Review
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6/12/02 - 8045 miles - It's been over a year since I revisited this and I want to approach it from a longer term perspective.  We've used the Jeep form everything from quick runs to the store, weekend joyrides in the country, 6+ hour roadtrips, some commuting, off-road trips, and even grocery store/Home Depot runs...  We enjoy our Jeep more now than the day we got it.  We've had a chance to get off road a bit and have spent some time and money customizing our Jeep to make it more useful for us.  One item that I was aware of, but didn't fully appreciate is that there are more aftermarket catalogs and parts for Jeeps than almost any other vehicle.  You can dress it up or prepare it for severe duty with a phone call and a credit card.  We've largely stuck to convenience and "protection" changes to ours but the wish list can be as long as you like.  Another great thing about Jeep ownership is the community available to you on the internet.  Within 5 minutes you can find another Jeeper that has either been where you are (if you need a fix) or where you want to go (modifications).  You can quickly get straight and honest answers that would have been expensive and time consuming mistakes if you had to make them without input.  We find more and more of our friends check our Jeep out when we see them.  Maybe we'll be able to convert a few more to ownership.  After a year of ownership...the biggest pluses: FUN, great top down convertible, easy to take offroad, nimble, easily customizable, easy to reconfigure for different purposes, great support networks on the internet.  Minuses: poor gas mileage, visibility is only fair with the top up, not great for long interstate trips due to wind buffeting and noise, lack of storage unless you take the back seat out.  The pluses MORE than make up for the minuses and I keep kicking myself for not getting a Jeep earlier.

5/17/01 - 2100 miles - It's been a while since my last posting, but nothing has changed for the worst, it just keeps getting better.  I am still surprised at how much I love this vehicle.  It's better on the road than I expected and never fails to deliver loads of fun.  We just returned from a 700 mile trip.  It took us just under 6 hours to drive form our home to Destin, FL.  We packed everything in the back, and struck off.  On the way down, we encountered some scattered showers but didn't have to stop, so the only issue was the rain that blew back onto the inside of the windshield and the rear view mirror.  We didn't feel rain, but had to dry off the inside of the window at the next stop light.  About 2 hours out of the 6 hour trip were on the interstate.  As much fun as a Jeep is at speeds less than 65mph, it goes to a handful quickly when you try to push anything in the 70-75mph range.  With the top down, you feel like you're going to be blown out when you get near an 18 wheeler and the crazy wind currents they create.  Moral of the story: take 2 or 4 lane divided highway, keep it under 65 and everything will be just fine.

4/20/01 - 680 miles - The plugs definitely made a difference, but I'll have to see if the improvement is short or long term.  The engine idles better and throttle response immediately after shifting has improved.  I also noticed that the slight hesitation I occasionally felt under acceleration is gone.  If the plugs continue to perform as they do when they are new, this is a must-do for any TJ owner.  I was very surprised that the factory plugs appeared to have a lot of carbon built up on the insulator.  The Jeep had 630 miles on it when I pulled them out and replaced them with the Bosch plugs.

4/13/01 - 435 miles - It's been a couple of weeks and we've still be driving mostly on the weekends.  I did drive it in to my client site last Friday (rain today), and it was pretty chilly.  At anything faster than about 50mph, the heater can't keep up if the top is down.  The airing down of the tires definitely made a difference in how it drives; I have yet to find the "right" number but have heard that 29 gives a nice flat footprint.  I'm planning on trying the poly-fil in the soundbar and sub cavity this weekend, so we'll see if it makes any noticeable difference.  We plan on crawling up onto our land this weekend so we'll give 4wd a good workout.  There is a pretty deep ditch to cross onto the property and the trail to the crest is off camber and somewhat steep in spots.  The fun will be trying to make it to places that the Nissan wouldn't tread (creek on the side line).  After riding for almost 4 hours straight last weekend, I will comment that the seats are very comfortable.  We have the high back cloth seats and they offer great support both laterally as well as in the seat cushion.  I'm guessing they would be pretty decent for a long trip (dang, I skipped on the cruise control).  We're planning a beach trip in the next month or so, so we'll see how a 6 hour trip goes.  We still love our Jeep and feel it's a great vehicle.  It's much more refined that I thought it might be (but still archaic compared to the Toyo product in the garage), and keeps a big smile on our face everywhere we go.

3/31/01 - 230 miles - installed the side bars, dropped the top, and went cruising.  I found two tiny paint flaws in the doors.  Something under the paint or a pit in the door panels prior to painting.  I'll point it out to the dealer, but won't have them do anything about it unless it gets worse.  I was able to get the top down and all the windows safely stowed in 12 min.  With the air pressure dropped to 32psi, the Jeep handles differently.  The steering is less twitchy and there is a lot move give when turning.  I drove on mostly rolling hills through the countryside with an occasional run down a gravel road.  The engine is starting to free up a bit more, and has plenty of power.  The catch coming out of 5th gear seems to be getting better, but is still noticeable.  As far as the sound system, it is capable of playing at pretty loud volume, even with the top off.  Running at speeds up to 65mph, I could hear plenty of sound around me.  The tone of the system could use a little work..., the factory sub is a bit boomy which can be corrected by throttling back the bass control on the head unit.  The other speakers don't have a really clean sound, but I'm picky about this kind of stuff.  Everything sounds fine for a stock system, but I will probably swap the stock speakers out for something a bit better in my quest for better sound.

3/27/01 - finally checked air pressure and it was 39lbs/psi in each tire.  I dropped it to 32psi and will check the flatness of the tires footprint sometime this weekend.

3/25/01 - 175 miles - just a short trip today.  It was only in the 50's and we still had the top down.  Even with the heater going full bore, it was chilly.  The only thing I'm going to cover in this installment is the putting up the soft top.  It took me 25 min yesterday to get the soft top off.  Remember this was the first time I had done it and I was re-reading the instructions between each step.  I was also taking time to see how each of the fasteners and top components worked.  This time also included stowing the windows in the storage bag.  Today, it probably took me about the same time to put the soft top up.  I will say that while the top is complex, it looks like it would be very weatherproof for having a grand total of 6 separate components (top, 2 half doors, 2 rear side windows, and the rear window).  Having been through the top down and top up mechanics once, I think I can safely get the top down or up in 10 to 15 minutes, maybe less if it's raining...

3/24/01 - 154 miles - My first driving impression was coming home in rush hour traffic about 40 miles total.  The first 20 miles were stop and go and the remainder was rural roads.  I removed the upper soft doors for the drive home and elected to not take down the soft top until I had time to do it properly.  The rest of the weekend was running errands and just driving/riding to nowhere special.  Overall I'm very impressed with our Jeep.  It's not as loud, as bumpy, as uncomfortable, or as unrefined as I was prepared to deal with.  It is definitely more fun to drive than I had even hoped for.  My wife and I both had a blast cruising around today.

Engine/Power - still tight.  Keeping the revs down and varied as we put break-in mileage on it.  We have noticed that if you're pulling anything less than 2000 rpms in 5th gear, many hills require a downshift.  My guess is that this may get a bit better as the engine breaks in, but the non-existent aerodynamics cripple this thing at anything over 50 mph.  I am a big fan of the 6cyl for this reason.  I found it difficult to maintain a steady speed  when driving rolling hills unless I was willing to dip DEEP in the throttle.  None of this is a complaint, just observations.  I may regret not getting cruise control, think I will learn to drive it as it desires.  I'll just get into the gas a bit more.

Ride - Big praise here...  I was prepared to get bounced around a good bit, but the suspension does a great job of dealing with rough pavement as well as deep ruts and potholes.  I expected solid axles to handle in a bit more twitchy fashion, but so far, they have handled everything with grace.

Tranny - Clutch is easy to engage with a lot of travel.  Take up is smooth and predictable.  We were both surprised at how easy it is to drive.  The gearbox feels pretty tight, but I noticed a "catch" coming out of 5th gear on the ride home yesterday.  It seems to be getting better and I'll keep an eye on it to see if it goes away in the next week.

Noise - better than expected.  I rode on the interstate without the door tops and got blown around a bit, but the new soft top is pretty quiet relative to other Jeeps I've been in.  With the top down, you need to crank up the stereo to hear it, but it's no more windy than other convertibles I've been in.

Fit-n-finish - average, but it's what I expected.  Looking down the side of the vehicle, the seams are clearly visible as wavy lines in the bodywork.  Paint quality is OK, with some pooling of paint in the torx heads.  The groove and seam at the rear corner doesn't have a good coat of paint on it.  I'll probably touch this up myself.  The only unacceptable FnF item is our drivers side soft top upper door is very poorly stitched around the zipper.

Stereo - We got the factory sub and the CD radio.  Sound is pretty good with the top on, and the unit has enough juice to play at listenable levels with the top removed.  I plan to upgrade the stock speakers to Boston Acoustics FX line.

Overall - this thing is a BLAST to drive and ride in.  It turns on a dime, offers a commanding view of the road, and offers the ability to pull off the beaten path at any time.

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