Asking price: $24,000.
...eep...
2016 Wrangler Sport, 32k miles, V6, 4WD, etc. NADA says $22k is about the right price for the thing. I did the math and concluded that as long as I got a reasonable deal, and the interest rate wasn't too usurious, I'd pay about $375 a month for it. That's paying $22k for the thing, putting down $1k and getting $1k for the Cherokee as a trade-in.
Probably a bit optimistic on one or two fronts. Pessimistic assumptions, $400 a month.
Doable--I can afford it--but do I want to?
The real problem here is that the Wrangler is Jeep's signature vehicle. It's got serious off-road chops and isn't a grocery-getter SUV. And they're priced accordingly; you can pay $60,000 for a brand-new Jeep Wrangler variant if you really want to. And that's probably not even the upper limit.
The thing is, I don't want to take out that big of a loan, especially not for a used car. Let's face it: a brand-new Renegade runs, list price, about $30k, as do several other SUVs out there on the market. FFS I bet I could get a 2020 Cherokee for $27k or so, with some shrewd bargaining and a bit of luck. I priced them not long ago; that was with a 6-cylinder engine and 4WD. (I just now priced one: MSRP is under $28,000. So maybe $26k.)
Anyway, that price took the wind out of that particular set of sails. If I end up replacing the Cherokee, I want to get something that's as capable, but I'm not going to be foolish about it.
But now I know why that Wrangler, pretty as it is, has sat there as long as it has: why spend $24k on a used truck when you can buy a new one for a few thousand more?
My parents paid $20k for the house I live in, FFS.
* * *
Lately I've been amusing myself with little cartoons featuring Gilgo Gaggins, who is a weird-looking guy with an oblong head and a tiny body. First thing I drew was him saying, "I haz to go on adventure!" and I was hooked. I started drawing highlights from The Hobbit, like him standing on a floating barrel saying, "Dorfs in barrlz!" and a moan ("oooooog") coming from the barrel itself. Other scenes, which ought to be obvious to those who've seen the Rankin-Bass cartoon version:
"I Gandold, wiz!
"So what go away."
"Well, you thief! Go down and rob stuff!"
"okay"
Elrind: "Stand by rock / when bird knock / then the sun / shine on lock."
Dorfs: ooo ooo
Gilgo: ooo
"die super-spids!"
"run away we are no match for Stong"
"o no Thorne's ded"
"neato the ding makes me unseen"
...and I find it all so compelling I can't stop trying to think of more and more scenes. Today I drew Krodo Gaggins (Frodo) standing by some doors with Bormor.
"They haz cave trol"
"o no"
Meanwhile Gandold is yelling, "Fool of a Take!" And Popin is looking downcast and saying, "i bad"
*sigh*
This is the kind of thing that only I find amusing, I know, because I'm weird and stupid.
Just livin' the dream, here.
