Doing the unthinkable...

[Hawaiian Style]

Yesterday was a sad day for me. I had to do what I never thought I'd ever do, I leased a Honda Civic. My neighbors were in obvious shock when the little blue Civic entered my driveway and I claimed it as ours not a rental or loaner. Even I sit in disbelief as I see the shiny new little gas saver parked in front of the ZJ and the YJ. (XJ is on assignment in Charlottesville, Virginia)

Why did I do what I swore I'd never do? Well, the wife wanted a reliable set of wheels and the ZJ had given her a little trouble in the last 6 months with a dead water pump and now a dirty IAC. Because I'm gone a good part of the month for work now and can't be there to fix it for her, I needed a reliable set of wheels she could count on to get her to work. We looked at the Liberty but between the IFS and the super crappy service and impending nightmare of dealing with Caruso Jeep here in Jacksonville, FL we started to look elsewhere. I just couldn't see forking out the big bucks for a 2004 WJ even though we were planning on buying a new 2005 until I found out about the IFS. Call me out-dated and simpleminded but old school = reliable and tough.

Then it occured to me, why would I purchase a nice riding but wimpy new Jeep when I could just get a little wimpy nice riding IFS car AND save hundreds of dollars worth of gas? I did the math and it made sense to save thousands of dollars. I guess my whole point is that while DC Jeep may think it's a great idea to make Jeeps more like cars I don't. I'd have spent the $$ to grab the new GC but then why not just buy a Honda and get the same thing? If they redeem themselves and build the Rescue then I'd be willing to buy one. If they keep building them to be more like cars I guess I'll just save myself some money and buy a car instead.

Sorry for the rant but do they get it yet???

DC Jeep Marketing department = :dunce:

 

[red91]

thats ok. When you want to sell the little civic your retail value will be MUCH high than a liberty could ever hope to be. AND its your wifes not YOURS. Thats not sad thats economics.

That honda, BTW , will outlast the Liberty by about 200,000K.
At least you have a tried and true drivetrain, not a new, wonder how this will pan out, 3.7L Trail berated POS.

 

[Hawaiian Style]

True, but added bonus is:

I GET THE ZJ. :firedevil
:roflmao:

 

[JeepFreak21]

Yesterday was a sad day for me. I had to do what I never thought I'd ever do, I leased a Honda Civic. My neighbors were in obvious shock when the little blue Civic entered my driveway and I claimed it as ours not a rental or loaner. Even I sit in disbelief as I see the shiny new little gas saver parked in front of the ZJ and the YJ. (XJ is on assignment in Charlottesville, Virginia)

Why did I do what I swore I'd never do? Well, the wife wanted a reliable set of wheels and the ZJ had given her a little trouble in the last 6 months with a dead water pump and now a dirty IAC. Because I'm gone a good part of the month for work now and can't be there to fix it for her, I needed a reliable set of wheels she could count on to get her to work. We looked at the Liberty but between the IFS and the super crappy service and impending nightmare of dealing with Caruso Jeep here in Jacksonville, FL we started to look elsewhere. I just couldn't see forking out the big bucks for a 2004 WJ even though we were planning on buying a new 2005 until I found out about the IFS. Call me out-dated and simpleminded but old school = reliable and tough.

Then it occured to me, why would I purchase a nice riding but wimpy new Jeep when I could just get a little wimpy nice riding IFS car AND save hundreds of dollars worth of gas? I did the math and it made sense to save thousands of dollars. I guess my whole point is that while DC Jeep may think it's a great idea to make Jeeps more like cars I don't. I'd have spent the $$ to grab the new GC but then why not just buy a Honda and get the same thing? If they redeem themselves and build the Rescue then I'd be willing to buy one. If they keep building them to be more like cars I guess I'll just save myself some money and buy a car instead.

Sorry for the rant but do they get it yet???

DC Jeep Marketing department = :dunce:

Hey man, where are you located at? There's a nice, green (or blue), lifted XJ around here that has a Hawaiian Style sticker on the back window.
Billy

 

[Hawaiian Style]

Jacksonville, Florida or Charlottesville, Virginia depending on the day...

 

[Starboard M]

A little off topic, but I was in Jacksonvill FL, 2 weeks ago. Thought you would want to know that. :attom:
My grandparents have a civic and compaired to my Jeep, it's a sports car. However, I would never own one. :shhh:
Are you going to put on a wing? I hear they add horse power without fuel loss.

 

[Eagle]

Hawaiian style --

No, it's reasonable to assume that DCX sales and marketing people don't get it. The problem is that the American people don't get it. We have become a nation of wimps. I was reminded of this while driving the '88 XJ out to New London yesterday to see the tall ships. Highway trip, about 60 miles each way. Mind you, my '88 has factory HD springs, but since adding the Wilderness rack on the roof I find the ride just a bit "mushy" and just a bit "tippy." Most people would consider the ride as it is to be uncomfortably firm, or even "harsh," but I'm going to add a leaf to the rear and a larger front sway bar to bring it back to the way it "should" be.

That got me to thinking about transmissions. There are vehicles being sold in this country that are available ONLY with automatic, yet in Europe and South America those same vehicles are either standard tranny only, or the automatic is so prohibitively expensive that maybe one person in 100 buys it. Why is that? Because as a collective people we have become lazy. But that's the market, and DCX isn't interested in building the best vehicles, they're interested in selling as many vehicles as possible.

Are you aware that they have even gone over to IFS in the 1500 series of the full-size Dodge pickups? To get a solid axle under a Dodge now, you have to buy a 2500 or 3500. It's disgusting, but as my Zen teacher used to say, "What is ... is."