Kelley Blue Book says the 09 Jeep Wrangler will have the best retail value of any SUV after five years.

 

Comes as no surprise. The Wrangler has consistently been one of the highest rated vehicles for holding its value. But have you seen what used Mini Coopers, especially the S models bring? Its insane.

 

I can remember being a teenager and reading that the Jeep (of course it was a CJ 7 then) had the best resale value in the industry then, so it comes as no surprise now...

 

Yep, not much of a surprise really. Been virtually one of the top 3 most popular SUV's as long as I can remember...not to mention its a quality vehicle on top of that...

As for the Mini-Cooper comment, their resale value is awesome. I've given some serious thought at looking at one of the Clubman Turbo models...

 

I have never given any serious thought about any Mini Cooper. Ever. I'm am a man.

 

Heh, then you obviously arent much of a man then.... The Mini-Coopers are quite the performance machine, and on top of that, one of the best fuel economy vehicles on the market.

Even their turbo models get somewhere in the neighborhood of around 35mpg..

 

I actually considered the Mini, but got the PT instead. In a car just a little bit larger, I have a huge amount of room for 4. The down side with my Cruiser is the 23.3 mpg. I'm going to get some platinum plugs and see if that helps. I know the argument, but they helped drastically with my Neon. I can't argue with 34-38 mpg with an auto tranny. Anyway, I could have got a Mini for nearly the same price, but to be honest, I'd rather have the hard plastic Chryco interior than the terribly flimsy Mini interior. The door panels are on par with the 95 Suzuki Sidekick I had years ago. The Mini really has a cheap and crappy interior. Also, the Mini coupe I test drove had worse road noise than the PT convertible I bought. I know they are pretty good handling cars, but they still are very cheap econo cars, with a hefty price tag.

 

I don't do or drive anything that is "Mini".

 

At 6'2", I don't either!! Our 09 Caliber has a surprising amount of front seat room and sits high enough that I can get in and out with no problems.

 

Whats not manly about a car whose main design parameters center around style, performance and handling yet still deliver outstanding mileage? True, its not the same flavor as a Challenger. But its aimed at the enthusiast.

On the other hand, lets look at the SRT-4. Sure, its quick and it handles pretty decent. But with a rental car bodystyle I still say DENIED. It was born of the same half-assed mentality that gives us the subaru STI and Mitsu Evo. They stick a good performance package into the body of a total loser and expect us to wet ourselves with glee. Sorry, aint happening.

And the same thing goes for the Charger. Sure, its got the muscle. But if youre a hardcore enthusiast then 4 doors dont cut it and neither does slushbox-only. All of these are fine for a guy who has kids to cart around but if thats a major factor in what your rolling in, then you're passion is already diluted and you cant call yourself a hardcore enthusiast at that point. Im not saying to neglect the kiddies. But Mommy probably already has a minivan or SUV for the family. Drive that to soccer practice. Unless you have more than one family, you only need one family car. There's nothing less 'manly' than an obvioulsy wishy washy decision and a heavily compromised vehicle is a physical manifestation of just that.