Shake, rattle and roll, broken awnings and plenty to think about!
The shake down trip was a success in many ways, mainly, the wife was happy and approves:Wow1: The beast is SLOW (uphills especially and not great on flat land), rattles, A LOT, and has quirks aplenty but we are smitten! I lost track of how many people asked me about the van the interaction was great. Adding cruise control, getting the climate control working properly and getting the engine tuned are our biggest priorities, there is a weird hesitation when the RPM's are low, I did not notice this when I test drove it, but after spending some time in it, there is def something amiss. The suspension is still like a brick even with the RIP kit and need to work this out, along with the steering which seems very, very touchy, wandering is the best way I can describe it the slightest movement of the steering wheel has you constantly correcting, I got used to it by the end of the trip but it is still nerve wracking. The PO did an absolute ****ezen job of "insulating" and the the only fix is a total redo! We were really happy with the MPG's we avg 12 and this is going over passes and driving 65-70 when feasible(with a huge rocket and kayak in a equally huge basket). I am not a big fan of the sliding door and really miss my barn doors but I think we will get used to it with time, it also lends itself to building out the interior in a modified Westfalia fashion. Sienna seats are also high on the list, the stock vinyl seats are not that great, but the swivel passenger seat was nice to have. Going to need to figure out a better way to access the roof rack, especially after the SMB top gets installed, telescoping ladder most likely, and on that topic, the awning was a bust! After installation and the test deployment we got to our first camp site only to find the forward twist lock leg is completely jammed, like it took me and my brother twisting to get it to budge, once down getting it back up w as almost impossible, it is actually not in the holder and just rolled up with the awning. Once it was up we attempted to install the annex room to find that as it sits now the awning is a solid 8 inches to tall to properly fit the room on, so off it came, was really bummed about this as there was absolutely no shade any where near our campsite at the lake and it was HOT!!! (meanwhile my buddy with the same setup on a Westy was loving life in the spot directly in front of us
(A side note, when I called Auto Anything the next day to get a warranty claim the best they could do is say that they would get back to me, finally today, they said that I need to send it back before they would make a determination and send another one out, not super pleased, my buddy also had an issue although much less a functional one, a broken zipper on the cover, GoWesty sent him a replacement immediately) All in all we are happy and I know the addition of the SMB top and Westfalia style build out is going to make it that much better. Saw these Jeeps in Sagauche and had to stop and get a couple pics, then on our way through Buena Vista stopped to get coffee and spotted this nice CCV in the back lot.
***Ingress/egress, I forgot to add that we need a better way to get in and out of the slider, it is a climb for me and I'm 6', my wife, is 5'3" I thought I had seen some permanent retractable scissor style stairs installed in and E van, any suggestions I'm all ears!
