[Johnson]

Marchionne says that the Wrangler JL will be flawless.

“It’s a perfect car,” Marchionne said. “It fixes all the problems of the old car and it keeps the identity of the Wrangler.”

When he says all of the problems of the old car, it sounds like he's saying there were many..

Can anyone think of any issues that the JK has/had that the JL will be taking care of ?

info via 2018 Jeep Wrangler JL 'A Perfect Car', Marchionne Says

 

[gladiator]

Well that's easy to say, and surely he wouldn't say it will be a dud, but that's not to say it will or will not. We'll know how true his statement is once the JL is running in consumer hands for at least 6 months.

 

[Mangler]

I would sure hope it would be a heck of a lot better than the previous generation was. If they left the problems of the old one, that would be kinda pointless lol. I'm unsure on what issues the JK had before though.

 

[Jeepernator]

Well there was a power train problem with the outgoing Wrangler, mainly the manual transmission that sometimes didn't work for some owners or felt loose. Some other miscellaneous problems. You can find a lot of them from car complaints. I assume the same problems won't arise if the new Wrangler is perfect. That's a great promise for potential buyers whoa re new to the jeep brand, it's reliability reputation could have been preventing them from purchasing a Wrangler.

 

[HighRider]

The journalist claims that one problem is the "cheap feeling and boring looking interior", but I don't really mind the quality so long as it keeps the price down and it's ergonomically sound. Don't really need anything fancy like soft touch plastics and leather. That's what luxury cars are for.

 

[Johnson]

The shifters in the manual Wranglers were always loose feeling. Comparable to the gearboxes in a used 1998 Civic. Finding the gears became a game at times. Hopefully they aren't just blowing smoke and will actually remedy as many of the issues as they can possibly find by doing the appropriate research and seeing what people were complaining about.

 

[gladiator]

The journalist claims that one problem is the "cheap feeling and boring looking interior", but I don't really mind the quality so long as it keeps the price down and it's ergonomically sound. Don't really need anything fancy like soft touch plastics and leather. That's what luxury cars are for.

I would like to see where that review came from since most owners just don't care and if they do its just one of the micro concerns they have which don't hold nearly as much weight as everything else we expect from a Wrangler.

If Jeep is smart they'll offer nicer interiors on higher trims. They can get us to easily buy basemodels but playing with what buyers want and are willing to pay more for is quite something for FCA's bottom line.

 

[HighRider]

I think that's just the journalist's opinion, but it's hard for us Jeep fans to look at it from an unbiased perspective. Everything was already perfect in the outgoing Wrangler IMHO, sure it didn't have a large infotainment screen but it had everything I needed in a vehicle.

 

[Johnson]

Has the journalist been in any other Wrangler before? Does he know what they're trying to achieve?

The most I can see them doing is maybe a two tone interior... or a one color interior and different stitching.. nothing beyond that.

 

[gladiator]

I think that's just the journalist's opinion, but it's hard for us Jeep fans to look at it from an unbiased perspective. Everything was already perfect in the outgoing Wrangler IMHO, sure it didn't have a large infotainment screen but it had everything I needed in a vehicle.

Opinions are great when its an opinion that matters, bringing up the obvious stuff that no one cares about brings zero value. However if they talked about how Jeep could have included X over Y and Y is offered elsewhere in the Jeep line up or elsewhere in FCA or something that's an industry norm, then its a different story.

Mentioning an improvement in infotainment would have been one great point.

 

[Gina]

It's really down to personal preference and what I think it a problem, others may not. Jeep can try all they want to create a flawless Wrangler JL so long as it doesn't raise the price of the base model too much. Wouldn't want to push away first time buyers with price shock.

 

[gladiator]

It's really down to personal preference and what I think it a problem, others may not. Jeep can try all they want to create a flawless Wrangler JL so long as it doesn't raise the price of the base model too much. Wouldn't want to push away first time buyers with price shock.

You can't possibly think that pricing will increase so much that it will discourage people from buying. Do you really think that an apple that sells for $0.50 today makes sense to be sold at $4 because of say something to do with a Trump Administration. Point is all they can do is incrementally increase prices year after year. The price today vs price 8 years from now will jump a good amount, but from year to year, logic only points at something small and incremental.

 

[Jeepernator]

There will be a price increase to account for all of the new fangled tech in the Wrangler JL, but it'll probably be around a $1k increase (number is purely based on guessing).

 

[Mangler]

Base Wrangler prices are already cheap considering what you're getting. The capabilities and value that comes with it make it worth it. The base Wrangler starts at $23k, even if they increased that to $25k it would be no issue at all.

 

[gladiator]

There will be a price increase to account for all of the new fangled tech in the Wrangler JL, but it'll probably be around a $1k increase (number is purely based on guessing).

Yes, that's my point. But just because they do some special things this time around doesn't necessarily mean that will be reflected in the price we pay. At the end of the day its the market that dictates what they can be priced at. How they position themselves in the market trumps all other reasons for adjusting price.

Anyone who doesn't understand that has a massive disconnect with reality.

 

[HighRider]

Moving back onto the perfect Wrangler topic, I think we can expect to see a extensive use of aluminum as a weight-saving measure for improved fuel economy and performance. Wranglers aren't really known for fuel economy and Marchionne's perfect model could be a fuel efficient one.

 

[Gina]

I thought this was already stated as a fact. Weight savings are great, but you still have to take into account structural rigidity of the Wrangler. So probably steel in the majority of support pieces and aluminum for general body parts as a way to reduce weight and increase fuel economy while retaining safety standards.

 

[Mangler]

The aluminum being used for weight savings and what not is something everyone already knows. That's nothing new. Doesn't matter if the Wrangler wasn't known for fuel economy or was, the point is, everything coming out now is geared toward having much better fuel economy and to stay competitive, you need to follow that. That's it.

 

[gladiator]

It's going to suck damaging whatever aluminum panels we have going on. If there's any good example of the extent of the cost, look no further than the new F150. Surely you can find some reports. Already this was covered by the media with a test of their own.

 

[DominionOffRoad]

Okay, I'll start the list. Please quote and add to it;

- Doors that stay open
- Evap Canister
- Tie rod that swiveled on it's tie rod ends
- Weak braking power (improved but truly fixed by the Mopar big brake kit)
- Headlights
- Improved rear trackbar geometry
- Heavy duty transfer case cross-member (JK would bend way to easily on rocks)
- Gap between rear sear and rear floor when the back seat is folded down

I'm really surprised that the steering stabilizer didn't get move out of harms way, but we are working on a relocation kit.