After exploring the far, far lands of the Valyrian Peninsula, it finally happened. I have trained and obtained a Dragon! It's the best day ever!!

Okay, not really, but I did technically get a dragon! For several years now we've been the owner of a 2014 JEEP Patriot Latitude that we simply named Vader, who we all adored; in my current neck of the woods (and I truly means woods!), our dirt roads have been completely washed out to nothing but water lakes for as far as the naked eye can see. Sadly, this proved to be way too much for Vader to handle, as his brakes started to badly squeal and the alternator in the undercarriage started to stall and be seriously unpredictable. We at first were going to put Vader under a lift kit, called the Rocky Road Lift Kit which would have added 4 - 8" to his ground clearance; the catch was that this only lifted his frame by 4 - 8", it would not lift his engine at all since his body is technically a car model. We were also going to be looking at extra money for bigger wheel wells (which a mechanic soon found a major red flag that they were not compatible with Vader) and the tachometer and speedometer would need to be adjusted for the lift. This was more money than we wanted to put into a vehicle, so we had to bid our farewell to him.

It was not a total loss though! We got Vader traded down at a local dealership for a very good deal and we instead got a 2014 Jeep Wrangler Sahara: Year of the Dragon Edition, which is a limited edition that JEEP produced for a short period of time, who we have simply just named Dragon. In short, WE LOVE HIM!! He is absolutely perfect in every way and fits all of our current needs. He currently (on just STOCK FRAMING) sits 20" off the ground, but he can easily be upgraded to nearly 40" in ground clearance, and we can expand the wheel wells out for Dually-sized truck tires (meaning that we wanted to make Dragon something out of a Monster Truck Run, we certainly could!!)

Here are some pictures of our sweet new Dragon!!:

**NOTE: For those curious, this was Vader, who we had to give up:

(Yes, I name my cars, don't judge me..*shifty eyes*)

Looks awesome! Jeeps are great for those rough roads. I see them all the time off-roading. 

Nice :D

Paints since 6-8-14

OMG IT'S SO PREETTYYYYY

Ooo very nice! I had a Jeep once as a rental and I LOVED it. I've never seen one quite like Dragon but it looks pretty sweet! I name my cars too lol.

OK that's one of the coolest cars I've seen in a while!

OMG IM TOTALLY JEALOUS D: SO LUCKYY!!

@ Sass -  They are, my family has bought Jeeps for many years now and typically we have always traded them out when they've been ran into the ground, since normally they can take the abuse of our road. This is the first time in all our years here the road has gotten so bad that ours couldn't take it and we had to trade it early. Dragon seems to be able to get the job done as he has both skid plates and an undercarriage plate to protect it from water, two things Vader didn't have in his model.

@ Con and Auda - Thanks ❤

@ Sangre - Jeeps are awesome vehicles, we have always loved them too. There was only one Jeep we ever owned that we did not like and gave us absolute grief, the rest have been great since. Also, nice to know I'm not the only one who gives them names xD

@ tana - Isn't it? I'm not gonna lie - We have never heard of this Year of the Dragon make before, so when we heard about a "Jeep Dragon", we were super skeptical and thinking it was covered in childish stickers with bright gold. Once we actually saw it though, we fell completely in love!

 @ Pei - He was truly luck! We were not expecting to get such a cool looking Jeep, infact Saharas were not even on the possible checklist. We were mainly looking at canvas-topped Wranglers or Wrangler Sports since they were more in the price range than any other make we saw. 

Getting the deal we did on Dragon and just getting the priviledge to own a limited edition Jeep was unexpected and exciting!! He is not your typical Wrangler either, he drives exactly like Vader did and has almost all the same features (with a few upgrades). But just like the Wrangler name, he still has the full ability to be customized in every way with the rollbars. He also has one of the quietest engines I have ever heard in a Wrangler. He's an absolute dream!

ohhh, i'm so jelly!! A Jeep Wrangler is my next dream car!! 8D Never heard of that edition before but that is way cool!!! And my car's name is Buzz, so no car-naming judgement here. ;P

So cool! I love Jeeps and I desperately want my next car to be a Jeep Wrangler, haha.

YOOOOOOOOOO THAT LOOKS SO FIERCE!

IT'S SO PRETTYYYYYY -grabby hands-

Makes me wish I'd bought that instead of my Civic >.>

dude! that jeep is freakin legit!

ooooo it's so pretty!

@ Panth - We never heard of this make either, typically when you hear Wrangler you think: Wrangler, Sahara, Rubicon, or Golden Eagle. He was certainly a hidden gem! Also, yay for another fellow car namer! :D

@Sam - Honestly, Wranglers were not on the "top Jeep" choices really for awhile, especially with me. For years we have namely stuck with Cherokees (both makes), a Compass, and recently Vader's model the Patriot. This was the first time we ever purchased a Jeep Wrangler, as he had the hardtop 4-door seating we wanted. Typically, at least down here, they're only a 2-door canvas-top unless you want to pay a small fortune ( and by "small fortune" I mean you could fill a barn tack room with 6 new saddles).

@ mero - He does, but you should really see him at night! When he lights up, he looks even more fierce!!

@ adonis - Dragon was certainly the Jeep Jackpot! We honestly had never heard about this type of Jeep nor even seen it around. I think this was a super limited edition that had a small production line so if you got once, you were lucky. He is certainly not one I commonly see sitting fiercely in the dealership lots!

@ Maha - It is, he's an absolute beast! He rides lovely, only thing though is with Vader you could just walk in practically, Dragon you gotta get him in horse-saddle-style, so he's basically like riding a Dragon from How to Train Your Dragon, lmao!

@ Blitz - It is, I didn't show the full Jeep either, I may add a few more pictures soon, but it's super nice!

I don't have the funds yet but I will be in the market for a vehicle within the next year... maybe I should look into Jeeps. I've usually driven little cars, neons, prisms, grand prix 2 doors, and I was thinking about getting a truck this next time to get around a little better in the winter. But I was stuck between what make to buy. Jeeps are so nice looking.

@ Sangre - I apologize ahead of time for the super long reply, lol. Jeeps are wonderful, durable vehicles that will live for many, many years and able to take lots of abuse; you will never have to worry about getting stuck, because they have enough weight to push them through in 2WD, even in the muddiest and rut-filled roads (a.k.a my current trail situation!), and my family has never had to activate the 4WD in ANY of our Jeeps so you can rest assured you will never get stuck. All Jeeps - no matter the model - also handle exactly the same, so unless you get a hiccup Jeep, you won't have to stress whether a Rubicon handles better than a Cherokee, they all handle good. The most important things though is: prices, ground clearance, and customization (by this I mean having the correct suspension and wheel wells to insert bigger tires).

I do not know exactly where you are or how many inches of snow you get where you live, but make sure that yours has decent ground clearance or you're gonna find yourself constantly running to the mechanic with repair bills; so if you get little amounts of snow (like 1 - 5"), then you can get any Jeep make there is, but if you have 10 - 12", it's gonna have to sit higher so the snow doesn't block the sensors and the road salt does not erode your undercarriage (that is not fun!!). If you have the latter with snow, I do not recommend getting a Compass, Liberty, Patriot or Renegade of any Edition. They are a very low-sitting vehicle and cannot be lifted fully, even though they say "Trail-Rated" on the emblem, they are not. You can get a Rocky Road Lift Kit like we were going to with Vader, but this does not raise the undercarriage at all. This only raises your frame, so if you hit a snow mound too hard or too fast, it's gonna cause a lot of problems with the sensors. Our Patriot struggled to drive through door-high water with the sensors stalling out or the brakes squealing hard, even though it was trail-rated, so choose that one at your own risk. I more so recommend Grand Cherokees, Cherokees and Wranglers (all makes), since they set pretty high off the ground and can be raised super high. If you are curious to see how high these can get, just type in Rock Climber Jeeps you're gonna see lots of Wranglers and Cherokees.

Prices down here in FL may be different from where you live, but where I live, Wranglers are famous and highly desirable for their ability to built from the headlights to the taillights down, especially if they are a 4-door, hard-top with 4WD. I have noticed though that places like New York, Vermont, and Virginia whivh get snow all have way cheaper Jeep prices than down here so this one may not be too much of a concern for you as it was for me.

If you need anything else on Jeeps, feel free to PM me, these babies are my life so I know a lot about them and can help you get your dream Jeep in your home driveway! :D