Convince me to buy a 2022 Wrangler

[JohnnyG]

Please don't laugh but my daily drivers from 1988 to present have been Suzuki SUV's, all bought new. Started with a Samurai and currently a 2005 Grand Vitara. They have all been fabulous, very low maintenance with overbuilt drivetrains. Bought the 2005 because it was the last zuk (at least in USA) that had a boxed ladder frame & part time 4WD with a xfer case, later SUVs were wimpy AWD unibody crossovers. Incidently I did consider a Jeep when I bought my 2005 but the dealers were A-holes & the zuk was way less expensive.

Wanted to keep my zuk until the pandemic cleared & prices normalized but unfortunately a bad deer hit obliterated most of my front end sheet metal. I found replacement metal in a local boneyard, it's is being held hostage at a local body shop awaiting paint. I made temporary fixes to the zuk so it is functional but decided to prioritize a replacement. I'm a minimalist & like manual transmissions so that limits possibilities quite a bit. I've looked at Honda Civics, Corolla hatchbacks, & test drove a Subaru Crosstrek which left me unimpressed. The remaining possibility is the Wrangler which I like the most although it is double the price of the aforementioned. What I would buy would be a Sport S 2-door with the only options being hard top, limited slip, & paint. My experience with Jeeps include a few CJ's from the 70's (not mine, barrels of fun) & my sister's husband's 2011 Sahara Unlimited which I have used occasionally. The JK has been impressive in both reliability & rust resistance.

What has made me concerned on the JL are the problems I see on this board that people are reporting. Exploding clutches, poor paint, premature corrosion, unreliability all make this vehicle sound like a total POS. Perhaps these problems are the exception to the rule & they are mostly great? I do know with any product that problems get more exposure than trouble-free. Are there owners out there that have great experiences with none of the above problems that have had them for a while? I know they've only been in production since 2018 but some of them must have some miles on them by now. Convince me that a new Wrangler is the vehicle to buy. Thanks in advance.

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[JABCAT]

As with most car forums, problems are discussed & it may appear that they are widespread. Jeep produces almost 200k Wranglers annually so there are bound to be some issues, but on the flip side why would that many people keep buying them if they were riddled with problems?

My ‘22 will be my 5th Wrangler spread over 25 years. All of them have been problem-free. I just sold our ‘16 JKU that had 61k miles on it 3 weeks ago as we wait for the ‘22 to be built. I purchased it brand new in 2016 for $42k & sold it for $37k - not bad for 6 years and 61k mi.

I perform all the routine maintenance on our vehicles, follow the recommended intervals in the manual, and am particular about what aftermarket parts I put on the vehicle. I’ve never experienced “death wobble” in any of our Jeeps and all have been driven in all weather conditions, off-road, etc.

It appears you keep vehicles for a long time as well, so I would expect you’re diligent about maintenance.

You said you wanted bare bones, but I would recommend the LED lighting pkg & the cold weather pkg at a minimum. The standard lights suck & heated seats & steering wheel are nice to have even on cool nights with the top off.

 

[azwjowner]

I'm also a minimalist who keeps vehicles a long time and worries about problems. Objectively speaking, you are correct to have serious reservations about the quality of the JL. I absolutely refused to consider buying a JL until 2021 when the steering problem was finally fixed. I've continuously read this forum since 2017, took note of the problems reported, and just kept waiting. I think I'm ordering a 2022 (6MT, base Sport 2-door) later this month. It's about as good as the Wrangler is going to get. The problems and fixes are mostly known and apparently Jeep has stopped caring to fix the remaining problems (like door hinge paint bubbling, which may or may not be solved in 2022). I'm OK with the fact that the universe of problems is pretty well known at this point, which at least is more palatable than the unknowns of buying back in '18 or '19.

Plus I have a WJ that soldiers on, yet when I look at the WJ forums they're full of issues that I haven't had (knock on plastic trim).

It is unlikely that you are more patient or neurotic than I am about buying a vehicle. So if I can buy one, you can too!

 

[azwjowner]

You're certainly correct about the paint problems though. I've been looking at colors on the lot this past month and Jeep has *major* orange peel going on. I looked at a Silver Zynith that was great, however.

 

[Lager]

Hi JohnnyG,

I don't think anyone can convince you what to buy. Do what makes you the most happy!! As you stated above, you will most likely hear the most from peeps that had a problem and nothing from a guy like me who has a diesel and thinks it the best!!!

I believe it's sort of like buying a Harley, "Best Financial Decision?": NO WAY!!
"Best Thing I ever did?: Hell Yeah!!

Buy a Jeep (any Jeep) because it's what you want!!! Buying a Wrangler is sort of like joining a Wrangler brotherhood!

 

[JABCAT]

You're certainly correct about the paint problems though. I've been looking at colors on the lot this past month and Jeep has *major* orange peel going on.

My 2 JKUs had really good paint (Firecracker Red & Granite Crystal), but our ‘20 Grand Cherokee has probably the worst orange peel I’ve seen on a vehicle, the fuel door is an obvious different shade than the surrounding panels, and there are weird dark circles about the size of a pencil eraser on a couple panels. If it were my Corvette I’d be pretty ticked, but our GC sees about 30k mi/year, is paid for by my wife’s company, & will be traded in when it hits 100k mi, so it bothers me much less.

Thoroughly inspect the vehicle upon delivery and note any paint issues with the dealership prior to driving it off the lot.

 

[jlewissystem]

Do the research and form an opinion yourself!

 

[SH556JL]

My Jeep so far has been mechanically solid. There’s some cosmetic defects done during manufacturing that Jeep and the dealers have blown me off over; will ultimately lead to corrosion eventually. A few spots the wiring harness was not even connected, fixed myself and all the doors was making contact with the tub (adjusted myself to prevent further damage of the paint on the tub).

Dealers are still A-Holes, from buying to servicing. Why I bought out of state and consider the warranty to be of little value to myself.

The Jeep is a very rewarding drive, worth the price of admission. Buy it, don’t like it, sell it and you damn well will get all your money back.

 

[Strommen95]

The problems are overstated. I would bet the house you'll love the JL. You'd probably love a JK too, but with the prices of used vehicles, buying new is more valuable nowadays. I'm not suggesting the JL is trouble free, but on forums, problems get highlighted. It's also important to note that Wranglers attract far more genuine enthusiasts than the average vehicle. The types of people that will report issues to a forum and nitpick smaller things.

The poster before me says do the research, which sounds nice and I'm sure is meant well, but if one truly spends time on a specific car forum, you'll find more bad than good. That goes for almost every vehicle in my experience. The saying "if you dig, you'll find dirt" applies here. People love to rag on Jeeps, but they wouldn't be up there with the Tacoma for so many years for top resale value if they were pieces of junk. Lastly, your history suggests you know what a Wrangler is and are familiar with this type of vehicle. Many complaints come from people that should've never bought one to begin with.

My personal Wrangler anecdote is 5 trouble free years with a JK, approaching 3 trouble free years with the JL.

 

[TX_Ovrlnd]

Don't do it, you'll have instant buyers remorse once you pop the top and drive around in open air.

 

[JohnnyG]

Thanks all for the great insights. My likely plan is to order from the Horsham place near Philly sometime in March. I'd rather have it sometime in the summer as opposed to giving it a salt bath through the winter. I was hoping all the bugs were worked out after 4 years in production. A couple things I wish they never changed from the JK are the steel vs. aluminum body & the conventional clutch vs. dual mass/ dual disc. Kudos to the creator of the list of below-invoice dealers, there's no such place locally that will come close to that, at least that I've found.

 

[MrBear]

Let's ask the, Magic 8 Ball....answer below!

Lol, I will have to agree with the Magic 8 Ball, you'll probably end up taking my parts and I will regress to D status.

All kidding aside, go for it! If you don't like it, sell it, you might actually make a few $ on the resale.

If anyone has questions for the Magic 8 Ball let me know

 

[Shibadog]

Thanks all for the great insights. My likely plan is to order from the Horsham place near Philly sometime in March. I'd rather have it sometime in the summer as opposed to giving it a salt bath through the winter. I was hoping all the bugs were worked out after 4 years in production. A couple things I wish they never changed from the JK are the steel vs. aluminum body & the conventional clutch vs. dual mass/ dual disc. Kudos to the creator of the list of below-invoice dealers, there's no such place locally that will come close to that, at least that I've found.

A base JL with stick and limited slip diff will give you a darn nice go anywhere vehicle. Problem issues are overstated, folks that do have them talk it up, meanwhile lots of folks on here are on the 3rd, 4th, 5th or more Jeep. That about says it all.

 

[Dan M.]

A test drive is all the convincing you will nned.

 

[oceanblue2019]

Please don't laugh but my daily drivers from 1988 to present have been Suzuki SUV's, all bought new. Started with a Samurai and currently a 2005 Grand Vitara. They have all been fabulous, very low maintenance with overbuilt drivetrains. Bought the 2005 because it was the last zuk (at least in USA) that had a boxed ladder frame & part time 4WD with a xfer case, later SUVs were wimpy AWD unibody crossovers. Incidently I did consider a Jeep when I bought my 2005 but the dealers were A-holes & the zuk was way less expensive.

Wanted to keep my zuk until the pandemic cleared & prices normalized but unfortunately a bad deer hit obliterated most of my front end sheet metal. I found replacement metal in a local boneyard, it's is being held hostage at a local body shop awaiting paint. I made temporary fixes to the zuk so it is functional but decided to prioritize a replacement. I'm a minimalist & like manual transmissions so that limits possibilities quite a bit. I've looked at Honda Civics, Corolla hatchbacks, & test drove a Subaru Crosstrek which left me unimpressed. The remaining possibility is the Wrangler which I like the most although it is double the price of the aforementioned. What I would buy would be a Sport S 2-door with the only options being hard top, limited slip, & paint. My experience with Jeeps include a few CJ's from the 70's (not mine, barrels of fun) & my sister's husband's 2011 Sahara Unlimited which I have used occasionally. The JK has been impressive in both reliability & rust resistance.

What has made me concerned on the JL are the problems I see on this board that people are reporting. Exploding clutches, poor paint, premature corrosion, unreliability all make this vehicle sound like a total POS. Perhaps these problems are the exception to the rule & they are mostly great? I do know with any product that problems get more exposure than trouble-free. Are there owners out there that have great experiences with none of the above problems that have had them for a while? I know they've only been in production since 2018 but some of them must have some miles on them by now. Convince me that a new Wrangler is the vehicle to buy. Thanks in advance.

If you need to be convinced it is pretty safe to say a Wrangler is not for you.

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