They are fun for all the reasons others had mentioned-you can take the doors/roof off, do the typical jeep things. They are slightly more practical than a wrangler because of the bed and increased towing. I get around 21 mph with a v-6.
They will not haul as much as a normal truck, which means you don’t get asked to help move things.
As for reliability, I’ve always had a Jeep-mostly xjs. We’ve also owned Subarus and Toyotas. The cars we’ve had the least trouble with have always been the jeeps. Maybe we have good/bad luck, maybe all the years of owning them has immunized me. But our 24 year old Cherokee has been in the shop less than our 4 year old Subaru. I’ve had the gladiator 4 years and it has never been in the shop.