I remember reading somewhere that only a small percentage of Jeep owners actually take their vehicle off-road. Someone high up in the organization suggested that they no longer build Jeep trucks to withstand off-roading so they can sell them for a lower price. The suggested didn't last long - kudos to the people at Jeep for sticking to the principles that make their cars unique.
I bought a Jeep ages ago, and decided to try it out off-roading. I went to a Jeep Jamboree weekend and spent an entire day going down what seemed like impossible trails and through muddy streams and more. It was cool that an absolutely stock Jeep had no problems on the day, despite the fact most of the other Jeeps with me were totally tricked-out for real off roading.
I really respect Jeep for continuing to engineer each vehicle to do this. (Or at least they still did when I bought mine 10 years ago!)
Unfortunately, they've been moving away from sticking to that offroad capable mantra across the product line.
"In 2004 Jeep started using a special 'Trail Rated' badge on certain Jeep vehicles to mark that that vehicle trail worthy according to Jeep's specifications." [1]
