I've bought and sold over 25 cars in my 20 years of driving, and this is by far the single most impressive vehicle I've ever seen. Finally got one into a dealership about 15 miles north of Chicago. Maroon, 4-door Sahara with all the toys. Just awesome looking. Fools driving around in FJs and H3s are gonna feel really stupid when they see the loaded JKs on the road. First thing I noticed that you don't see in the pictures: Just how huge those 18-inch wheels look on this rig. I've have several other 18s on 4x4s and I'm not sure why, but they just look much bigger on this vehicle. One the negative side, my only real beef is the ultra cheep, plastic, almost bendable grill on the front.

Anybody have any ideas why DMC did this? It's totally cheap, and you can tell at first glance that's a different material that the rest of the car. The paint doesn't even quite match up. My other concern is that the new hard top may be just as hard to remove as the old one...Unless its lighter, it looks like its about the same size as the old Unlimited, even though the front section comes in two panels. Maybe it much lighter? But it's still huge.

Other than that, and the possibility of a slightly underpowerd engine and easily fixable low-hangling muffler, this is as close to automotive perfection that I've ever seen. Mine was suppossed to arrive on Aug. 17 and I'm still waiting (silver, unlimited Sahara with most of the toys for $28,880), so it just killed me when the buyer showed up to drive away his new Wrangler -- his questions included, "Does this come in front-wheel drive only?" "It seems to ride kinda rough?" "For $30K I'm used to seeing leather." That this guy is the first in Chicago to have one while I'm still waiting is just wrong.

Other news and notes from the experience from the dealership.

1. He paid full sticker and the dealership, and all 4-star dealerships, I'm told, will hold all sales at full sticker, not a penny more or less.
2. They're coming into dealership in ones and twos instead of full truckloads...DMC's way of "creating buzz" as others seem them on the road.
3. Manuals are at least 5-6 weeks out, and as previously reported, 4-door will really start hitting the dealers en mass on Sept. 15. 2-doors will follow later, probably around the same time as the manuals.
4. Next to the JK, the ol' wranglers on the lot suddently looked really sad and lonely....like their parents had left them and found somebody else to love.
5. With that said -- and this is to the guy who was debating whether to get an '06 on discount or an '07, don't even think about it. Between the previously reported reduced prices for '07 and all the added features, buying an '06 Wrangler that really hasn't been touched in the last 10 years of automotive technology is just plain stupid.

 

Hey bradfridell, welcome to JK-Forum and thanks for your first impressions. I have to say, the one thing I really wasn't expecting to see on the JK's is the option to have them come in 2WD only. :eek: But then, with all the soccer moms and bling-bling types out there, how could they not :rolleyes: It really is pretty sad to see.

So, do you have a new projected delivery date or is DC just keeping you in suspense?

 

DC is apparantly keeping the dealership in suspense. Expected delivery date on the docs they game me upon deposit ($1000) said Aug. 17. When I read about the production delays, I expected a couple weeks. But now it's going on a month . Dealer says they're in the dark on delivery dates, so now just I'm hopefull to have it before snow hits Chicago. On another note, dealer in Chicago I visited mentioned that several have ordered 19-inch rims from the factory. I hadn't known about this option. But like I said, the 18s are plenty huge.

 

What? Don't you know all the cool Jeepers are throwing on the 19's with the spinners and slamming their rig to the ground :rolleyes:

Seriously, according to their website and all the specs I could find, there is no 19" option. But hey, what do I know

Bummer about the wait though. I sure hope that mine doesn't take that long after I order mine.