I was not a Jeep fan.

It has been a year since I bought my 2001 Jeep Wrangler Sport. I figured I would wait a while before I wrote my review so I had a good feel for the car. The car I had before this was a Dodge Intrepid and I swore I would never get another Chrysler after the experiences I had with it. After much consideration and persuasion from several people I succumbed to the idea and made the decision to buy my Jeep. I knew what I wanted and was able to find a used one that was 3 months old with 5000 miles on it.

In the past 12 months I have put 22,000 miles on this car and have fallen in love with it. To give you a reference to my life style, I have a wife and 4 children. The other car we own is a Ford Expedition, Eddie Bauer that is fully loaded (including the entertainment system). Most of the cars I have owned prior to this have been fully loaded so I was used to some level of luxury. I drive 35 miles to work one way in the Chicago area (spend a lot of time in my car). The day I drove my Jeep home from the dealer I remember calling my wife on the cell phone and say WOW! It has pretty much been that way from day one.

The day I brought it home all of my kids came out to take a look. My oldest (14) looked at it and wanted to know why I bought such an old car. When I told him it was new, he looked at me strangely and pointed to the window crank asking what it was for. This was the first time he had seen a car with crank style windows. I had thought to myself that going from cars with all of the bells and whistles to a Wrangler would take a little getting used to it. In reality it did not. In fact not having all of the bells and whistles is what makes it a Wrangler.

I figured as time wore on the fun part of the Jeep would wear off and it may loose some of its appeal. It has been completely the opposite. I actually look forward to driving my car. That is not something I felt since I was a teenager driving my 72 Nova with the chrome engine and big tires. When we went on vacation last month I think I actually missed my Jeep more then our dog.

Now that you know how I feel about my Jeep let me tell you more about it. In the past year the only time it has been in for service is for general maintenance or for a safety recall (there has been 3). I have had no problems what so ever with it. (This has actually started to affect my thinking about Chrysler. My Intrepid could not go 6 months without a problem.). I have added a few accessories (tube steps, rear light guards, fog lights) to make my Jeep just a little different from every other Jeep on the road. One of the great things about a Jeep is there are thousands of things you can add to them and most of them are not that expensive or difficult to install.

Now that I have built it up let me tell you a couple of things I don’t like. There is very little (if none) storage room in the car. If you are going out shopping and maybe visiting several stores, there is no secure place to put things. I do have a storage trunk (a Jeep accessory that fits behind the back seat), but eve with this you can only fit one or two bags. Chrysler could also improve the positioning of the sound bar speakers to be more directional (aimed towards the front more) so that the radio is easier to hear when driving with the top down. Having a wife and 4 kids but only have seats for 4 people has also been a problem but I knew this when I bought it ( and I am not sure I would ask them to change that).

In the past year my thinking has gone from deciding to purchase a Jeep to now knowing I will probably own a Jeep for many, many years. This is the first car that we have owned that both my wife and I will go for a drive just to go for a drive. I have become a Jeep person and I do now under stand the slogan “It’s a Jeep thing”. If you are looking for a fun car that you can treat like a fun car (you don’t have to baby a Jeep) you will love it.