yellow08rubicon

4 inches of lift, a stubby front bumper, and my tires stick out and I drive it every day in Europe. I live by the American standards not European. I also personally know 2 Swiss and 2 Germans with more than 2.5 inches of lift.

ShawnJ

Dude . . . Take your Jeep with you. I was stationed in the U.K. from 96-99. There are certified Jeep dealerships there however, some of their parts are different as you may alrweady be aware of.

As for the lights . . . Don't worry! You are not the only service man serving in the UK that shipped a vehicle. Everyone that does ship a vehicle will have to have some bulb modifications done and a dedicated fog light added to the rear of the Jeep. The auto craft shop on RAF Lakenheath can do this for you.

It was a great time . . . London ROCKS. If you happen to like GP style motorcycle or F1 racing you will be in heaven.

Good luck and thank you for your service!

Alias2k8

Haha I was just on lakenheath an hour ago. I am from mildenhall. I am leaving the UK and going back stateside, I shipped my jeep earlier. All u need to do is get a light conversion kit and the british MOT which is like to make sure your vehicle is not a safety hazard on the road. You have will have to pay for road tax. The lift thing is not true.....There are a ton of modded 4x4s here on mildenhall and lakenheath. When i did my 2.5 lift the guy next to me was doing his 4" lift. Ship your baby over here. Get the light conversion done and mot then mod away. ALTHOUGH....to ship it back to the states it cant be more than 3 inch of lift.

Red

I'm in Germany, but maybe this will help out. Bring it with you. You fall under the SOFA, which means A LOT. You are an American being sent over here by the US Government, and you are not expected to alter your car to meet crazy European standards so that you can drive to the job they want you to go to. They would have to pay for it, or buy you a new car if that were the case. Now, this is all within reason. Generally if you can drive it in the States, you can drive it here. There are a few things that you may have to alter, like a light kit, not expensive, to drive in the UK. I had to do it when I drove to London for a meeting because I was driving at night. Basically they drive on the other side of the road, and the lights we have are not set up for that. A lot depends on the inspector you go to, the inspector is on a US base and inspects US cars for government employees. Be nice, have a clean car, and a good attitude, and lots of things get overlooked, even if they really are an issue. My Harley with no mufflers passes every time despite rules on noise standards. My JK rides on 37s that stick out from under the fenders, and it passes, despite safety rules saying that I'm not allowed to have that. Familiarize yourself with the US regulations for registering a vehicle in the UK, not the UK rules for UK citizens.

As far as buying a RHD diesel and bringing it back. You can do that, but it is VERY expensive. You can buy a US Spec car tax free, but remember US spec is just that. The same that you would get in the US, 3.8, no diesel, no RHD. If you buy the RHD diesel over there, you will pay UK prices, but at least you should still be tax free. You can bring it back to the States, but before you think about that route, do a quick search for importing vehicles to the US and look at the government sites. You will soon learn that it is not easy, hence the AAFES auto program. Bottom line is, they do not want RHD cars in the US and make it cost prohibitive. Thats why Skylines bring in so much money. Also diesel is pretty much a no no. They US says they pollute too much, and the different grades of diesel may make it problematic as well. Also, you can't make the changes required yourself, it requires a certified importer. If you remember what happened with the Skyline importers in the States, you can get a glimpse of how trustworthy they are. I wouldn't want one of them touching my car.

You are an American. You will be going back to America. You are in the AF, so you can drive your US spec car wherever they send you. Stick with a US spec car. Make the few changes you have to for whatever country you are going to. Contact the vehicle registration guys where you will be stationed, and let them give you the down low on getting a vehicle registered. As long as you don't drive something that would probably get kicked of the road in the US, you should be fine.

ReconJeep

Here's my .02. I have lived my whole life on both sides of the pond and have lots of experience with Jeeps. All my European registered Jeeps (CJ, TJ, WJ, JK) have 4+" of lift. Since you fall under SOFA, you shouldn't care. If you want to show some consideration towards the RHD crowd, get these stickers that you put on your headlight lenses. This avoids blinding the guys coming the other way. You probably aren't obliged to have them but it's a show of good faith and consideration. If you do have to change the whole headlight, then you won't need them. You'll probably need a reflective triangle, but you can get them when you get there. You're obliged to put them 50 meters before your vehicle if you have a breakdown on the side of the road. You'll get used to driving on the other side of the road very fast. Just be careful pulling out of parking lots and intersections. You naturally tend to pull onto the wrong side of the road.

Now for the diesel subject. Jeeps use the Italian VM diesel engine. Stay away from them! They are the worst designed diesel engines ever. They are by far the most unreliable diesel engine around. If at least it had a decent diesel engine, I would say go for it. If it was a german designed diesel engine, or even a Land Rover 300tdi would be much better. You will get all kinds of comments like: " I haven't had any problems with my VM engines". I had a buddy that said that with his. Now he is going nuts looking for a substitute engine.

Other than that, I would suggest taking it with you. Forget buying one. My wife's WK was 20,000 Euros cheaper in the US. You will never spend that amount even with shipping and mods. Even on gas you won't. Thanks for your service!

french_mike

for me, you sell your JK, and get a new one in france or belgium and your sterrig wheel will be in the good side and you have a diesel with the new color!!!!

eurojk

Just change the lights, i dont think you can leagally import and export jeep into the US.

Vince

It is not currently possible to import a European diesel JK to the US, despite the vehicle being made there in the first place. The reason being is that the Euro spec diesel, even with a particle filter, doesn't meet the new 2007 emissions requirements (Thanks California) . Until someone successfully petitions the NHTSA/EPA, JK's with the VM diesel engine already installed cannot be permanently imported to the USA. I have already been in contact with two RI's and had no luck on this issue. Petition costs are usually in the region of $8K-$16K.

Vince

Don't come to Zurich. No mods allowed here without written approvals from Jeep.

french_mike

That is MAD