2 Door Jeep Wrangler versus 4 Door

[SuefromMA]

Hi,

We have a 2 door Jeep Wrangler reserved for our 11 night stay 4/17 - 4/28 thru St. John Car Rental. It is usually just my husband & I, so this vehicle works great for us.

We have just added our adult daughter to the mix for the first 7 nights of our stay. We called St. John Car Rental to upgrade to a 4 door Jeep, but, they have nothing available.

She is slim, fit and agile - 5' 6" tall - so, "climbing" into the "back seat" shouldn't be much of an issue. Just more of a nuisance. My daughter said not to "stress" - that it will be fine. But, it will be her 1st trip to St. John and I don't want to ruin it with a bad vehicle situation.

Also, I am worried about whether or not we will have enough room in the "way back" for 3 beach chairs and a small beach cooler - now that we need to have the back seat UPRIGHT for her to sit in. We can, I am sure put snorkel gear and beach bags beside my daughter in the back seat.

Just don't know if we should bother trying to locate a 4 door. Which we might not be able to find anywhere, anyway.

Any comments, suggestion, would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks, all!!
Sue

[longingstjohn]

the 2 door will work. might have the cooler on the other rear seat, but it will work. enjoy the trip.
brian

[hotrns]

We have rented a 2 door several times and ended up picking up hitchhikers who had absolutely no trouble getting in and out! Young kids just seem to be much more flexible than us oldsters. We also had our cooler, chairs, and beach bag behind the seat with the seat up. I don't think you will have a problem.

[Xislandgirl]

I will be the opposer. We had a 2 door and it was a huge Pain in the A$$ for more than 2 people. There is not enough room for 4 beach chairs, a cooler, a beach bag and 4 people to be comfortable.
If the person in the back seat is ok with sitting with the cooler and the beach bag and maybe some other stuff, you will be OK but our group was not happy at all and actually did rock paper scissors to see who would get stuck in the back.

Just as a point of reference we are all in our 40's and active.

[IA Joe]

If you can cancel the 2-door with no charge and get a 4-door somewhere else, that is what I would do. If you would have to pay to cancel the 2-door or cannot find a 4-door anywhere else, then I would live with it. If she is easy-going and flexible, it will be no big deal. If she is uptight and petty about that kind of stuff, you shouldn't be taking her anyway:) Haha.

Joe

[waterguy]

Is it a hard top if so bring some bunji cords and put the chairs up top always have cords and some rope in my suit case pocket when I go to the rock.

[TrvlJohn]

I will be the opposer. We had a 2 door and it was a huge Pain in the A$$ for more than 2 people. There is not enough room for 4 beach chairs, a cooler, a beach bag and 4 people to be comfortable.
If the person in the back seat is ok with sitting with the cooler and the beach bag and maybe some other stuff, you will be OK but our group was not happy at all and actually did rock paper scissors to see who would get stuck in the back.

Just as a point of reference we are all in our 40's and active.

I will second the opposer...Our grown daughter came down last year and spent a few days with us and it was indeed a PITA....

John

[Pete (Mr. Marcia)]

I owned a two door Wrangler for about 5 years. I really don't think it would be a problem.

[SuefromMA]

Situation - solved!!

Thank you so much for all of your comments. Much to our "surprise" - our rental agency Destination St. John WAS able to secure a 4 door Jeep Wrangler for the length of our stay (11 nights). Actually, at a cost of only $100 more than we would have paid for our 2 door. It is thru Denzil Clyne. We rented thru them once on Tortola - but, never on St. John. Hopefully, all will be well.

We were able to cancel our previous reservation with St. John Car Rental with NO cancellation fee.

Love Joe's comment: "If she is easy-going and flexible, it will be no big deal. If she is uptight and petty about that kind of stuff, you shouldn't be taking her anyway:) Haha."

Right on..... Truthfully - "she" said that she would be "fine" with the 2 door, all along. It was "me" - (mom that I am) that wants her FIRST trip on "our island" to be nothing less than PERFECT!!! Didn't want her squished like a sardine in a backseat that she needed to crawl into and out of and also NOT have a window to roll down to be able to enjoy the sites and sound of St. John. To me - she is MORE than worth the extra $100.

Tell you though, I was SHOCKED that there was even a 4 door jeep wrangler to be found during that very busy time of 4/17 - 4/28.

Have a great day, all. The sun is shining here in NH/MA on the beautiful glistening snow!!

Sue

[RickG]

Excellent, really for the best.

Otherwise, +1 bungies and a leetle cooler.

Cheers, RickG

[dreamshark]

Sounds like you got what you wanted, so that's great. But for the record, we had no trouble getting 4 people + gear into a 2-door jeep on our 2013 trip. Our 30-something daughter and SIL had no problem slithering in and out of the back seat, and there was enough room behind the seat for a pile of beach chairs, snorkel gear and a small cooler. JUST enough room - we had to rearrange a little if we added a bag of groceries.

I sat in the back seat a few times so my daughter could drive. It was significantly harder for an oldster to get in and out of there. But most of the time I was driving, and I am FAR more comfortable driving a smaller vehicle on those roller coaster roads.

[jimg20]

I am happy that you got the outcome you wanted. I will say that we took our 17-year-old granddaughter with us and she sat in the back of our 2-door for 12 days. She did not have a problem. We also got three people's dive gear in the back of our Jeep.

Have a great trip and show off our island to your daughter.

But don't use up all the fun before we get back.

JIM