Are TJs a bad influence?
- Thread starter Flivver250
- Start date
Absolutely. Purpose-built vehicles like the TJ are innately designed for enthusiasts, and enthusiasts typically enjoy pushing limits and doing dumb shit. When I hop in my TJ I want to go drive over stuff for no good reason. I used to have an E36 M3 for track days (God I miss that car) and SCCA Solo, and when I hopped in that thing I wanted to go murder any string of corners where I thought could put together a racing line - then do it again, only faster this time. No AC, suspension that would knock a filling loose... It was amazing. I put the TJ in the same category; very few people choose to own one just to get around.
Non-enthusiasts buy '09 Corollas and live life happily knowing that their car will start and get them to work tomorrow in a reasonable fashion without having to spend a lot of money on it. Enthusiasts buy a TJ because they know if they go another inch up, swap out the Dana 35, regear and add lockers then they can probably get through that one canyon without breaking anything this time.
And it doesn't just infect drivers, the passengers get it too. I was in Skull Valley Utah last year with the wife and kids, just motoring around in the dirt doing nothing in particular, when we spotted a rare hole of mud (rare for August in Utah). My kids shouted "MUD MUD HIT IT DAD DRIVE THROUGH IT!!!!" - I had no mud flaps, no top of any kind, doors removed, and for some reason had taken the seat covers off exposing my cherry Sahara green/spice upholstery. I looked at my wife and she had a big smile on her face, so we ripped some laps through the muck splattering the interior and ourselves with the thick alkaline mud that covers the Salt Lake Valley. I still have flecks of mud in the HVAC vents, and my cherry upholstery has very faint stains that don't seem to want to come out.
Fuck it though, you're never going to remember that time you got in your TJ and drove like an English Gentleman.
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This is like a gun control debate.
Your Jeep only does what the driver tells it to do.
When I'm behind the wheel of my TJ I certainly feel a bit more rowdy. I love hearing the exhaust note thus resulting in even worse fuel mileage. And man is it a blast to drive around here when it snows! Everyone seems to forget how to drive and the Jeep marches through without an issue.
02SteelBlue
TJ Enthusiast
Quoted for truth!
"Hey, little Johnny. Remember that time dad got 36 mpg in our old Corolla?"
There's a big difference between smashing your Mustang into the curb leaving cars and coffee and putting it into a guardrail at Willow Springs. An enthusiast would know the difference.
Man that's the truth.
When I was young it was like.... You drive man you're too drunk to roll the joints.