Hello all,
I am new to the GV forum. I am located in Ottawa Canada and drive a 99 GV as my daily driver. I also have a 90 Jeep Cherokee with 5" lift and 33x10.5R15 tires.
I basically bought the GV to replace the XJ as the body is not doing very well. I was looking for a TracKick as this would be a fun and capable offroader, but I got a pretty good deal on the GV.
I have owned it for about a year and a half and I am very happy with the gas mileage, and the ride.
I do have one critisism about the GV. I have never lost control of a vehicle in about 12 years of driving (except when trying to) but since I bought the GV I have been blown off the road by wind twice. The first time on a rural highway on a clear sunny day in the winter. The highway ran through a treed area then along the side of a farmers field. The wind was blowing some snow on the road and when the wind caught the side of the GV I found myself aimed into the oncoming lane. Luckily there was no oncoming traffic. I ended up in the ditch and it cost me $70 to get a tow truck to pull me out. I was only driving about 80 km/h (you will have to take my word on that).
This is a highway that I use to drive to work on everyday for about 3 years. I use to drive the stock XJ. I am not new to 4wd vehicles or to winter driving.
I carried 3 20kg (about 40 lbs each) bags of gravel in the trunk. I thought maybe it was the tires. I replaced them with brand new Michlen X-ice 225-60-R16. Then on my way to a local ski hill the same thing happend. This day however it was snowing, there was about 10cm on the ground and still falling. I had 4wd engages (4hi). The same exact thing happened. I was driving even slower (again you will have to take my word on that) around 50 km/h. The wind hit the drivers side and again I found myself in the ditch on the other side of the road.
I have really lost my confidence in the vehicle. This winter I found myself driving around 50 km/h on the rural highways and about 80 km/h on the main highways on clear days and even slower on rainy or snowy days. Much to the shagrin of the other drivers on the road (and my passengers) my GF is very impatient.
So after these problems I went into a parking lot to fool around and figured out that with the very short wheelbase if the back end slides out it is very hard to regain control.
Has anyone else had any similar experiences? Should I try a skinnier tire? Should I drive even slower?
Ian
