Advice for a new Jeeper

[Hobbes62]

Hey Team,

The wife and I are considering jumping head first into a JL. I am working in SoCal for the next couple of weeks and am entertaining the idea of buying it here and then road tripping back to GA with the wife where we live. I want to use this Jeep for trail running and camping. Current rigs are our 2009 extended cab Sierra and 2013 std can 5slug Tacoma.

I know I want the limited slip diff for sure as an option. I am not afraid to wrench (regear, shocks etc). The rubicon’s are outside the budget. I also don’t plant on rock crawling. My question is whether or not I’m leaving too much on the table with the Sport model? Want to keep it around 30k regarding pricing. Is it worth getting the two door instead of the four door and shooting for a sport S? I drove the Sport JLU two days ago and liked it, dealer wanted 36k though which was 6k over the posted internet price. Only complaint was the manual roll down windows.

Side note: Will a Yellow lab fit in the back of the JLU? Or would the rear seats need to come out?

So many options! Thanks for taking the time. I’m afraid I’ll make the wrong choice.

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[Rudolph Hart]

Hi Calvin,
Welcome to the forum. You’ll have no problem fitting your dog in a 4 door. I get my 3 pointers in easily, they have plenty of space.
You would have to to remove the rear seats in a 2 door, this is what really swung my decision in favour of the JLU.

 

[Will_Jeep]

Hi Calvin, I bought from Akins in Winder, if you decide to buy local, at the time they had the best prices (by far) for what I was looking for.

Good luck in you search, don’t forget, you may get clobbered for tax in GA when you register it.

 

[kobejo34]

My thoughts as I get older in life is if you have concerns before you buy then you will have regrets after. Get the U and the sport s and love evey minute of it.

I live in Hoschton, Ga we must be neighbors.

Check out Mike below he had the best price for me. Let me know if you need some help or headed to Jesper Jeep Jamboree in August

www.yourdodge.com
Mike Clinnin
[email protected]
Cell 770-713-5364 (text away)

Good luck finding and making the right choice as I too am first time owner and love it.

 

[Wanted33]

Calvin, that would make a great road trip for sure. First thing you need to do is check the air pressure in the tires. Jeep dealers are notorious for putting to much air in the tires. That causes the Jeeps to wander on the road as the tires are crowned by to much air. Most here run between 32-36 psi. Good luck, I hope the deal works out and you both have a great/safe trip home.

BTW, yeppers, there is enough room in the back of a JLU for your buddy.

 

[Dkretden]

OP, please be aware of this..... I don’t know what taxes that you will pay in CA or if they are somehow refundable.......

https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional/understanding-new-georgia-car-tax/WqneSElqql8QAIzLZgvhNP/

A post above made me google this.....

So, do Georgia residents pay a sales tax to the GA dealer at the time of purchase and then also pay 6.5% of the value of the new car when they register it? I imagine that CA sales tax is more than GA (but I don’t know).

 

[spurly]

I am working in SoCal for the next couple of weeks and am entertaining the idea of buying it here and then road tripping back to GA with the wife where we live.

Check out the Ordering and Pricing section of the forum. There's a lot of post and discussions about SoCal dealers not dealing or willing to negotiate on pricing. I know there's a dealer in Vegas that I think a lot of SoCal people use but there's also several places on the East Coast who have a reputation of giving a good deal.

 

[Lou Bunn]

North Carolina - you pay sales tax on the purchase, then you have to pay property tax when you register it. Property tax is based on the county you live, so it depends.

 

[ThirtyOne]

To me, you aren't giving up much getting the base Sport if you get a 2-door. For the 4-door, I would only recommend a Sport S. You can get a 4-door Sport S in the low-mid $30s depending on options if you use one the site dealers and pay 5%-7% off invoice. Won't happen in California.

The 2-door is a lot of fun, but it really has no space. Enough for the 2 adults and your Lab - yes. Enough for the three of you and your camping gear? Very tight squeeze. I drove a YJ daily for 7 years and loved it when I was young. But now with a family I had to go with the 4-door.

 

[HoWink]

I agree with kobijo. It's definitely possible to get a great deal in Georgia. For mine, Andrew Todd at Ed Voyles in Marietta met a very aggressive sub-invoice price quote I received from a dealer in NC. And there's always Jasper Jeep - an institution in Georgia. They sell at invoice with no haggling, and they don't add back a bunch of fees.

Regarding which Jeep - I'm with most of the folks here - get what you want and enjoy it. Mine's a do-it-all daily driver and north Georgia play around vehicle. I went with a JLU Sport S with very few options, and it's the most enjoyable vehicle I've owned in 50 years of driving. Buy once, cry once!

HoWink

 

[Maverick909]

LOVE MY JLU sport. i have the tint package, upgraded 7" display, hard top, and LSD. i recommend the tow package as well if you want to add lights a compressor etc. the aux switches are worth it as well as the trailer hitch. I will say don't buy in California. i live hear and i refuse to ever buy another car here. i drove 4 hours to las vegas to get my jeep from Chapman Chrysler, jeep, ram. it was the best car buying experience ive had. sale girl have plenty of knowledge of the wrangler and made everything easy. I was out in 45 mins from showing up at the dealer.

 

[Hobbes62]

Hi Calvin,
Welcome to the forum. You’ll have no problem fitting your dog in a 4 door. I get my 3 pointers in easily, they have plenty of space.
You would have to to remove the rear seats in a 2 door, this is what really swung my decision in favour of the JLU.

Awesome! That’s a happy family you have there! Thank you!

 

[Hobbes62]

Hi Calvin, I bought from Akins in Winder, if you decide to buy local, at the time they had the best prices (by far) for what I was looking for.

Good luck in you search, don’t forget, you may get clobbered for tax in GA when you register it.

Yeah, I will probably end up buying from Akins if the SoCal thing doesn’t work out. I live in Winder on the barrow Jefferson county line. Thanks for the heads up! That ad valorem is gnarly.

 

[Hobbes62]

My thoughts as I get older in life is if you have concerns before you buy then you will have regrets after. Get the U and the sport s and love evey minute of it.

I live in Hoschton, Ga we must be neighbors.

Check out Mike below he had the best price for me. Let me know if you need some help or headed to Jesper Jeep Jamboree in August

www.yourdodge.com
Mike Clinnin
[email protected]
Cell 770-713-5364 (text away)

Good luck finding and making the right choice as I too am first time owner and love it.

Awesome thank you!

 

[Hobbes62]

Calvin, that would make a great road trip for sure. First thing you need to do is check the air pressure in the tires. Jeep dealers are notorious for putting to much air in the tires. That causes the Jeeps to wander on the road as the tires are crowned by to much air. Most here run between 32-36 psi. Good luck, I hope the deal works out and you both have a great/safe trip home.

BTW, yeppers, there is enough room in the back of a JLU for your buddy.

Thank you!

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