and stuff it "wherever", driving around with it flapping around behind you like a partially shed snake skin...)

I actually go off road and do not have any problems with the smaller engine, the clunky transmission, or the transfer case. It works wonderfully. The transmission is still a bit noisy, but works quite well.

This thing is pretty hard to roll. I have done some stupid things off road and had some scary moments on the highway in the rain... and the anti-sway bars do their job as designed, keeping the thing fairly flat in turns. I drove like a grandma for a while until I figured out how the TJ handles. It is just fine.

It is noisy in the cab at anything over 70 mph, but it is all road and wind noise. The soft top is of a recently upgraded design and material and makes NO noise of its own. It is great.

I take off my doors for long periods of time with the top down. I have Harley-Davidson mirrors that fit into the door hinge tube very nicely so that I can see what needs seeing.

I have a nice rain fly that I put on before I go to bed if it looks like rain overnight. If it is just pouring, I have the top up, of course.

I drove with the top down on a nine hour trip (one way) and got caught in the beginnings of a big rain storm. So I pulled over and had the top up before I had very many drops hit me and went on my way. The HVAC system is very good for such a crude little vehicle. I had bright sun all nine hours home and got a nice tan with the top down again.

Listen – If you want a Jeep, nothing will satisfy you until you have a Jeep. But there are compromises that you must make in order to use one as your daily driver. If you really want to have one, those compromises are nothing too significant to bear. But the Jeep Wrangler is not for the faint of heart.

It is the best and most enjoyable vehicle I have ever owned, personally. I am totally glad of my purchase choice twelve payments into the deal and would get another one with no reservations. I would not recommend one to very many of my friends, however, as you have to be a little nuts to try to fit such an odd vehicle into the life of a classical musician.

I regularly show up to our concert hall downtown in a mud-covered, dented, scratched Jeep that has small tree branches stuck in the grille and bumper, and get out in my immaculate tuxedo toting my $15,000 instrument inside to warm up for the concert...

This is the original poster again. Now I have had my Jeep Wrangler for close to two years. My original coverage has run out. I have been doing the maintenance myself most of the time.

My front differential cover seems to have a slow leak right now. I will pull the cover and service the diff myself next week. I think that both of my diff covers are slightly warped as the rear leaked right after the dealership did my diff service (@ 30,000 miles or so) and I had to take it back twice to get it fixed. Now the front one is leaking a little. I think that I will purchase some aftermarket covers and service the diffs myself, replacing the covers at that time. Not sure...

The paint on my TJ is not too sturdy. It seems to not be able to handle the stuff in bug guts too well and comes off beneath old, dead bugs on my grille and hood. It chips easily, and rust does form on the bare metal. This bothers me, since my previously mentioned Volvo has had some bare metal showing in many little spots for over a decade and has zero rust. Oh well, the boys in Toledo are not too spiffy about rust protection.

My soft top is holding up fine so far. It is three yeast old and still has zero leaks and is still pretty quiet for a soft top.

Interior is good. The mysterious leak comes and goes. Leaves in the intake must be the problem. I have moved since my last post and the Jeep is no longer parked beneath a large oak every day. I have not had the leak happen since moving nine months ago.

The Jeep has had a Mopar battery fail once, leaving me stranded for a short time. A friend came to get me and realized that my Jeep is a manual tranny and could be started by rolling it. Because of where I was parked, we had to start it by rolling it in reverse, which indeed worked! Took it straight to the dealership and had a new Mopar battery put in for free under warranty. I am still on that battery. But I no longer trust the sturdiness of the factory battery and plan to drop some coin on an Optima, which is what seems to be the popular choice. (Optima batteries are quite expensive, but are pretty much bomb proof.)

I wish for a six cylinder frequently, but not enough so to bother with a trade-in and purchase of another Jeep. The four cylinder is fine for what I need and want in most cases; it just has no real zip to it and has some trouble on hills in headwinds.

Issues with a four cylinder wrangler that you need to know about:

1. Mileage is not any better when you have to press the gas to the floor for extended periods of time on the Interstate in very hilly and windy areas. In fact, it is worse than the six in these cases, as the six has the power needed and can do this sort of stuff at a much more normal RPM range.

2. The rear axle of the Jeep Wrangler SE is the Dana 35, which is prone to break its shafts under certain off-road conditions. (All SE, most X and cheaper Sport models come with it, but the much better Dana 44 rear axle can be ordered as an upgrade on Sport models and might be available as an upgrade on the X as well.) This axle should not be run with tires above 33" and should never have a locker installed on it. If you use a locker and large, aggressive tires, it is fairly possible that one of your axle shafts will break on you while out in the boonies. If you are out in the rocks and have a locker or 35" tires you have a very good chance of breaking the shaft if you are hard on the skinny pedal. There is an upgrade kit (called the Super 35 Kit) that has a locker in it. I don't know if I would do this. I might. Swapping in a Dana 44 and redoing the gears costs a lot of money. I will probably just keep mine the way it is and not go above my 31" tires. I would really like selectable lockers for off-roading, but will probably wait and get another Jeep that is better equipped in a few years, now that I know more about them.

3. The SE has drum rear brakes. They are fairly weak ones, too. The front discs are also not fabulous. There is a very nice upgrade to four wheel discs that are very powerful (from the Rubicon model) but the upgrade is costly and hard to do yourself. I have had to adjust to how it brakes and am fine with it. No upgrade of brakes will happen to my Jeep. Nice as that might be, it is not really needed, IMO.

4. The four cylinder is lighter and better balanced than the six, so it is pretty good in the rocks where you get into near-tip-over situations a lot. Score one advantage to the 2.4L engine. There is an upside to pretty much everything out there if you look hard enough!

This has been a very fun vehicle to own and it has been an adventure to get to know. I highly recommend going to online tech sites to learn about these vehicles before making a purchase and using them on a regular basis if you do make a purchase.

The jeepforum. com website is amazing. Despite the trolls and bashing and flaming that happen there, it is the best and most sane place to learn how to buy and keep any jeep vehicle. There are many other places with very active forums, but they are not always the nicest people and many will look down on you if you do not run with you rig set up like the one they own. Many kids on these sites, with opinion fobbed off as fact and much bad information. Jeepforum. com is the best place to begin your odyssey. It will get you very far if you want to learn how to off-road, how to upgrade, and how to maintain you Jeep. You will learn a lot about what not to purchase and why from some very nice people.

I will not post again here.

You have a good idea what my experience has been like. So go get yourself a Jeep!

Thank you for posting about the 2.4L! Its been very hard for me to find information about it since most people go for the in line six. The estimated mpg made it look more ideal for me, but I live in a hilly area, so after reading this I might go for the six after all.