Moving to LA

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LA is so spread out without knowing where your work is located there isn't much anyone can say. Is it Downtown? Santa Monica? Mid-Wilshire? The Valley (lol)?

As for the car, you are definitely going to want one. Public transit might be able to take you to and from work if you line it up correctly, but otherwise if you want to do anything else you'll need a car. Downtown, Santa Monica, Silver Lake and a few other neighborhoods are a bit walkable, closer to the east coast cities, but still won't encompass everything you'll want to do. 

And $800-1,200 will be exceedingly difficult if you want to live within 20 minutes of a business district where your work is. Definitely need to roommate up if that's your budget. 

IDK what everyone's saying there is no offroading. Alabama Hills is only 3 hours away. Lease a 4 runner or something

As others have pointed out- I have a few questions in mind for you (I’ve grown up in SoCal and live in Century City currently). 
 

1. Where exactly do you work? I would guess somewhere around Century City/ Westwood. In which case, you’re much better off living near UCLA campus where there’s relatively cheap housing designed for roommates. That still blows your budget up unfortunately. You could look into Culver City, or near Ladera Heights if you get gated parking. You’ll most certainly need a roommate, if not 2-3 roommates to help bring expenses down. 
 

2. I’m always against balling out on cars unless you really are fine financially. I think the extra money being spent on living comfortably in a nicer apartment or better experiences moves the happiness needle a lot more than a car. Also don’t off road in a lease, you’re just going to incur more costs than what it’s worth (which kind of defeats the purpose of leasing a Jeep anyway). Lease a Camry or Accord, it’s the best bang for your buck on a budget. 
 

3. Off roading is possible out here, just a pain to get to (not impossible though). But personally, I’d be much happier in a nicer apartment- more dinners- less commute time and going hiking (there’s tons of hiking out here) rather than the occasional off roading trip. 

Lot of pessimists in here, just wanted to say living in LA is pretty damn amazing (if you can afford it of course)

I'd lean towards one of your alternatives that are more reliable, you'll be spending more time in your car getting places so ideally something that won't cost so much to maintain regularly, plus good on gas and low insurance. I'd also even suggest maybe even buying something used a couple years old. It's cheap to borrow right now, and you could always sell the car when you move out of the area. The cost of leasing over two to three years, plus what ever overages they charge in mileage, could end up being more than what it costs to buy. You could also ship your car if you move back east too.

Since you've said you're coming from nyc, as a guy who grew up in CA and moved to NY, I'd say you're probably looking to be on the beachier side of LA as opposed to some rathole in the the valley. With that being said, I'd fully expect to pay 1600+ as you suggested in your previous comments if you want to live in a safe and desirable area. Assuming you're not working in banking as your profile suggests, you'll probably have a decent amount of time spent outside the office and by default in your home/neighborhood so I'd think real carefully about where you stay. Also, and I'm not sure about now during covid, as a car guy LA is great to see sick cars but I'd probably not expect to do any kind of lifestyle driving there given the traffic and general lack of off-road trails which would appeal to you given your penchant for jeeps. Would divert funds dedicated to the jeep to getting a higher rent budget and getting a low maintenance car so that you can really enjoy your time outside of work in LA and not worry about having something inefficient which doesn't quite fit that lifestyle

Unrelated to OP, but as someone interested in making the move to LA from NYC, just how much is rent in LA? Curious how much a smallish 1-bedroom would cost in a decent area / not too far from an office in century city area? Would $1,800 - $2,000 a month in rent be unrealistic for something like that for a 1-bed with no roommates?

Would appreciate any insight.

Say hello to Kanye for me. 

It looks like you work in asset management, will you be working market hours? I lived in Venice and worked in Century City, but my schedule was 5:30AM - 2PM and the commute was a breeze. If you are working a 9-5 Pacific Time, I would not recommend living west of the 405. Culver City, Palms, Westwood, or Beverly Hills would be your best bets.

Personally, I would pick Culver City if I was going to do LA again-- it's already a fine place to live but it is moving up in the world quickly. There is a bunch of new development and Apple has built new offices there and HBO is moving their HQ to a new site in  Culver. Also 100 Thieves has their Cash App compound nearby and NFL Network is there although they are supposedly leaving for Inglewood at some point. Also, Beverly Hills isn't bad. Perhaps to folks outside LA that sounds ridiculous, but the zip codes 90211 & 90212 are not really any more expensive than any other nice part of LA.

One thing to note: Most of LA is really suburban and some parts can be really sleepy (more than you expect). If you are interested in more of a "city-living" vibe, I would recommend WeHo, Fairfax, Miracle Mile. It's not going to be nearly as convenient, but it will feel more, not really, but relatively more like living in NYC/Chi/SF/Boston. KTown or DTLA would be the closest thing to true city urban in LA, but those would be diabolical commutes. Again, if you are working market hours, you may see way more flexibility in your options because you don't have to worry about traffic.