Right before the kids were born we decided that we “needed” a minivan. At that time all we could afford was a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan. When we bought this, what we really wanted, and what the wife’s dream car was, was a Wrangler Unlimited – blue with a manual. We kept that Grand Caravan for a few months and right before the twins were born the transmission started to slip on it. I decided to suck it up and get a 2011 Grand Caravan because they gave me a decent trade in. After about a year of owning that, we were bored with it and the AC was already starting to go out. We then though, let’s get something a little nicer and go with a GMC Acadia – even though we still wanted a Jeep (but didn’t think we could afford one). We took the Acadia to Colorado and had a few setbacks, but generally it was a nice car. Not after even having it a year, we decided it was just too boring for us and we were going to suck it up, save some money, and get what we actually wanted.
Our plan was to suck it up for a year, save a decent amount of cash while paying off a lot of debt, and then purchase a used Wrangler Unlimited. Neither of us are very patient people so I decided to throw the Sonic up on craigslist, making the assumption it’d take a few months to sell since I had failed at selling it twice before. To our surprise, we sold it within about a week and were suddenly stuck with just the Jeep Cherokee, Miata, and my motorcycle for transportation. The XJ is OK for the winter but isn’t exactly the most comfortable vehicle for all of us, plus it’s got 180,000 miles on it. We started scouring the internet and found a 2014 Wrangler Unlimited, Hydro Blue, 6-speed manual, and the Polar edition. It had about 40,000 miles on it and they had gotten the price down to $32,000. I went to the bank and the rate they gave me for a 2014 was ridiculous so I scrapped that idea and just assumed we’d be out a vehicle for a while. Discouraged, I decided to throw a last hail mary and looked at financing a new Wrangler. To my surprise, the rate was less than half what they quoted on the 3 year old Jeep. To my even bigger surprise, there was a 2017 Wrangler Unlimited Freedom edition, Chief blue, 6-speed manual, and leather seats … for only $35,000 as it was discounted with a financing deal through a dealership in Kansas City.
After about a week of going back and forth while in training, we got the deal done. I flew into Kansas City on Friday after training and picked up the wife’s dream car. It is one of my favorite vehicles I’ve ever owned. Rides better than I thought and is just beautiful. Plus – I got to claim it a birthday present so it was a win-win situation for all of us. Very excited to have our new ride!
