Reader: I began four-wheeling a couple of years ago and your magazine inspired my first Jeep project. When I was 17, a friend and I built up a '92 Wrangler with an RE lift, BFGoodrich 33s, a Mile Marker winch, and Warn bumpers. I wheeled my pride and joy for about six months before my uncle (who is a local police officer), informed me that he arrived at an accident where a lifted Jeep had been involved. Within a couple of days, the owner called my uncle back and informed him that his insurance company would not cover any of the damages because his Jeep was lifted. Upon finding this out, I called up my insurance company on the matter and they informed me that my Jeep was not covered under my plan. I called around and found out that most auto insurance companies do not cover lifted vehicles, but if they do (for a 17-year-old) it would cost an arm and a leg. My point here is that you guys should inform your readers that not all insurance companies cover lifted rigs. People may not know this until it is too late and they will have to pay thousands of dollars in damages to someone else because their insurance won't.
Matt
via 4wheeloffroad.com
Editor: Insurance companies have as many different rules as there are insurance companies. When obtaining insurance it's extremely important to notify the agent of modification to your rig, and it's your responsibility to read the coverage supplied to make sure it's what you need. Most insurance companies will supply a rider, a supplemental coverage plan that, yes, will cost you more money. But that's what insurance is for, keeping you from losing a lot of money should the bad stuff happen.
Reader: I just went through the Dec. '05 issue, and would like to make a comment on the Jeep Commander (First Drive). If you do the math, you better not have big friends riding with you because you cannot get seven 200-pounders and their gear in one safely. Why do they build vehicles and create a very real danger of overloading them? This vehicle would be overloaded with just the guys, let alone their gear! You can do this with other SUVs as well, so I am not picking on the Commander. The Commander is a good-looking ride that carries the Jeep idea well. But if you combine overloaded high-center-of-gravity vehicles with substandard tires with low air pressure, you get serious problems just waiting to happen.
Glen Wood
via 4wheeloffroad.com
Editor: You are right. No two ways about it. But getting the third row stuffed with anything other than kids would be impractical, much less 400 pounds of people. That's why the OEs make an owner's manual that specifies the weight-carrying capacity just like a pickup. And you've never seen an overloaded pickup on the highway, now have you?
Reader: Why do I never see Nissan Hardbodies in your magazine? I at least expected to see a lift kit for it in the newest issue, but I was wrong. I have been a subscriber for four years now and I have various issues from when the magazine was started up until I got a subscription, and the only Nissan Hardbody I've seen was when you guys tested it back in 1987. Why is this? Do you guys dislike them just like the Scouts you always put down when someone writes about them? Or maybe you think Toyotas are the only way to go? Not to put down Clampy or anything, but I have out-4x'd Toyotas just like that in a stock Nissan. Well, that's about all I have to yell at you guys about. Good magazine but would be great if you put some Nissans in it.
Darrel Townsend
via 4wheeloffroad.com
Editor: We love all 4x4 rigs, but some are more popular than others, so we see them on the trail more. Nissans are a fine rig, but Toyotas have outsold them by far, hence the amount you see. If you have a built Nissan or a group of them, let us know and maybe we can cover the event, and bring Clampy as well.
Reader: I just read your story on the Suzuki Grand Vitara (First Drive, Jan. '06). "Don't get us wrong, the [Suzuki] Grand Vitara is a valuable contender in the Soft-Roaders class, which includes the Honda CR-V, Toyota Rav4, and Jeep Liberty, but most of these vehicles are more destined to a life of being towed behind motorhomes or driven by soccer moms than one in the dirt."
Are you guys aware that the Liberty is a Jeep, and there are clubs and off-road groups all over the nation dedicated to wheeling the KJ (Liberty)? There is even an increasingly larger aftermarket following for the KJ, and there are people out there who have been wheeling the KJ since it came out. For instance, check out www.lostkjs.com sometime. I'm disappointed that you guys don't do your homework. The KJ is nowhere near being in the same category as a Ford Escape or Honda CR-V. Many of us KJ guys successfully follow the TJ and YJ guys on the trails every time we go out. I just wish you would spend enough time with the KJ to understand and respect it for what it is. It might not have a solid axle up front, but it's still a Jeep!
Shawn Crowe
Lawrenceburg, KY
Editor: How many of your Libertys hit the trail bone stock and follow the TJ and YJ guys? This story was about how manufacturers are making sissified SUVs and calling them off-roaders. With enough time and money, any vehicle can be made to go off road, but it's when the OEs try to feed us cars called trucks that we get edgey.