My first Jeep was also my first car at 16. It was a 1997 TJ with 180,000 miles that was a bare bones as possible. The original owner still had the window sticker, and the only two options were a rear seat and power steering. It had the 4 cylinder with the 5 speed, a soft top, and half doors...
I'd skip the Mopar soft top bag. I bought the BJD Customs bag which is perfect for the two door. I leave it attached to the front seats, but you can also mount it on the wall.
With the death of ICE and by extension manual transmissions looming, I plan to keep mine forever. Plus it has my name on the window sticker! It's basically a family member at this point.
Congrats on making the right choice ;). Saw that the one you bought has the painted fenders. I'd highly recommend looking into Rok Blokz or similar to protect those rear fenders. The rubi tires pick up every little rock and fling them backward. I have a bunch of scrapes and scratches on mine...
I feel like that would take more time and effort than just cutting it out. Took me less than 5 minutes to cut out the sub opening and the tie down points on mine.
The last manual I daily drove was my 97 TJ, and the JL is in a whole different league than that. I don't find it to be a handful at all, but I'm also not comparing it to a WRX.
With the rear seat installed and occupied you will not have room to store the rear and side windows behind seat. I've been looking to purchase one of these which would let you store the main windows in a bag hanging off the front seats. Depending on how small your kids are that might work...
Adding on to the other MPG discussions here, I've averaged just over 15 MPG in the first 1500 miles on my 21 JLR. Mostly city driving to and from work with plenty of stop signs and lights. Cruising on state highways at 55-60 I can get ~20, but I don't do that enough to make a meaningful...
This is my first vehicle with heated seats or a steering wheel, and in the 3 weeks I've owned it they are probably my favorite feature. I'll never go back.