Girlfriend driving your TJ?

[AndyG]

The biggest reason not to let your girlfriend drive it is your wife might kill you . Otherwise it should be fine.

I was apprehensive about my wife driving mine at first- turned out that apprehension was because the handling wasn’t right but I just wasn’t sure, because I hadn’t driven many ..and ones I had driven were even worse.

I’m starting to develop the opinion the TJ may be the one Jeep that is incorrectly set up more than any others . Most everyone I drive is out of whack. Man they are sweet when they are right, absolutely sweet.

Jerry is right ..,a TJ, even lifted, can drive fantastic....but everything has to be right ....from tire type, pressure, alignment, shocks , etc. all the way through , front to back. It’s a short , light vehicle and it’s going to tell you fast if something is out . I think a lot of people are driving these things accepting handling issues they don’t have to.

This isnt some nebulous goal, it’s totally achievable. It doesn’t take a Fort Knox bank account , but it may take some money.

My 15 year old is learning to drive in mine . Half the time you cant drive a needle up my rear end with a sledgehammer when he drives.

I did tell him this- “son , I can get another kid....but low mileage Rubicon’s are hard to find.”

Let her drive it, just remember you are dealing with a someone who can tell you the shoes she had on on your second date but has no idea how long the oil light has been flashing.

 

[tomtaylz]

Generally no one drives my TJ except me & the occasional mechanic I give it over to for whatever job. I love taking my girlfriend wheeling with me & I’d really like to get her behind the wheel in the mountains so she can share in the real excitement of the whole thing. To date though she hasn’t driven it at all but in preparation for our next trip I wanted to be sure she was still competent with a manual, according to her it’s been many years.

So today we took it out for a short drive around town to keep the blood pumping & when we were passing this parking lot I figured it would be a good spot for a maiden voyage. You’ll see a split in the video less than 20 seconds in where I had to edit about 30 seconds out where I turned super dick following the e-brake incident. Really a minor thing I’ve done myself many times but man I went from zero to douchebag in no time, wondering if it’s still a good idea to unleash her off road



I'm leaning towards letting her have at it, what's the worst that could happen

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Is that at Rustin? Edit: nvm actually didn’t watch until the end lol

 

[billiebob]

Hey, she got it rolling with the e-brake on, the girl is better than many of the guys.

 

[Bird]

My TJ actually handles quite well but my wife is a girly girl and would rather not drive it because it's lifted.

She won't drive my truck either......because it's lifted. Lol
Both are automatics.

Funny because both of my daughters fight over the TJ in summer months with the top and doors off so they can show off.

 

[derekmac]

My wife loves driving the Jeep, especially in the summer with the top and doors off. She's driven it off-road a few time, and plans on taking it on this years ladies run. She was more nervous about driving it off-road than I was.

Here's one pic of her driving.

 

[Westtown Willy]

The biggest reason not to let your girlfriend drive it is your wife might kill you . Otherwise it should be fine.

I was apprehensive about my wife driving mine at first- turned out that apprehension was because the handling wasn’t right but I just wasn’t sure, because I hadn’t driven many ..and ones I had driven were even worse.

Let her drive it, just remember you are dealing with a someone who can tell you the shoes she had on on your second date but has no idea how long the oil light has been flashing.

ha, good point . Anyway my apprehension was related to her not having driven a stick for 25+ years & not that she's not a good driver... as far as letting her drive it I agree, but the funny thing is she's never once asked to drive it on or off road, this whole thing is my idea & I think she's more nervous about our upcoming wheeling adventure than I am. I've assured her that we'll start out on the easiest of trails and take it from there - I think we all know what'll happen, after 15 or 20 minutes she'll want to take a detour onto some more interesting stuff.

I've driven shotgun on wheeling outings before, it blows in comparison to driving. While she enjoys coming with me from time to time I think she'll be a lot more excited about the whole thing if I can get her involved.

Is that at Rustin? Edit: nvm actually didn’t watch until the end lol

close, it's the corporate center on Westtown Road up near the intersection with Market Street coming out of town. Rustin is where I took both my kids to teach them stick in the TJ, though sadly neither one wanted to stick with it.

 

[Mike_H]

I built mine with the intention that my wife would be able to drive it, if she wanted. I have no qualms at all about nearly anyone driving my vehicles...that is what insurance is for.

 

[ZEN357]

I'm glad my wife can't drive a manual transmission. I don't have to worry about sharing. LOL!!!

 

[Bird]

I built mine with the intention that my wife would be able to drive it, if she wanted. I have no qualms at all about nearly anyone driving my vehicles...that is what insurance is for.

Mike, my wheeling buddy recently blew a transfer case on his Jeep and was down a couple of vehicles.
I tried to loan him a vehicle but after a phone call to insurance company, our vehicle would not be covered in an accident.....it was complicated.

 

[Hopper]

My wife's Volvo was in the shop for a week. She was disappointed she had to drive "MY" Jeep.
Day 1= I hate that thing!
Day 2= Its pretty loud
Day 3= It doesn't handle smooth
Day 4= Its kinda cool!!!
Day 5= I like "Our" Jeep
Day 6= Sad the Volvo is ready!

 

[toximus]

Is that to say you wouldn't trust a female driver to be able to safely drive a standard car perhaps like a Ford Explorer, SUV, etc. through tight twisty roads? After all they're not small VW's or Subarus either. I regularly drive my TJ through tight twisty mountain roads while towing my tent trailer and it handles well enough that I keep up with traffic in front of me and I don't often have to pull over to let faster traffic pass me. In other words my TJ handles well enough that I'd happily let my 16 year old grandaughter drive it without reservations or warnings cautioning her about its handling.

Driving a stock or properly set up TJ shouldn't be a challenge at all for even a new driver, not even close. Plenty of females drive TJs, even my 16 year old granddaughter drives a TJ and my daughter learned to drive in my TJ. I think to say a TJ could be a "challenge" to drive is either 1) underestimating a woman's ability to drive or 2) has a TJ whose handling is screwed up from a problem(s) and doesn't realized it shouldn't handle like that.

I somewhat disagree as a blanket statement.

1) If a driver has only ever driven with ABS in the past, locking the brakes for the first time on a turn can be quite scary if you don't understand how they work.

2) If the driver has only ever driven with traction control in the past, snowy and icey roads can be down right dangerous if you don't know how to respond to slippage.

 

[Jerry Bransford]

I somewhat disagree as a blanket statement.

1) If a driver has only ever driven with ABS in the past, locking the brakes for the first time on a turn can be quite scary if you don't understand how they work.

2) If the driver has only ever driven with traction control in the past, snowy and icey roads can be down right dangerous if you don't know how to respond to slippage.

I dunno what ABS or icy roads has to do with I'm disagreeing with him over. ABS and icy roads are equal-opportunity problem creators no matter the gender or vehicle type.

 

[toximus]

I dunno what ABS or icy roads has to do with I'm disagreeing with him over. ABS and icy roads are equal-opportunity problem creators no matter the gender or vehicle type.

I'm not doubting that either way they're problem creators. I'm also not sure what genders directly have to do with anything here.

If you've never driven a modern car with abs and traction control on an ice road (not the 90s version, but the more recent versions where a single wheel can lock up during a turn etc) you won't know what I'm talking about. They can manipulate the vehicle at speed in ways that you and I can not and if a driver has gotten used to relying on this they may need to relearn to drive without.

 

[Westtown Willy]

I'm also not sure what genders directly have to do with anything here.

not a damn thing

I dunno what ABS or icy roads has to do with I'm disagreeing with him over. ABS and icy roads are equal-opportunity problem creators no matter the gender or vehicle type.

Jerry you seem fixated on turning this thing into a gender issue, I wonder why that is. Not every event that involves a woman is a gender issue.

If you actually read my initial post my apprehension about her driving my TJ had nothing to do with gender, it had to do with her lack of experience with a manual transmission which was heightened by her failure to release the e-brake (a manual tranny related issue) & if you watch the video you can hear the TJ lugging towards the end (she later told me she missed 3rd & put it into 5th in that spot). Your insistence to keep injecting gender into this is puzzling to me to say the least.

 

[Hopper]

I saw a sticker that read Jeep Girl would that be considered Fake News?

 

[bfnc27201]

My wife has never really been comfortable with any manual I’ve ever had however, she actually drives the Jeep quite well.

 

[Evathetj]

I decided to take my wife out in my TJ during one of our Canadian blizzards, roughly 3 ft of snow in less than 48 hrs. The idea was for her to learn throttle and clutch control off road.

Shortly after she drove us into the motherload of snowfall, it was me who ended up being able to test my skills (my blind male pride did not allow me to call AMA to be towed out, I'm sure you all understand )

 

[hunter1]

In 30 days my 30yr daughter moving home for a bit before on to next adventure, has no car, so she will get to use my 2016 4wd 4runner, while I'll take my TJ daily. Man I scared to death to let her or wifey drive the TJ anywhere, I know they certainly don't drive with 1/4 the level of awareness that I do!

We had our first "honey did you lock your door?" episode this wkd, came back from restaurant with her purse still inside with her door unlocked, nothing missing...She gave me the "look"...like I forgot to hit the power locks hahaha!

I'm starting from ground 0 with these two gals!

 

[Alex01]

My wife likes driving the jeep off road on forest road type trails. Every once in a while she wants to drive it around town but its few and far in between. Since she doesn't have a desire to drive it more then once or twice a year I basically need to reteach her to drive a manual each time.

Last year we were on a dried lake bed and our 11 year old took a stab at driving. She actually did alright. It only lasted about 5 minutes since her and I snuck away while mom and baby weren't paying attention.

 

[Hammer24]

Hell no, no one except for me drives my jeep, especially not the girlfriend. I had to let my dad drive it home (not a jeep or even car guy) when I injured my shoulder at rugby one day, and that was the most painful drive of my life, grinding gears and lugging the engine. Shuddering just thinking about it.