(non) off-road shaming - why?

[wibornz]

Hey Ted, regarding the second picture, please refresh my memory... Is that the obstacle that your wife got stuck on and she was strapped up and then my wife drove right up it? I can't recall...

Yes, that was the one. If you remember, I had forgot to take the trailer hitch out of the rear bumper and she was dragging on it and got hung up.

Stupid hitch and stupid husband for not pulling it out.....

One thing for sure, both of our wives can wheel and drive .

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[wibornz]

Like you have a choice !!! ... ROFLMAO

You're right, I don't have a choice. After all she will do that one thing twice.

In all fairness, she drives the majority of the hard obstacles as I end up spotting for the entire group. We were doing the Rubicon trail, and I had just spotted her through a tough section and had to spot the remaining three Jeeps over the obstacle, and I tell her, "Just pull ahead and stop where you don't feel comfortable going any further". As I walk away, I look over my shoulder and she has the drivers rear tire up on a boulder about 4 feet talk and then she immediately drops off a ledge and disappears, I listen to hear if she has rolled the Jeep, no crazy noise, so I say to myself, she must be comfortable. I chuckled for several minutes after that and the memory is making me smile right now.

 

[viper88]

Vehicles are tools for some people and objects of desire for others. Most are somewhere in between.

The number of Wranglers sold and used for hardcore rock crawling is probably a pretty small percentage of total number of Wranglers sold today. I would bet that percentage is fewer than 10%. The overwhelming majority of Wrangler sales are to mall crawlers.

Everyone needs to play nice in the sandbox. JEEP needs both groups for the Wrangler to be successful. The Wrangler would not exist if it were not for both rock or mall crawlers. Not in it's current configuration. Wranglers are selling at record numbers because of them. The profit by those sales secure the future of the Wrangler.

The mall crawlers basically are funding the Wrangler's evolution so the hardcore can climb rocks. For the most part the Wrangler is still a purposely engineered vehicle that is designed to excel at off road and rock crawling. The engineers deliberately made compromised with on-road performance for off-road capability. The Wrangler stayed true to it's off road roots because the demand was there from the crawlers. Mall crawlers get the benefit of buying a product that is unique. Has heritage and is true to it's roots. Something that was inspired by the hard core. Without the rock crawlers the Wrangler would be a Bronco.

There is a difference between criticism and opinion. Insecurities aside why care about a choice someone made. Everyone is writing their own checks so why get bent out of shape about something you did not buy and pay for? That's not to say we can't have opinions. I can't stand economy cars that make 100hp, with huge fart can mufflers and wings as large as a 747. Angry grills anyone?

 

[Billkowski]

While I do take mine(2 door JL) mildly off-road from time to time and plan to do more, I have never had a vehicle I’ve enjoyed more just driving down the street, its quick, nimble, and a convertible…its never just a drive.

 

[viper88]

While I do take mine(2 door JL) mildly off-road from time to time and plan to do more, I have never had a vehicle I’ve enjoyed more just driving down the street, its quick, nimble, and a convertible…its never just a drive.

My other cars are pretty fun sports cars. I usually grab the keys for the Wrangler first.

I LOVE the 2-door. Owned a TJ, JK JLR. About to order another JLR. Perfect size for City and daily driving. No worries about pot holes, dings, lot less anxiety than drivng a low sports car. Also perfect for getting me to my remote fishing spots. I have plans to hit the 4-Corners area, National Parks, and do some novice trails.

 

[RoadiJeff]

I'm not going to read all 18 pages of this thread but my wife's 2020 Recon in my profile pic has never been driven off-road in the 1.5 years she's owned it and most likely never will. She bought it because she liked the styling and color and it's her dd. She makes the $525/mo payments on it and if someone doesn't like how she uses it I'm sure she would be happy to let them take over the payments and she would drive it however they say.

 

[conFUcius]

Holy crap this thread went sideways!! From strong opinions to outright trolling and calling out owners who choose to street drive their Wranglers. The name calling and cyberbullying along with condescending comments I think we can all do without. I hope this is not going to be a trend here.

I assumed we are all grown men and women here. There is no need for this nonsense.

I’m sorry, you’ve offended me, I identify as a panda.

#diversityandinclusion

 

[jjvincent]

What people should happy with is, people keep buying Jeeps and thus Jeep keeps developing and making newer ones. It's better than having a vehicle that people rarely buy and they discontinue it. Thus you are stuck because the aftermarket industry dries up and you now have a unicorn. Trust me I know. I own a Eurovan and an Alltrack. Bother rarely sold and both are discontinued. Most of the Eurovan parts are NLA. No fun. I suspect my Alltrack will see the same fate in 10 years.

When I bought my Jeep, I told people, I only bought it to tow behind my RV. Trust me, some people did not like that. Honestly, it was the perfect vehicle for that. Luckily for me, I was able to take it out west and do a few days of off roading in Moab. So, now I don't have to take the heat of not off roading it. Thank goodness I took some pics because in this day of age, unless you take a pic, it never happened.

 

[jlang]

While I do take mine(2 door JL) mildly off-road from time to time and plan to do more, I have never had a vehicle I’ve enjoyed more just driving down the street, its quick, nimble, and a convertible…its never just a drive.

I miss my 2 door

 

[Yogi]

You're right, I don't have a choice. After all she will do that one thing twice.

In all fairness, she drives the majority of the hard obstacles as I end up spotting for the entire group. We were doing the Rubicon trail, and I had just spotted her through a tough section and had to spot the remaining three Jeeps over the obstacle, and I tell her, "Just pull ahead and stop where you don't feel comfortable going any further". As I walk away, I look over my shoulder and she has the drivers rear tire up on a boulder about 4 feet talk and then she immediately drops off a ledge and disappears, I listen to hear if she has rolled the Jeep, no crazy noise, so I say to myself, she must be comfortable. I chuckled for several minutes after that and the memory is making me smile right now.

Hey, isn't that what Jeeps are really for ... making memories
TBH as I am reading that I am thinking "She made Ted walk 2 miles to catch up to her !!!" ... LOL

 

[mgroeger]

Yes, that was the one. If you remember, I had forgot to take the trailer hitch out of the rear bumper and she was dragging on it and got hung up.

Stupid hitch and stupid husband for not pulling it out.....

One thing for sure, both of our wives can wheel and drive .

Oh remember I just didn't want to pass up the chance to bust your balls... lol. And yes, our women can wheel fo sho!!!!!!!

 

[Killed by Death]

 

[DarceyJean]

I have already accepted the fact that I will be shamed for choosing a Sahara over a Rubicon as my first Wrangler and will be told I dont have a "real" Jeep. Whatever. owever, where I live, I will never have the opportunity to truly use the features of a Wrangler. There are no trails near me that are Badge eligible, in fact the trails that would be around here

 

[Killed by Death]

I have already accepted the fact that I will be shamed for choosing a Sahara over a Rubicon as my first Wrangler and will be told I dont have a "real" Jeep. Whatever. owever, where I live, I will never have the opportunity to truly use the features of a Wrangler. There are no trails near me that are Badge eligible, in fact the trails that would be around here

Not really, my first Wrangler was a Sahara and I didn't receive any grief! I never planned to do any hardcore badge rated trails and still don't. Your Sahara will do just fine on beginner to intermediate trails as is. Sounds like you picked the perfect model for you. Enjoy!!!

 

[Sparty]

I have already accepted the fact that I will be shamed for choosing a Sahara over a Rubicon as my first Wrangler and will be told I dont have a "real" Jeep. Whatever. owever, where I live, I will never have the opportunity to truly use the features of a Wrangler. There are no trails near me that are Badge eligible, in fact the trails that would be around here

I absolutely disagree unless you're being sarcastic.

A "Rubicon" doesn't mean it's the only "real Jeep". Your choice is perfectly fine. I think the point that you start getting comments is when you want to accomplish specific trails/obstacles that the Rubicon would handle easier....and I usually reserve those to rock crawling situations. A stock Jeep has incredible capabilities and the Sahara just provides more creature-comforts. From your description of plans, I'd say the Sahara is perfect.

I specifically went Rubicon as the TJ Sport I had (including aftermarket lockers, winch, lift, etc)was still missing the 4:1 transfer case which is essential when you're wheeling a manual over rocks.
For me, I honed my skills on a stock TJ sport, and then added when my offroading tastes/desires changed and evolved.


When I purchased the JL, I made the decision to get everything in a package instead of adding it on later.

You're good - there should be no comments along the lines you're referring to

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