High desert and Yeti on a snowy Mayday

Happy Mayday!  Hope you were planning on spending this spring day making snowmen, because that’s what mother nature has served up.  In honor of the falling snow we have here in Minnesota in contrast to the warm temps we had just days ago, I thought I’d offer a contrasting set of vehicles for today’s automotive adventure.

I spotted both of these Jeeps at a dealership in Brooklyn Park, one in the new section, and one in the used section.  We’ll start off the same way this week started, with the warm one. 

Offered here in a tan hue known as Dune Clearcoat, we have the Moab Jeep Wrangler Unlimited.  Moab is a city in Eastern Utah that’s best known for its scenic, high desert terrain that features trails, rock formations, and canyons.  The area is host to the annual Moab Jeep Safari, and attracts off roaders from all over the place.  The Jeep Wrangler Unlimited is essentially a Wrangler with 2 extra doors and a longer wheel base.  You can expect to pay an extra $3,500 for the added accommodations.  Sticker pricing for a brand new Wrangler Moab starts at $33.095, with the Unlimited clocking in at $36,595.  The one featured here is loaded up enough to carry an MSRP of $44,680 plus an extra $65 for locking lug nuts to keep your wheels from getting stolen (FYI, you can order locking lugs -probably even the same ones you’d get from the dealership for around $30 on Amazon -that’s where I got mine, anyway).  With incentives, the posted price on this one ends up at $41,164.  That’s a lot of money for a Jeep, but these vehicles have a cult following and manage to hold onto their resale value pretty well. 

The Moab edition has some nice creature comforts on the interior, but is more than just a pretty package.  It’s designed for folks who want to buy a Jeep and have it ready to rip around on trails without any further modifications.  Sure, it’s got some special decals to let everybody know that it’s not just an ordinary Jeep, but it’s also got some goods to back that up, including: A heavy duty rear axle with optional push button locking differential to make the rear wheels turn at exactly the same rate -this is handy for pulling or climbing, rock rails mounted below the rocker panels to keep the lower part of the Jeep’s body from getting bunged up, the standard “trail rated” command trac 4x4 system, custom bumpers designed to readily accept the addition of a winch, special slush mats inside, and Kevlar tires to help avoid punctures while rock climbing and slogging about.  All this equipment is hauled around by a 3.6L V6 mated with either a 5 speed automatic or a 6 speed manual transmission for 285HP and 260 lb ft of torque and 16/20 MPG city/hwy -add one MPG to each of those numbers if you go for the smaller, lighter Wrangler with only 2 passenger doors.

Which brings us to today.  Snowy, slushy, overcast, and cold, much like the Northernmost polar nether region of the earth for which the Jeep Wrangler Arctic Edition is named.  It’s got the same engine and transmission options of the Moab, but is more of an appearance package than an actual functional grouping of options.  It stands to reason though, as a regular old Jeep Wrangler pretty much has what it would need to deal with traversing arctic road conditions.

The Arctic edition comes in 3 colors: Ice blue, white, and silver, with special yeti badging and a yeti footprint on the driver’s side front fender along with black 17” wheels and a black decal on the hood.  Inside, there’s some unique color options for the gauge display and heated vinyl-trimmed cloth seats with special slush mats, and that’s pretty much all you get for the $3,000 package.  Well, it looks nice, anyway.  The one pictured here is offered in white and has an aftermarket Thule roof rack mounted on it.  It’s a 2012 model with 15K miles and is marked at just under $29,000, which doesn’t seem too far off from what one of these would have cost brand new.  I prefer the look of the Arctic over the Moab, and I adore the yeti badges, but it’s definitely not the type of function you get with the Moab package. 

So, there you have it.  Hot and cold Jeeps duking it out for car buyers’ hard-earned cash.  I’m fond of Jeeps myself, and used to have a limited edition Cherokee that I dearly loved up until it was totaled in a wreck. At this point though, I’m just about over the whole snowy weather thing and can’t wait for the chance to  feature some convertibles and sunny days.