I always feel slightly pretentious when I refer to any vehicle by their platform code, so I thought I would be like most 40 year old hair dresses or barbie and call it my wrangler.
With that being said, I picked up this JKU in January '16 to replace my NA mx5 that I turbo'd/overhauled and XJ with 3.5" of lift on 31's. I had recently got a new job that would have me commuting 110miles a day. 2 days before I was offered the job, a guy drove 16hrs to buy my mx5. If the timelines would of been reversed, I would still have my mx5 and XJ. But, once the miata was gone, I had to make moves quickly to get in another vehicle. I didn't trust the XJ to consistently and reliably to get me to work racking up that kind of mileage (and 10mpg would of sucked as well). It had never left me stranded... well except that one time the starter caught on fire. So, I took advantage of the situation and after tossing around many ideas, I landed on the JKU. I had drooled over them for years (wayalife videos definitely didn't help) but never had the means or opportunity to get one. The XJ was a much better vehicle for local trips due to trail size, but my hope is the JKU opens up new doors for longer trips I want to take with the family. Thus, I ended up with a 2016 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited
My 2 vehicles gone to make 1.
I ended up majorly in to miatas out of chance. I was fresh out of college, poor, and needed a cheap reliable car. That was 6 years and 3 miatas ago. My most recent one was a '95 that I did a custom turbo install on. Stock, you are looking at 100hp, not bad considering the car weights 2300lbs, but I was pushing just over 200. It was a blast. But, I wasn't driving it anymore since i had a young son who couldn't ride in it safely. It was used 1-2 times a year for a quick drive, some commuting, and a trip every year to the mountains with friends for a weekend of driving. So, I made the decision to sell it. Had I been offered the job before it sold, I would of kept it in a heart beat for commuting purposes. The funny part, is even though the miata is always called a hair dresser's car, i've felt much more self conscious and hair-dresser-esque driving a stock JKU compared to ever driving a miata. Haha.
98 XJ.... my first jeep. I had dreamed of them for years. In HS, my good friends girlfriend had a brand new '00 and we would steal it constantly and take it mudding. Crazy thing is, she ended up marrying the guy even after all that. Picked mine up in Aug. 14. Low mileage 98. I thought I was set. The historically indestructible 4.0. Nope, wrong again. The 4.0 is strong. Everything attached to it sucks. I picked it up with too low of mileage. Any free weekend was spent repairing and replacing items that had been deferred because they still someone functioned for previous owners. My fun offroad toy/dd had turned in to a constant project and was only offroad a hand full of times in my ownership. This is what led me to sell it. Weekend time was going to become even more scarce and I didn't want to spend every little bit I had just maintaining a vehicle. Fun stuff I actually did to the XJ was a Rubicon Express 3.5" superride lift and 31" walmart special goodyear wrangler authority. Great tire for the price. My only complaint is year 1 in the snow they were amazing. Year 2 they still had nearly all their tread but felt much slicker. They were also very loud for a AT. But, I was going for cheap aggressive performance, not ride quality.
The new newness.
2016 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sport S in Hydro Blue
Manual
Hardtop
3.73 gears
Limited slip rear
OTD cost tax title and all. $33,980
I was on a tight extreme budget with this. Had to keep as cheap as possible. Requirements were power windows/locks and 3.73 gears. Everything else could come or go. I ended up above budget because of the S package, and while I will be replacing the wheels eventually, it is kind of nice not driving around on the itty bitty wheels that come on the standard sport. Its like a gym jockie who always skips leg days.
Future realistic short-term Goals:
The 110mile a day commute will hopefully only be another year or less (1.5 is the longest possible) before my job transitions to 10miles from home. At that time I will really get modding since the gas budget will shrink significantly.
- Small lift. Currently looking at evo leveling kit. And since wayalife seems to love the taste of the evo kool-aid, I have been sold the enforcer 3" depending on budget when I get there.
- Undecided on 33's or 35's. I know the 3.73's aren't ideal for 35's but looking at the graphs, it doesn't seem terrible.
- Trimmed fenders
- Sleeve/gusset/band-aid the Dana 30.
- rock rails
So far, everything I have done has been comfort based. Slush mats, bluetooth radio adapter, mesh front grill (Those huge slats allow rocks to put a beating on the AC condenser), and to embrace my inner mall crawler, a 20" light bar that I never got around to installing on the XJ. 5800 miles in I have already started my 5 tire rotation schedule and did my first oil change.
Mall Crawler approved
And I guess as a true introduction, me and my son.
With that being said, I picked up this JKU in January '16 to replace my NA mx5 that I turbo'd/overhauled and XJ with 3.5" of lift on 31's. I had recently got a new job that would have me commuting 110miles a day. 2 days before I was offered the job, a guy drove 16hrs to buy my mx5. If the timelines would of been reversed, I would still have my mx5 and XJ. But, once the miata was gone, I had to make moves quickly to get in another vehicle. I didn't trust the XJ to consistently and reliably to get me to work racking up that kind of mileage (and 10mpg would of sucked as well). It had never left me stranded... well except that one time the starter caught on fire. So, I took advantage of the situation and after tossing around many ideas, I landed on the JKU. I had drooled over them for years (wayalife videos definitely didn't help) but never had the means or opportunity to get one. The XJ was a much better vehicle for local trips due to trail size, but my hope is the JKU opens up new doors for longer trips I want to take with the family. Thus, I ended up with a 2016 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited
My 2 vehicles gone to make 1.
I ended up majorly in to miatas out of chance. I was fresh out of college, poor, and needed a cheap reliable car. That was 6 years and 3 miatas ago. My most recent one was a '95 that I did a custom turbo install on. Stock, you are looking at 100hp, not bad considering the car weights 2300lbs, but I was pushing just over 200. It was a blast. But, I wasn't driving it anymore since i had a young son who couldn't ride in it safely. It was used 1-2 times a year for a quick drive, some commuting, and a trip every year to the mountains with friends for a weekend of driving. So, I made the decision to sell it. Had I been offered the job before it sold, I would of kept it in a heart beat for commuting purposes. The funny part, is even though the miata is always called a hair dresser's car, i've felt much more self conscious and hair-dresser-esque driving a stock JKU compared to ever driving a miata. Haha.
98 XJ.... my first jeep. I had dreamed of them for years. In HS, my good friends girlfriend had a brand new '00 and we would steal it constantly and take it mudding. Crazy thing is, she ended up marrying the guy even after all that. Picked mine up in Aug. 14. Low mileage 98. I thought I was set. The historically indestructible 4.0. Nope, wrong again. The 4.0 is strong. Everything attached to it sucks. I picked it up with too low of mileage. Any free weekend was spent repairing and replacing items that had been deferred because they still someone functioned for previous owners. My fun offroad toy/dd had turned in to a constant project and was only offroad a hand full of times in my ownership. This is what led me to sell it. Weekend time was going to become even more scarce and I didn't want to spend every little bit I had just maintaining a vehicle. Fun stuff I actually did to the XJ was a Rubicon Express 3.5" superride lift and 31" walmart special goodyear wrangler authority. Great tire for the price. My only complaint is year 1 in the snow they were amazing. Year 2 they still had nearly all their tread but felt much slicker. They were also very loud for a AT. But, I was going for cheap aggressive performance, not ride quality.
The new newness.
2016 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sport S in Hydro Blue
Manual
Hardtop
3.73 gears
Limited slip rear
OTD cost tax title and all. $33,980
I was on a tight extreme budget with this. Had to keep as cheap as possible. Requirements were power windows/locks and 3.73 gears. Everything else could come or go. I ended up above budget because of the S package, and while I will be replacing the wheels eventually, it is kind of nice not driving around on the itty bitty wheels that come on the standard sport. Its like a gym jockie who always skips leg days.
Future realistic short-term Goals:
The 110mile a day commute will hopefully only be another year or less (1.5 is the longest possible) before my job transitions to 10miles from home. At that time I will really get modding since the gas budget will shrink significantly.
- Small lift. Currently looking at evo leveling kit. And since wayalife seems to love the taste of the evo kool-aid, I have been sold the enforcer 3" depending on budget when I get there.
- Undecided on 33's or 35's. I know the 3.73's aren't ideal for 35's but looking at the graphs, it doesn't seem terrible.
- Trimmed fenders
- Sleeve/gusset/band-aid the Dana 30.
- rock rails
So far, everything I have done has been comfort based. Slush mats, bluetooth radio adapter, mesh front grill (Those huge slats allow rocks to put a beating on the AC condenser), and to embrace my inner mall crawler, a 20" light bar that I never got around to installing on the XJ. 5800 miles in I have already started my 5 tire rotation schedule and did my first oil change.
Mall Crawler approved
And I guess as a true introduction, me and my son.
