question about a 4 or 6 cylinder jeep

[93mustanggt]

Hey I'm new to the forum and I'm looking to buy a jeep. My main question is about how big a difference theres going to be between a 6 cylinder jeep vs a 4 cylinder. I'm looking at two right now, one of each. The 4 cylinder is currently owned by a friend of my dad, so we know its been taken care of. The 6 cylinder is one I found using autotrader. I know I want to put big tires on whatever jeep I get, and possibly a lift. So my question is will a four-cylinder be able to handle big tires and maybe a lift? And will it be able to do some off-roading as well? Or do I just need to get a six-cylinder.

thanks in advance,
matt.

[slav1north]

There is a ton of info on this if you do a search ,but I would be happy to give my 2 cents. I own a 97 tj 4 cyl 5 speed with a 2 1/2 " lift with 31" firestone destanation MT's. Why I went for the four cyl is this. #1 This jeep was so clean with very low miles 47k I could not pass it up. #2 the price $ 8,500.#3 It is not my daily driver I just use it for wheelin at my cottage.( I dont tow anything more than a dirt bike or two. )#4 The 4 cyl works great for michigan two tracking ( driving around at slow speeds, a tank of gas will last me all day) I will say this , when I drive the jeep down to Detroit once a year for maintenance ( 300 miles ) I wish I had the six. As far as tire size Id say 31" tires max without a re- gear. I do like my little 4 popper ,my advice to you would be drive both on the highway before you make a choice. hope this helped you out.

[RogueSpear2023]

Your going to want a 6 cyl if it is going to be a daily driver, or you want to lift and tires. A 4cyl is bearable with 31s with stock lift, with out a regear, after a regear to 4.88 gears ($1200 in cost) You handle a max of 33s. For just a wheeling rig a 4cyl would be fine because there is plenty of power in 4lo, but otherwise if you want a lift and tires you will be regretting your decision quick. Also the MPG between the 4cyl and the 6cyl is maybe 1mpg at stock, with a lift and tires the 4cyl will get significantly worse mileage. If you want to do a search and see how many people regret getting a 4cyl. I guess the saying around here is no one ever says when they buy a 6cyl I wish I had less power. Also the tow rating on a 4cyl is 1000lbs, and the 6cyl is 2000lbs.

[93mustanggt]

ok. This will be my daily driver, which overall, I probably won't be driving much during the week being a college student. But trips on the weekends will involve a lot of highway driving. I'm going from a 93 mustang 5.0 so the gas mileage is not a huge concern. It's just I don't want to strain the motor too much driving 70ish down the highway and trying to do a little offroading. I was hoping the 4 cylinder could handle it just because I know the jeeps been taken care of. So I hope the 6 has been too.

[AustinTJer]

I had the same issue when i was in the market. I also found an AMAZING deal on a 4-cyl, in great condition. Like RogueSpear2023 said, regear it to run 33's. My 04 TJ came with 4.10 gears already, so when im ready to run 31's, it wont bog me down too bad, but eventually I will need to up it to 4.88 if I wanna run the bigger tires. If youre getting a good deal on the 4-cyl, use the extra money you'll save over the 6-cyl to do your modifications, and make it your own personal Jeep.

The 4-cyl is a beast, it goes slow, and has no acceleration... but dont let that scare you, its a Jeep, not a Corvette... Lift it, regear it, throw some 33's on it, and have a blast!

[silver60th]

Plus another thing to think about...for the amount of horsepower in the two engines, the six only gets 1-2 mpg's worse.

[MTScott]

Never had the 4cyl, so my comments may not be worth much... I wouldn't waste my time with it. Way less power for not a lot of economy gain. If you don't ever intend on lifting it, it will probably be fine as a highway vehicle.

If you're going to lift it at all and use it on the highway, you're really going to hate the 4cyl. I suppose it would be fine regeared really low and only used as a trail rig, but I drive 200 miles in my jeep to get to the trail quite often here.

The 4.0L I6 is one of the reasons I got a Jeep period, it would seem a shame to me to have a jeep and not have that motor.

[theducksguts]

This is a big question for most new jeep buyers. While I am perfectly content with my 4cyl if I had to do it again I would buy the 6.

[jay97xj]

I got a decent deal on my 4cyl and the timing was right. I daily drive about 60 miles, all highway. 33s and no re-gear with a 5spd. I drive about 65+, in 5th gear about 80% of the time depending on the grade of the road. Occasionally I put it in 4th to maintain speed up a hill, but its not too bad.

I didnt set out looking for a 4cyl, its just what I could find when I needed a new vehicle. If there was a 6cyl next to it in the same condition for the same price I wouldve taken that instead...but the 4cyl gets the job done.

-Jay

[93mustanggt]

yeah, other than a little bit of crowded downtown city driving, most of my driving is on US 29, a highway with a 65 mph speedlimit. and all I will probably do is get the 33's, and maybe a lift but I'm hoping that I will like the looks with just the tires.

[cheapjeeps85]

dont know much about the i4 i have the i6 i thay do know that make a super charger for the i4 dont know what it bumps the power up to just what ever u do check the gears on it i have the i6 with 307 gears and it sucks

[jpamb]

nobody regrets having a 6cyl. Just be darn careful of buying anything lifted or with a club sticker in the back...

[grampawade]

I have a 95 with a 4. It hates the hiway. Going up an incline it slows badly. Im fortunate not to have to do any hiway driving. Its lifted and Im running 31`s. It will tow 3 bikes(dirtbike motorcycles) on a trailer, but does better with only 2. A friend told me if I re-geared it I could go anywhere he did with his being a 6. I dont do any rock crawling, just trail riding and I`ve never had any trouble with it being too weak.
I was under the impression the 6 was alot worse on gas than the 4, after reading this I guess I was wrong.
I have also read that putting a heavier flywheel on it would help it not bog quite as much on the hiway as mine does. Forgetting gas mileage, I would like to have a small V8 in mine
Whatever your choice, good luck with it.
Wade

[RogueSpear2023]

Originally Posted by 93mustanggt

yeah, other than a little bit of crowded downtown city driving, most of my driving is on US 29, a highway with a 65 mph speedlimit. and all I will probably do is get the 33's, and maybe a lift but I'm hoping that I will like the looks with just the tires.

Well I don't quite know how you plan on putting 33s on a wrangler with out a lift, 31s are the biggest you can fit with out a lift. Although you could put high line fenders on to fit but that would cost more than a simple lift for 33s.

[PanicAtTheKmart]

thats my 4banger. ive got 33's and too much lift.. she does fine on country roads but with 33's on the interstate you wont get above 70. but.. if your gonna lift it and put on big tires do you really wanna drive it like a racecar? as far as off road.. just as good. i have no complaints about it at all. just some buying help... mine has 101K miles and the stuff in my sig. it came with 5 extra 15's with 33's mounted on them too. and 2 soft tops. i paid 3500. no rust. i bought it from Greenville NC.

goodluck man!