Mine doesn't have to be my daily, but I tend to jump in the Jeep over anything else I own. Weird.
How many of you use your TJ as a daily driver?
- Thread starter Jim King
- Start date
Mine is a daily, but I didn’t buy it new. I’ve only had mine a year and some change. I still have a stupid smile across my face every time I’m in it.
We bought ours new in 99 & it was a daily driver for one of us up until a 2015... We have 6 vehicles between the two of us & we still drive it 3 or 4 days a week... not because we have to... Just because we want to.
I don't use it as my daily, but I keep it maintained and driving well so I could. I commute 80 miles a day so it would be toast in a few years and I plan to pass it down to my oldest son (currently 4 years old) when he comes of age.
I drive it to work a couple of times a month on average to stretch it's legs, but otherwise I commute in vehicles I don't desire to keep for more than a few years. Depending on my needs at the time, that's been a 2010 BMW 328i, a 2004 Toyota 4Runner 2wd, a 2008 MINI Cooper S, and currently a 2000 Chevrolet Silverado because I'm about to start building a house on 5 acres.
The MINI is for sale by the way, in case you hate yourself and want to spend 10x as much time and 10x as much money than you would on any non-European vehicle for what should be simple maintenance and repairs. The best feature is that it burns enough oil that you can probably talk yourself into just changing the filter every 5,000 miles and keeping it topped off without ever having to drain and fill.
I drive it to work a couple of times a month on average to stretch it's legs, but otherwise I commute in vehicles I don't desire to keep for more than a few years. Depending on my needs at the time, that's been a 2010 BMW 328i, a 2004 Toyota 4Runner 2wd, a 2008 MINI Cooper S, and currently a 2000 Chevrolet Silverado because I'm about to start building a house on 5 acres.
The MINI is for sale by the way, in case you hate yourself and want to spend 10x as much time and 10x as much money than you would on any non-European vehicle for what should be simple maintenance and repairs. The best feature is that it burns enough oil that you can probably talk yourself into just changing the filter every 5,000 miles and keeping it topped off without ever having to drain and fill.
I have a 2006 MINI. Well my daughter did until I bought the Jeep and she started driving my old car.
One fine day we finally found were all the oil was going. It was leaking out of the oil pressure sensor seal. When the seal fully failed the entire underside and back of the car got a coat of oil. It's was a mess to do anything to it underneath, but there's been no rust since.
The car is a surprisingly fast little go-cart (200 HP, 180 ft-lbs in a 2,600 lb car), but it's nice not to use a low jack to raise the car up for access to the oil drain plug. It wouldn't go up my ramps because it's too low to the ground and just pushes them with the front bumper.
But ours will be up for sale soon too.
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That first generation of new MINI was pretty great, especially when supercharged. It was one of those vehicles were they got it just about right the first time around and it has been been downhill ever since.
Mumblewood
TJ Enthusiast
I bought mine new in 03’ I used it as a daily driver for about 3ish years. Before I moved to Spain it became my once a week sunny day ride to work. Oh and if it snows, I love it in the snow. Have about 44k on the odometer.
I’m the second owner of my Jeep. My Mom gave it to me as a first car when it had 120,000 miles on it. I daily it, and I would love to drive it across the country, the only thing holding me back is fuel economy, and time.
mine just barely makes it up my ramps without pushing them. It doesn't leak much, it's definitely getting burned. They royally screwed up the design on the PCV system and integrated it into the valve cover, so not only does it dump a bunch of oil into the turbo inlet (which eventually finds its way deposited onto the backs of the intake valves because the first-generation gasoline direct injection doesn't wash them off), it's a $200+ part to replace the whole valve cover when it fails. It was on at least it's 2nd valve cover, it's 3rd thermostat ($150 integrated into the housing and electrically controlled), and it's 3rd vacuum pump by 105k miles. Most recently it blew the exhaust gasket at the turbo outlet.
Maybe I should have gotten an older one. The N14 engine is pure junk. French (Peugeot) engine with overengineered German (BMW) influence assembled in the same country that supplies legendary Land Rover reliability...not sure why I expected anything different. I just moved into a house with one short stall in the garage and wanted something to keep inside and safe from hail, and thought a little turbo car would be fun and save a little money on gas at the same time. I've by far blown that gas savings on repairs, even doing all my own work.
Sorry OP, didn't mean for this to turn into a threadjack.
Bought mine in 2005 with 39K on the clock. Been my DD ever since. At 173K to date. This morning's ride to work was a chilly one. Low 40's, top down, no gloves, brrrr!
I did not like the later turboed Peugeot engine. Overall the later generations each felt more dead and heavy than the last.
OP
I bought my LJ new in 2006 and it's my daily driver since then, but I'm only 7 miles round trip to work.
72,000 miles.
72,000 miles.
I bought my 2006 Tj in April 2018, I am the third owner, I wanted to use it to go off-road with friends, but then, given how comfortable, fun and new "only 86k km when I took it", I decided to use it as a first car for every day and take something older to go to the woods. Starting the 4.0 with a magnaflow exhaust gives you a smile every time.
lafittejeep
TJ Enthusiast
I daily mine also, 33 miles round trip. I am the 4th owner according to car fax. Purchased with 131K and just hit 151K.
OP
And we all learned some things about Minis today!
I kinda had to chuckle when I read this. I drove mine to work with the back windows out but had my uppers in and my windjammer in. I just got done putting my back windows in, then came inside and read you post. LOL Yah, It was a bit chilly for me at 1am this morning.
I'm as confused as a fart in a fan factory! Is this post about tj's or mini coopers?
OK.
I had a Chrysler Conquest TSi (aka Mitusbishi Starion ESI-R) for a while. Pic is not mine, but it looked exactly like this.
In the right conditions, it was fantastic to drive. It was front heavy, with enough power to make oversteer really useful. I remember there was one U-turn I made frequently where I'd rev the engine while waiting for a break in traffic, pop the clutch and fishtail around the median, then slam it into second and be up to speed with traffic going the other way.
After some spirited driving at night, you could pop the hood and look at the turbocharger glowing cherry red.
It was also the worst car I've ever had to maintain. Things were constantly exploding under the hood. The engine was immensely complex with lots of vacuum tubes and things everywhere. Hardly any electronics at all — all mechanical. And no one but the dealer would touch it.
But damn it was fun to drive.