Kurt here...Guess I should post an intro to now that I am actively in the market for a JL.
I'm doing as much research as I can for all the JL info I can find since Jeep is so tight lipped. Looking to get into a 4 banger JL if they tune it properly and the roof and doors still come off. If they screw it up I may end up in a 2018 JK. We shall see time will tell hopefully sooner then later.
Welcome to the forum! Not sure about the windshield but the roof and doors should still come off, at least I hope so. If they take away those features or make me pay an arm and a leg for it then I may as well go for the JK.
There's been a lot of talk about the three new roof configurations because we've never seen them on a stock Wrangler before. I assume the hype has been drowning out the more traditional options like fully removing the roof. Or the “true three-piece” is just a fancy way of saying “regular three-piece”.
I was hoping we can get a look at one of the roofs through spy shots but even with the recent round of spy shots, you can't make out what style roof that mule has.
However this time around is wearing much less camo and more along the lines of a pre-production model that some early development test mule.
We really can't tell if the roof has any special panels from the angles of those shots and they covered up the windshield mounting points pretty well too, so I can't see if it's removable or not.
If we had interior shots that might help and since there were none this time around maybe in the next round of spy shots (if there are any) we'll get a look at that.
Either way, we can definitely expect it won't be much different from prior gen. They'll make minor changes here and there with a bit more tech and that's about it.
Well there are expectations of a new infotainment system and for me that's where interior differences from the JK to JL start.
I just hope we don't get something as small as this...
I cant a soft touch steering wheel too. Could care less if the dash and everything else is hard plastic, but I have to grip the wheel every day and I'd prefer something soft and heated.
I can imagine the soft touch steering wheel will be there. Been in the 2017 Compass recently and the steering wheel was definitely real soft. I think it was heated as well? I have small hands, but the steering wheel wasn't too skinny nor too fat feeling. It was a full, nice, soft kind of grip.
Even if there's nothing much beyond the leather wrapped onto the steering wheel, most of us will be happy enough with it. Worst case scenario we'll need a steering wheel cover. Coming from a history of old cars and sport cars that typically had hard steering wheels, that type of comfort won't be nearly as important.
As far as I can recall its only the GC which gets a heated steering wheel, so odds are this will be the first Wrangler to get it as a factory option.
Also on this note about steering feel is feedback coming from the steering rack and vibrations from other areas of the vehicle that makes its way up, JK's are notorious for that, hopefully this time they work that out.
I think the limited editions have a heated steering wheel. The new compass has it as well. So I can't see why the Wrangler wouldn't get it this time around.
I've heard some steering wheels shake ever so slightly, but it's not a death wobble and just tiring on long drives. Jeep has had years to fix it and they'll probably implement it in the JL.
Minor shakes I don't mind at all. Can almost never get away from that entirely so it shouldn't be much of an issue. But obviously if they can find a way to minimize it to the max extent, I would be a lot happier.
But the question is, will they? They're doing incremental changes as always and changing major components like that is a big thing. If they haven't received enough complaints about the JKs, it would be in their best interest to utilize the same parts as they're already there.
Hence why I said opportunity since for all I know they could be happy with it, tough to say where they stand. But with the JL soon to come to market and changes happening at its production facility, odds are they already made the call on that one.
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