Hi, I'n John in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Last June, our second car (a nice, black, retired 2004 Crown Victoria Police Interceptor) died in the flood we had here, and I started looking for a Wrangler to replace it. I was trying not to spend more than $10,000, and after a month I gave up and bought a beautiful 2007 Toyota RAV4. But I never stopped looking at Jeeps. I couldn't help myself. When Winter came and we finally got some snow, I was having fun driving the RAV4 offroad, but still couldn't stop looking at Jeeps.

We finally decided we could spend up to $16,000 on a Wrangler, and I also started searching more then 100 miles from home, and that really revealed a lot of nice Jeeps. I test drove half a dozen, but they all got sold to someone else before I could even make an offer. I kept searching online and the same thing kept happening. I started to say Jeep dealers should pay me to get interested in their Wranglers because they'd get sold within a day or two.

2 weekends ago, I went to visit my parents in the Chicago area and test drove three Wranglers in two days, including one I've had my eye on for a real long time. It was a 2007 with only 67,000 miles, it was steel blue and beautiful, it was a Sahara (which has 18" wheels - one of my wants) and it had half doors - which I thought was fantastic. But I didn't have time to make an offer on any of the three I drove. Sure enough, one of them was sold a couple of days later.

Then last weekend my wife and I decided to drive down there again to give the blue Sahara another test drive and to make an offer on it. We fully expected to bring it home. But Friday we stopped halfway to go to dinner with her family in the Milwaukee area and to spend the night there. While sitting around after dinner, I found a new listing online - a 2010 Wrangler Sport with aftermarket 18" wheels. All black. No power windows or power locks (which some people is better on a Jeep), and a new-ish Smittybuilt soft top (another of my wants). It had only 87,000 miles on it and was priced somewhere around $15,500, which was within our budget. AND it was right there in the city where we were staying.

So Saturday we postponed our trip to see the blue 2007 Sahara and test drove the 2010 Sport instead. We liked it. It felt much tighter and more powerful than the 2007 I had driven the week before. Our brother-in-law, a 2-time Wrangler owner, came over and drove around in it with me. He liked it. So we decided we'd make an offer on it. Unfortunately, the sales guy we talked to was a Tool, and we decided to go look at the blue 2007 anyway. We made the 2 hour drive down there and arrived 45 minutes before the dealership was closing. We saw and drove the Sahara, checked it out carefully, and went back to Milwaukee that night.

We had all day Sunday to think about these two Jeeps, and we decided to take a vacation day Monday and go buy the 2010 right there in town. We had it inspected by our family's favorite mechanics, and they said it was in excellent mechanical condition. We went back to the dealership, worked with a better sales guy to bring down the price a little, and we bought it. I drove it to work Tuesday, and took a friend (also a Wrangler owner) to do some offroading during our lunch break. Since then, it has sat in the garage because I've been spending all my time working on and trying to sell the RAV4. I look forward to getting that over with so I can go back to enjoying the new Jeep.

It's dirty (I don't know what it looks like clean - it was dirty at the dealership) but here are some photos.

 

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I couldn't stop thinking about what you said (which you've deleted above) and based on the images of the jeep (dirty from the dealership) One would hope that you've at least pulled up parts of the interior carpet to see if it's been moist for a long period of time. Something's telling me you may have been sold a "totaled" jeep which ended up in a flood zone. Even though there's no psychical damage to the jeep. If it was in a floor zone, this is a quick sale for those whom may not be aware of the jeep being in a flooded area and totaled there after.

 

Hi TB, thanks for your concern. The car had a complete and clear Carfax report. It never left the Milwaukee/Southeast Wisconsin area. It had no smell, no sign of debris, or anything else. We had a very thorough inspection done at a third-party auto shop. Only the sides were dirty at the dealership, and some of that was from my test drive. The roads are wet and sandy here. I deleted my question about taking a soft top through a car wash because I found the answer in another thread. Thanks again!

 

JohnQPS122

Fair enough, Just odd the dealership would sell a vehicle dirty like this as most dealership do have crew members that routinely clean vehicles before resale. granted and right now, Our jeep need a bath big time.. yet with rain on the way, we're going to have to tough it out for a while. but we will have to make an effort 2 weeks from now when the golden coils are installed on the jeep,. want her to look pretty for the presentation.

 

Congratulations on your purchase. I recently picked up a black Wrangler Sport too. Mine was also dirty at the dealership but it is due to the messy roads here in New England during winter.

 

Yes, it was raining and snowing here, too. If they had washed it, it would have been dirty within minutes. Besides, I intentionally drove it through a lot of dirt and a huge puddle about 20 minutes later. It was weird that they didn't wash it. Didn't fill it with gas, either. But, no big deal.

 

Congrats on your purchase! Now get out there with it and explore. Mine started as a bone stock Sahara. While you are exploring learn what you need to change or add along the way. Part of the fun in Jeep ownership is the ability to modify it to your needs!