Jeep Wrangler Owner Living in a Jersey Suburb of New York City Drives in Manhattan For The First Time

• Lincoln Tunnel traffic
• City congestion
• JeeTops letting the city skyline in!
• At our midtown destination.
• Driving by Lincoln Center 
• Driving by CBS Studios
• More JeeTop landscape.
• Empire State Building
• NJ Turnpike heading home.

Last December my wife agreed to adopt a pair of adorable little bunnies. The problem was we had to pick them up in New York City. Neither of us is a stranger to the city, but neither of us drive in the city. We always take mass transit and use taxis or the subway to get around whenever we visit Manhattan. I always found the idea of driving into New York City incredibly intimidating, but negotiating mass transit with two rabbits and all the stuff that comes with them would likely be, well, a much bigger problem. So, I suggested we take my Jeep Wrangler into the city. It was way more manageable in size than my wife’s GMC Yukon and it’s a PHEV to boot, so it’ll use less gas. The real reason, though, was I thought it would simply be more fun.

The day came and I was a little anxious about doing this. New York City is no normal driving experience. If you’ve ever taken a taxi ride you know that the way these taxi drivers maneuver through and around other cars is downright  nerve-wracking. Surely they are going to hit this or that! Whoa, that was close. But they don’t. they get around.  Yet, now it’s going to be MY beloved Jeep that all of those taxis  are going to be driving around as if they were eagle-clad F-16s in a Thunderbirds show. I wasn’t thrilled about that. Not to mention the other beasts city drivers deal with – the throngs of full-size livery trucks – the Escalades, Tahoes, Suburbans and Expeditions.  My little (by comparison to livery trucks) and less maneuverable (by comparison to taxis) Jeep Wrangler has some work ahead of it. I was starting to break a sweat and we were only on the New Jersey Turnpike.

As we approached the Lincoln Tunnel entrance on the Jersey side, information signs flashed a warning that it’s a gridlock alert day. Something was going on downtown. We were headed to midtown near Central Park, so I wasn’t worried. Plus, the threat of gridlock seemed to be keeping cars out of the city. That’s what I thought until we got into the tunnel. About a third of the way in the traffic slowed to a crawl. The Wrangler’s big screen shined brightly in the dimly lit tunnel. Daytime running lights switched off and the headlights come on as the car became convinced nightfall had arrived. After dimming down the interior lights a bit my wife and I talked about the cars going by: mainly those big livery SUVs. A brand new 2026 Ford Expedition with Massachusetts plates was directly ahead of us in traffic. Our conversation quickly turned to the rear fascia of the big Ford. The rear end of those Expeditions is plagued with a big black plastic piece of trim, but my wife and I agreed the one in front of us greatly benefitted from this example’s matching black paint. What can I say, I married a car gal. This is the stuff we talk about.

As we inched our way out of the tunnel I made sure to strictly follow every direction Google maps was telling me via Apple Car Play. How did people do this back in the day? I couldn’t imagine steering and holding a paper map and trying to drive here. No thanks. Cars suddenly surrounded my Jeep like ants approaching a scrap of food on the ground. My nerves began to ratchet up a notch. Don’t hit me, don’t hit me, don’t hit me. Cars came close – to me they were surely within a hair’s width from my fenders. They weren’t THAT close of course, but it felt every bit as though they were. Now all I had to do was make a left, get over to the right and then make a right. In the meantime, I used the time stopped in traffic to take a photo of the city from the driver’s seat of my Jeep. My windows, windshield and Jeetops (think t-tops for a Jeep) made for a wonderful mosaic of a typical New York City scene.

The slow pace of traffic was actually a blessing. It gave me time to think and gather my sense of direction and plan of attack.  I decided to employ a mental mode I call “Just go mode.” It’s the mantra I followed on this first drive in New York City. Everyone around me is going to drive like they are the most important vehicle in the city, so I figured I better adopt that mindset as well. The normally polite driver I try to be; the guy who lets people turn ahead of me, the guy who properly zippers into the merge, the guy who waves you ahead – he was NOT going to be driving today. Maverick was driving today – “Do not think, just do.”

That mantra came in handy as soon as I made the next right onto 10th Avenue. The taxis came in like bogeys zooming in on a target. They weren’t stopping for anyone or anything.  You learn very quickly - drive like them or you won’t get far. I was being buzzed by a particularly annoying white and red RAV4 taxi. The driver wasn’t even looking around. He seemed to be operating purely on instinct. My nerves began to reveal themselves out loud – Whoa, whoa. Don’t hit me buddy. YO man, what the heck?! – that sort of thing. Suddenly, he nosed right in front of me through a space no vehicle nose had any business trying to fit. I backed off just enough to allow him to scoot by, placing all my faith in his ability to do so without sideswiping my fenders or bumper. My trust was founded – he managed to zip by without an issue.

Tenth Avenue is several lanes wide. Knowing my next turn was going to be a right I felt it prudent to stay in the right two lanes. But that decision came with an unintended caveat – the double parkers and the delivery trucks. With cars to the left of me and northbound traffic now moving at a brisk pace, the sudden appearance of a double-parked Honda Accord or a huge delivery truck made very quick scoot-arounds necessary. This also meant the safety zone around my car, usually a generous amount of space to avoid other cars, became uncomfortably tight. It was go or lose this battle, so if there was even the narrowest of margins to get around these lane-blocking vehicles I took it at speed. I couldn’t slow down. If I did, I’d be toast. Just GO, I kept telling myself. The mantra was working.

It was like that until we made it to our destination. The folks we were adopting the rabbits from lived in a very luxurious Midtown penthouse. Their advice to us was to simply park wherever you could find a spot outside. Uhhhhh, okayyy. There were no spots. There were about thirty different signs explaining an equal number of parking rules and regulations and consequences. I might have been imagining the consequences. I didn’t want my poor Wrangler towed. I can just imagine coming out with rabbits and having no car to put them in, so I drove around the building searching for a true spot to park. I passed a stretched Yukon in its own coned-off private spot in front of the main doors to the building. Wowzers. Is this how the tippity top live? Very nice. Sorry Wrangler, you aren’t getting that kind of treatment. I continued on to the side of the building they had advised us to park on. I didn’t know if I could park, walk, talk, chew gum, or use a cell phone on that side of the building - there were so many rules posted. So, I took a chance and did a second loop around. The parking gods smiled upon me. Someone just pulled out of their spot – and it was an end spot! No parallel parking needed. A quick little zoom in and I was in a legit, safe spot in the shadow of my [very tall] destination. I swear I heard angels singing when I got that spot.

My wife and I went up to the penthouse to get the rabbits. It turns out the stretched Yukon belonged to our hosts. I felt kinda bad that these two bunnies were leaving a penthouse and Yukon limo lifestyle to come home with us to the ho-hum New Jersey Suburbs in a bouncy Jeep Wrangler. I placed their carriers on the folded back seat and piled the generous amount of bunny supplies and stuff we were given into the rear cargo area and whatever space was left in the back seat. My wife and I got in and headed home.

The ride back was far less harrowing than the ride in. There were few people heading south so maneuvering through traffic wasn’t an issue. We hit some light traffic near the entrance of the Lincoln Tunnel allowing me another photo, this time of the Empire State Building.  We zipped through the tunnel and popped out the Jersey side with a big sigh of relief.  I think the only thing that could make the Jersey Turnpike feel like a sight for sore eyes is a drive in New York City.  We made our way down the Turnpike and switched over to the Garden State Parkways and before you knew it we were home.

The bunnies adjusted just fine to their new home. I think it was the Jeep. Bunnies know a car that understands nature. They joined our other two bunnies. They are all enjoying life.  As for the lessons learned from driving in New York City for the first time?  Well that mantra of “just GO” definitely worked, but you have to be hyper-aware of your surroundings, lest you get into trouble. A few weeks later I learned a pricier lesson – my EZ Pass doesn’t work for city travel. I got billed for using the tunnel and commuting into the city, because of course I did – it’s a New York thing. That’s okay, after this adventure I can now add New York City driving as a Jeep thing too.

This story reminds me of another real world driving moment we, at Torque News, shared recently when Tesla’s full self driving technology actually brought a vehicle to a stop just in time to avoid what could have been a serious crash in heavy traffic, highlighting how unexpected technology and human decision making intersect on the road. You could insert this link right after the section where Scott first hits slow moving Manhattan traffic, using it to emphasize how being alert and having the right tools can change the outcome of a tight situation.