dudemind
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2018
- Threads
- 27
- Messages
- 362
- Reaction score
- 356
- Location
- Los Angeles, CA
- Vehicle(s)
- 2018 Wrangler JL Rubicon
- Thread starter
- #1
Plenty of others have posted their thoughts on their delivered JLs. And, like them, I'm overall very happy with my purchase. Just I thought I'd give my objective driving impressions (and a quick blurb on appearances)... I'm sure some of this will rub some people the wrong way, but I really am the opposite of a fan-boy so I like to be very real about anything I drive or have driven. I've owned way too many different makes to pledge allegiance to any one of them. Haven't taken it off-road yet, so this is an on-road impression.
As others have mentioned, it's much improved over the JK (though I've only driven an early-model JK). In fact, it feels pretty good around turns, while under heavy braking, during acceleration, all of it. But anybody who claims this thing drives/feels like a sports car or anything resembling a sporty crossover SUV likely has driven neither. To put it in perspective: to make room for my Jeep, I sold a 7-year old Range Rover with worn out lower control arm bushings, bad alignment, slipping transmission, uneven rear rotor surfaces, and probably-shot air struts, and that still drove significantly better than my new Rubicon does. That said, I am still completely surprised at how not-horribly the Rubicon drives. I wasn't at all expecting a sporty SUV, so I'm not complaining. Just thought I should give my honest opinion in case others read some overly-positive reviews and thought this rig had truly become a modern SUV driving experience.
My only gripe is the 6-speed manual transmission, and that is still only slightly disappointing. The clutch has extremely vague feel and a good inch of initial dead zone. I've heard some people saying that it felt "sporty". I would say it's the exact opposite of sporty; a proper sports car tends to have a far heavier clutch (there are mechanical reasons this is true, it's not purely a design choice), but the lightness of the pedal is actually okay with me. The gearing in the Rubicon is a bit strange for on-road use. First gear has you aggressively leaving stop lights with anything but the lightest application of throttle. Then way up on the other end, you've got a practically useless sixth gear that'll only come in handy if you're cruising at a very consistent speed on flat ground with no chance of slowing down -- forget about really ever actually use it on these Los Angeles highways. Also, the only car I've driven with more transmission chatter than this one was a track-only Spec Miata I wheeled a decade ago. Still, in the end, I suspect some of my transmission-related gripes will become evident benefits when I do take it off road: the dead zone will be more forgiving if I'm bouncing around with my foot hovering over the clutch in anticipation of a shift, the gearing will come in handy when I need to get torque down in first up a hill, and the light action will make it a lot easier to slip the clutch when I need to. If I could do it over again, I'd still choose the manual in a heartbeat.
As for the handling, it's definitely not bad for a car running 33" all-terrain tires. Body roll is evident but manageable, side-to-side stability is acceptable, and the steering feel around tighter turns is again not bad but far from sporty. Overall, it's not difficult to place the car where you want it, but the feel through the chassis and steering wheel are both understandably lacking, almost like driving a video game car. That's not to say it's at all unwieldy. It'll still go where you want it to go without much drama. Side note: I was pleasantly surprised to find that you can get the rear end out (in a very controllable manner) with a decent application of throttle while taking a turn from a dead stop.
As for looks: as cliche as this may sound, pictures simply do not do these cars justice. With the bigger wheels, the Rubicon has a surprisingly large footprint for a stock vehicle. Frankly, I'm not sure if the numbers on paper agree that this is a "big" car, but I can guarantee your eyes will still be fooled in person. Speaking of wheels, I have the basic Rubicon wheels (prefer the way they look over the upgrades or even the Mopar beadlocks), and they look so much better in person than they do in pictures. The Granite Crystal Metallic paint is nice and deep in person. In every photo, it looks a little too light. There isn't a ton of metallic flake in the paint, but maybe that's what is being picked up and overblown by cameras. And finally: even those Rubicon hood stickers, which I thought were way too obnoxious, are actually not too bad when you look at the car in person. I'm not 100% sure that I'll leave them on, but at least I'm not 100% sure that I'm taking them off like I was before actually seeing the vehicle. I was thinking of all these stylistic modifications I wanted to do but... it's cosmetically kinda close to perfect overall...
It may seem like I've focused too much on negatives (at least in terms of driving impressions), but that's because we've already read tons of praise, and I don't want to rehash points others have already made. Despite any shortcomings, I'm very positively surprised by how well it drives. The drive is amazing "for a Wrangler" and definitely good enough versus many other (less capable) cars. All in all, I'm absolutely in love with this car (though I've been informed by my JK buddies that I'm not allowed to call it "a car" anymore). I needed something less fussy/pretty/snobby than my Land Rover, and this is exactly what I wanted. My colleagues have questioned my sanity -- I'm a hedge fund guy, it's all luxury makes in our garage. But I've always been "the t-shirt and jeans guy" at the office, and this is the best switch I've ever made.
As others have mentioned, it's much improved over the JK (though I've only driven an early-model JK). In fact, it feels pretty good around turns, while under heavy braking, during acceleration, all of it. But anybody who claims this thing drives/feels like a sports car or anything resembling a sporty crossover SUV likely has driven neither. To put it in perspective: to make room for my Jeep, I sold a 7-year old Range Rover with worn out lower control arm bushings, bad alignment, slipping transmission, uneven rear rotor surfaces, and probably-shot air struts, and that still drove significantly better than my new Rubicon does. That said, I am still completely surprised at how not-horribly the Rubicon drives. I wasn't at all expecting a sporty SUV, so I'm not complaining. Just thought I should give my honest opinion in case others read some overly-positive reviews and thought this rig had truly become a modern SUV driving experience.
My only gripe is the 6-speed manual transmission, and that is still only slightly disappointing. The clutch has extremely vague feel and a good inch of initial dead zone. I've heard some people saying that it felt "sporty". I would say it's the exact opposite of sporty; a proper sports car tends to have a far heavier clutch (there are mechanical reasons this is true, it's not purely a design choice), but the lightness of the pedal is actually okay with me. The gearing in the Rubicon is a bit strange for on-road use. First gear has you aggressively leaving stop lights with anything but the lightest application of throttle. Then way up on the other end, you've got a practically useless sixth gear that'll only come in handy if you're cruising at a very consistent speed on flat ground with no chance of slowing down -- forget about really ever actually use it on these Los Angeles highways. Also, the only car I've driven with more transmission chatter than this one was a track-only Spec Miata I wheeled a decade ago. Still, in the end, I suspect some of my transmission-related gripes will become evident benefits when I do take it off road: the dead zone will be more forgiving if I'm bouncing around with my foot hovering over the clutch in anticipation of a shift, the gearing will come in handy when I need to get torque down in first up a hill, and the light action will make it a lot easier to slip the clutch when I need to. If I could do it over again, I'd still choose the manual in a heartbeat.
As for the handling, it's definitely not bad for a car running 33" all-terrain tires. Body roll is evident but manageable, side-to-side stability is acceptable, and the steering feel around tighter turns is again not bad but far from sporty. Overall, it's not difficult to place the car where you want it, but the feel through the chassis and steering wheel are both understandably lacking, almost like driving a video game car. That's not to say it's at all unwieldy. It'll still go where you want it to go without much drama. Side note: I was pleasantly surprised to find that you can get the rear end out (in a very controllable manner) with a decent application of throttle while taking a turn from a dead stop.
As for looks: as cliche as this may sound, pictures simply do not do these cars justice. With the bigger wheels, the Rubicon has a surprisingly large footprint for a stock vehicle. Frankly, I'm not sure if the numbers on paper agree that this is a "big" car, but I can guarantee your eyes will still be fooled in person. Speaking of wheels, I have the basic Rubicon wheels (prefer the way they look over the upgrades or even the Mopar beadlocks), and they look so much better in person than they do in pictures. The Granite Crystal Metallic paint is nice and deep in person. In every photo, it looks a little too light. There isn't a ton of metallic flake in the paint, but maybe that's what is being picked up and overblown by cameras. And finally: even those Rubicon hood stickers, which I thought were way too obnoxious, are actually not too bad when you look at the car in person. I'm not 100% sure that I'll leave them on, but at least I'm not 100% sure that I'm taking them off like I was before actually seeing the vehicle. I was thinking of all these stylistic modifications I wanted to do but... it's cosmetically kinda close to perfect overall...
It may seem like I've focused too much on negatives (at least in terms of driving impressions), but that's because we've already read tons of praise, and I don't want to rehash points others have already made. Despite any shortcomings, I'm very positively surprised by how well it drives. The drive is amazing "for a Wrangler" and definitely good enough versus many other (less capable) cars. All in all, I'm absolutely in love with this car (though I've been informed by my JK buddies that I'm not allowed to call it "a car" anymore). I needed something less fussy/pretty/snobby than my Land Rover, and this is exactly what I wanted. My colleagues have questioned my sanity -- I'm a hedge fund guy, it's all luxury makes in our garage. But I've always been "the t-shirt and jeans guy" at the office, and this is the best switch I've ever made.
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