School Me on Jeep Wrangler

[4wd]

I'm looking at new Jeep Wranglers. I want the 2-door model. I have no clue which options/engine/transmission is best.
I don't plan on lifting it nor larger than stock tires. It doesn't need to have a bunch of options.

Also - Hard top? Soft top ? Why ?

And go -

I have a 2020 JLU Rubicon - 3.6L PUG/850RE …
It has done a few hundred miles in 4WD … no issues to date …
Being it’s BITOG - will mention the diffs will shed a bit and they don’t hold much gear oil - so get some fresh ASG in there …
Batteries? will wait to see what follows you home …

 

[4wd]

Do they still have solid front axle? If so the ride will never be great.

The reliability of Jeeps in general is near the bottom of the barrel. But people love their Jeeps.

I had a CJ-5 and Grand Cherokee.

You start by asking do they have what makes them special* - then act like you know something about current builds …
OP: just listen to current JL/JT owners …

 

[Donald]

You start by asking do they have what makes them special* - then act like you know something about current builds …
OP: just listen to current JL/JT owners …

View attachment 318048

The frequency of repairs from Consumer Reports for recent year vehicles is pretty awful.

 

[4wd]

The frequency of repairs from Consumer Reports for recent year vehicles is pretty awful.

So ignore members here with zero issues that actually beat on them - yeah, we should all close our minds down and turn to CR

 

[burbguy82]

I'm looking at new Jeep Wranglers. I want the 2-door model. I have no clue which options/engine/transmission is best.
I don't plan on lifting it nor larger than stock tires. It doesn't need to have a bunch of options.

Also - Hard top? Soft top ? Why ?

And go -

Get a hard top

way less noise
gives some overhead protection from falling objects
better resale value
does not have a shelf life like a soft top
insulation for AC and heat

they are still removable and the new ones are modular.


V6, NA, manual, base model is what I would buy

 

[SC Maintenance]

The frequency of repairs from Consumer Reports for recent year vehicles is pretty awful.

I will repeat what I have said here countless times.

My two best cars, my 96 Olds and my 2008 Xterra - were the best vehicles I have ever owned but were CR "do not buy". The one that was recomended was one of my worst.

The General tires I bought that were completely out of round, General replaced 3 of 4 - the replacements were almost as bad. They were a CR best buy.

Consumer Reports is the Jim Cramer of the ratings world.

 

[jadmt]

So ignore members here with zero issues that actually beat on them - yeah, we should all close our minds down and turn to CR

the people that hate them or say they ride terrible or whatever are usually the people with no experience with them....it is laughable comparing a cj, yj tj etc to a JK and even more so to a JL....kind of the old..I will never own a Ford because back in 1978 my uncle had a 73 pinto that gave him lots of trouble...or what about those chevy vegas........I have no issue if people think they are ugly and don't like them because they will never venture offroad etc...in fact for me the only reason to own a wrangler is if you are going to get outside and play off the beaten path.....for me the wranglers are the best tool for what we like to do...but I get that they are not for everybody but I do think it i funny when their argument against them is based on no actual experience.

 

[IndyFan]

The frequency of repairs from Consumer Reports for recent year vehicles is pretty awful.

The frequency of repairs for all the Jeeps I´ve owned for 35 years is actually pretty amazing. VERY few in hundreds of thousands of miles. Nearly half a million. I´d stack them up against pretty much anything out there. And they have an unfair disadvantage. They´ve been pounded off-road for thousands of miles. And they´ve held up beautifully.

Consumer reports is media. Go ahead and believe it all, if you´d like.

Somehow, over many decades, I have found that the brands CU says are terrible seem to do just fine if maintained properly. They´ve always had an agenda against American made vehicles. I´ve seen that my entire life. Can you imagine that a major American media outlet has a bias against American products? Really shocking, right? LOL!

 

[MCompact]

the people that hate them or say they ride terrible or whatever are usually the people with no experience with them....it is laughable comparing a cj, yj tj etc to a JK and even more so to a JL....kind of the old..I will never own a Ford because back in 1978 my uncle had a 73 pinto that gave him lots of trouble...or what about those chevy vegas........I have no issue if people think they are ugly and don't like them because they will never venture offroad etc...in fact for me the only reason to own a wrangler is if you are going to get outside and play off the beaten path.....for me the wranglers are the best tool for what we like to do...but I get that they are not for everybody but I do think it i funny when their argument against them is based on no actual experience.

View attachment 318098

As I have noted several times before, in order to be considered a marque expert on BITOG you cannot have owned, driven, or even sat in the vehicle you are critiquing.

 

[IndyFan]

All of my Wranglers and Gladiator have been VERY reliable. And all of them have taken me to places I never dreamed I would see. They´ve created so many memories for my kids that they will never forget. You cannot put a price on these things. This is a tiny glimpse of the joy my family and friends have experienced from these incredible machines.

Truck, sports car (a little bit), convertible, safari vehicle, snow beast, mountain climber, tow vehicle, and commuter, all rolled up into one machine. Priceless. The next to last picture is of my very first Jeep. The one that opened the door. I had it for 10 years and took trails and obstacles that left me shocked and laughing out loud. It was the first, and I have beaten myself up every day since I sold it. I have no idea what I was thinking. The 2008 JK ended a 5 year dry spell and re-opened the door. I kept it 17 years and 196,000 joyous miles. I just could not justify three Jeeps when I picked up the Gladiator, which is the most practical of all of them. I have a lifetime warranty on the 2018, so it will be kept a LONG time.

I´m 57 years old. I will probably find a low mile Gladiator or Wrangler with a 3.6 when I retire in 8 years and I plan for it to carry me to my retirement adventures, along with a Wrangler for my wife, when that time comes, God willing. No DI. No turbo. Long lasting.

 

[jadmt]

The frequency of repairs for all the Jeeps I´ve owned for 35 years is actually pretty amazing. VERY few in hundreds of thousands of miles. Nearly half a million. I´d stack them up against pretty much anything out there. And they have an unfair disadvantage. They´ve been pounded off-road for thousands of miles. And they´ve held up beautifully.

Consumer reports is media. Go ahead and believe it all, if you´d like.

Somehow, over many decades, I have found that the brands CU says are terrible seem to do just fine if maintained properly. They´ve always had an agenda against American made vehicles. I´ve seen that my entire life. Can you imagine that a major American media outlet has a bias against American products? Really shocking, right? LOL!

when the JL wrangler first came out I was hiking with my dog and just happen to cross paths with a guy walking his dog and the two dogs started playing...he noticed my cap (had Moab on it) and asked if I had been to Moab..I told him I went jeeping there all the time...he told me he was recently invited to Moab as a guest tester/journalist for the new wrangler JL 2.0. I asked who wrote for and he told me he worked for CU. I asked how he liked it and he said it was nice but that he thought the Subaru Forester was a better choice.....that pretty much told me everything I needed to know....

 

[IndyFan]

My JL was a very early production 1st year machine made when the production line was new and slow. They kept it and all the early production JL´s in a lot for teams of QC engineers to go over every detail on them. The only flaw I found on mine was a tiny glue drip from one of the hard top windows. You know the rule about 1st year models. I didn´t care. This thing has turned out to be one of the most trouble free vehicles I´ve ever owned. The fit and finish on it was impeccable, with the exception of that glue drip. It defied conventional wisdom.

It has been to Moab 4 times, and many, many other places from Tennessee, to NC, to Michigan, to Kentucky, to Maine, Vermont, Virginia, and New Hampshire.

Probably the toughest trail, surprisingly, was Jericho Mountain in New Hampshire (or VT??). I got stuck in a boulder field that the other Jeeps in the group dared not to enter. It took 2 winches, a snatch block, a Hi Lift Jack, and lots of Kentucky engineering to get that thing out. It took 3 hours of blood, sweat, and colorful language. It came out with only a couple scratches on the frame rails and skid plates. A quick touch up with Rustoleum Rust Reformer when we got home and she was no worse for the wear!

 

[02SE]

As I have noted several times before, in order to be considered a marque expert on BITOG you cannot have owned, driven, or even sat in the vehicle you are critiquing.

The read testers experience, trumps actual owner experience every time...

 

[MCompact]

when the JL wrangler first came out I was hiking with my dog and just happen to cross paths with a guy walking his dog and the two dogs started playing...he noticed my cap (had Moab on it) and asked if I had been to Moab..I told him I went jeeping there all the time...he told me he was recently invited to Moab as a guest tester/journalist for the new wrangler JL 2.0. I asked who wrote for and he told me he worked for CU. I asked how he liked it and he said it was nice but that he thought the Subaru Forester was a better choice.....that pretty much told me everything I needed to know....

Two of my favorite CU road test observations:
1. When the Dodge Omni Charger 2.2 was tested it was pointed out that the "loud" exhaust made some of their test drivers nervous.
2. In their test of a 1984 Mustang GT the writer questioned whether any car needed 175 horsepower.

 

[IndyFan]

I had to dig this up. David Vinjamuri, a writer for Forbes Online, did a big article on the gamble Jeep took with the JL. He found me from a YouTube video I made mocking his friends at Motor Trend who seemed to have forgotten how to drive a clutch. He interviewed me for 2 hours and there are a couple quotes in the article.

He had young kids and in the interview, I told him he needed to get a Jeep and that they would beg him to go for rides with the top open. After the article was published, he bought one and took his wife and kids on a Jeep Jamboree. He told me it was one of the best times they had ever had together.

He showed my YouTube video to the Motor Trend writers who had criticized the clutch for being to quick to engage, which is what they blamed for them stalling the pre-production Rubicons in a New Zealand press excursion. They laughed and told him what I said in the video was probably right. LOL! They sound like a great bunch of guys. David certainly is a wonderful guy. I wonder if he still has that Jeep?

It´s an interesting article and really captures some of the Jeep Thing that non-owners don´t understand.

Jeep Article

 

[Allaned]

the people that hate them or say they ride terrible or whatever are usually the people with no experience with them....it is laughable comparing a cj, yj tj etc to a JK and even more so to a JL....kind of the old..I will never own a Ford because back in 1978 my uncle had a 73 pinto that gave him lots of trouble...or what about those chevy vegas........I have no issue if people think they are ugly and don't like them because they will never venture offroad etc...in fact for me the only reason to own a wrangler is if you are going to get outside and play off the beaten path.....for me the wranglers are the best tool for what we like to do...but I get that they are not for everybody but I do think it i funny when their argument against them is based on no actual experience.

View attachment 318098

This sentiment is why I don't have a Wrangler. Every time I see one I momentarily think "I would like to have one of those". Then come to my senses and think: "Forget it, you would never use it as it should be" So I stick with our Grand Cherokee.

 

[MCompact]

This sentiment is why I don't have a Wrangler. Every time I see one I momentarily think "I would like to have one of those". Then come to my senses and think: "Forget it, you would never use it as it should be" So I stick with our Grand Cherokee.

When we were looking to replace my TJ my wife and I drove a JLU Sahara and a GC Trailhawk back to back. In all honesty the GC would have probably have worked just as well for us as the JLU- but to my surprise my wife preferred the Wrangler.

 

[Donald]

So ignore members here with zero issues that actually beat on them - yeah, we should all close our minds down and turn to CR

The frequency of repair listed on Consumer Reports are from annual surveys of Consumer Reports members. Not Consumer Reports testers analyzing the vehicles. So a much larger audience than BITOG members.

And being bottom of the barrel for frequency of repairs does not mean every Jeep will have a problem rather it only means you will be a higher chance of having a problem than someone who bought a vehicle with a low frequency of repair like a Toyota.

 

[Donald]

The frequency of repairs for all the Jeeps I´ve owned for 35 years is actually pretty amazing. VERY few in hundreds of thousands of miles. Nearly half a million. I´d stack them up against pretty much anything out there. And they have an unfair disadvantage. They´ve been pounded off-road for thousands of miles. And they´ve held up beautifully.

Consumer reports is media. Go ahead and believe it all, if you´d like.

Somehow, over many decades, I have found that the brands CU says are terrible seem to do just fine if maintained properly. They´ve always had an agenda against American made vehicles. I´ve seen that my entire life. Can you imagine that a major American media outlet has a bias against American products? Really shocking, right? LOL!

You need to understand the difference between Consumer Reports testers evaluating a vehicle and the frequency of repair information from Consumer Reports member surveys. Very different sources of information.

 

[IndyFan]

The frequency of repair listed on Consumer Reports are from annual surveys of Consumer Reports members. Not Consumer Reports testers analyzing the vehicles. So a much larger audience than BITOG members.

And being bottom of the barrel for frequency of repairs does not mean every Jeep will have a problem rather it only means you will be a higher chance of having a problem than someone who bought a vehicle with a low frequency of repair like a Toyota.

Their data has never matched up with my experience on any make.