Oddly enough, I'm in a middle area here... I really like cars, but not so much that they're a priority for me. I like driving fast--and I avoid buying fast cars because I know that.
I always wanted a Jeep Wrangler, so I bought one a few years ago after I retired the Ford Ranger I'd owned for 10 years. When I got divorced, though, I needed something other than the Jeep to haul the kids around. Now I have the Jeep as my "toy" and my Flex as the family hauler. Sadly, the Jeep spends too much time in the garage to the point where I sometimes wonder if I should sell it...
It was about 10 years ago now, that I moved out to the Navajo Reservation with a tiny '02 Saturn SL1. Three tires later, from the rutted, washboard 20-mile dirt roads, I realized I needed something else.
I end up getting the Jeep I'm now selling - 1995 Grand Cherokee 5.2 all-time 4wd. It's nothing special really, but it was way more oomph than I had never had before. Bought it in the Flagstaff Mall parking lot for $2300. Figured I'd have it a couple years.
That thing was a beast, turns out. Either it was stubborn and tough or I was dumb enough to keep spending money on it. But it could go anywhere. I refuse to believe a Wranger could go anywhere I couldn't. I'd been in inches-deep mud, vertical mountainsides well over 45 degrees, and all other kind of hellacious weather and road conditions, and it plunged right through it all. I'd venture to say I couldn't get it stuck if I tried.
SDF would probably know this to be true, but when you fall down off the crown of a muddy-ass dirt road on the Rez, you're basically done for. But I could shift it down to 4-Lo and just climb back up onto the road. It was a marvel.
But I move down to Phx last year. No AC in the Jeep got real old, real fast. I love it now, I really do. But I finally bought something made this century and no reason to put another dollar into my Jeep. When I bought it, I knew nothing about cars, but now, mainly due to being potentially stranded muliple times, I'm comfortable doing major surgery on a vehicle laying on the side of the interstate. Made easier by having so much ground clearance, I could comfortably lay under it.
Anyhow, it's at 250,000 miles and still no issues with the engine, so might as well let someone else fall in love with it, while kicking it, yelling and screaming.
