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Jeep Wrangler JL vs Lexus LX, Mercedes G-Class, Land Rover Discovery (Motortrend Comparison Review)

RonChannels

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DIRTY DEEDS: LEXUS LX VS. JEEP WRANGLER VS. MERCEDES-BENZ G-CLASS VS. LAND ROVER DISCOVERY

Full review:
https://www.motortrend.com/cars/jee...ass-land-rover-discovery-off-road-comparison/

Verdict:

1st Place: 2018 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon—The ultimate no-compromises off-roader, and worthy on-pavement, as well.

2018-Lexus-LX-2018-Jeep-Wrangler-2019-Mercedes-Benz-G-Class-2018-Land-Rover-Discovery-2.jpg
This is not a very good comparison for the 2018 JL. Firstly, all the rigs are running street tires except for the JL. Second, the trails in Coyote Flats are fire roads, not off road trails. This is a great article if you're comparing the rigs to how they handle around town. But most people who buy a Jeep or 4 wheel drive are actually going to use them to go off roading. I'd like to see how do the rigs compare to each other a real off road trail, such as the Rubicon Trail, not on a fire road.
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Tex117

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its a simple discussion, that is all.
It’s just hard to figure out exactly what it is that is being discussed is all. Article ranks 4 off roaders both on and off and pick which one they like more.

Wrangler won.

And half of the posts in here are like “oh you can’t compare”. Sure you can. They are all cars. Whether it’s a good comparison, that’s up to debate. But this is a good comparison.

Which offroader both on and off did they like more stock from the factory? Wrangler won.
 

Sean L

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It’s just hard to figure out exactly what it is that is being discussed is all. Article ranks 4 off roaders both on and off and pick which one they like more.

Wrangler won.

And half of the posts in here are like “oh you can’t compare”. Sure you can. They are all cars. Whether it’s a good comparison, that’s up to debate. But this is a good comparison.

Which offroader both on and off did they like more stock from the factory? Wrangler won.
Yes, I think its just people wanting more of their own "Direct competitor" comparison rather than a wide range of vehicles they could get their hands on. anything other than a Wrangler vs TRD Pro Tacoma is a waste of time, lol.

Price being ignored was a point that was made in the article that a lot of people missed I think.
 

Tex117

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Yes, I think its just people wanting more of their own "Direct competitor" comparison rather than a wide range of vehicles they could get their hands on. anything other than a Wrangler vs TRD Pro Tacoma is a waste of time, lol.

Price being ignored was a point that was made in the article that a lot of people missed I think.
That’s more than fair. I get it. And maybe it’s just not useful for the everyday person to compare a 50k wrangler to a 100k benz, but this wasn’t the point of the article. As you and the article pointed out, they just took some suvs on the trails and gave them a go and said which one they liked.
 

dudemind

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Sold my 2010 Range Rover Sport to make room for the JLUR. Having driven both on a ton of offroad trails in the SoCal area (with most in the "moderate" category of difficulty), I will say that the electronics in the Range Rover trump the sheer crawling capability of the Rubicon in nearly every situation that doesn't involve big rocks. Dirt roads, gravel, mud, sand, and mild water crossings were absolutely devoured by the RRS with absolutely no drama whatsoever.

That said, as in this article, the weak point in the Land Rover was the tires. The options for actual all-terrain tire options were very limited, and changing rims to something more accommodating wasn't very feasible either due to the extremely large brakes. Not to mention the painful repair costs as it got older (I think I spent $6k or so over the course of a few months on a series of stupid little things, and had another few grand surely right around the corner as the air suspension had been acting up for a year).

Now, I'm by no means "hardcore" when it comes to off-roading. But I'm certainly well beyond driving on fire roads and calling it "off-roading", and I definitely drive past the points where you stop seeing other drivers (including all the other Jeeps and 4Runners) when succumbing to a little friendly peer pressure from colleagues. In all but the most uncomfortable situations, the RRS was simply more capable. At the very upper end, yes, the Rubicon starts to shine. But until I get to the point where I need 4 low, both lockers, and a spotter, the Range Rover was simply a vastly superior vehicle. And that was an aging 2010 with the base (non-supercharged) V8.

Even when crawling up "steep" hills, I often have to be in 4-Low with at least rear locker engaged in the JLUR. Yes, it goes up eventually. But in the RRS I could power up the very same hills without thinking twice about a single setting except raising the ride height. And that was on definitely-more-street-oriented Pirelli Scorpion Zero all season tires. By the time I've engaged the settings I need in the JLUR, I could be well past the obstacle in the Range Rover.

I think a lot of people assume that these posh luxury vehicles must be "soft". But I can assure you that they are not. And while you do pay a premium for a luxury badge, there is also a ton of ridiculously smart technology that goes into some of these cars that do everything the Jeep will do in most real world use-case scenarios.

All of that said, I do want to point out that I love my Jeep. Absolutely love it. I'd just rather be honest about its shortcomings rather than vehemently defending it purely as a result of the endowment effect.
 

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Tex117

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Sold my 2010 Range Rover Sport to make room for the JLUR. Having driven both on a ton of offroad trails in the SoCal area (with most in the "moderate" category of difficulty), I will say that the electronics in the Range Rover trump the sheer crawling capability of the Rubicon in nearly every situation that doesn't involve big rocks. Dirt roads, gravel, mud, sand, and mild water crossings were absolutely devoured by the RRS with absolutely no drama whatsoever.

That said, as in this article, the weak point in the Land Rover was the tires. The options for actual all-terrain tire options were very limited, and changing rims to something more accommodating wasn't very feasible either due to the extremely large brakes. Not to mention the painful repair costs as it got older (I think I spent $6k or so over the course of a few months on a series of stupid little things, and had another few grand surely right around the corner as the air suspension had been acting up for a year).

Now, I'm by no means "hardcore" when it comes to off-roading. But I'm certainly well beyond driving on fire roads and calling it "off-roading", and I definitely drive past the points where you stop seeing other drivers (including all the other Jeeps and 4Runners) when succumbing to a little friendly peer pressure from colleagues. In all but the most uncomfortable situations, the RRS was simply more capable. At the very upper end, yes, the Rubicon starts to shine. But until I get to the point where I need 4 low, both lockers, and a spotter, the Range Rover was simply a vastly superior vehicle. And that was an aging 2010 with the base (non-supercharged) V8.

Even when crawling up "steep" hills, I often have to be in 4-Low with at least rear locker engaged in the JLUR. Yes, it goes up eventually. But in the RRS I could power up the very same hills without thinking twice about a single setting except raising the ride height. And that was on definitely-more-street-oriented Pirelli Scorpion Zero all season tires. By the time I've engaged the settings I need in the JLUR, I could be well past the obstacle in the Range Rover.

I think a lot of people assume that these posh luxury vehicles must be "soft". But I can assure you that they are not. And while you do pay a premium for a luxury badge, there is also a ton of ridiculously smart technology that goes into some of these cars that do everything the Jeep will do in most real world use-case scenarios.

All of that said, I do want to point out that I love my Jeep. Absolutely love it. I'd just rather be honest about its shortcomings rather than vehemently defending it purely as a result of the endowment effect.
Lol. The Range Rover sport is better!!! Until it isn’t.

(I’m joking around. This makes sense).
 

dudemind

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Lol. The Range Rover sport is better!!! Until it isn’t.

(I’m joking around. This makes sense).
:) That's fair. The RRS was better until it simply hit its limits. The JLUR has higher potential, but drives like crap (relatively speaking) until it gets there.

The Jeep wins by default in the somewhat uncommon situation that the Range Rover would be pushed beyond its limits, but until that happens I'd much rather be in the RRS, even offroad. On almost every trail, I would have to deliberately seek out an optional obstacle where the RRS couldn't go but the JLUR could. Otherwise, I'm in the driver's seat of the Jeep thinking about how much more work it is to drive over/around/through things that I wouldn't have even thought twice about in the Land Rover.

At my comfort level, I honestly never felt disappointed in the RR's capability, only in the stupid tires. I would get a blistered sidewall every dozen trips or so, which was extremely frustrating. Even then, never had a full puncture/tear (surprisingly).
 

Tex117

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:) That's fair. The RRS was better until it simply hit its limits. The JLUR has higher potential, but drives like crap (relatively speaking) until it gets there.

The Jeep wins by default in the somewhat uncommon situation that the Range Rover would be pushed beyond its limits, but until that happens I'd much rather be in the RRS, even offroad. On almost every trail, I would have to deliberately seek out an optional obstacle where the RRS couldn't go but the JLUR could. Otherwise, I'm in the driver's seat of the Jeep thinking about how much more work it is to drive over/around/through things that I wouldn't have even thought twice about in the Land Rover.

At my comfort level, I honestly never felt disappointed in the RR's capability, only in the stupid tires. I would get a blistered sidewall every dozen trips or so, which was extremely frustrating. Even then, never had a full puncture/tear (surprisingly).
Makes total sense. I’m sure there are others that would disagree. But it’s potato paratoe
 

Sean L

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Otherwise, I'm in the driver's seat of the Jeep thinking about how much more work it is to drive over/around/through things that I wouldn't have even thought twice about in the Land Rover.
Is that more from a more powerful engine or automatic drive-train controls? Wrangler and LX570/Land Cruiser are the only vehicles in this article I have experience with so I'm trying to gauge how the Land Rover compares.
 

stsdroog

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Enjoyable read. Interesting that the Wrangler looked to be the weakest on specs but finished on top.

Unfortunately, the article does lose some integrity with the photo gallery featuring a Jeep ad on the right and a Jeep ad every four or so pictures.

And I thought the Jeep was pricey until I saw the MSRP on that Mercedes! It should be heads and shoulders above the competition in ALL categories at that price.
FYI The content of the advertising you are seeing is more than likely base on your personal internet usage. Use privacy tools and add blockers for your day to day usage. As for the photos I think that just reinforces the content of the write up.

As to the article itself My issue with it is they are comparing apples to oranges. I could see comparing the JLUR to a toyada 4Runner TRD Pro or something similar but not luxury SUVs
 

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dudemind

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Is that more from a more powerful engine or automatic drive-train controls? Wrangler and LX570/Land Cruiser are the only vehicles in this article I have experience with so I'm trying to gauge how the Land Rover compares.
I think a mix of both. For example, this past weekend I was wheeling just south of Joshua Tree in the Jeep. There's a canyon route that leads into the park, which is a mix of old washed out roads, gravel, rocks, sand, and dirt. Nothing truly treacherous, but still beyond the I-would-drive-this-in-a-sedan-if-it-was-a-rental level of comfort. I've done this route maybe 9-10 times now, all except the last two times in the Range Rover. I'm truly surprised at how much the Jeep wants to fight me, how much it wants to bounce and toss me around, how frequently it breaks traction (did it once entirely in 2-high and once switching between 2-high and 4-high as needed, it wasn't any better the second time), how much gas I have to give it at times to get some grunt. Tracking in a straight line on a simple dirt stretch requires steady correction in the Jeep, as well as some attention to momentum if it's particularly light-packed stuff. Maneuvering over rocks feels like this unnecessary exercise in pointing wheels. In the Range Rover, it was like magic how well the systems worked together to make the experience as effortless to the driver as possible (like the air suspension constantly making rapid adjustments to dampen body movement) -- and that was before engaging one of the terrain-specific modes with the simple twist of a dial (which I rarely did except to show off to a passenger). In fact, looking back, I just realized I actually never even engaged the low-range gears in the Range Rover. Makes me curious if it truly could have tackled everything the Jeep can (again, within my comfort level). The RRS got a lot of bewildered looks from folks when they saw me on a trail, hanging with a pack of more "rugged" rigs, pinstripes all over my shiny black paint and all.

Back before I got the Jeep, a colleague of mine (with a lifted JKUR on 37s) would often challenge me with things like, "Check out this rock. Watch my front axle as I drive my left wheel onto it ... Can your Range Rover do that?", and my honest reply would be some less-friendly variation of, "No, I suppose not. But I'm not sure why I'd want to? What exactly are we proving here?"... That's how I feel about a lot of Jeep fanatics in general: too much obsessive focus on niche capability that doesn't actually add to the "go anywhere"-ness that Jeeps are associated with (at least in most situations). Even before the Jeep, there was never a group trip that I didn't make because I was in an "overpriced luxury SUV".
 

Sean L

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As to the article itself My issue with it is they are comparing apples to oranges. I could see comparing the JLUR to a toyada 4Runner TRD Pro or something similar but not luxury SUVs
Not necessarily that different. They are all the top of the line off-road SUVs from their respective companies. Toyota is represented by the Land Cruiser/LX570 rather than a 4Runner/GX460.

You could say the Grand Cherokee Trailhawk would exceed the Wrangler in luxury but not quite in off road capability, so it was out.
 

Sean L

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I think a mix of both. For example, this past weekend I was wheeling just south of Joshua Tree in the Jeep. There's a canyon route that leads into the park, which is a mix of old washed out roads, gravel, rocks, sand, and dirt. Nothing truly treacherous, but still beyond the I-would-drive-this-in-a-sedan-if-it-was-a-rental level of comfort. I've done this route maybe 9-10 times now, all except the last two times in the Range Rover. I'm truly surprised at how much the Jeep wants to fight me, how much it wants to bounce and toss me around, how frequently it breaks traction (did it once entirely in 2-high and once switching between 2-high and 4-high as needed, it wasn't any better the second time), how much gas I have to give it at times to get some grunt. Tracking in a straight line on a simple dirt stretch requires steady correction in the Jeep, as well as some attention to momentum if it's particularly light-packed stuff. Maneuvering over rocks feels like this unnecessary exercise in pointing wheels. In the Range Rover, it was like magic how well the systems worked together to make the experience as effortless to the driver as possible (like the air suspension constantly making rapid adjustments to dampen body movement) -- and that was before engaging one of the terrain-specific modes with the simple twist of a dial (which I rarely did except to show off to a passenger). In fact, looking back, I just realized I actually never even engaged the low-range gears in the Range Rover. Makes me curious if it truly could have tackled everything the Jeep can (again, within my comfort level). The RRS got a lot of bewildered looks from folks when they saw me on a trail, hanging with a pack of more "rugged" rigs, pinstripes all over my shiny black paint and all.

Back before I got the Jeep, a colleague of mine (with a lifted JKUR on 37s) would often challenge me with things like, "Check out this rock. Watch my front axle as I drive my left wheel onto it ... Can your Range Rover do that?", and my honest reply would be some less-friendly variation of, "No, I suppose not. But I'm not sure why I'd want to? What exactly are we proving here?"... That's how I feel about a lot of Jeep fanatics in general: too much obsessive focus on niche capability that doesn't actually add to the "go anywhere"-ness that Jeeps are associated with (at least in most situations). Even before the Jeep, there was never a group trip that I didn't make because I was in an "overpriced luxury SUV".
Yeah I bet that air suspension gives a pretty smooth ride. I do personally think that would start a revolt if Jeep tried to put one on the wrangler, lol. Leave it for the Rebel and the Grand Cherokee...
 

StrikeZ

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I think a lot of respondents missed the point of the article. It was more fluff than substance.
I can say, it seems like every time I get near a Landrover owner they try to convince how great they are. Do they all have to be such jags?
In all seriousness, I think the article was an excuse for the bunch of friends to go camping up in the hills with borrowed vehicles.
 

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In all seriousness, I think the article was an excuse for the bunch of friends to go camping up in the hills with borrowed vehicles.
The benefits of the job. :)
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