Girlfriend driving your TJ?

[divit250r]

My wife drives ours during nice weather, even including cruising around at the Silver Lake Sand Dunes. My sons freaked out at the dunes cause she didn't have experience beating anything to get it up a mountain of sand so we stalled out a couple times. Funny to watch them as she learned. lol

 

[JMT]

My wife grew up driving a 96 Mustang GT convertible with manual transmission. I grew up with a much less cool Subaru with manual. Now she loves the creature comforts of our Yukon. She drives the Jeep (manual) a few times a year when she’s in the mood. It’s exhilarating for her. I’m teaching my 15 yr old daughter and twin 13 yr old boys to drive it. They’re doing fine. They’re going to make a few mistakes and stall the engine. No big deal. Everyone has to learn. @Westtown Willy, let her drive if she wants to. Otherwise stay in the drivers seat.

 

[Westtown Willy]

Everyone has to learn. @Westtown Willy, let her drive if she wants to. Otherwise stay in the drivers seat.

Yup, that’s the plan. She lived on an Indian reservation back in the early 90s & did some off-road driving I think in a Blazer or the like, tells me she enjoyed it a lot. In the year & a half or so that we’ve known each other she’s never asked to drive the TJ however, maybe she assumed I wouldn’t let her I don’t know, but getting her into this is my venture & I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve already got an idea of a route we can take for her first time out, it will roughly follow the Offroad 101 class I took when I started out & involves relatively flat trails with some twisty off camber stuff & nice hill climbs that aren’t that rocky. I really think I’m more excited about it that she is but I also know that will change once she feels the crazy capability of my TJ, it’s well built & just stupid unstoppable when it gets crawling – my only real fear is that I won’t be able to get her OUT of the driver’s seat

This is her second time around the parking lot that day, much better. Not sure what all that weird noise is on these videos, it’s not coming from the TJ

 

[TJBob]

I let my girlfriend drive my Jeep once. It didn’t last long. As she was playing ping-pong with the center line and fog line at 40mph. Had me puckered up tighter than a skeeter in a nose dive! She can drive a standard transmission, even though she’s a bit rusty, she did well with that part. I think the biggest challenge for her was the short wheelbase. She’s used to a stretched out minivan... The continuous correcting and over correcting was the biggest issue for her. A Jeep is much less forgiving than a full size vehicle. But I will say, the steering was a mess at the time. And I have a real fear of her rolling it. I know first hand how dangerous a Jeep CAN be, with all the right conditions. A little crosswind with some janky steering, you end up with this at 65-70 mph.

That’s the result of side swiping a dump truck, climbing up the side of the truck 5-6 feet ( I could see what he was hauling), shooting into the grass median, 4 barrel rolls and 2 endos. Best friend was behind me. I’d say it don’t matter who you allow to drive your Jeep. If they don’t have much time behind the wheel of a lifted short wheel base... start with low speed stuff... baby steps.

 

[JMT]

my only real fear is that I won’t be able to get her OUT of the driver’s seat

If that happens you’ll be looking for another TJ!

it’s well built & just stupid unstoppable when it gets crawling

Right! Nice build, similar to mine! Which means I love

 

[Westtown Willy]

If that happens you’ll be looking for another TJ!

funny you should mention that, she's actually in the market for a new car at this time. She's like me though, small Japanese cars rule the road for daily driving so she's looking at a Honda, Toyota or Nissan right now, I told her the other day she better buy one quick before we get to the mountains & she decides she can't live without a Jeep & ends up at the Fiat dealership

 

[JMT]

funny you should mention that, she's actually in the market for a new car at this time. She's like me though, small Japanese cars rule the road for daily driving so she's looking at a Honda, Toyota or Nissan right now, I told her the other day she better buy one quick before we get to the mountains & she decides she can't live without a Jeep & ends up at the Fiat dealership

Fiat schmiat!

Send her to CL for a clean TJ!

 

[lowranger]

My wife loves our Jeep. I'm glad that she likes it and knows how to drive it. It is a good idea if your wife or girl friend knows how to drive your Jeep. If you two are way out somewhere 4 wheeling and something happened to you, it sure would be nice if she knew how to drive it and could get you back to a hospital or where ever you needed to go. Or if the worst happened and she needed to get her self out and back to civilization.
My wife drives mine when we are out hunting. She drops me off at the top of the mountain, I hunt down on foot and she picks me up at the bottom.
She has even organized a group overnight Jeep run and pre-ran it before the run.

 

[Westtown Willy]

My wife loves our Jeep. I'm glad that she likes it and knows how to drive it. It is a good idea if your wife or girl friend knows how to drive your Jeep. If you two are way out somewhere 4 wheeling and something happened to you, it sure would be nice if she knew how to drive it and could get you back to a hospital or where ever you needed to go. Or if the worst happened and she needed to get her self out and back to civilization.
My wife drives mine when we are out hunting. She drops me off at the top of the mountain, I hunt down on foot and she picks me up at the bottom.
She has even organized a group overnight Jeep run and pre-ran it before the run.
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Man I love the look of your Jeep, the combination of the stubby front, the half doors & no padding on the roll bar make it unique - until I steel all those ideas of course

 

[Twowheelz]

My wife likes driving the TJ she hated all the CJs and my YJ . She even has an opinion on mods (not sure that is a good thing) . She has no problems , she has driven manuals her whole life as well as having her motorcycle endorsement. She likes to be able to operate anything around the house if she needs to. She used to have a manual Montero and is comfortable on the trail , just hated the street manors of the leaf spring Jeeps. Has mentioned more than once this Jeep is a “keeper “ .