Hello all, I've been lurcking around the boards, just reading up on info and now I've finally registered. I hate to make this question my second post but...
I'm looking into getting a Jeep within about the next year (I had a CJ5 years ago and miss it.). It would serve as a part time daily driver (I have a couple of others to share in the commuter duty) as well as a beach and trail rig. I would like to get into rock crawling eventually, but considering I live at the beach (Virginia Beach), and I think the nearest rock trails are in Charlottesville, it's not the first thing I'll be heading out and doing. So I was originally thinking about the Rubi, the Dana44s and lockers really appealed to me, but the TJ just doesn't seem as practical. And there's just something about the LJ Rubi I'm just not the biggest fan of (ok it's the looks). So I was thinking aboutthe XJ. It has more room, would be cheaper to purchase (I'm not made of money), and since it would be cheaper I'd be able to afford to mod it more readily than an expensive "new" Jeep, or buy one closer to what I want.
Whew, with all that said is the XJ as capable as the TJ (I know I just opened up a hornet's nest didn't I)? I know they're pretty tough, but does there size hold them back when compare to the TJ? Also how about transmission choice? Everything I own now is a manual, and the only time I regret it is when I'm sitting in traffic, that clutch gets heavy. Is the auto or manual a week link. Oh and any choice I make will have a 6 cyl (at least), no 4s at all.
Oh and my daily commute is 45 miles, each way almost 30 of those are highway miles, so fuel economy is a slight concern. Thanks for your input and sorry for the novel.

I see you're not getting a lot of replies..

Probably for good reasons. A big part of a jeep purchase is personal preference. Imposing your own wants and likes upon others only rarely results in a happy answer.

So here are some of my views. Feel free to disregard them. My only qualifications are that I've been a Jeeper for almost 30 years now, and during that time we've owned at least one jeep, usually 2, and on occasion 3 within our family. I'm back to keeping one as an offroader and another as a daily driver. Both are Rubicons.

Simply put, jeeps get lousy gas mileage and in the newest versions, have pretty poor motors. While they do run well at idle and low RPM, they just don't make any power to speak of, and surely not as much as the thirst would indicate (you can buy a real hotrod that gets 14 mpg).

Another factor is that the more you modify one, the less reliable they become for normal driving. They're balanced for most users, as you alter that balance, sometimes bad things happen.

On the 6 vs 4 argument, there is no change in fuel economy, only worse performance. If economy becomes an issue, buy a foreign car. I would suggest you consider a Toyota 4wd for its ability on mileage. At least you get some dependability.

The transimission choice gets pretty technical, and I don't agree with the highway/offroad answer most of the magazines give. The newest TJs with 6 speed are much better than the automatics. At least they have a gear the wimpy engines are happy running at. The Jeep automatics are minivan models with a terrible overdrive thats of little use. And it downshifts constantly even at highway speeds trying to maintain a speed. For some offroading (the kind I do), the automatic is clearly superior. But I do a fair amount of rock running. Its not the clutch, its the smoothness of power application that matters.

For sand running, stick might be better.

Thank you for your input. I know these things tend to be very much a personal preference. What I'm really looking for, which I guess I should have said, was other's experience with each vehicle. After much thought and debate, I think I'll end up going with the Rubicon.

Its important that you understand Rubicons are special purpose vehicles. The package is a performance package, not a trim pack. Its basically designed to be a starting point. Speed and horsepower weren't considered, and they generally get lousy fuel economy.

Last summer a buddy and I headed west, his a stick and mine an automatic. I just figured he'd get better gas mileage. On one leg of the trip he was getting 10 mpg, to my astounding 12. Big deal, both are lousy and unacceptable. We've managed to "tune" them just a shade. Using premium fuel or dumping octane booster in the tank seems to improve things a little. The big improvement comes with keeping your speed below 60 mph. Most people can't do that. My everyday driver/2006 gets about 15 if I keep my speed down and use premium fuel.

I had a 1996 XJ that would generally get about 18 mpg and keep up with traffic. Thats a big difference at both ends.

WOW I didn't think that the fuel mileage was that bad! It wouldn't be a problem if it were strickly a toy, but I did plan on using it as a daily driver sometimes. I may be putting off a Jeep purchase for a little while.