Welcome to the board. You must have been burned somewhere! Don't worry about it here. I have never wheeled off road in much other than Jeeps but I do ride with other types/brands of vehicles. One of the biggest Advantages I like about Wranglers over the others is the choice of going topless and in some cases windshieldless off road. The Jeep was originally designed to replace motorcycles in the Army And thats what I bought mine for. Riding a bike just got too painful and dangerous for me to enjoy it any more but I love being in the open when exploring or just riding off road. Other advantages are parts availability, and manueverability. The later Wanglers are the most comfortable to ride in I hear, due to their coil spring suspensions. I've never tried it myself, . The 4.0L six is a well proven and powerful engine and parts for it are generally cheaper than Imports. An advantage of a manual tranny is control. It will also not quit working because the oil pump lost suction on an extreme angle like an auto can. That is not an issue for mild offroading and not having to deal with a clutch and shifting offroad can be nice also. Its a matter of preference. The biggest disadvantage of a Wrangler vs the Tacoma and the 4 runner IMO is the lack of space for passengers and/or cargo. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />