Is JL initial build quality and reliability truly bad?

[That One Guy]

Curious as to the community's input on this. Between weld quality, early electronic gremlins, massive production delays, and a fair slew of new owners getting stranded, or needing service immediately into ownership, what's your take? Is build quality and initial reliability acceptable on this, especially as a daily driver?

Supposedly for every owner with a vocal, bad experience, there's nine silent happy customers, right? Any high-mile early JL owners that have had zero problems?

It's always been my halo, dream vehicle, and I want one. I'm starting to cross-shop Tacomas again, and could use some community reassurance that a JL generation Jeep Wrangler purchase won't ruin my life in some kind of way.

Thanks for reading.

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[ZukiSam]

I’m going to wait it out and see how things develop. I’m OK if I don‘t get a JL right away. Personally, I’d find a Tacoma kinda boring. But there are plenty of other vehicles that could fill the void while the JL is improved and other options, versions, or editions are brought to market. Buying something used could reduce depreciation when that vehicle is sold to acquire a JL in the future, if that turns out to be the direction to go.

 

[cnyjl]

Curious as to the community's input on this. Between weld quality, early electronic gremlins, massive production delays, and a fair slew of new owners getting stranded, or needing service immediately into ownership, what's your take? Is build quality and initial reliability acceptable on this, especially as a daily driver?

Supposedly for every owner with a vocal, bad experience, there's nine silent happy customers, right? Any high-mile early JL owners that have had zero problems?

It's always been my halo, dream vehicle, and I want one. I'm starting to cross-shop Tacomas again, and could use some community reassurance that a JL generation Jeep Wrangler purchase won't ruin my life in some kind of way.

Thanks for reading.

I get your concern but I think it's overblown for a new vehicle. And that's from a guy who's first build just failed inspection and a second one was started. Going by my VIN numbers, there were almost 53,000 JL's assigned VIN numbers between by first VIN date on 1/25 and my 2nd on 3/28. I'm not going to say they don't have wind noise issues, or weld issues, but I'll bet (and am betting) that the ratio of happy campers to "vocal bad experiences" is a lot higher than 9:1. The "massive" production delays indicate to me that they either underestimated demand or their suppliers couldn't provide an adequate number of parts or supplied parts that didn't meet quality control. I'm not sure what a "fair slew" is, I've seen a handful. Granted, not reassuring, but out of the number of jeeps they're building, doesn't seem unreasonable or alarming to me. But then again, I'm not stuck on the side of the interstate at 2 am in one. There's a backlog, people want their jeeps and are complaining about the process. Once people start getting their orders in a timely fashion, I'll bet it swings the other way to satisfied owners pretty quick. Last but not least, mine failed inspection. How many are failing inspection or being caught by quality control? Mine was. They're working on the issues. Oh, and a tacoma? Sorry, I get they're dependable but these jeeps are on a whole new and different level.

 

[Jeepsterfreak]

What do you mean by "failed inspection"? Your Jeep failed inspection by the factory and is being delayed?

 

[cnyjl]

What do you mean by "failed inspection"? Your Jeep failed inspection by the factory and is being delayed?

Yes. Actually failed inspection and they're building a new one. After framing, paint and trim they move to inspection for quality control. They usually seem to move right through inspection same or next day. Can hang out there longer while they attempt to fix any issues. Mine was in inspection 3/3 and failed 3/26, and I was notified by my dealership of the failure and was given a new VON and VIN on 3/28/18. There's 5 or 6 people on this forum in that status now, a couple since 3/10.

 

[Mordin Solus]

A few random thoughts from a guy on the internet.

1) 1st year new gen issues are common. Some issues worse than others. I purchased the 1st year Miata ND in 2015 and had it in for issues much worse than I am seeing here. Headlights and housing had to be replaced, rotors, and issues with the soft top. Then a bunch of silly stuff like the forward camera failing and lighting my dashboard up. And for manual trans owners there was an issue with the transmission failing. Debate on that issue is still going, 327-page thread on the Miata forums.

2) Enthusiast forums tend to be…. Well at best they are vocal, sometimes just completely nuts. Was that way for my years on the Corvette forum, just as bad on the Miata forum, and I would expect some degree of that here.

3) Let’s use the talk about rust as an example. Reading some of the posts here it is a nightmare situation that will lead to Jeeps flying apart on the roads. Is it really that bad? Who knows! I did some reading around forums and saw similar complaints on a mix of SUV’s, Trucks, and even the JK, so it does not feel like some inherent flaw with the JL to me.

4) There is a subset of people who will try and talk themselves out of a purchase. Seen it with cars, video games, and hell even appliances. They will latch on to things said on a forum as confirmation that their decision to not make a purchase is the right one. I mean, ok that’s cool and all if that is what you want to do, but don’t make a big damn production over it. BigLiftBro does not need to post a damn manifesto about why he is not buying a Jeep or whatever the hell it is he has decided not to buy.

 

[That One Guy]

A few random thoughts from a guy on the internet.
4) There is a subset of people who will try and talk themselves out of a purchase. Seen it with cars, video games, and hell even appliances. They will latch on to things said on a forum as confirmation that their decision to not make a purchase is the right one. I mean, ok that’s cool and all if that is what you want to do, but don’t make a big damn production over it. BigLiftBro does not need to post a damn manifesto about why he is not buying a Jeep or whatever the hell it is he has decided not to buy.

If that's how you read my post, I would suggest you try again. If I was "trying to talk myself out of it", I wouldn't bother rooting for it, and throwing hundreds of posts down here. Merely trying to make a good decision either way. I'm 25, and spending $30,000 on a vehicle is big for me, so if it's okay with you, I'm trying to gain information and insight to make good decisions.

This isn't some "I'm not buying a Jeep 'manifesto'". It's a "guys let's talk objectively about this" thread.

The rest of your post, excluding what I have quoted, was much more coherent, and thanks for it.

 

[wanderer]

Take real close look athe tacoma They have gone backwards in a few ways. The brakes that used to be all wheel discs are now drum in the rear! WTF> And there are a few other back wards steps. Toyota has many fans and I have owned a few 1 tacoma 1 land cruiser 2 fourrunners and 2 pickups. and a supra. I enjoy their cars but they are not particularily at ALL customer oriented. I think that Jeep really foucused on the client. Sure thay have some build problems but so does everyone. on my toyotas I had issues. The firsy 78 4wheel drive pick up had a heat shield that ratted and buzzed and a carb that would vapor lock. The second pick up had no bearing races in the transmissions 5 trannys later I dunped that pos the four runner was ok but the rear diff blew.
The 2000 land crusiser had them main computer fry at 105,000 miles. and inthe supra the bolts in the sterring would shear off if you made a u turn and went over a speed bump (happened 4 times before I figured it out) also the interior door handles kept breaking. In my 07 tacoma it was fine but I sold it with 27,000 miles on it.

So ask your self this when you are driving down the road a nice JLUR goes by and doens't wave to you in your toy. What are you gonna do?:cwl::cwl::cwl::cwl::cwl:

 

[Mordin Solus]

If that's how you read my post, I would suggest you try again. If I was "trying to talk myself out of it", I wouldn't bother rooting for it, and throwing hundreds of posts down here. Merely trying to make a good decision either way. I'm 25, and spending $30,000 on a vehicle is big for me, so if it's okay with you, I'm trying to gain information and insight to make good decisions.

This isn't some "I'm not buying a Jeep 'manifesto'". It's a "guys let's talk objectively about this" thread.

The rest of your post, excluding what I have quoted, was much more coherent, and thanks for it.

Nah that was not directed at you. As I said, subset of people across many different products. Using the Miata ND again as an example, there were people going back and forth over to purchase. And I recall one specific case where someone posted their battery was dead 3 days in to ownership and some dude jumping in going "Yup! This right here is why I will not be buying the ND!"

 

[That One Guy]

Nah that was not directed at you. As I said, subset of people across many different products. Using the Miata ND again as an example, there were people going back and forth over to purchase. And I recall one specific case where someone posted their battery was dead 3 days in to ownership and some dude jumping in going "Yup! This right here is why I will not be buying the ND!"

You are spot on about something we all sorta know here, which is that early generation builds do just kind of inherently have more problems. I was considering ND Miatas myself, and also saw that early 6MT's had big failures rates, which surprised me. Even with the almighty Honda Accord, I just saw a dude with a broken down 2018 posting elsewhere...

And hey, I'm planning on buying a manual Sport. Less shit to break, right? Haha

 

[cnyjl]

That One Guy said: ↑
I'm 25, and spending $30,000 on a vehicle is big for me.

As Nike says, just do it. There's a warranty to cover any issues and there's few other vehicles that retain the resale value like wranglers. And a wrangler is a one of a kind experience.

 

[wranglerguyman]

That One Guy said: ↑
I'm 25, and spending $30,000 on a vehicle is big for me.

As Nike says, just do it. There's a warranty to cover any issues and there's few other vehicles that retain the resale value like wranglers. And a wrangler is a one of a kind experience.

Amen to that. Age is just a number. I'm 23 and I just purchased a loaded Rubicon. I might as well enjoy my 20's.

And no, I don't make a substantial income for me to brag. I financed it lol.

 

[SoCalWrangler]

Hey OP,

Was on the same boat as you at a similar age. Even with making six figures for a salary, I still ended up getting a used tacoma. The JL is a bit pricey right now and will slowly be incentivized when gas goes up. Just a suggestion but, why not buy a jk or older tacoma? Dont get me wrong, the JL is a beaut but it seems to make alot more sense to buy when the demand is slightly lower. When the Diesel and hybrid come out, Im willing to bet that the 3.6 JLs will lose more value then expected and will mst likely buy then.

Just a thought!

As far as the Tacoma discussion goes. Its truly a great truck. Does everything exceptionally well but will never give you that true excitement that the wrangler provides. Ill be selling my Taco for a JL when the time is right!

 

[ZukiSam]

The mere fact that someone has serious doubts about making a big purchase should be enough for them to answer their own question.

 

[That One Guy]

The mere fact that someone has serious doubts about making a big purchase should be enough for them to answer their own question.

Huh? You've never heard of someone being careful, and having serious doubts, that ended up doing or buying the thing in question?

Alrighty then.

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