I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t understand all the hype of daily driving a Jeep. To me, it seems that most Wranglers–and now Gladiators and Broncos–are subject to a life of pavement driving and the occasional trip to the beach or a gravel road even though they’re better suited for off-road trails.
However, after spending the weekend with …
I used to long for a Wrangler as a teenager. A straight six, manual, Renegade was what my heart desired. I'd still take one; however, current Jeep culture is just too much. My ex-father-in-law bought one and within weeks had so many rubber ducks on his dash, it was a hazard for driving. Then the angry eyes, a lift, big off-road tires, etc. This guy doesn't know what a dirt road looks like but it won't stop him and anytime I see him, he makes comparisons to how his Jeep is better on trails than my Raptor. It's consumed him. He's lost now. He's a Jeeple.
But for real, their community is huge and accepting, which is great. You can make the most tacky and ridiculous modifications to your Wrangler and the community will still back you.
And the ones that actually take their Jeeps off road are always super helpful. I got my 01 Sequoia stuck in some Texas mud that was the consistency of thick cake batter. Countless people drove by the alternate route without stopping to help. A crew of Wrangler bros stopped, winched me out, and wouldn't accept money or beers for their help. They just said to return the favor one day to anyone in need.
Make sure you have good walking shoes?
No different than spoiler'ed/aero'ed up cars that never see a track. Jeep life parallel's GRM life in many ways. Just a bunch of idiot car folks doing what they enjoy regardless of if they ever get stuck in any offroad situations. Atleast they share love better than any other car culture out there.
I love my basic stock older jeep for cruising beach roads with the kids. Give all the ducks away I get (cant stand them on the dash) but admit to waving at too many passerbys now. Although its like boat culture in that manner so I am used to it since I am the captain of a 22' yacht.
Life is too short to be worried about what others think and not to spread the love IMO.
I have owned an XJ for years and actually drive it off road. I don't get the rubber duck reference.
Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) said:I have owned an XJ for years and actually drive it off road. I don't get the rubber duck reference.
One of my co-workers is an insufferable human being. He is a retired Military Police, has the haircut of a cop that is 125% guaranteed to give you a ticket if he pulls you over, and he drives a Gladiator. He also leaves his windows down or doors off everyday and has stated his hatred for the ducks. We have been placing ducks on his dash every week for months now and he thinks it's other Jeep people in the area. Ah the joy it brings.
In reply to DirtyBird222 :
They sell these, just sayin'
There is little in life that compares to a top down doors off cruise in a Wrangler. It's a great way to just enjoy the day. And since its built like a brick, you dont have to worry about speeding tickets.
It's funny how some people dont realize how capable a stock Jeep actually is. Last weekend my brother and I went out on a short trail ride with the local Jeep club. I had my TJ, he had his old CJ. We were by far the most stock jeeps there and kept up just fine, and we had a blast doing it.
In reply to Puddy46 :
A stock Jeep is a lot like a stock Miata - awesome as is. Most have been ruined by scoundrels at this point. Jeeps and Miatas that is.
I don't get the rubber duck thing but it brings some people happiness and has no affect on me so carry on. Do your thing and have fun.
Puddy46 said:There is little in life that compares to a top down doors off cruise in a Wrangler. It's a great way to just enjoy the day. And since its built like a brick, you dont have to worry about speeding tickets.
I have a 600HP Gladiator, speeds just fine. That being said, 80 in a brick is 80 in a brick, it's probably faster than you want to be going anyway.
I love the automotive hobby and culture and all the subcultures that spin out of it, including Jeep culture. I think of Jeeps a lot like Miatas... basically an open-source platform to tweak or modify to the owner's needs and desires. Very cool that manufacturers and aftermarket suppliers support these types of vehicles.
There are some differences that I've observed among my friends. Miata people I know tend to be true enthusiasts, and care little about how other people perceive their vehicle. They may even relish the idea that others may think the car they drive is "uncool", it's almost a badge of honor. Jeep people I know tend to be dilettantes, the most superficial poseriest posers of all the posers, know little to nothing about cars, have no desire to use their Jeep for any type of motorsports activity, and buy Jeeps specifically because they want to be perceived a certain way. "Upgrades" are mostly for bragging rights or cosmetics and often make the performance of the vehicle worse for their actual use case. I know there plenty of clapped-out Miatas and highly developed offroad Jeeps out there and that this is painting with a broad brush, but one of these cultures attracts me and the other repels me.
Good Story Chris!
If everyone could remember and APPLY the idea of "don't YUCK on someone else's YUM".
Miatas are stupid hairdresser cars!
Racing is just driving around, stupid!
Anyone driving an older vehicle is poor and dumb!
that music sucks, my music is best!
blah blah bunch of cognitive bias. Enjoy what you enjoy. Don't "enjoy" something just because you think you should. Be glad to do your thing and enjoy your own personality.
unless its squatted trucks. 
Played it safe and opened an incognito tab to find out what the hell rubber ducks had to do with Jeeps. Was pleasantly surprised. That level of niceness goes against what I typically see from that community
I had a haggard old XJ for a while. It was neat but it got horrible fuel mileage, smelled funny, had huge rust holes in the floor, and since the driver's seat was broken and the suspension and steering components were completely worn out it would enter an alarming oscillating/vibrating wobble on the highway any time any sort of bump was encountered. I usually just went with it because correcting it tended to make it worse.
For a while, I wanted to make a smiley face thing for Wranglers. You always see the the angry "I'm a BadAss" stuff but, no happy, cheerful things. People would get vinyl cutouts of names like: "Bad Influence", "FAFO", "The Beast", "Monster", etc. I wanted to put a happy face on one and name it "Snuggles" or "Cuddles" or "Huggy Bear" or something along those lines. But, I'm too cheap to buy a vehicle just to troll people. Also, I'm a car guy, not a truck or Jeep guy.
In reply to ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) :
TIL about dilettantes. What a great word.
1998 TJ with no rubber ducks or angry eyes here. I installed Bilsteins and BFG All Terrain KO2 tires on stock wheels from a slightly newer TJ. I also put a stock front bumper back on it. It had one of those E36 M3tastic round tube monster bumpers when I bought it. It drives to and from the family farm, about 70 miles, just fine. Then it does side by side ATV dirt type stuff on the farm. It also pulls an 8x10 utility trailer... hauls kayaks, furniture, yard trash, etc.
It's got a tight turning radius and is short enough to easily fit in the garage.
It's not a great highway vehicle, but it does a lot of other stuff. It is sort of like daily driving a really good restomod 1930s truck that you can drop the bed in the back yard when you don't need it.
That's my version of Jeeping. If other folks need angry eyes and rubber ducks, that's ok. I will buy their used Jeep in 5-10 years and make it what I want. That's Grassroots.
I dig JEEPs, but I will never not make fun of this stupid E36 M3:
I stole this from another thread.
So in this thread we have an article saying jeep people are pretty cool.
And current and former jeep owners saying, "Yeah, they're pretty cool."
And people who have never owned a jeep saying "Nuh-uh."
I had a yj about ten years ago. It was fun. Topless cruising is great in the summer. Off roading was a real hoot. Other owners wave and want to talk jeeps with you. Old timers tell you about driving jeeps in the army. They are a good way to "get into cars".
gearheadmb said:Topless cruising is great in the summer.
I mean. Sometimes.
I am an unabashed Jeep lover. Willys-Overland, Kaiser, AMC, Chrysler, whatever it may be. As a kid my dad had an early 80s Wagoneer. As a teen I spent every monday night at the volunteer fire department driving the M715. After college I began to daily an XJ. Today I have a Gladiator for snow driving. I dream of a Flat Fender or a CJ10A.
I am a function over form guy for sure and inside I make fun of mall-crawlers and the people who buy Rubicons but will never use 4Lo. You do you buddy.
The culture is fairly foreign to me, but I have to say that the most attention that I've received from the fairer sex while in a vehicle was driving around with my pal in his jeep with the top and the doors off. There just seemed to be the assumption that we were on our way to a party in that thing - and that would be a party that the women would want to be part of.
As a fellow who likes working on tube frame vehicles like Lotus 7 replicas I'm interested in building something butch-looking like a jeep, but that features compliant, long travel suspension rather than the bouncy, teeth-rattling sort. I imagine that's a thing, and would be grateful to see a link or two.
Ugh, angry grilles. Talk about over-played.
I owned Jeeps back when you had to be a real masochist to tolerate them. CJ-5. C101 Commando. The bodies on those made TJ frames look like they are made of stainless steel.
My mother had a TJ for awhile. Spent more time cleaning it than driving it. Didn't even want to take it out in the snow because it would get dirty. Never saw anything but pavement. To her, it was a kind of sports car...in the way a V6 automatic Mustang is a sports car.
I still like Jeeps, but the prices they charge today for something with a Tacoma quality frame and Franco-Italian mechanicals is a huge deterrent. Add on the rubber duck, angry grille, off-road jack poseur mentality of many of the owners and I'll pass. It's the automotive equivalent of BMW ADV motorcycles.
First time Jeep and Gladiator owner here for a year and 5 months and 25,000 miles. Now, I didn't go to buy it, I went to the local Toyota dealership to buy a Tacoma. I've had good luck with Toyotas in the past and figured it was a good bet this new truck would last me 10+ years. After waiting 8 weeks of waiting for my order to come in, I took back my deposit and went looking for another mid-size pickup. I "googled" best 2022 mid-size pickup and Jeep Gladiator came in #1. I called BS because I know Jeeps have crappy build quality and reputation in the industry, but I began doing some research. After exhausting hours of looking thru forum posts and the Mfg website, I came upon an obscure option available on 2 models. It was a Max Tow Package which increases the towing capacity from 4400 to 7500#. Now that works for me and I began looking for a Gladiator Sport w/Max Tow and quickly found out it was basically a "unicorn" in the Gladiator world. After hours of looking at dealer inventory, I found one 5 hours away and basically bought it over the phone. She and I jump in the car on a Saturday morning, make the drive to upstate NY and pull into the dealership. We see the truck sitting there and she asks if I'm going to take it for a test drive? Yes, I replied, 5 hours back home! I don't need to drive ot, it's a truck, it's my first new vehicle since 1988 and it has a warranty, it will be fine.
Here's where the "Jeep culture" thing starts. While filling out the paperwork, they show me a line item on the window sticker that states "membership in the Jeep Wave Club". I honestly didn't listen to anything he was saying, I just wanted out of there and on the road for our trip home. Between Canandaigua NY and Watkins Glen, approx an hour on a 2-lane twisty country road, I passed no less than 12 Wranglers & Gladitors. Each one, the driver"waved" at me? Curious to me as to why. My lights were on, I was on my side of the road, I didn't see any speed traps ahead, so I was confused. When we got home, I told Jen about it and she mentioned that she even saw it while following me. Weird.
A few days later I joined a Gladiator forum to look around and see what and where the shortcomings were with the vehicle. I found a post about "waving" at other Jeep owners and it hit me, the Jeep Wave Club! Damnit, I was a member just by purchasing the damn truck! What now?
Fast forward a week or so and I walk out of my shop and there's a Wrangler sitting next to my Gladiator in my parking lot and someone walking to the drivers door of my truck. I confront them and they are attempting to put a small rubber duck and business card on my door handle. I politely told them to step back from my truck, get back in their vehicle and drive away. They attempt to hand me the duck and I politely declined. I drove home confused as I've ever been in life and immediately search online for Jeep duck thing and was BLOWN AWAY at the results!!!! Holy $h!t its a HUGE thing in the Jeep world. DUCKS!!!! Do your own research on Jeep wave and ducks.
I DID NOT buy this vehicle for anything other than it was a pickup truck, a 4-door and the bonus was that it is a convertible. It's not a great truck compared to others, it's not the most spacious 4-door truck compared to others but it's a WAY better convertible 4-door pickup than all the others and has been a maintenance free DD for 25k miles so far. That and it's kind of fun to drive IMO.
I DID NOT get it to buy into your Wave Club or duck thing. I don't wave at others just because they have the same manufacturers vehicle. I didn't wave at other Ram owners, Tundra owners, 4-Runner owners and the list goes on and on. All I want to do is drive it and not have to talk to every other owner when I get gas, go to the store or stop at the parts store. I don't want to answer all of the "what mods have you done so far, what size tires, how many inch lift, what wheels, what bumpers, what size winch, did you re-gear, etc, etc, etc......... It's nauseating listening to Jeep owners and I though Porsche, Subaru and VW owners were weird. NOPE, Jeep idiots have them beat and by a country mile.
I'm keeping mine all stock, it works just fine as a DD and will hopefully last me 8-10 years. We shall see..................
A good friend has a Jeep, and seeing her enjoy it and the culture makes me very happy.
It is like a Miata.
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