With five days and the new Jeep hitting the century mark on mileage, I figured it was time to update our relationship. 🙂

Frankly, I can’t remember a vehicle I’ve had as much fun driving since I moved from a crusty ’74 Ford Gran Torino Elite to a brand spanking new ’84 Nissan Pulsar. The change in rides was astounding then, and the change from the ’04 TrailBlazer to the new Jeep has been just as seminal.

I cannot believe how well the Jeep corners as compared to the TrailBlazer. I always thought Smokie handled the turns well, but I find that the new Jeep is really sure-footed, and gives no sense that it wants to slide or flip, and really feels secure taking turns without overly braking. I’m sure this isn’t a slalom-hugging vehicle — most SUVs aren’t — but the difference in the feel is pretty amazing.

And that brings me to the steering. I am finding that it’s pretty easy for me to wiggle around in my lane. The steering in the Jeep is waaaay more sensitive that the steering in Smokie, and I’m finding that the slightest hand movement translates into wheel movement. That’s pretty cool and it’s almost like I’m directly manhandling the wheels, rather than having a bunch of coupling in the way. It’s truly a great experience.

The interior is definitely different — Mom said it looked primitive. I think that’s a fair assessment, although there’s enough comfort to keep me interested when I’m on the long treks. It definitely feels narrow and longer, yet paradoxically like I’m closer to the front grill. In the ‘Blazer, you had to lean pretty good to reach the opposite door panel. In the Jeep, it’s a pretty easy reach. The hood of the Jeep looks like it goes on forever. I think that’s an optical illusion, likely because of the hard edge at the end of the hood as compared to the TrailBlazer’s more gradual drop off. I can’t explain why I feel like I’m seated closer to the grill in the Jeep. That’s not an optical illusion, but I can’t imagine that I’m that much closer to it than in the ‘Blazer. It might be the layout of the cabin — there’s definitely not as much distance between the driver and the dash in the Jeep, although it’s not an uncomfortable distance. In any case, that’s what I’ve noticed.

So features-wise, what have I noticed? Firstly, there’s no map pockets. I live and die by long haul maps, and I haven’t yet figured out where all the local maps, state maps and big ol’ road atlas are going to be stowed. I’m sure someone’s skinned that cat already.

I also wish that the rain on the soft top didn’t drain right into the Jeep when the door was opened up. A rain gutter would be a great addition to the soft top, although probably a little hard to do.

I’d love to have had a video to help with the initial erection of the soft top. That was two hours of my life that I’ll never get back. 🙂 However, it’ll likely be easier next time, and probably get more tolerable every time I go through the process.

Including a set of Torx wrenches would’ve been a nice touch, especially when buying a Jeep with the dual-top option. The first thing the manual says is not to run with both tops, and it would’ve been nice to include those wrenches with that warning. In my case, I had some Torx sockets, but nothing as big as a T50. I do now.

I’m sure I’ll find some other minor things that woulda been nice, but I’ve found nothing that’s made me regret putting the new Jeep in the driveway. I haven’t had the chance to get it dirty yet, and I just can’t wait to put it through the mud. If that’s my biggest complaint, then I figure I’m doing ok!

I’ve been talking about putting a Jeep Wrangler under (around?) me for quite some time. Twice, I’ve almost pulled the trigger, and instead, purchased something different. Call it a mid-life crisis, call it a desire to make some changes to how my weekends are spent, or just call it feeding my inner child, but I’ve been doing some real hard looking at an ’08 Wrangler, and trying to find the vehicle I might wanna pick up.

Wednesday, Becky and I took a look at a couple of Wranglers, and test drove a Jeep Green colored Wrangler Unlimited X. After an hour or so, we left, and started trying to figure out if this was something we were gonna do. Our salesman was off on Thursday, so we knew we had a couple of days to think about it.

Friday, Becky and I returned to Lou Fusz, and starting making the deal happen. After four hours in the dealership, I was driving home in our new ’08 Wrangler. 🙂

So why was it four hours? Well, our salesman was busy with someone else for an hour of that. Then it took another hour and a half to get the deal looking the way I wanted, mostly having to do with the trade-in value of my ’04 Trailblazer LT. Trade-in on that vehicle was horrible, and it took some doing to get the combination of the sales price, trade-in, owner loyalty rebate and a discount we got through our employer to look the way we wanted. We spent another hour waiting for the finance guy to do his thing, and endure his extremely high pressure sales tactics for add-ons after the deal. We dodged the mines, and were able to leave shortly after 8pm with everything signed, sealed and delivered. I couldn’t be happier!

Features-wise, this is a middle-of-the-road Jeep, with a 4-door body, dual top (hard and soft tops), AM/FM/CD/Satellite radio, power windows/locks, and some suspension/tires for running off-road. It’s a beautiful vehicle, and is definitely a different kind of drive than was the Trailblazer. The cab’s a little less wide, and the nose looks much longer. Add to that the sense that you’re riding even higher up, and you have a completely different kind of SUV ride.

This morning I took some photos, and tried to capture the essence of this new vehicle. It’s a hoot to drive, especially with the front hard tops removed, and there’s just no way to capture that in a photograph.

During the evening, I decided to switch from the hard top to the soft top. This was absolutely a tough thing to do, and is not designed to be done without a partner. Admittedly, this was the first time Beck and I had been through this conversion, but it still took us almost two hours, and was extraordinarily frustrating. I’m hoping that with the soft top installed on the Jeep, it’ll “stretch out”, and become easier to deal with next time. For this week though, it’s soft top city, and maybe some running around with it all the way down.

I don’t wanna make it sound like I regret the new vehicle — I absolutely don’t! — but I really thought that working with the tops would’ve been easier. Given the complexity of putting on the soft top, I’m surprised there wasn’t a DVD or some other training for dealing with it. No matter — I’ll get used to it, I’m sure!

My neighbors on both sides have been by to see the Jeep, and they both love the vehicle and color. While that wasn’t the point, I guess I’m happy they aren’t embarrassed to have it in the driveway next to them. The thing I am really ready to do is get it out on a trail somewhere and start playing. That was the point!