The odometer on my Jeep rolled over to 98,000 miles this week, and to be honest, it's showing its age. This vehicle leads a fairly pampered life, but it still manages to be fussy and needy. I don't use it as a commute vehicle and mainly make quick trips around town and then do the occasional road trip. It's a very comfortable passenger car with some nice features, and if that's all there was to it, we'd be in great shape for the next 98,000 miles. However, this car has some quirks. There's some kind of short in the electrical system that routinely kills the CD player; power mirrors and locks randomly stop working (and then start again, thankfully), and before I had to disable it completely, the horn would start blaring randomly on rainy days. It's as if my little Jeep is haunted. No mechanic really wants to troubleshoot these hard-to-reproduce issues without saying, "Well... it could take hours to find the source," so... we just live with the quirks. I do enjoy the extra storage in the rear, and that comes in super handy on long road trips up and down the coast. Perhaps newer models have conquered these bugs. If a 2004 model crosses your path, however.... think twice.

I loved this car. At a time in my life when money was tight for me. I was able to find this gem of a car that was in my budget and compact enough for me to drive in. I don't like huge SUVs since they make me feel like I'm driving a tank, so this car was perfect because it wasn't so cumbersome. I had so many great memories in this car.