Any TGO'ers work for a Jeep dealership?

[jcj]

Just thought I'd throw this out there. It's not really a "WTB" ad, so I put it here instead of the trading post.

I'm contemplating a Jeep purchase and wanted to see if anyone on the forum happens to sell 'em for a living. I'm in East Tennessee (Knoxville area), but I'm not opposed to a day-trip for vehicle buyin'.

Thanks!

[hipower]

Might check with MagicCarpetrides. He's in the auto business and in your area. Not to mention that he's apretty good gun guy as well.

[TGO David]

If you're looking for a Wrangler, skip used unless you somehow can find a 2012, and go straight for a new 2012 with the 3.6L Pentastar engine. My Rubicon has it and it's absolutely worth the additional expense.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

When I was shopping in fall of 2010, nobody had exactly the features and color I wanted either 2010 or 2011. I'm not insanely picky, but most dealers were down to only a few jeeps within about 50 miles of chatt. The local salesguy was nice and claimed to be looking for me the one I wanted, with the correct features and color. But he had not found one after a few weeks.

Web searching dealer stock, could find all the features except maybe it would be puke yellow. Or maybe all the features except a soft top, or the wrong kind of transmission, or $2000 of GPS and stereo I didn't need and didn't want to pay for, or $4000 of chrome bling I didn't need and didn't want to pay for.

So on a friday night expanded the search range and happened on Dallas Dodge a little north of hotlanta. They had a BUNCH of wranglers, where most dealers only had one or two. They had three in stock that were "real close" to what I wanted, considering it had been so hard to find exactly what I wanted, had compromised somewhat on the specs by that time. Even better, Dallas Dodge prices were on the bottom end of the price range I'd been seeing.

So I called em about 9a Saturday morning to see if they still had the vehicles in stock. One gone, the other two available. They wanted real bad to sell me a car. Overcame my natural distrust and filled out 3 year no interest application on their website. Emailed a pic of my drivers license. The salesman got em cleaning and prepping the wrangler. Loan came thru about 11:30 am, and they drove the thing to my chatt driveway and arrived before sunset the same day saturday. Driver got me to sign a few papers and back to hotlanta he went with his buddy. The wrangler was perfect, nary a scratch. Odometer read 2 miles + the distance from Dallas Dodge to my driveway. The paperwork was perfect with no mistakes or hidden bombs. Everybody I talked to was nice, cheerful and polite.

The driver told me he had delivered cars as far north as new jersey, so I bet they would drive one up to La Follette fer ya.

Maybe my deal went unusually smooth, but I don't see how it could have gone any smoother. It would have been more hassle to buy one from a dealer in downtown Chatt. The only "hassle" was that they send the paperwork to the courthouse and then in about a month the courthouse calls and you go down and write a check for the TN sales tax. Until then you drive on the dealer temp tag. So you have to expect to pay the sales tax over and above the invoice, and most likely you have to make one trip to the courthouse to get the tag. Maybe the tag could be done by mail, dunno.

I'm a rube. Only buy a vehicle every 10 or 20 years. So maybe everybody else knows how smooth it can go.

[Erik88]

If you're looking for a Wrangler, skip used unless you somehow can find a 2012, and go straight for a new 2012 with the 3.6L Pentastar engine. My Rubicon has it and it's absolutely worth the additional expense.

Dang David! You have a Rubicon and a Rapor? I'm jealous. Which one is your daily driver? Have you done much off roading in the Jeep yet?

Edited February 23, 2012 by Erik88

[Guest db99wj]

If you're looking for a Wrangler, skip used unless you somehow can find a 2012, and go straight for a new 2012 with the 3.6L Pentastar engine. My Rubicon has it and it's absolutely worth the additional expense.

This.

Wranglers are not only one of the the cheapest in overall costs, they hold their value better than just about any other (I haven't seen anything else), when looking at depreciation. The Jeep loses around 45% overall, where as the next one I found was 53%. Anyway, my point is that buying used, especially if you are looking at the JK line, 2007-current, the price isn't going to be significantly less. With the 2012, you will be getting a substantially better in power motor, and as David said, it is, would be worth the cost.

[jcj]

If you're looking for a Wrangler, skip used unless you somehow can find a 2012, and go straight for a new 2012 with the 3.6L Pentastar engine. My Rubicon has it and it's absolutely worth the additional expense.

Yup. Exactly why I want a 2012. Been waiting on the Pentastar engine.

[Lumber_Jack]

Yup. Exactly why I want a 2012. Been waiting on the Pentastar engine.

Not to derail your thread, but what are the advantages of the new engine?

[Guest Lester Weevils]

I checked out dallas dodge yesterday, and currently they are a little short on wranglers compared to other times I looked. Either they've been selling the carp out of em, or don't order as many nowadays. Yesterday, about a half dozen unlimiteds but only one short wrangler. Some closer dealers have better stock at the moment.

http://dallasdodge.com/

Edited February 24, 2012 by Lester Weevils

[Erik88]

Not to derail your thread, but what are the advantages of the new engine?

I test drove one a few months ago and wasn't all that impressed but that might have been because the salesman talked it up like I was about to be blown away with the amount of power it had. Apparently this new engine is leaps and bounds and ahead of the older engines that were known to be very under-powered.

That being said, I still really want a Wrangler!

[glowdotGlock]

I am hoping to buy a 2012 this year. I have an 05 TJ 4.0. It's my daily driver and has plenty of power but I'm only averaging 14-15 MPG. It hurts that it is the inline 6 with an auto and a 4"lift with 32's but the pentastar is much better on mileage. I couldn't resist putting a pic up of my baby

Sent from my Droid RAZR Maxx

[Lumber_Jack]

I test drove one a few months ago and wasn't all that impressed but that might have been because the salesman talked it up like I was about to be blown away with the amount of power it had. Apparently this new engine is leaps and bounds and ahead of the older engines that were known to be very under-powered.

That being said, I still really want a Wrangler!

I had a 4.0 inline 6 and it did fine with the right gear-to-tire ratio. It was hard on gas though. I had no experience with the 3.8 which came prior to this new 3.6

[Guest Lester Weevils]

My 2010 JK, listed for 19 mpg hiway-- Was averaging 16 or 17 mpg mixed local driving. Started feeding it non-ethanol 87 octane gas and it started delivering real close to 20 mpg mixed local driving. Who knows, maybe with 87 octane non-ethanol, it might even be capable of 20.5 or even 21 mpg if taken on a long hiway trip!

Have been driving nothing except underpowered vans and compact pickup trucks from 1977 til late 2010 when getting the Wrangler. Maybe the 2010 straight 6 is underpowered, but it sure does accelerate faster than an underpowered van or pickup truck. If I floor the JK entering the expressway, gets up to hiway speed pretty fast. Am not concerned with raw performance. Maybe the new JK engine''s extra performance makes more diff on rocks or mud than day to day commutes? In addition to improved fuel economy of course.

[Guest db99wj]

30 more RWH with the new motor, similar torque, better shift points on the transmission, slightly better mpg.

But here is my take. More power, even above, is a better thing. The only "power" complaint I have about the old motor is highway speed. If I am passing someone on a 2 lane road or need to get over and around someone one on the interstate, it doesn't have much high end punch. Every other and most situations, the power of the old does fine for me. I came from a 4.7L V8 in my old Grand Cherokee, that motor was great. That would be a great motor, and should be the base motor for them in my opinion, with a Hemi option. But anyway, the other thing to look at is what you are going to do. I have 3.71 gears, automatic, with heavy ass 33's. I hear that if you have 3.21's, it is a dog, especially with an automatic. If you have 4.1 gears, all the better. If you are going to go to 33's at some point, you should be ok, if you go to 35's, and have 4.1, you should be fine, 3.71's and be ok, 3.21's not so much. If you go 35's and like a lot of power, regear, if you go to 37's regear.

[TGO David]

Dang David! You have a Rubicon and a Rapor? I'm jealous. Which one is your daily driver? Have you done much off roading in the Jeep yet?

Yes we have both. The Jeep is my daily; it gets better gas mileage. We've taken the Jeep offroad a bit and plenty more is to come this summer.

[TGO David]

I test drove one a few months ago and wasn't all that impressed but that might have been because the salesman talked it up like I was about to be blown away with the amount of power it had.

The Pentastar doesn't shine until you've got about 3,000 miles on the engine and it's started to loosen up. My MPG and all around performance went up dramatically after 3,000 miles. Fresh off the lot it's not going to really impress you a whole lot.

[Erik88]

The Pentastar doesn't shine until you've got about 3,000 miles on the engine and it's started to loosen up. My MPG and all around performance went up dramatically after 3,000 miles. Fresh off the lot it's not going to really impress you a whole lot.

That makes sense. What MPG are you getting David?

[jcj]

It took me a while, but i finally found a Jeep.

Picked this up yesterday:

[Lumber_Jack]

It took me a while, but i finally found a Jeep.

Picked this up yesterday:

Very nice. I see is has XD Wheels, what other options are on this. I can see a sticker in the hood and quarter panels but can't make out what they say.

[TripleDigitRide]

Speaking of Jeep, I saw a new place in Nashville that appears to sell nothing but used Jeeps. They had only a dozen or so, but all of them looked very nice from the road.

I didn't catch the name of the place, but they are on Hermitage Ave/Lebanon Rd/Hwy 70, about 2 or 3 blocks west (towards downtown) from Fesslers Lane, on the left.

Edited March 23, 2012 by TripleDigitRide

[jcj]

Very nice. I see is has XD Wheels, what other options are on this. I can see a sticker in the hood and quarter panels but can't make out what they say.

It's a standard Sport Unlimited w/ auto, AC, window tint, and not much else. The customization was a custom dealer package done by "Top Gun Customz" and includes a Rough Country 2.5" lift, XD wheels, and the Nitto Trail Grappler tires (295/75 17s).

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk

[TGO David]

Be sure to check out www.tnjeeps.com.

[jcj]

Be sure to check out www.tnjeeps.com.

Signed up today. Thanks David!

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[Erik88]

JCJ---that looks amazing. I'll never have another black vehicle but it is the best looking color! Congrats!

[jcj]

JCJ---that looks amazing. I'll never have another black vehicle but it is the best looking color! Congrats!

Thanks Erik! Black is impossible to keep clean and shows every minor imperfection....but I love the way it looks.

I almost bought an orange one, but I wouldn't want TGO David to think i'm trying to copy him.