The go anywhere ability for sure, they're an incredibly capable machine. The short wheelbase for ease of parking, their ruggedness means that other cars who tip me (Maltese drivers are renown for hitting other cars while parking) will ensure they come off way worse than I do, and most of all having a soft top jeep in that climate is a big win for me. Yes, parts availability sucks but there seems to be a fantastic community so I'm confident I can get whatever I need - albeit at a higher cost.
Hi all, and greetings from Ireland
- Thread starter Malteser
- Start date
Yes it is
I had a roommate from Swinford here in Boston in the early 90's.
His parents had a bar there if I remember correctly.
I had to spend a few weeks in Shannon for work a few years back. Only work trip that my wife actually wanted to go with me. We stayed in Limerick and it was by far one of our best trips. On the weekends we would explore (mostly the south part of the lsland) and visit castles. Ring of Kerry, Ring of Cork, Jameson distillery in Middleton (my first, but not my last taste, of irish whiskey), we also visited the Cliffs of Moher and went to Dublin for a weekend. A few of my favorites was; we got a personal tour of the castle remains in Adare, the tour guide was an older gentlemen with great knowledge of the area and had the perfect personality, the Flying Boat Museum in Foynes and a restaurant across the street that had the best fish and chips, and mountain biking in Ballyhoura. I packed all my riding gear and pedals but I had to rent a bike in Ballyhoura. It was classic when I said to the rental guy, "we got a problem", and he immediately responded with "No, you got a problem" knowing that my issue was that the brakes were opposite of what I was used to (RH was front brake!!). I did fine with the brakes being opposite until I got too comfortable and was ripping through some downhill berms and went to just tap the rear brake and ended up over the handlebars. Of all the places that we have been, Ireland sticks out as our favorite, the beauty of the countryside and the people.
Having said all that, I don't remember ever seeing a TJ in Ireland which is funny looking back at it. One of the locals that I worked with told me how car insurance prices was determined which was also interesting. The more accidents associated with the vehicle make the higher the premium, so the common cars (which would be in more accidents due to the sheer numbers had higher premiums), but if you imported a car that was not very common and had low accident rate, the premium was lower. If I remembered correctly he imported a Subaru WRX from Japan which was silly fast but not common in Ireland and his premium was low, but his wife's minivan premium was exceptionally high.
I've been getting a lot of strange looks because nobody's ever seen a TJ here but I'm having fun.
