G'day Folks,

New here, so will start with congrats on a great site. Been lurking here for a while though! I've previously had a TJ and most recently a landcruiser 100 (needed a diesel and more space for gearl).
I ordered a CRD unlimited a few weeks ago, had to get a sport (equiv of your 'x') with the 'renegade pack' (duel tops, premium sound incl 6 stack cd, side steps and few other as for some reason they don't do the Rubicon in diesel. I figure that if one is going to offer a diesel engine in the first place, then why not offer it in one's flagship? Anyhow, not going to complain too much though as at least there IS a diesel to be had! I've tested both the V6 and the CRD and all I can say to you guys over there is you WILL get the CRD eventually, it is just too good for DC to ignore. It is a beast with the CRD and works perfectly with the trans, I couldn't believe how much 'get up n go' it has. Once its delivered, they say mid may but I'm not holding my breath, I will post pics of its guts etc.

Now something on the local DC dealers. Seriously, do these guys get any sort of product training? The sales guys have been good so far except none of them know zip about the vehicle. Point in case, during one of the test drives the guy tells me all about how great the uconnect system is and even tried to demo it but then blamed the fact it didn't work on my cellphone!! I already knew there was no uconnect but I figured if he was digging the hole I wasn't going to stop him. When the jeep is delivered I'll ask him where my uconnect is that he demo'd...might get a few freebies out of it! Don't even ask them about non standard things like bars, lifts etc....you just get a blank look that rivals talking to an old jockstrap...
I've also read a lot on this board about the issues with the stalling, dents, paint etc etc so thanks to you guys I'm going to give the jeep a serious inspection before taking any keys from anybody.

Meantime, its going to need a few mods. There is hardly any aftermarket gear available here yet. I have some land that I've been turning into a really basic bush retreat and it takes some serious off roading to get around the place but I also need the jeep to be semi decent on the highway due to the distances involved. I want to go with:
1) Cooper ST's 185/75/16
2) 16x8 rims with 5' BS (this is proving to be very difficult due to the 5 on 5 sp.)
3) Winch Bar
4) Rear Bar + tow bracket
5) small lift, 2' max.
With the rims, the stock rims are 16x7 so no good for those tyres. Anybody here with a similar setup who could provide some tips / info? Anybody know of any decent / suitable rims in the US where the seller would freight to Oz?

So, tyres are easy. Rims are a pain in the a$$ to find and the rest is plain old 'not available' here yet.

Re ARB, I know some of you have been waiting on info from ARB, so I took a drive round to see them (their head office and factory is here in Melbourne). Short version of the story is that they will be doing a lot on the JK, wranglers in general have been one of their best selling lines in the past so they will defintely support it. Timing wise, they have had a US spec JK (apparently different compliance to the Oz spec, only minor but enough to warrant seperate development of their gear) at the factory for a while and have already finished most of the work on it and are now getting ready for production. I saw a pic of the front bumper bar on the US spec and it looks great! It will look the same as the Oz spec in the end but due to different compliance regulations, they have to develop them seperately). Their Oz spec JK test vehicle was delayed by DC but they're hoping to have the gear ready by July. They also said there are a lot of new release vehicles at the moment that need new gear so everything has been delayed a bit. Most notably is the 200 series landcruiser due in October, Landcruisers ar ARB's biggest line and its a major design change apparently so they have a lot of work to do on it which eats into the time available for others incl the JK. So, it looks likely that the US versions of their gear will be available before the Oz versions, which is ironic considering the factory is 30 mins away from me. They also said that all their gear will comply with DC's warranty (if fitted by approved ARB outlets) as everything the develop is done with input from the relevant carmakers...this is nice to know...especially when talking lift kits etc...

Anyway, thats it, again great board, lots of useful info.....lobby hard for that crd! It is so worth the effort.

Cheers

 

Ohs noes.. the lowrider

 

ooops....I meant 285/75/16