To Jeep, or Not to Jeep, That is the Question

opinion

MeIt’s the first week of May 2022 and I was thinking about my car, specifically how long it will last. My hope was until 2024. It was the second week of May. Thanks Road Salt of Massachusetts for rusting my undercarriage. My belief that rain replaces car washes may have played a small role as well.

I was sad, but I couldn’t complain. The car has run healthy for over 14 years. Right now my wife and I have zero cars and two kids going to her two different schools.

I had to go car shopping.

Spring 2022 was, well, not the time to buy anything. Sounds good. “It all went well. Less than a week later, I decided to rescue his 2019 Honda CR-V.

The only downside? It wasn’t a jeep.

not a jeep.

Again, I don’t own a Jeep.

I’m 55 and I’m wondering what happened because everyone else seems to have one. Play your new favorite game whenever you drive or walk. No, it’s another Jeep. ” Next block, repeat. They’re like graffiti dogs on cars. And I could have been a part of it all, but when it came time to make a decision, instead of giving my kids a chance to be thrown in the back seat on the way to getting the flu, I was determined to be safe and trustworthy. A sexual (yawning) shot.

If you’re scoring at home, that’s your primary job as a parent.

It’s not that I’ve never ridden in a jeep. Last time I bought a car, I was single and could explore my options. One day I’m test driving his 2007 Liberty cruising down Soldiers Field Road. It didn’t take long for Watertown to learn that if it was ever in danger, it could jump over the median and drive through the Charles River. (It never occurred to me.) But even though I had never driven a Jeep, I got in the vehicle. wow, it really drives like a jeepfollowed by other words such as solid, boxy, When Non-slip.

I was not sold and decided to forge my own path. I went out on a limb and got a RAV4, but in black, to set myself apart. Fast forward to May 2022 and I had no idea it was a Jeep.

What was I not thinking?

In fact, the Jeep has always been something. In the late 1970s and early 80s, when I was at a friend’s house and his dad brought home a car with a great name: Cherokee, Wrangler, Renegade, I thought: rice field. It’s a really, really cool look2. no place to live in the suburbsAnd both were true for the same reason. The thing was tall and square with snaps and roll bars. should it roll? at the mall?

Jeep owners love to drive their Jeep, but let’s be honest, that’s not always the case. “Is it smooth? Not so much.” “Take it on the highway? I prefer to hear things.

Is this important? Effect No.

Owning a Jeep means removing the doors and roof and lowering the windshield. Climbing rocks and carrying trees. It’s about liberating Europe in World War II.

Anyone with a Jeep have any of the above in their pocketbook? And that’s not the point.You are can But really, I just make a few statements when I’m riding high. I may not be in the woods in this Jeep Cherokee, but Wenham, Mansfield, Concord, When Carlisle if you want. Don’t be afraid of the fluffy snow and small piles of leaves on your way to get your latte. Also, I live in a low crime area. Because there are no doors to lock, you never have to worry about your phone charger, which you always keep on the seat in front of you, will be there in the morning.

Forget rationality. “Nobody needs a Jeep,” says Associate Editor Andrew Wendler. forbes wheel A resident of Toledo, Ohio, the city Jeep calls home. No one looks at crash reports or gas prices. No one wonders, “Where are you going to put your groceries and mom when you take her to chemo?” or “What does this look like on her holiday Hi in the temple parking lot?”

People always wanted it, so they got it. Because it’s fun and easy. Professor of History at Auburn University, junk yard, gear headWhen Rust: Saving the Automotive Past.

Jeep is stupid in a good way. They were his 1970s, with cigarette lighters in cars, kids drinking water out of tennis ball cans, and I was his 10-year-old, wearing a bucket hat emblazoned with the Schlitz logo. He’s a 1970s fool.

There are better words than ‘fun’ and ‘simple’. fool. Jeep is stupid. Pure fool. But stupid in the best way. They were his 1970s, with cigarette lighters in cars, kids drinking water out of tennis ball cans, and I was his 10-year-old, wearing a bucket hat emblazoned with the Schlitz logo. He’s a 1970s fool. Just like how skiball and Cleveland Browns fans tried to make fun of Terrell Owens in his 2004 “TO has BO,” the dumbest, most hysterical signs of all time.

But the “oh my god, one more” factor isn’t because of the classic Jeep out there. That’s due to the rise of the Jeep, which looks and drives like every other SUV. Missing practicality is no longer missing. These models have doors with doors, aerodynamics, and the ability to go down ramps at 30+ mph. But they also have another attraction, a tipping point. That’s its four letters and its bad history. No one has an excuse to be a Jeepless.

even me.

Yet, I have continued to do what others say. My last and only impression of the Jeep was based on his 30 minutes at the Liberty. I gave the coriander a more chance. I’ll have to find out for myself, maybe, maybe fall in love, so I go out and drive two of his classics, a Compass and a Cherokee, and two of his Wranglers. I took a test drive.

Compass was a floppy, unimpressive, 20-second “no.” Cherokee has definitely stepped up. I didn’t want to part with my Honda, but I thought I could actually own a Jeep. More than that, I could say, “I’m driving a Jeep.”

But then I realized I would just be a poser. It’s like saying the Dodgers won his 2020 World Series. Yeah, but it’s not. Every time I said it, I had to put air quotes around the Jeep.

i have to be honest. His first two Jeeps were just a warm-up for the Wrangler. The 2 door with soft top was small, noisy and didn’t take me home. The sales person explained that the 4-door has a hard top that can be easily removed along with the doors using a special tool.

To be honest again, I doubt that claim. I got a new cable TV remote. It has a similar promise: “Just point it at the screen and everything will sync.” On the phone he said 45 minutes later a rep gave me his secret five-digit sequence and the Food Network was mine again. Somehow doors and roofs aren’t that complicated? Even so, I’m thinking. Where should I put these heavy-duty steel attachments? Now I have to clean the garage. That means you have to get a dumpster sticker to carry the 14 bags of yard trash that were sitting there from the pick-up in town at the end. Oh, a jeep without a roof would be perfect for that kind of work. Damn, Jeep-22.

And remember your mission. Wrangler. Test drive. Just step in and instantly feel the power and potential. You’ll quickly find that this jeep will be fun to cruise around for about 10 minutes. Then not so much. Even before that revelation, like six minutes ago, her wife’s voice is heard. “Get out of this thing now”. She’s not a wimp. She is persistent and she keeps calling the insurance company until she gets an answer to her question. But she doesn’t like to drive. She doesn’t want to zipline or walk over rope bridges. She doesn’t like roller coasters. She doesn’t even like when I bump into her by accident in bed.

She would rather ride a camel than ride in a small cab that feels every contour.

Jeep has done a great job like Jimmy Buffett in upping the SUV game and maintaining its lifestyle brand for decades.

So my non-dream of getting a Jeep will never come true. We don’t like tires hitting curbs either, but there’s no last-minute off-road. You won’t be attending a super green marvel teacher conference. Most of the time, we don’t get the secret waves that Wrangler drivers apparently give each other. We are all raining together because it seems life affirming. Honestly, I might end up handing the finger gun to JBS (Jeep Brothers and Sisters). Because unity excites me and always adds layers.

Still, why should I and so many others lose out? Jeep has managed to up the game on SUVs and, like Jimmy Buffett, has maintained a lifestyle brand for decades. . But they don’t own the waves. They don’t own friendliness. They certainly don’t own Simpatico.

So Brother and Sister Honda, I’m starting our own wave. It looks like a normal wave and comes in the morning, noon or night. Give it to anyone with a CR-V, Pilot, Accord, Civic, or even an Odyssey. .

As long as I have seat warmers, that’s the world I want to live in.

First published in the January 2023 print edition with the headline “Who Got the Keys to the Jeep?”