Car Question- Jeep Wrangler (Sterling: military, to move, used car)

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by spleenificus

Hello again all,

Okay, I most likely know the answer to this quetion, but I am going to ask it anyway.
(Just silly like that I guess...)
Here goes-

A friend of mine wants to trade in his 2003 Jeep Wrangler on a new car- and is only being offered $4000 for it by the dealer.
It has low miles and he was a fanatic about maintenance.
I know, insanely lowball offer, but that's what he is being offered.

He offered to sell it to me at the same price.
Of course, I could buy it and turn a profit, but I really don't want to bother with all that.
The question is, will this vehicle work out in SW Alaska?
I mean, I know it will run, but is it practical?
It has 4wd but only has a soft top.
The shipping rates are much cheaper for this than my Suburban, but am I going to have to invest in a hard top due to the temperatures there?
Just want to know before I get stuck with a vehicle that I have no use for.

Thanks!

I drove up from Los Angeles in a Jeep CJ-7, soft-top. It was my only vehicle for about 3 years after I got to Anchorage. I never had a problem with the canvas roof or doors. The heater was strong enough to keep the cabin warm enough. Although, I never took any long drives during the winter. I also didn't get very good gas mileage, but I had no problems getting around.

[spleenificus]

Glitch,

Thanks for the info.


I just got the Jeep home this morning- what a load of fun to drive.
Put down the top and went for a long ride.
(The weather here is clear and in the mid 70's- perfect driving weather.)

Look forward to bringing it up with me- one less worry for the relocation.

[spleenificus]

Arcticthaw,

Just noticed that I forgot to reply to your post.
I fully plan on getting the Jeep dirty by offroading, but I will need to exercise caution at first because I will be totally new to the entire AK thing.
What good is a Jeep if you don't use it the way it was intended to be used?

As an aside, my wife thinks I am insane.
Well, she really KNOWS that I am insane after 18 years of dealing with me, but that is another issue...
She asked me if I was, "going all Grizzly Adams" on her, what with the relocation and now a 4x4 vehicle.
I assured her I am not doing that at all, that it was just happenstance that the vehicle was available.
Not really sure she believes me.
Oh well.

[Rance]

Just watch those "J" turns.

[User 2]

If you haven't driven such a short wheel based vehicle with a high center of gravity, like the Wrangler on ice, then you might not consider how much they have a tendency to lean and swap ends instead of going where you might wish they go. (Or just turn suddenly belly to the sky if you are sliding just a little bit and hit a patch of dry pavement.)

I have driven many different Jeeps and I would advise a longer wheel based, lower center of gravity platform.

The short wheel base and the relatively high center of gravity on the Wrangler will dictate your maneuverability on ice much more than a longer wheel based low center of gravity vehicle. If you don't mind having to constantly be taking it easy, and don't mind being fairly regularly having the feeling that you're driving on the edge of losing control, well, that's up to you.

I much prefer a ride that is much more stable and responsive at speed.

There a other considerations to think about too.

They are lighter than many vehicles are, and because of that, are apt to have less traction on snow and ice than a heavier vehicle and when it gets real cold there are some tradeoffs in terms of comfort as the soft top or one of the bolt on hard tops aren't as quite as airtight as you may come to wish. Both tops have a tendency to create a condensation condition because of the lack of insulation in the single wall construction. Cold car, heater blasting, metal or canvas in contact with cold air, equals wet and foggy interior.

You can seek what you wanted as a kid, you can go for the 'image', but me, I'd rather not put up with the downside to feed that kind of thing.

What's important to me is that the vehicle is the best at doing what it's designed for and a Wrangler wasn't designed for what I drive a car for.

[Nephler]

I've driven Jeeps most my life. Mainly CJ5's and now a XJ/Cherokee. The to driving the short wheel base is just drive smart. On ice and hard pack snow, yes they can be a bit squirrelly. But in some loose deep snow they do great.

[User 2]

Originally Posted by Nephler

they can be a bit squirrelly.

Squirrelly?

I always wondered about applying that term to the condition of which we speak.

I've not seen a squirrel lose traction and swap ends because of it, and I sure haven't ever witnessed one just lying there flipped over upside down in a ditch.

If I could find a car with the speeed, agility and balance of a squirrel, the resultant G-forces would likely cause me serious bodily injury, but the ride would far surpass any of the so-called supercars or racing cars ever built.

I thought squirrelly meant odd and crazy, if that's the case, it would be improper to apply that term to a non-sentient machine, so I must surmise that the potential driver of the machine is more likely the more concise target of such terminology......

[stiffnecked]

I've seen quite a few squirrels lose traction while running across an ice covered road. A few of them ended up as thumpers on my tires.

[Nephler]

Originally Posted by User 2

I always wondered about applying that term to the condition of which we speak.

I've not seen a squirrel lose traction and swap ends because of it, and I sure haven't ever witnessed one just lying there flipped over upside down in a ditch.

If I could find a car with the speeed, agility and balance of a squirrel, the resultant G-forces would likely cause me serious bodily injury, but the ride would far surpass any of the so-called supercars or racing cars ever built.

I thought squirrelly meant odd and crazy, if that's the case, it would be improper to apply that term to a non-sentient machine, so I must surmise that the potential driver of the machine is more likely the more concise target of such terminology......

No real comment. I think people know what I mean.

[User 2]

Originally Posted by Nephler

No real comment. I think people know what I mean.

You created a 'real' comment, nonetheless.

I think people 'know what you meant' too. But then again, how do we communicate so we don't have to wonder if 'people are going to know what we mean'?

I merely shared a thought on popular usage of words, phrases and terminologies, note that I did not say 'your' use is wrong, your use is a condition of what has become popular or generally accepted.

My commenting wasn't meant to connote that the use of the term needed rebuttal or justification for your lone act, it was just a comment on contemporary usage of terminologies, words and phrases sometimes being seemingly less than descriptive of what that word, phrase or terminology's historic definition, or it's intended usage was designated for.

It's changing custom and revision of tradition which alters language so that some words end up meaning the opposite of their root definitions.


Everybody does it, it's only very rarely that people reflect on the practice.

My noting the phenomena was not meant to single you out for exceptional scrutiny.

My noting the phenomena was to get people to reflect on how difficult it can be to communicate with words if everyone has several different varying definitions of what any one word may be.

Create a whole page of combinations of such unspecifically defined words, and it's more than a chance possiblity that that form of communication is going to have less the most desirous effect.

Don't get all squirrelly about it.