It occurred to me today that the s10 platform, especially the 2 door, might just replace Jeeps as the older ones are getting more and more rare... What do you think?

 

HA, i think you got that backwawrds or i'm reading it wrong but jeeps are over coming the s10s (popularity wise that is) but i'd still rather have my dad's 89 s10 over his 01 jeep wrangler anyday of the week

 

i prefer the S10's. there are too many jeeps out there. Everyone sees lifted jeeps but how often is it you see a lifted blazer. Ill take my blazer over a jeep any day

 

We own both a Jeep & Blazer 4x4s. One thing I can tell you is the Jeep has out performed the Blazer off-road so badly it isn't funny. I like our Blazer I'm very unhappy with the 4.3 V6. The 1997 Blazer we own is on its second engine in 114,000 miles & it has been knocking with both lifter & piston knocks for the last 28,000 miles. But the only reason it is still running is because we never run above 3000 RPM ever. Without RPM the 4.3 is pretty gutless.
My friend has a 4.0 Jeep that has 150,000 miles on it with no major problems at all. The 4.0 is rock solid.
Our Jeep is a 1998 Grand Cherokee Limited 5.9 That engine is rock solid also. But I can't compare the 5.9 to the 4.3 other than it is a much better built engine than the 4.3. You seldom hear of 5.9 with problems like the 4.3s have. We have had our share of problems in the last year we have owned it and I read about a lot of engine & fuel problems with the 4.3. But the kicker is on the road our 5.9 gets 18 MPG & our 4.3 gets 21 MPG at best. So for a 245HP/365 lb/ft of torque engine, that runs 0-60 MPH in under 7.0 sec., that leaves a lot of room for improvements to the 4.3 with we will never see.
I really believe when I need to replace the Blazer which could come as soon as this winter most depending on how long this knocking engine lives, we will replace it with an older Explorer 94-97 or a Jeep Cherokee 4.0 95-99.
I really like the comfort, drivability, room, & just the Blazer overall, but my experience with all but a couple of GM trucks has not been good. In my 50 years of driving & racing I have lost more GM engines than all the Ford, Dodge, & Toyota's combined we have owned.
So I'm a little gun shy about buying another Blazer & it kind of pisses me off because I do like the basic truck & GMs.

 

i beat the crap out of my blazer and its still running great with 112k on it

 

Every brand has its lemons slip from the factory, Personally my first gen blazer blows jeeps out of the water, That jeep probably has a locker in the rear and your blazer doesn't also gearing runs a huge part on how your acceleration is, a lot of blazer came with 3.08s and 3.42s where jeeps almost standard 3.73 and 4.11s

 

Well all i got to say is its all about the driver,
1. Jeeps require no skill, easy as boiling water in a microwave the jeeps does everything a 10 year old could of road in it
2.Anything else takes real off roading skill


My first gen out does my buddys 95 Jeep Cherokee and his 97 dakota and my dads 95 ford f150 and another friends 96 toyota t100 and my blazer is all stock, the guy who owned it before me ran it though his back yard jumping it over 5 feet high for months and running it super hot lol he did this when ever he was bored and the engine still holds very strong i love the 4.3 vortec my first vortec owned and i plan to own nothing but vortec equipped vehicles, cant wait to see what this thing does once i rebuild her :P

 

yeah it hard to compare the two since jeeps are built for off-road where as blazers are not. To really compare then the would have to have the exact same setup. same gearing, tires, lift, driver, terrain, etc. Cause i can easily say my blazer will handle better off-road than a jeep. I have pulled my buddies jeep out a lot more than he's pulled me out.

 

It does seems that either you got an S10 that was tight and solid or you got one they put together while the workers were pissed off!!
What i meant though was that with more and more S10s on/off the road, it seems to me a better platform to build off of than the jeep. Good luck finding an older jeep or a newer one for a good price that doesn't already have someone else's "stamp" on it... ( I have too much crap to stuff into a jeep when i take my dogs anyway)

 

Blazers are a lot cheaper and more reliable imo, Running a Jeep is just as smart as running a benz, You probably pay more for jeeps parts probably