Christine has been talking about giving up the motorcycle since right before the surgery. I know the difficulties she's had relying on motorcycle and public transit. Replacing the motorcycle with a truck seems reasonable. Whomever is driving most in a day can now take the car, the other can take the truck. And then, there are my camping dreams to head off into Sierra National Forests on the forest roads and camp, and Christine's GPS/GIS survey visions.... And ages ago, when we were dating, we talked about our home in the woods, our jeep and our dogs. Christine's subtly agitating for the dog (or she was until last weekend when we dog sat).
After feedback that a Forester doesn't really have clearance, we went back to our decision criteria. I'm far more analytic and had to discover my pricepoint values. For example, if we pay a certain amount, i care about the gas milage. If we pay under a certain other amount, i just want to be sure it's not a death trap.
So, we test drove a 1989 Jeep Wrangler yesterday. It's in the "not picky" price range.
We want it, despite the things wrong with it: left turn light doesn't turn off, seats aren't adjustable, parking break is sticky... Nonetheless, it fits the price point that Christine was looking at as a replacement for the motorcycle and fits my wishes for a learner Jeep.
At the moment, i think the biggest issue is it has 31" tires on it and probably hasn't had the underchassis adjustments that would fit the tires appropriately. A friend said work needed to be done for bigger than 30", so there's probably going to be under chassis issues.
Is that a stopper? Maybe it should be, but i am just taking it as an indication that we're possibly going to have a serious repair bill for the undercarriage someday. I feel like at the price we're paying for the jeep, that's OK.
I've found Chilton's online:
http://www.chiltondiy.com/default.aspx Someone on eBay is offering the manual on CD. I'd rather get that. I don't know if we'll be tuning it all the time, but i can imagine tuning this vehicle: the spark plugs were far more accessible than in the V-8 in my long ago Bonneville. I was never able to gap one of the spark plugs, but i was so proud of being able to do that. (Then the car was stollen and we bought our first computer with the proceeds.)
So, Learner Jeep.
I took our Jetta up and down some roads in the Sierra that we probably shouldn't have, and i got the Prius stuck in some nasty mud in the central valley. I don't imagine owning a Jeep will keep me from doing something stupid in Hélén the Hyundai Accent (It wasn't my fault i got stuck! Really!): but will we take advantage of the 4x4 all wheel drive and take more roads that Christine now vetos?
If we do, and it becomes part of our life, and the 31" wheels cause a problem, we'll know what we're looking for in 4x4. If we don't, and we face huge bills: maybe we'll buy a truck instead.
Another issue we wrestled with was the cloth top. Can we keep food "in the car" as one is instructed in Big Basin -- when the car is just another tent?
It turns out that this Jeep has a lockable truck box in the back. Good enough scent barrier to not tempt raccoons, i hope. And after a bit of pondering and reading i decided i wasn't going to worry about bear proofing the vehicle. If we're going somewhere where bears are a real issue, we'll figure out bear canisters and scent barrier bags (catheter bags, apparently) or something.
We go back Monday, Christine will take the car to a mechanic, and we'll probably own a jeep by the end of the day.
*squee!*
(More poking about on National Forest pages, noting the Sonora Pass was opened on the 28th of May but snow mobiling still allowed: next camping investment might be a cold rated pair of sleeping bags.)
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