Here's my take: I used to own a 1987 Samurai. It was very underpowered (like 63 hp) but it delivered the goods reliably when properly cared for. I had a 1987 Samurai JX soft top with factory A/C that was easily the best A/C I've ever used in any car. I ended up with a new engine at 72,000 miles because I had the oil changed at the Suzuki dealership the day before and they didn't tighten down the drain plug. Of course Suzuki had to foot the bill since it was their fault. I bought a Jeep Wrangler a few years later and gave my brother the Samurai. A Jeep Wrangler is a total POS. It was the 4.0 model and it had a lot of get up and go. However, something was always breaking down on it. Literally, I would call the Jeep dealer to make an appointment and the service tech would say, " You have a Wrangler huh?" When I asked how they knew, they would respond, "That breaks all the time on those." It was a headache to own. Well, the Wrangler has been gone for years, but my brother still has the Samurai with 292,018 miles on the odometer and it has been very reliable. He said that he had to replace the carburetor once, clutch once and alternator twice, but the truck is 25 years old. Not bad at all. Top speed is 75 mph and the ride is really rough (like the Wrangler), but the Wrangler does have that extra oomph. However, Samurais can go places even Wranglers can't when it comes to offroading. That's a major feat in itself. Samurais are used in the most remote parts of the world so they have to be rugged. To the answer who mentioned the Chevy Tracker. The Tracker is just a Suzuki Sidekick with Chevy badging.The newer Suzukis are junk at best and while the Samurai isn't anything spectacular, it's more reliable than an of the new ones.