Is JL initial build quality and reliability truly bad?

[Fuel Fire Desire]

This is the third New Chrysler product Ive owned. I am actually surprised that there is nothing wrong with it.


My 15 challenger was delivered with no refrigerant in the A/C, steering wheel buttons inoperative, and excessive lash in the driveshaft. My 08 JK was a total mess: no shock bushings installed from the factory, new driveshaft, 2 new transfer cases, new steering stabilizer, new steering column, leaking top (BAD) since day one, throw out bearing failed at 35,000mi, it ate brakes every 13-15,000 miles, and the headlights were aimed into space. (all covered under warranty except the TO bearing and brakes)


The only other vehicle Ive owned that has given me zero problems was a 11 camaro I bought new, and did absolutely nothing to (except oil changes and a set of tires) in 100,000 mi. That car wasn't exactly driven gently either. Im curious to see if the JL makes it anywhere close to that.

Sponsored

 

[digger]

Ive been buying new vehicles of all brands since 1986. Each and every vehicle has had issues right from factory and throughout its life , both good and bad, cant say Ive found one brand much better than others overall.
Fairly new to jeep world, just ordered a JL 2 door Rubicon, fingers crossed about buying first year run. Hope yours works out well

 

[ZukiSam]

@That One Guy - Oh I've heard of it... happens every day. But I wouldn't spend a large amount of money on a discretionary purchase if I had serious doubts about things as fundamental as frame welds. Sometimes though, I admire people who are that bold. Put it in 4 low and go for it...

 

[DanW]

My 08 was pretty good, with only a couple minor issues early on. My JL has no known issues, so far. My 93 YJ was perfect. I've been blessed with good Jeeps.

 

[That One Guy]

My 08 was pretty good, with only a couple minor issues early on. My JL has no known issues, so far. My 93 YJ was perfect. I've been blessed with good Jeeps.

How many miles on your JL so far? I have also seen plenty of actually reliable Wranglers in my lifetime.

By the way, I test drove a JL 6MT Rubicon the other day... nicest V6 truck/SUV clutch and transmission on the planet. And the ride was extremely refined.

 

[Man-of-methods]

Here's some reassurance. I'm a first time Jeep owner. I've wanted one since highschool. Now that I have my very own custom ordered Rubicon (it took 39 days from order to delivery and I didn't track it, I waited like a kid for Santa Clause) I'm happy to report ZERO problems on my Jeep. I've owned Ford Rangers, Taurus SHO, Probe GT, Explorers, Expedition, Toyota Camry, Honda Odyssey, Civic, and two Nissan Titans. I've been lucky. No major problems with any vehicle I've owned....except the Expedition, it was a can of bolts. It rattled. I buy new vehicles, not used. Am I a picky guy? You bet your ass I am. But I don't garner attention about my complaints. I've crawled under and looked through every nook and cranny of my new Jeep. I'm also one of those guys that reads the owners manual every chance I get. This Jeep is fun to drive. It feels well built, tight and solid. The ride is smooth and crisp. At first I thought there was something wrong with the steering because it was kind of floaty and drifty. I researched and found out that the air pressure in the tires was too high. Lowering it to the required air pressure took care of that. No air leaks on the highway or on windy days. My welds look fine. Electronic gremlins are not bothering me. It's comfortable, so far reliable, and I get lots of compliments. In fact, more so than any other vehicle I've owned. Friends and co-workers warned me that it would be a bumpy, bouncy, rough ride. Nope, not in my Jeep. I love driving this vehicle. It's fun. It's nimble. It's easy to park. It's responsive. The stereo is among the best I've had stock. I upgrade to the best stereos the factories ever offered. It suits my needs and has exceeded my expectations. Yes, it's expensive. In the end, you won't take any of that money you save with you when you die. YOLO
I love my Jeep

 

[AZCrawl]

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:

When did Tacoma's ever have disc brakes in the rear?

 

[Gangreen]

Only issue I've had in 2200 miles is a brief moment where the doors would not lock/unlock with fobs. Corrected itself and no issues with it since.

 

[Grindhouseknives]

I have put roughly 1400 miles on my JL Sport S in the month that I’ve owned it and I am very satisfied with it. The ride quality is much nicer than my 2007 JKU X. The 6sp is great. It is way better than the 6sp in my JK. The clutch took a little getting used to, but after that learning curve, I really enjoy the manual transmission. I haven’t had any issues save one where I killed it at a stop sign and couldn’t get it started again. I got it started again fairly quickly but I was a bit un-nerved there for a little while. I have not been able to reproduce the issue so I think it was a one time issue. There are a few quirks like I have to pause slightly between pushing the clutch in and pressing the start button. They cannot be done simultaneously and you have to hold the start button in until it starts unlike my wife’s Honda Pilot which only requires that the push button be tapped once to start it.

 

[EROCK]

...I traded a 2018 4Runner for my Wrangler. I did this consciously knowing that I would be more likely to encounter problems. However , the stuff you have to sacrifice to get Toyota’s reliability is major. The seating position sucks in the Tacoma and 4Runner unless you are short, the interior is spartan and cheap, it’s a pig on gas, and 0 fun to drive.
My thought is you could die tomorrow so why drive something that sucks just for reliability. Toyota sticks with what works, whether you like it or not.

Also just to throw a wrench in, the 3.5 engine and 6 speed transmission in Tacoma had major issues when released and still lack a lot to be desired. The 3.8 and 8 speed make good power down low so the Jeep feels way faster and from this decade.

In the grand scheme of life it probably won’t matter which you choose tbh, but I’d get the Jeep

 

[The Great Grape Ape]

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.

The Wrangler won’t change price when the Diesel or the Hybrid come out because they won’t be cheap. Even a JK now didn’t drop in price significantly. So don’t expect major price changes in the next 3 years. Which is why old Wranglers are not a better buy than a new financed JL.
You mention gas going up, this is another reason not to get an old JK or Taco, both the ildee transmission and the Taco’s older engine are bad for gas, so you’re losing much of that ‘savings’ anyways, and getting a lesser vehicle.

If financing a vehicle long term with montly payments, it makes more sense to get something you will enjoy more while making those payments, because getting an older version of two of the highest resale value vehicles on the market doesn’t really save you much monetarily, but costs you a lot on in features.

 

[The Great Grape Ape]

@That One Guy , first year’s are always an issue, especially when there is a lot of changes like in the JL, but as DanW mentions, warranties can help a lot there, especially since you can extend before the original is up.

That being said, a lot of it is luck of the draw too, I’ve had 7 Wranglers, and will be getting the JLU likely in the Fall when the 3.6+BSG comes out, and have sofar had no major issues with any of then, just minor stuff like the rear defrost connector always breaking off on the JKs every other year, or the DVD wouldn’t eject after 1,000 miles of silica dust in the NWT. You will get a number of issues/complaints for any vehicle, even the ‘reliable’ Toyotas, sometimes it’s just unlucky, the question is how they deal with that, and how easy to fix both in & out of warranty if you keep for long term.

Realistically the two vehicles you’re looking at are in different passion classes as well. The Tacoma is solid, I just helped a good friend get a 2017 Tacoma TRD, after we discussed the advantages on not buying a used 2015 (for almost the same price [negative aspect of good resale] because of the old vs new especially engine, however it’s a utility vehicke for him he has other fun vehicles, so this is an accounting decision for a vehicke that might need to tow his boat when his wife’s V8 full-sized SUV isn’t available. If this is your only vehicle, especially for a long-term keeper, then factoring in the enjoyment is necessary.

Fortunately , whichever you go with likely won’t be a bad decision, because you can always change your mind and then buy the other for a lot less risk than buying something like a Mustang or Colorado/Canyon etc with higher depreciation.

 

[JL Rubi Khan]

The Wrangler won’t change price when the Diesel or the Hybrid come out because they won’t be cheap. Even a JK now didn’t drop in price significantly. So don’t expect major price changes in the next 3 years. Which is why old Wranglers are not a better buy than a new financed JL.
You mention gas going up, this is another reason not to get an old JK or Taco, both the ildee transmission and the Taco’s older engine are bad for gas, so you’re losing much of that ‘savings’ anyways, and getting a lesser vehicle.

If financing a vehicle long term with montly payments, it makes more sense to get something you will enjoy more while making those payments, because getting an older version of two of the highest resale value vehicles on the market doesn’t really save you much monetarily, but costs you a lot on in features.

I like when you post, man!

 

[wanderer]

gotta disagree there .... does nothingexcpetionally well but does alot of things pretty well... Some friends of mine have a jky aev and a tacoma with everything you could ver want on it. THey are selling the taco because on a recent 10 day off road trip trhough colorado it had probelms going where jeeps went, But I swear if you saw it You would say wow that is a Nice rig. So what did they do? They bought another JKU aev.. when you by their house you think Wowohw

When did Tacoma's ever have disc brakes in the rear?

there is a write up onthe new tacoma on expedition portal That is what they said. I think my 07 had 4 wheel discs too.

 

[Spank]

I've owned a YJ, TJs, and JKs and the majority of problems I've had with my entire history with the Wrangler were the earlier model JKs. And most of the problems occurred well before the bumper-to-bumper warranty expired. I'm a hair above 4,000 miles on my JL and so far I haven't had any problems. I'm still not entirely confident I won't have an issue, but I do have to say the JL "feels" well-built.

There's a confidence in the JL that literally resonates from the pavement, through the frame, to the seat, and into you as the driver that the TJ had. If you've ever driven a TJ or just sat in one, you know the feeling. There was always a sense of pride in the construction of the vehicle. The YJ had it, too, despite being a much different vehicle, through its simplicity. The JK never had that.

Of course, a vehicle can feel good and still end up being an utter piece of garbage, but I've already taken my JL on a wheeling trip and it feels just as good off-road as it does on-road. There are a ton of videos of people punishing their Rubicons almost immediately after taking them off the lot and they perform without question or hesitation. Again, in the early years, the JK never had that.

Sure, I've got a first year vehicle and yeah, these things are loaded with technology that could fail at any moment, but the lack of pride and confidence prevalent in the JK is not the case here in a JL. You can tell Jeep actually put some serious effort into making something special. The later model JKs eventually got the attention they deserved, but look back at any '07-'10 JK and it's essentially a parts bin vehicle. I've mentioned in other discussions that Chrysler and subsequently Jeep just didn't really give a shit ten years ago and did a lazy, lackluster job on the Wrangler to simply squeeze out something new. It actually took Fiat to get Jeep to give the Wrangler some serious love again.

The JL is the JK done right.

Sponsored