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2011 JK Sahara as a daily driver in Mexico?

3K views 21 replies 8 participants last post by  Omar Brannstrom 
#1 ·
Hello everyone, my name is Cesar, I am from Mazatlan Mexico, Mazatlan it's a turistic but small city, so small, there's less than 500,000 people living here, I am looking to buy a 2011 Sahara as a daily driver, my dad loves Jeeps and used to own many, and I kinda felt in love with them too.

I've read threads about JK as a daily driver but all of them talk about US roads, roads here in Mexico are different, in the city the limit is about 30mph or less, there's no long roads to go above that, the only roads to go above that are the freeways of mexico, which most have a lot of curves and risky places, and the ones that are fast and safe, you have to pay to be able to enter them, the max speed is 70mph(not so fast)

So having that in mind, the issues that I've read about the JK as a daily driver, are the low power which would be hard for me to go full throttle in the city, I don't travel from city to city, and for that I have an Expedition and a Hilux.

The other problem I've read is the aerodynamics, which it's not a problem for me because it's not very windy here and I'm not driving at high speed in the city.

As for fuel efficiency, well it's a V6, I am used to my Expedition V8 5.4L worst fuel efficiency.

I am not a car or sedan guy, because I am 6'4" and none of the sedans I've tried are a good fit, maybe I fit in the drivers seat but no one fits in the back seat, so I stay away from sedans.

I would take it offroad but noting too rsiky, just some dirty roads and maybe small rocks, something any wrangler can handle no problem, but will stay in the city 90%of the time.

What do you guys think? Can the Sahara be enough as a daily driver, I need the voice of experience.

Thank you for reading this long thread just for a small answer, but I wanna give you all my context, thanks for your help and excuse the bad grammar, still practicing.
 
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#5 ·
Are you looking at a two door or a four door? I'd probably run a hard top and full hard doors down there just to reduce theft from the vehicle also.

I drive a two door as my daily driver. The power from my 2013 with the 3.6L engine is fine for in city driving. The older 3.8L engine isn't quite as powerful but it should be ok also. The modern Jeeps are not like the ones from the 70's that only had 90hp.

Jeeps are great as lower speed vehicles. At those speeds you don't have to worry about aerodynamics since most of the gas mileage will be dominated by starting and stopping. The small 2-door has a great turning radius and is really short so it fits well into parking spots.
 
#6 ·
I forgot to mention that, I am looking for a four door, I'm planning on starting a family.
Yeah, I love the hard top that matches the wrangler chasis color, and everything stock.
I would like to lift the wrangler from 2.5" to 4", but since my girlfriend is 5'2", well, it would be awkward for her to get in the Jeep, and would be only for the looks, so may not be worth it or smart since it can make the handling bad for no reason than the looks.

Also my girlfriend loved the power steps from Amp Research, so I will probably leave it stock with the power step. I liked the super charger from RIPP, but dropping 5k on an upgrade, I don't know if its worth it.

Thanks for your answer.
 
#7 ·
Hi,

I'm in Brownsville, Texas just across the river from Matamoros, Tamaulipas. I used to travel a lot in Mexico until 6 yrs. ago when all the drug cartel violence flared up. The JK is perfect for slow speed twisty mountain roads in Mexico. I'd recommend the 6 spd. Manual transmission for curves and the mountains. It is also an excellent
Vehicle for urban settings - potholes and all that.
 
#8 ·
Yeah, it has been really dangerous in the north of mexico and still is a little.

I've seen a lot of JKs in my city, but I had never heard of the issues I addressed after doing my research, I always tought the JK is was the best off road and city suv, it could be if you swap to a 6.4 Hemi engine, which for me would be awful, I am trying to run away from my 5.4 V8, gas is quite expensive.
 
#12 ·
"Gears" in this context means the ratio between the speed the driveshaft spins compared to the speed the wheels spin.

It isn't a auto vs manual transmission thing.

When you buy your jeep, check what the gear ratio is. The options are 3.21:1, 3.73:1, and 4.10:1. A higher number means a little more power and higher rpm on the freeway, but it uses more gas to get that power.
 
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