[Principal Skinr]

Hi! I'm hoping the JL will be my 3rd Jeep. I had a 93 YJ that I ran for 10 years. It was a 4 cylinder 5 speed basic Wrangler, and it was wonderful. I put about 130,000 miles on it and had a moment of stupidity and sold it. I was really regretted it until I purchased my 2nd Jeep, a 2008 Unlimited Rubicon. The Rubicon is still my daily driver. I've got about 109,000 miles on it and it runs and drives great. It is simply a beast off road.

If they don't screw up the Wrangler, or price it out of reach, I'll be looking at a 2019 Unlimited Rubicon. I'm optimistic that they'll get it right.

 

[Jeepernator]

Welcome to the forum! I'm sure Jeep won't make too many changes to the new Wrangler at least in the design department. What are you hoping to see in the new 2019 Unlimited Rubicon?

 

[Mangler]

Welcome to the forums ! That's definitely a great history with Wranglers, you've definitely got some serious mileage done on both of them. What do you think of the new Hurricane 4 cylinder engine that's supposed to be in there?

 

[gladiator]

Welcome to the forum.

I know how you feel about getting rid of it. I would too especially after doing high mileage maintenance which after spending all that money makes you want to drive it for longer.

Did you end up doing any modifications to your Wrangler while you had it?

 

[Johnson]

Welcome !

Anything you hoping they fix in the Jeep that you have now and bring out in the new JL ?

 

[gladiator]

Well, leaky soft top was one of them and this time around we won't be getting the soft top, like a few other things, it is going to the chopping block.
Don't know if the OP had a soft top but if he/she did, that's likely going to come up.

 

[Principal Skinr]

Welcome to the forum! I'm sure Jeep won't make too many changes to the new Wrangler at least in the design department. What are you hoping to see in the new 2019 Unlimited Rubicon?

Sorry for the delay! I haven't been around here much.

I'm hoping for several things that I'd view as upgrades over my JK (which I dearly love, btw.) First, I'd like a better power to weight ratio, with better fuel economy. I'm hoping the manual gets within 1mpg of the 8 speed auto, or I'll probably go with the auto. I really want the manual, though.

I'd also like a little more leg room. I'm 6'5" tall, and my knee is precariously close to the center stack on the JK. I'd also like a little more head room. I've always worried about my head contacting the roll bars in an accident.

Of course, the Rubicon MUST still have lockers front and rear, along with the sway bar disconnect.

I'd like to see a topo map capability in the Nav system, with some existing trail maps on it, such as Moab trails or any of the Jeep Badge of Honor trails. I'd also love to see a customizable dash screen, so I can change the layout and style of the guages to my liking. That is simple enough tech today, and for the price the Rubicon will command, should not be too much to ask for.

I also hope it doesn't lose any off-road capability. I'm a little wary of the longer hood, due to the longer auto transmission. Will that mean a longer wheelbase? I hope not, as the breakover angle wasn't great on the JKU. It took a 2" lift and 33" tires to get my JK's breakover angle where i wanted it to be.

Finally, while I've been fine with the old 3.8 engine, other than oil consumption, I want an engine that I can really enjoy. My wife's big 15 passenger Ford Transit van has a 3.5 Ecoboost that just throws it around like a toy. Every time I get in that thing, it puts a smile on my face. It is really unbelieveable. No reason Jeep can't offer an engine with that kind of performance. Btw, that big van, with my wife, me, 9 kids, and all the crap they bring along, gets better mileage than my JK, and still offers strong performance. I don't think I'm asking too much there. Man, I'd love to just have that Ecoboost and have it connected to a good 6 speed manual. What a hoot that would be! The 400lbs plus of torque would make the diesel completely unecessary in the JL, too.

I've heard rumors of kind of a hybrid top, and that's intriguing to me. I don't want to swap back and forth from hard to soft top, like I do now. Also, the doors MUST come off. In fact, if they don't, then the decision will be easy and I'll go with a Chevy Colorado ZR2. I'm very confident the doors will be removable, though. That would be a deal breaker, to me.

I'd love to see the colors Olive or Anville when I'm ready to order. That would be icing on the cake!

What are you all hoping to see?

 

[Principal Skinr]

Welcome to the forums ! That's definitely a great history with Wranglers, you've definitely got some serious mileage done on both of them. What do you think of the new Hurricane 4 cylinder engine that's supposed to be in there?

I don't know much about it. If it gets good mileage and has at least as good power/weight ratio as the Pentastar in the JK, then I'd consider it, as long as there is a good 4-5 mpg gain in fuel economy. What I'd really like to see, though, is a clone of the Ford 3.5 Ecoboost. That thing is a monster and would be perfect in a Jeep. It has gobs of torque, right off idle, and it pulls hard all the way to redline. It gets good fuel economy, too. In my wife's Transit 15 passenger van, it makes a laughing stock out of our previous Chevy 3500's 6.0 V8. No comparison. It does the same with the big V8's Ford had in the Econoline vans, too. Make it a reworked Pentastar with a similar twin turbo, VVT, and direct injection setup. Just a DI Pentastar would be good, but those turbos are where it's at for low end torque.

We'll see. I'm open minded about everything but the diesel. I think its price is going to be over the top, so I probably won't even consider it.

 

[Principal Skinr]

Welcome to the forum.

I know how you feel about getting rid of it. I would too especially after doing high mileage maintenance which after spending all that money makes you want to drive it for longer.

Did you end up doing any modifications to your Wrangler while you had it?

My soft top never has leaked, so that hasn't been an issue, for me. I added a 2" AEV lift, 33" BFG KM2 tires, a winch on the front bumper, and Rancho shocks (I got them free from Rancho, including installation, as part of a promo in Moab!) My YJ had no lift, but I put 29" BFG KM's on it. I rubbed the skid plates a bit, but it did just fine. I also lined the interior with Lava liner. Man, I loved that little YJ. Seling it was one of the most bone headed things I've ever done, vehicle wise.

The only major issue I've got with my JK is oil consumption. While the 3.8 is no powerhouse, it has been a sweetheart of an engine for me. It is smooth, quiet, and has adequate power, and it has been 100% reliable. I've changed spark plugs twice and several PCV valves, and a belt. It just likes to gulp fuel and burn just under a quart of oil every 1k miles. The 6 speed has had a couple of issues, but hasn't left me stranded. All but a failed slave cylinder were covered by warranty. It is still on the original clutch, and it still feels fine. I'll be curious to see how far it goes. I know a guy with 140,000 miles on the original clutch!

 

[gladiator]

Glad to know leaking might not be an issue although with a new model you just never know 100%.
But that does provide some insight on Jeeps ability to build a solid system.

Did you buy your JK brand new or used?

 

[Principal Skinr]

Glad to know leaking might not be an issue although with a new model you just never know 100%.
But that does provide some insight on Jeeps ability to build a solid system.

Did you buy your JK brand new or used?

I bought it new. A guy had ordered it many months prior and the day it came in, he decided he didn't want it. It was equipped exactly as I wanted, color and all, so I lucked out.

 

[Jeepernator]

I'm sure Jeep will stick with removable doors, at this point it's synonymous with the Wrangler badge and just won't be the same without them. I don't think we'll be getting an EcoBoost engine but we may be getting an EcoDiesel V6 as an option with an 8 speed transmission, at least that's what AutoBlog said a while back.

 

[Johnson]

Ah... ecodiesel I won't care too much about. But I agree with Skinr, if they could definitely something as great and as capable as the Fords Ecoboost, that would be amazing and a huge hit. I'm sure they would also stuff more power into it as well.

 

[gladiator]

I'm sure Jeep will stick with removable doors, at this point it's synonymous with the Wrangler badge and just won't be the same without them. I don't think we'll be getting an EcoBoost engine but we may be getting an EcoDiesel V6 as an option with an 8 speed transmission, at least that's what AutoBlog said a while back.

It's been confirmed that doors will be one of the things we'll be able to remove, among the rest that won't be removable and on that list is the windshield, this time around it will be static. Really looking at it, you can see how easy and supportive of their larger goals that allowing doors to be removable is on the JL.

Actually even the generation after the JL should still have removable doors.

 

[HighRider]

I'm sure someone will come up with a windshield lowering solution once the JL is out, but what we don't have to worry about is the removable doors and probably the roof too.

Too bad about the EcoBoost, that would be nice in the new Wrangler JL. All we can do is look at what engines Jeep currently has on their lineup, maybe the 6.4L HEMI SRT V8 from their Grand Cherokee SRT?

 

[Jeepernator]

I doubt Jeep would stuff that much power under the hood of a Wrangler, that V8 delivers 475 horsepower and it's more for track than off roading.

 

[Johnson]

Can't see them offering the the 6.4 SRT engine into the Wrangler as a regular production model. They'll probably have another concept with it or MAYBE if we're lucky, we could see a limited production run of that combo.

 

[gladiator]

It's possible as long as they're willing to invest the R&D into making the sort of changes that will allow that engine to work with the rest of the vehicle in harmony.
But i'm not depending on it. In situations like this there's always a higher probability of some shop or some individual doing it than the actual car maker.

Doesn't hurt to be as cool as Nissan

 

[Mangler]

To be honest... that is pretty cool haha! Not super fond of that roof spoiler thing, but it does help the look overall. Some aftermarket company will definitely get around to it though just like they did the JKs.

 

[Jeepernator]

As nice as that would be, Jeep doesn't need to put a 6.4 SRT engine into the new Wrangler JL for it to sell well and they probably know it. That's too bad as 470 lb-ft of torque at low rpms would make the Jl an off-road beast.