My goal for this project is enjoy the versatility and capabilities of my personal vehicle, and to ultimately make it my own. I have never been a person that wanted another vehicle that looks like everything else on the road. That being said, I don't think I could have chosen any more poorly than choosing a Subaru up here in the PNW. Jeep Grand Cherokee's are a dime a dozen up here, and mine melts into the background. But by modifying it certain ways I can quickly look at small details and know it's mine.

My personal vehicle is a 2017 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trail Hawk edition.

I am very proud of this large expense, plus depend on it to take me from place to place, and allows me to escape into the forest and enjoy the challenges of trails the Pacific Northwest can throw at me.  The 4x4 system of the Jeep has proven invaluable during the recent snow the Seattle area has endured over the past 4 years.

Because of it's ability to change ride height I'm able to perform oil changes in my garage, using oil and filters of my desire for a fraction of the cost of going to the oil change place down the street.

I've swapped out the ECU (Engine Control Unit) for an unlocked unit and can run a Diablo Sport tune to get some impressive performance from the 5.7L Hemi.  Although now I've de-tuned it to fuel sipper and get pretty good mileage for a v8 mid-sized SUV.

The exhaust has been replaced from axle to rear, so just the resonators with much better sounding resonators than stock.  I'm debating on doing a cat-back exhaust or even widen the pipes from the manifold to 3-inch and a mid muffler delete.  Right now the engine has a nice rumble when I get on it, but is quite otherwise.

Lastly I've swapped the Head Unit out with one from a 2019 Dodge model, that includes a higher resolution screen, as well as CarPlay, and Android Auto capabilities.  I've lost the ability to have my vehicle GPS report to my Jeep app it's location, oil life, tire status, and remote lock and start capabilities.  But so far it's a small price to pay for CarPlay and higher screen resolution.

In the past I have heavily modified my vehicles, including a 2000 Dodge Dakota SLT 4.7L quad cab that I upgraded head unit/radio, added a sub woofer and amp, as well as a 4-channel amp for new door speakers.  It was quite a nice sounding vehicle, and even had the radio stolen from it twice, the second time they took the car alarm as well.  I also modified the engine, put cooler spark plugs, as well as a cooler thermostat, and replaced the mechanical cooling fan with a Dodge Viper electric fan.  The last modification I discovered was a mistake as the fan always pulled too much many amps and would constantly blow the inline fuse.