What happened to the Jeep wave
05-27-2017, 08:19 AM
#11
Alive and well where I live. I actually do live in gangland and let's just say the gang bangers are not driving Wranglers so I don't think fear of it being a sign is the reason as stated above.
There is a certain younger female demographic here that does not seem to wave, either they don't know about it, are too busy texting to care or a combination. They usually are so young I am certain their JKU is not paid for by them. More power to them though!
But overall 90% of Wranglers wave around here.
There is a certain younger female demographic here that does not seem to wave, either they don't know about it, are too busy texting to care or a combination. They usually are so young I am certain their JKU is not paid for by them. More power to them though!
But overall 90% of Wranglers wave around here.
05-28-2017, 12:44 AM
#12
JK Jedi Master
I drive all over North America (Literally: U.S./Mexico border to the Arctic Ocean) and I believe that your twenty percent number is roughly in the ball park. Maybe a tad higher. Regardless, I wave at everyone, and usually am the one to initiate it. If I meet new Jeep owners, I remind them to wave.
I really couldn't classify the returns as this group of people and not this group. Some I would consider soccer moms are enthusiastic in their return wave, while some driving modded Jeeps far less built than my own (which is pretty obviously well-built and well-used, just reaching 212,000 miles) are smug and don't return. Go figure. I don't let it bother me. I will wave at the next guy, too--and them, should I see them at a later time.
I really couldn't classify the returns as this group of people and not this group. Some I would consider soccer moms are enthusiastic in their return wave, while some driving modded Jeeps far less built than my own (which is pretty obviously well-built and well-used, just reaching 212,000 miles) are smug and don't return. Go figure. I don't let it bother me. I will wave at the next guy, too--and them, should I see them at a later time.
05-30-2017, 08:40 PM
#14
I have had every type of Jeep vehicle back to my 87 Comanche. Now I have two JKUs, one for me one for the wife. I also use to ride motorcycles. I wave to every wrangler I see first second it doesn't matter to me. I also wave to any Jeep that waves to me and wave to some that look like they are enjoying their ride. You know who they are. Did the same on bikes. Didn't care what kind of bike it was either. Enjoy the life style and have fun. If they wave they wave if they don't they don't. Look my way 
05-31-2017, 07:53 AM
#15
JK Super Freak
After owning my JKU for over 9 years now, I know the answer. The Wrangler was the enthusiast's choice of vehicle, be the enthusiast an outdoorsman, gear head, offroader, car lover, whatever. Something cars and/ or outdoors related was behind the enthusiasm for the Jeep. You didn't just go out and buy a Wrangler because you need a car. Also, enthusiasts tend to have things in common, even if the commonality is simply the enthusiasm itself. So, there was a pretty logical reason behind the wave. Back then you could probably have a decent conversation over your shared general interests and shared appreciation for your Jeeps with just about any Jeep owner, because there were probably some similarities.
Over the life of the JK, the Wrangler has evolved into a "car" that now appeals to non-enthusiasts as well. The woman around the block with the gorgeous 2013 JK here in sunny Cali has never taken the top off, never gone off road, never goes outdoors, has never fixed a car.... she needed a car it was red so she bought it. Cool person no doubt but not an enthusiast. She thinks the wave is silly.
It's a statistics thing. There are now more owners in the pot, which means more owners won't wave back, and since there are WAAAAY more Jeeps on the road today, you're going to notice it a lot more easily when you don't come across an enthusiast aka a non waver. Let's say you passed 5 Jeeps 20 years ago and 1 didn't wave back. The one person didn't see you. Now you pass 20 and 10 don't wave back. A 50% difference. Why? First of all, 10 did, but you only notice the non returns. The ensusiasts that didn't wave back didn't notice, and the rest aren't enthusiasts.
The good news is that the Jeep's offroad capabilities aren't responsible for the increase in appeal to non enthusiasts. The Jeep is better than ever in terms of capability and comfort. Stock, it'll kick the shit out of stock Jeeps of prior generations. The Jeep's ON ROAD capabilities are now good enough to appeal to the masses. That, and marketing. Today's Wrangler is a super bad ass vehicle that now appeals to everyone. It's a beast, yet tame, with stability safety features that match the finest vehicles, which is important to the masses. I once made a ridiculously sharp turn in traffic to avoid a terrible collision. I expected to flip. Nope. The ESP saved my life.
The decline in the wave isn't a bad thing. It just means that more people have Jeeps. Also, I've met plenty of dickhead owners who I wouldn't want to know so owning a Jeep isn't friendship qualifier deserving of a friendly wave. I still wave though.
Part of a friendly gesture is doing something nice for someone without expecting anything back. Wave, be happy you shared that gesture, and leave it at that. Enthusiasts will return it, non enthusiasts won't. No big deal. But this certainly has occurred over the course of the JK. Probably stemming back from the TJ too. Those were pretty tame vehicles on the road.
Going back to statistics, I'd say that wwves are actually up because there are more enthusiasts driving them. But because there are no waaaay more non enthusiasts there is a huge increases in nonwavers. 4:5 peope waved back 20 years ago. Now 10:20 do. But you're more likely to notice the hige increase in nonwavers than the smaller increase in wsvers.
Over the life of the JK, the Wrangler has evolved into a "car" that now appeals to non-enthusiasts as well. The woman around the block with the gorgeous 2013 JK here in sunny Cali has never taken the top off, never gone off road, never goes outdoors, has never fixed a car.... she needed a car it was red so she bought it. Cool person no doubt but not an enthusiast. She thinks the wave is silly.
It's a statistics thing. There are now more owners in the pot, which means more owners won't wave back, and since there are WAAAAY more Jeeps on the road today, you're going to notice it a lot more easily when you don't come across an enthusiast aka a non waver. Let's say you passed 5 Jeeps 20 years ago and 1 didn't wave back. The one person didn't see you. Now you pass 20 and 10 don't wave back. A 50% difference. Why? First of all, 10 did, but you only notice the non returns. The ensusiasts that didn't wave back didn't notice, and the rest aren't enthusiasts.
The good news is that the Jeep's offroad capabilities aren't responsible for the increase in appeal to non enthusiasts. The Jeep is better than ever in terms of capability and comfort. Stock, it'll kick the shit out of stock Jeeps of prior generations. The Jeep's ON ROAD capabilities are now good enough to appeal to the masses. That, and marketing. Today's Wrangler is a super bad ass vehicle that now appeals to everyone. It's a beast, yet tame, with stability safety features that match the finest vehicles, which is important to the masses. I once made a ridiculously sharp turn in traffic to avoid a terrible collision. I expected to flip. Nope. The ESP saved my life.
The decline in the wave isn't a bad thing. It just means that more people have Jeeps. Also, I've met plenty of dickhead owners who I wouldn't want to know so owning a Jeep isn't friendship qualifier deserving of a friendly wave. I still wave though.
Part of a friendly gesture is doing something nice for someone without expecting anything back. Wave, be happy you shared that gesture, and leave it at that. Enthusiasts will return it, non enthusiasts won't. No big deal. But this certainly has occurred over the course of the JK. Probably stemming back from the TJ too. Those were pretty tame vehicles on the road.
Going back to statistics, I'd say that wwves are actually up because there are more enthusiasts driving them. But because there are no waaaay more non enthusiasts there is a huge increases in nonwavers. 4:5 peope waved back 20 years ago. Now 10:20 do. But you're more likely to notice the hige increase in nonwavers than the smaller increase in wsvers.
06-03-2017, 10:49 PM
#17
Super Moderator
I agree with all of the above. Everyone has a valid point and there really isn't one good reason.
From my personal observation. I drove my JKU stock for 5 years before putting a lift, larger tires, and other offroad enhancement mods on it. When, unmodded, I would see about 50-60% wave backs where I was typically the one initiating it, and if I didn't initiate I would see closer to 20-30% like the OP. Now that I'm riding around with a lift and larger tire mods for the past 2 years, I'm seeing closer to 90% waves, where the other person is initiating it more often before I even get a chance to initiate it. I'm more surprised now when I don't see a wave. If I had to try and categorize the 10% I don't get waves from, it's typically a woman in her 50-60's driving around in an unmodded Sport who likely either doesn't know about the wave, not a similar interest enthusiast, or may be borrowing her husband's JK. I know when my wife borrows my JK, she tells me, "I hate driving your Jeep, everyone is always waving at me, and the 1st couple times it happens, I forget I'm supposed to wave." Then she gets re-reminded and starts waving at subsequent Wranglers she passes. The younger soccer mom's typically driving in Saharas or Rubicon JKUs, in their 30-40's are always waving at me, and a large majority of them are initiating it.
So the Jeep wave is alive and well from my observations.
Based upon my personal experience and what the OP is describing, their 20% wave they're observing is likely tied to the following reasons.
1. They're not initiating it.
2. They have a new unmodded JK, thus increasing the likelihood of the other person not initiating it as well.
Thus, they're their own reason for seeing a decline in the Jeep wave. The Jeep wave, like everything else has evolved.
From my personal observation. I drove my JKU stock for 5 years before putting a lift, larger tires, and other offroad enhancement mods on it. When, unmodded, I would see about 50-60% wave backs where I was typically the one initiating it, and if I didn't initiate I would see closer to 20-30% like the OP. Now that I'm riding around with a lift and larger tire mods for the past 2 years, I'm seeing closer to 90% waves, where the other person is initiating it more often before I even get a chance to initiate it. I'm more surprised now when I don't see a wave. If I had to try and categorize the 10% I don't get waves from, it's typically a woman in her 50-60's driving around in an unmodded Sport who likely either doesn't know about the wave, not a similar interest enthusiast, or may be borrowing her husband's JK. I know when my wife borrows my JK, she tells me, "I hate driving your Jeep, everyone is always waving at me, and the 1st couple times it happens, I forget I'm supposed to wave." Then she gets re-reminded and starts waving at subsequent Wranglers she passes. The younger soccer mom's typically driving in Saharas or Rubicon JKUs, in their 30-40's are always waving at me, and a large majority of them are initiating it.
So the Jeep wave is alive and well from my observations.
Based upon my personal experience and what the OP is describing, their 20% wave they're observing is likely tied to the following reasons.
1. They're not initiating it.
2. They have a new unmodded JK, thus increasing the likelihood of the other person not initiating it as well.
Thus, they're their own reason for seeing a decline in the Jeep wave. The Jeep wave, like everything else has evolved.
Last edited by Rednroll; 06-03-2017 at 11:11 PM.
06-06-2017, 05:33 AM
#18
You know this thread reveals a reason why lot of why people may not wave: they don't feel included in the "club".
There's this elitism among many self-appointed "real" Jeep owners (or enthusiasts or whatever) who judge others likelihood to ascribe to the "Jeep lifestyle" and exclude people they deem unworthy from their little club.
You're not worthy if your Jeep is not "modded", if you are a "soccer mom", if you drive a Sahara, don't have a lift and big tires, don't have mud or trail-related body damage on your Jeep, etc., so you don't get a wave. You don't qualify. You're a poser, "mall crawler", etc.
It's actually one of the reasons I've resisted doing mods on my Jeep: I didn't want others to assume I am a party to this idiotic elitism. Kind of makes me want to put a sticker on my Jeep that says "my other car is a Prius" after I install the lift in the coming weeks, just so people don't mistake me for one of the other ignorant fools who drive jacked-up Jeeps.
Anyway, I wave at pretty much everyone in a Wrangler or a CJ of any style or year, unless it's like rush hour traffic and the opposing vehicle is 50 yards away on the opposite side of a divided highway. Most women driving Wranglers, Unlimited or not and regardless of age, don't tend to wave back or even be aware that anyone is waving at them. They just seem to not care about the whole "Jeep Wave" thing, they are unaware. Around here it seems like nearly half of Wrangler drivers are women, many of which are either the so-called "soccer moms" (that is, women of the age at which they may have children living at home) but a lot of them in the Austin area are younger, high school or college age girls. Seems to be a popular choice for that demo. Anyway, most of these women don't wave back.
On the other end of the spectrum a lot of the shiny-20"-wheels-35"-mud-tires-bumpers-and-light-bars yuppie Jeep dudes don't wave either. These are the suburbanite men who also have a Harley at home that they never ride, I think. Maybe that's the "not Jeep lifestyle" (whatever that means) type of guys. Their Jeep is kind of a "I'm a real man" kind of status symbol. Next time around they'll buy a Ford Raptor or a 4WD 4Dr Tundra with 8" lift or whatever else is even more expensive of a status symbol than a dandy-modded Rubicon. BTW these dudes, when they do ride their Harley, also don't wave back when I wave from the seat of my Suzuki.
There's this elitism among many self-appointed "real" Jeep owners (or enthusiasts or whatever) who judge others likelihood to ascribe to the "Jeep lifestyle" and exclude people they deem unworthy from their little club.
You're not worthy if your Jeep is not "modded", if you are a "soccer mom", if you drive a Sahara, don't have a lift and big tires, don't have mud or trail-related body damage on your Jeep, etc., so you don't get a wave. You don't qualify. You're a poser, "mall crawler", etc.
It's actually one of the reasons I've resisted doing mods on my Jeep: I didn't want others to assume I am a party to this idiotic elitism. Kind of makes me want to put a sticker on my Jeep that says "my other car is a Prius" after I install the lift in the coming weeks, just so people don't mistake me for one of the other ignorant fools who drive jacked-up Jeeps.
Anyway, I wave at pretty much everyone in a Wrangler or a CJ of any style or year, unless it's like rush hour traffic and the opposing vehicle is 50 yards away on the opposite side of a divided highway. Most women driving Wranglers, Unlimited or not and regardless of age, don't tend to wave back or even be aware that anyone is waving at them. They just seem to not care about the whole "Jeep Wave" thing, they are unaware. Around here it seems like nearly half of Wrangler drivers are women, many of which are either the so-called "soccer moms" (that is, women of the age at which they may have children living at home) but a lot of them in the Austin area are younger, high school or college age girls. Seems to be a popular choice for that demo. Anyway, most of these women don't wave back.
On the other end of the spectrum a lot of the shiny-20"-wheels-35"-mud-tires-bumpers-and-light-bars yuppie Jeep dudes don't wave either. These are the suburbanite men who also have a Harley at home that they never ride, I think. Maybe that's the "not Jeep lifestyle" (whatever that means) type of guys. Their Jeep is kind of a "I'm a real man" kind of status symbol. Next time around they'll buy a Ford Raptor or a 4WD 4Dr Tundra with 8" lift or whatever else is even more expensive of a status symbol than a dandy-modded Rubicon. BTW these dudes, when they do ride their Harley, also don't wave back when I wave from the seat of my Suzuki.
06-06-2017, 06:07 AM
#19
Super Moderator
Wait? What? I believe you've got previous posts where you've insisted that there is not reason for a lift? That it just makes the vehicle unsafe? What's changed that you now WANT a lift because I know better than to think you NEED a lift.
06-06-2017, 06:12 AM
#20
JK Enthusiast
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Had to go to the dentist on Saturday, and it is several towns away. I had to drive through a couple of wealthy, kinda snooty towns. Almost none of the Jeeps I saw in those towns waved back. Effers. 