How much to scratch an itch...

[TheHaitian]

Since I was in High school I wanted a Jeep Wrangler. 2 of my
Classmates had one.

I wanted the one with the soft top and doors that in the summer I can remove (but will do with a hard top/door). So when we were looking to replace my last car my wife told me to go for it, I did not feel it was a reasonable family car ; also I prefer the 2 doors to the 4 doors.

Anyway long story short, I have been needing a “weekend” car; been making due with public transportation or Uber. But my wife is currently job hunting and applying to locations in VA/MD where she will need a car.

So here is my crazy hair brained idea :

I have been obsessively looking at 1990-1995 Jeep wranglers that are currently on the market, friend with a good mechanic that I have been sending what I found online and he has been sending me some and he is perfectly ok to go look at the car and test drive it for me.

So I figure instead of another new car for my wife or I, to spend 3k-5k on a 1990-1995 (prefer the 94-95) Jeep Wrangler. I have seen some as low as 2.5k and as high as 15k. Goal is to stick around ~3k; no
More than 5k. Willing to go as far as Virginia Beach (the further into Virginia we look like manassas/Frederiskburg the cheaper similar cars are compared to towns closer to the DMV like Alexandria or
Other side in MD).

I can buy it cash, it takes care of my itch or dream of owning a Jeep Wrangler... push down the need for another new car ~3-5 years down
The road I figure. Also have a good reliable mechanic to
Work on it if need be.

It will be my car (stick shift/manual) and cheaper than another Mini Cooper or brand new Jeep. My wife is not too crazy about it and mostly because we are talking about cars that are about ~20 years old with 150,000-200,000 miles on them. They both feel it would be better and safer to buy a brand new car and drive it to the ground.

But I don’t want to spend ~30k on an itch only to end up hating it. Itch is back stronger because a friend just bought a 4 door one and spent a small sum hooking it up (tires, lights, the works).

[Deleted]

Be prepared to spend a lot of money keeping that 95 Jeep going.  I don't know anyone with one that isn't a money suck.   

[thyme4change]

My husband had the same itch. He didn't go as old as you are talking about, but he did buy a used one. He was super happy. The kids HATED it. He bit the bullet and traded it in for an SUV. 10 years later, we now need a third car. I told my husband to go buy another jeep. I think it is kinda silly because in the 8 years we owned the jeep we took it off-road precisely 0.00 times. As a ride-about-town car, it kinda sucks. Bumpy, loud and windy. But, hey, if my husband is happy, I don't care.

So, you only live once - you seem to have a plan - go for it. Buy the Jeep. Enjoy it - even if it is just to bump around town.

[busymom]

Sorry, but DH says Jeeps in general are a POS.  Be prepared to have it spend a lot of time in the repair shop.  We see a lot of Jeeps down here, often broken down by the side of the road.  

[kadee79]

I had either a '94 or '95 Jeep Grand Cherokee...it was a great car.  I drove it to Ca. & back to Ga. twice, it went to Ill. & back to Ga. either 2 or 3 times and I finally traded it in when the transmission started to slip.  It could haul a lot too.  It was used back/forth to work about 35mi. each way for a couple of years too.  Other than regular oil changes, I think I had to have some brake work done once.   But that thing was a good vehicle...I hated trading it but wasn't going to take a chance with the tranny going & so many miles on it.

[msventoux]

I had a ‘95 Grand Cherokee that I drove into the ground. I never spent huge sums of money on it, but suspected I would so upgraded to a newer vehicle. It sat in my yard for some years after. I gave it to someone and they continue to use it without issue as a primarily off-road vehicle.

I’ve heard the quality of Jeep took a nosedive once Fiat bought Chrysler/Jeep but I don’t know if that’s true. I know a lot of Jeep owners and a lot of the older Jeeps do have frequent breakdowns, but that’s because the people I know are off-roading them hard until something breaks.

I’m not the best to weigh in on Jeeps. I desperately want a Gladiator and almost have myself convinced to buy one. If I do I will have to leave YM for good. 😬

[Tiny]

I'm kinda of the opinion that you should go for it... just have a back up plan.

A couple of things to consider:
1.) if owning the Jeep turns out to NOT be as great as your daydream Jeep... how will you spin that to yourself? Awesome once in a lifetime adventure or serious let down that sours your future?
2.) if keeping the Jeep running turns out to be expensive and/or time consuming... how will you spin that to yourself? Awesome once in a lifetime adventure or serious let down that sours your future?
3.) What if the Jeep turns out to be the best thing ever(makes you feel great!) BUT it's a millstone (dripping oil on your driveway, constantly throwing money at it, in the "shop" more than you drive it? Just plain impractical.) Will you have a cut your loses/end time or set of circumstances or $ spent when you find the Jeep a new owner? But keep your wonderful memories?

Basically, buy the Jeep but know your "enough is enough" number (for expenses/time not able to drive it) and have a plan for what you'll do when that time comes.

The thing about daydream "wants" - is they often don't play out as awesome as they do in your head.     Some daydream/fantasies/I always wanted things are best kept that way - as daydreams/fantasies/I always wanted things.   These things can be a source of comfort no one can take away and they can stay with you till the very end. (ie a source of hope or idealism or even optimism)    

Just as an aside - can you work with your mechanic friend on the car? and get some knowledge/skill and feel good from working on it?


ADDED much later:  I think everyone has some Favorite Mistakes in their past. 

[Deleted]

My DIL had a jeep.  She posted once  with all the details of her love affair with that car.  I think she loved that jeep more than her mother, her husband, and however many kids she had at the time combined.  

However, as another poster has said, it was a money suck.

She hates that she is stuck driving a Mommy van these days.

[phil5185]

As several others said - you will be spending a lot of time & money on repairs.

Fiat & Chrysler (the manufacturer) do not have reputations for quality and engineering - Jeep is  still riding on their WW2 reputation of dependability.

If you do get one, get one that is newer than 1991, that is when they switched from carburetors to fuel injection.  (You definitely do not want to overhaul/tune  >25 year-old  carbs).

Edit:

In the Army, in the 1950s, me and another guy were assigned to the motor pool to move the jeeps 30 feet forward (to lube the axles, etc). We started at the front row, started each jeep, drove it 30 feet, and shut it off. Then we went to row 2, moved them all 30 feet.  We did that for hours, probably several 100 jeeps. A couple times during the day when no one was around, we would each take a jeep and go hill climbing - if the hill is too steep, they starve for fuel and quit.

[tskeeter]

Sept 30, 2019 20:12:17 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

Since I was in High school I wanted a Jeep Wrangler. 2 of my
Classmates had one.

I wanted the one with the soft top and doors that in the summer I can remove (but will do with a hard top/door). So when we were looking to replace my last car my wife told me to go for it, I did not feel it was a reasonable family car ; also I prefer the 2 doors to the 4 doors.

Anyway long story short, I have been needing a “weekend” car; been making due with public transportation or Uber. But my wife is currently job hunting and applying to locations in VA/MD where she will need a car.

So here is my crazy hair brained idea :

I have been obsessively looking at 1990-1995 Jeep wranglers that are currently on the market, friend with a good mechanic that I have been sending what I found online and he has been sending me some and he is perfectly ok to go look at the car and test drive it for me.

So I figure instead of another new car for my wife or I, to spend 3k-5k on a 1990-1995 (prefer the 94-95) Jeep Wrangler. I have seen some as low as 2.5k and as high as 15k. Goal is to stick around ~3k; no
More than 5k. Willing to go as far as Virginia Beach (the further into Virginia we look like manassas/Frederiskburg the cheaper similar cars are compared to towns closer to the DMV like Alexandria or
Other side in MD).

I can buy it cash, it takes care of my itch or dream of owning a Jeep Wrangler... push down the need for another new car ~3-5 years down
The road I figure. Also have a good reliable mechanic to
Work on it if need be.

It will be my car (stick shift/manual) and cheaper than another Mini Cooper or brand new Jeep. My wife is not too crazy about it and mostly because we are talking about cars that are about ~20 years old with 150,000-200,000 miles on them. They both feel it would be better and safer to buy a brand new car and drive it to the ground.

But I don’t want to spend ~30k on an itch only to end up hating it. Itch is back stronger because a friend just bought a 4 door one and spent a small sum hooking it up (tires, lights, the works).

Carl, if you want to actually drive the car you buy, stay the heck away from a Jeep.  

The vintage Jeep you are talking about will obviously be high mileage.  And probably used hard and abused during it’s life.

I bought a new Wrangler in 2007, drove it only on the road, babied and pampered it (it was probably the only Jeep within 500 miles that actually got waxed).  Drove it to 140K miles.  The last couple of years, I probably put close to $10K worth of repairs into my $9,000 car.  Catalytic converters, burned valves, wheel bearing and axle assembly, emissions control system repairs, ball joints, shocks, sway bar bushings and control links, track bar, crankshaft seal, and more.  To that add the routine maintenance, such as servicing the front and rear differentials every 15K miles, the transmission and transfer case every 30K miles, etc.   if you do the maintenance yourself, it’s time consuming.  If you pay for maintenance, it’s time consuming and expensive. 

Only one hobby is more expensive than owning a Jeep.  A wife.

Better you should get yourself a Toyota or Honda if you want something to drive.

[justme]

NO! Jeep Wranglers are hobby vehicles. Unless you can repair pretty much everything on a Jeep yourself do not get one.


My dad CAN do any repair on a vehicle and he cursed my brother every time he brought his jeep over for work. Seriously we'd hear him bitching before and after and while under the jeep you'd hear him several times say I don't know why anyone would buy this stupid piece of shit made be engineers with shit for brains.

[mroped]

Jeep/Dodge have actually decent engines and transmission. Everything else, is junk!
Steering pumps that can’t keep up, direction that plays however it wants to the extent that you look like drivers in the movies- left/right moving the steering wheel so you can keep it straight- fuel pumps that quit when least expected and to top it off, the suspension sucks! Bumpy rides on flat roads!
Fuel consumption is awful-17/18 mpg on a 318 ci. Unless Ofcourse you go for a 4 cylinder and then you just chug along on the highway at 65 but no faster.
But they do look good!😀

[flamingo]

My DH is a Jeep Wrangler guy. I hate them, as I think they aren't a comfortable vehicle for a passenger, but whatever. I'm a firm believer in "you only live once" so since you can afford, you should get one. My DH doesn't currently have one, but I swear everyday he bemoans that fact. I know when his current car dies he's going to go back to a Wrangler.

All that said, I'm not sure I'd go for a 20+ year old one. I get why you don't want to put $30k down on a brand new one (and damn, when did they get so expensive). Have you ever actually driven one before? Can you rent one for a week or two and see how you feel about it? If you really like after having driven it around and using it for all the family things you use a car for, I'd consider getting one less than 10 years old (or even brand new). After about 7 years with each of my DH's Jeeps, he started having some pricey problems with them. One was completely rusted out! Now, we lived in MI (so lots of salt on the roads in the winter) and FL (so, salty air) which may have caused some of those issues (I know nothing about cars, this is pure speculation). Anyway, I just don't see owning a 20+ year old Jeep going well for you. 

[happyhoix]

I had an office mate who thought a soft top Jeep Wrangler would make a great 'man bait' car (she really, really wanted a husband). She fitted out the car the way she thought a man would want it. I drove with her a few times and found it awkward to get into, tons of road noise, and very windy. Also, she originally got it without a lock box and almost immediately had someone steal her gym clothes out of the back while parked at the mall - she got a lock box that gave her just enough space to lock up her purse and maybe one shopping bag of groceries, so keep in mind, with a soft top, you'll probably not be able to do a lot of shopping/errands that require you to have stuff in the back as you make your various stops around town.

On the other hand, I had the pretty simple minded dream of owning a car with a sunroof, so I'm not really in the position of warning other people not to buy something they really want. If you have a family car that can run errands, etc., and if the wrangler will be primarily your car, and you're ok with potentially having to do a lot of mechanical upkeep, I say go for it. Life is too short to always be driving plain sedans.

[swamp]

I had a Jeep Cherokee when the were really Jeeps.  It drove like a refrigerator box, had lots of road noise, and the oversized tires sucked gas.   I never got stuck in the snow, though. 

[tractor]

Check the frame first! Around here in the north country the for sale ads are littered with the same vintage wrangler with rusted out frames, they have several weak spots and will fold like an accordion if you get in an accident.

[MN-Investor]

Newer cars offer much better protection for the people riding in the cars. You may be the best driver on the road, but if some idiot hits into you, your only protection is what the car provides. I would never risk my health, or the health of my loved ones, on a car of that vintage.

[dannylion]

Oct 1, 2019 8:08:14 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

I had an office mate who thought a soft top Jeep Wrangler would make a great 'man bait' car (she really, really wanted a husband). She fitted out the car the way she thought a man would want it. I drove with her a few times and found it awkward to get into, tons of road noise, and very windy. Also, she originally got it without a lock box and almost immediately had someone steal her gym clothes out of the back while parked at the mall - she got a lock box that gave her just enough space to lock up her purse and maybe one shopping bag of groceries, so keep in mind, with a soft top, you'll probably not be able to do a lot of shopping/errands that require you to have stuff in the back as you make your various stops around town.

On the other hand, I had the pretty simple minded dream of owning a car with a sunroof, so I'm not really in the position of warning other people not to buy something they really want. If you have a family car that can run errands, etc., and if the wrangler will be primarily your car, and you're ok with potentially having to do a lot of mechanical upkeep, I say go for it. Life is too short to always be driving plain sedans.

My friend has a new Wrangler.  My bad knees make it impossible for me to get in or out of it without risking life and limb (it's very high off the ground), so whenever we go somewhere, I drive or meet her there.  It's a fun car, and she loves it.  It's new (just a year or so old), so there haven't been any maintenance issues so far.  

[thyme4change]

Oct 1, 2019 8:08:14 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

I had an office mate who thought a soft top Jeep Wrangler would make a great 'man bait' car (she really, really wanted a husband). She fitted out the car the way she thought a man would want it. I drove with her a few times and found it awkward to get into, tons of road noise, and very windy. Also, she originally got it without a lock box and almost immediately had someone steal her gym clothes out of the back while parked at the mall - she got a lock box that gave her just enough space to lock up her purse and maybe one shopping bag of groceries, so keep in mind, with a soft top, you'll probably not be able to do a lot of shopping/errands that require you to have stuff in the back as you make your various stops around town.

On the other hand, I had the pretty simple minded dream of owning a car with a sunroof, so I'm not really in the position of warning other people not to buy something they really want. If you have a family car that can run errands, etc., and if the wrangler will be primarily your car, and you're ok with potentially having to do a lot of mechanical upkeep, I say go for it. Life is too short to always be driving plain sedans.

Did the bait work? Did she get a man?

[souldoubt]

I mentioned in other threads that my manual sedan transmission started to go a little over two years ago and I ended up getting a family friendly automatic.  I find no joy in driving an automatic and want to eventually get a cheaper manual I can drive to work sometimes and on weekends.  That said for me that would be in addition to my dependable family friendly automatic not as a replacement.  Carl like you I'd love a jeep or something similar that I can take the top down during summer and cruise around.  From the brief discussions I've had with some car people like other posters said be prepared to spend money on one that old that you want to keep running.  If this is strictly a fun/hobby/for me purchase go for it but if you're counting on it at all to be a dependable driver I don't think it's the best choice.  

[tskeeter]

Oct 1, 2019 13:25:30 GMT -5 souldoubt said:

I mentioned in other threads that my manual sedan transmission started to go a little over two years ago and I ended up getting a family friendly automatic.  I find no joy in driving an automatic and want to eventually get a cheaper manual I can drive to work sometimes and on weekends.  That said for me that would be in addition to my dependable family friendly automatic not as a replacement.  Carl like you I'd love a jeep or something similar that I can take the top down during summer and cruise around.  From the brief discussions I've had with some car people like other posters said be prepared to spend money on one that old that you want to keep running.  If this is strictly a fun/hobby/for me purchase go for it but if you're counting on it at all to be a dependable driver I don't think it's the best choice.  

I too, enjoy driving a manual transmission.

Except in LA’s traffic.  

But, I find it difficult to downshift, turn the corner, and drink coffee at the same time.

So I drive an automatic.

[souldoubt]

Oct 1, 2019 23:00:10 GMT -5 tskeeter said:

Oct 1, 2019 13:25:30 GMT -5 souldoubt said:

I mentioned in other threads that my manual sedan transmission started to go a little over two years ago and I ended up getting a family friendly automatic.  I find no joy in driving an automatic and want to eventually get a cheaper manual I can drive to work sometimes and on weekends.  That said for me that would be in addition to my dependable family friendly automatic not as a replacement.  Carl like you I'd love a jeep or something similar that I can take the top down during summer and cruise around.  From the brief discussions I've had with some car people like other posters said be prepared to spend money on one that old that you want to keep running.  If this is strictly a fun/hobby/for me purchase go for it but if you're counting on it at all to be a dependable driver I don't think it's the best choice.  

I too, enjoy driving a manual transmission.

Except in LA’s traffic.  

But, I find it difficult to downshift, turn the corner, and drink coffee at the same time.

So I drive an automatic.

I live in the greater Los Angeles area and drove a manual for over 12 years.  I never once minded driving in traffic as I find it more enjoyable and engaging.  To your point 99% of the time I'm driving and there's someone going slow, swerving or very clearly not giving their full attention to driving you can tell they're either eating, drinking, texting, on a phone call, doing their make up, etc.  If everyone drove manual we'd probably have fewer distraction related accidents.