2019 Jeep Wrangler JL Info - What's New (So Far)?

[macintux]

If you want a small compact 4x4 these days, I guess you need to go the ATV or UTV route, but then you can't drive them on the road in most places.

Convince Suzuki to get their Jimny on for North America.

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[Majestic]

Looking at the 4-door JLUs, I have to think that is what the Cherokee should have evolved into, not the Wrangler. Even the 2-door Wrangler these days has gotten a bit bloated in size. I was looking at the specs on it awhile back and the overall length is just 0.3" less than the 4-door Cherokee (XJ) that I used to own. The JLs are about 12" longer than the TJs, 18.6" longer than the CJ-7, and 28.4" longer than the CJ-5. So much for the idea of a small compact 4x4, I guess... If you want a small compact 4x4 these days, I guess you need to go the ATV or UTV route, but then you can't drive them on the road in most places.

I would love a TJ sized JL. It’s not practical for me, but I would like it to exist.
If it’s TJ sized, they’d need to back off that $50k price tag though.

 

[ThirtyOne]

Looking at the 4-door JLUs, I have to think that is what the Cherokee should have evolved into, not the Wrangler. Even the 2-door Wrangler these days has gotten a bit bloated in size. I was looking at the specs on it awhile back and the overall length is just 0.3" less than the 4-door Cherokee (XJ) that I used to own. The JLs are about 12" longer than the TJs, 18.6" longer than the CJ-7, and 28.4" longer than the CJ-5. So much for the idea of a small compact 4x4, I guess... If you want a small compact 4x4 these days, I guess you need to go the ATV or UTV route, but then you can't drive them on the road in most places.

Americans like things bigger, maybe because we have gotten bigger ourselves.

 

[NavyVet1959]

Americans like things bigger, maybe because we have gotten bigger ourselves.

The vehicle I got rid of in order to buy (order) the JL was a 4-door pickup. For the most part, the rear seats just ended up being where the groceries ended up when shopping or the luggage & cooler when traveling. Occasionally, I would use the bed of the pickup for picking up some lumber from the building supply store and even more rarely, I might have a 3rd passenger that would end up in the back seats. For my own use, a 2-seat vehicle with enough room for some luggage and a cooler would work fine for me. I'll probably end up removing the rear seats from my JL as soon as I get home and find a place to store them. And as soon as I install a receiver hitch on the JL, I'll use my utility trailer for those extremely rare occasions when I needed a pickup bed. And in fact, the utility trailer is even handier since I won't be tempted to try to load a motorcycle or ATV in the back of the pickup given the sharp angle of the ramp to the bed of the pickup. Of course, you never seem to have the trailer with you when you are doing an impulse purchase where you might need it. I'm thinking that a smaller vehicle has advantages to me that somewhat outweigh the convenience of a pickup. Besides, I *really* HATE an automatic transmission. Everything in life is a compromise though... No one vehicle will have *everything* that you want...

I didn't *have* to get rid of the pickup to buy the JL, but I already have more vehicles than drivers, so it didn't make sense to keep it. And besides, after 14 years, maybe a little change would be nice. Plus, I did not have warm fuzzy feelings about it anymore thanks to the idiots at Dodge who decided to use a *foodstuff* as an insulation on their wiring. Whoever decided to do that should be drawn and quartered.

 

[badtux]

Convince Suzuki to get their Jimny on for North America.

Won't work. Two words: Crumple zones. Can't sell cars in the US unless you have them, and the Jimny doesn't. It's not emissions that keep out things like the Jimny, it's the insistence that every single car sold in America must meet the highest safety standards in the world, even if in the case of something like the Jimny it compromises the fundamental nature of the vehicle. Same reason why we'll never see another Volkswagen Microbus here in the US -- having your feet two inches behind the front bumper won't work in today's world.

The same reasoning is why the JL is so much bigger than the TJ. The TJ wouldn't pass modern crash safety standards. It had to be bloated up to make room for a gas tank between the frame (can't hang the gas tank out back anymore) and add crumple zones front and rear.

 

[NavyVet1959]

Won't work. Two words: Crumple zones. Can't sell cars in the US unless you have them, and the Jimny doesn't. It's not emissions that keep out things like the Jimny, it's the insistence that every single car sold in America must meet the highest safety standards in the world, even if in the case of something like the Jimny it compromises the fundamental nature of the vehicle. Same reason why we'll never see another Volkswagen Microbus here in the US -- having your feet two inches behind the front bumper won't work in today's world.

The same reasoning is why the JL is so much bigger than the TJ. The TJ wouldn't pass modern crash safety standards. It had to be bloated up to make room for a gas tank between the frame (can't hang the gas tank out back anymore) and add crumple zones front and rear.

I guess I'll have to hang a couple of 5 gallon jerry-cans of gas back there to show my disrespect to the "safety" standards.

 

[badtux]

I guess I'll have to hang a couple of 5 gallon jerry-cans of gas back there to show my disrespect to the "safety" standards.

Yup. That said, as a daily driver I much prefer the new Wranglers to the old CJ's. CJ's punished you on the highway. I live 300 miles from the nearest offroading areas so I have to drive a *lot* on the highway to get where I can offroad, and no, I'm not going to tow -- paying insurance on two vehicles plus a trailer is just too much fuss and muss.

 

[Majestic]

Time and money... For some of us old farts, we have the money, but time is the precious commodity...

If Jeep was to bring back a simple CJ that was easy to work on and modify, I suspect it would most definitely sell. But we can't make vehicles as simple as the CJ anymore thanks to federal regulations that require certain things like airbags on any new vehicles and meeting CAFE standards.

What is it that you plan on working on and modifying? Most of the lifting and bolt on mods work the same way as they’ve always had. Probably even easier now since you can reprogram stuff to adjust for it.

You could get a 2018 JK if you want a Jeep that’s both new and relatively rudimentary. It has an old fashioned key, no auto park nonsense, no dual batteries and ESS. You can still swap out the head unit for another radio. No need to go all the way back to a CJ for a relatively simple vehicle.

 

[badtux]

You could get a 2018 JK if you want a Jeep that’s both new and relatively rudimentary. It has an old fashioned key, no auto park nonsense, no dual batteries and ESS. You can still swap out the head unit for another radio. No need to go all the way back to a CJ for a relatively simple vehicle.

The key in the JK is a chip key. So it may *look* old fashioned, but it really isn't -- if you made a copy and tried to start a JK, it wouldn't start. The JK has at least three separate CAN busses that I know about -- diagnostic, engine/transmission, and instrument panel. The whole instrument panel is electronic. It only *looks* analog but all the signals that drive the meters are computer generated based on sensor readings.

Frankly, the JK isn't that much simpler than a JL. It just *looks* simpler, because they were trying to appeal to the old school Jeep gear-heads at the time. They had no idea that they would sell so many of the 4-door Wranglers to soccer moms. Heck, the first year of production they weren't even planning to produce more than 50,000 or so of the 4 doors, they figured people mostly wanted 2 doors. Instead they ended up producing more than twice as many 4 doors as 2 doors. Now the 4 door is driving things, and the soccer moms don't care about looking "old school", they want all the creature comforts and safety features that are in their BMW. It's still a Wrangler though, as much as the JK is.

 

[Majestic]

The key in the JK is a chip key. So it may *look* old fashioned, but it really isn't -- if you made a copy and tried to start a JK, it wouldn't start. The JK has at least three separate CAN busses that I know about -- diagnostic, engine/transmission, and instrument panel. The whole instrument panel is electronic. It only *looks* analog but all the signals that drive the meters are computer generated based on sensor readings.

Frankly, the JK isn't that much simpler than a JL. It just *looks* simpler, because they were trying to appeal to the old school Jeep gear-heads at the time. They had no idea that they would sell so many of the 4-door Wranglers to soccer moms. Heck, the first year of production they weren't even planning to produce more than 50,000 or so of the 4 doors, they figured people mostly wanted 2 doors. Instead they ended up producing more than twice as many 4 doors as 2 doors. Now the 4 door is driving things, and the soccer moms don't care about looking "old school", they want all the creature comforts and safety features that are in their BMW. It's still a Wrangler though, as much as the JK is.

Unless you’re planning on swapping out gauges and making more keys I don’t see how this is a problem. In fact it’s pribably easier to swap out and program.
The chipped key, can buses, and electronic gauge cluster has been a feature of cars since at least the 90’s. The JK was probably the most rudimentary vehicle of its day. Even my 2013 felt outdated the day I bought it compared to everything else for sale in 2013. The JL is a completely modern electrical architecture..

Just because something actually is analog doesn’t really make it any easier to work on. It just gives you a better sense of how it works.

 

[aug0211]

Somehow, this thread has turned from “tell us info about a future, unreleased, unannounced vehicle” into “I hate everything, stay off my lawn, and where is my damn newspaper”.

Can/should we move the debate on whether progress is good or evil into its own thread? I’m interested in the discussion - but would also like to just see updates in here about 2019s without always having to sift through posts about whether a CJ was comfortable or the key in a JK or crumple zones in other vehicles. I’ve also contributed to that discussion - been a huge contributor to it - so I’m by no means trying to point a finger, just thinking I’ve contributed to polluting this topic enough, so maybe we should help clean it up going forward.

If people are on board, one of us (I’ll gladly do it?) can start up a new thread titled something like “Technology in Jeeps” or something like that.

 

[Musicnjeepz]

Somehow, this thread has turned from “tell us info about a future, unreleased, unannounced vehicle” into “I hate everything, stay off my lawn, and where is my damn newspaper”.

Can/should we move the debate on whether progress is good or evil into its own thread? I’m interested in the discussion - but would also like to just see updates in here about 2019s without always having to sift through posts about whether a CJ was comfortable or the key in a JK or crumple zones in other vehicles. I’ve also contributed to that discussion - been a huge contributor to it - so I’m by no means trying to point a finger, just thinking I’ve contributed to polluting this topic enough, so maybe we should help clean it up going forward.

If people are on board, one of us (I’ll gladly do it?) can start up a new thread titled something like “Technology in Jeeps” or something like that.

Yeah, I’m still guessing what shade of color “bikini” is.

 

[jimmyzwheelz]

Somehow, this thread has turned from “tell us info about a future, unreleased, unannounced vehicle” into “I hate everything, stay off my lawn, and where is my damn newspaper”.

Can/should we move the debate on whether progress is good or evil into its own thread? I’m interested in the discussion - but would also like to just see updates in here about 2019s without always having to sift through posts about whether a CJ was comfortable or the key in a JK or crumple zones in other vehicles. I’ve also contributed to that discussion - been a huge contributor to it - so I’m by no means trying to point a finger, just thinking I’ve contributed to polluting this topic enough, so maybe we should help clean it up going forward.

If people are on board, one of us (I’ll gladly do it?) can start up a new thread titled something like “Technology in Jeeps” or something like that.

I agree...but good luck keeping posters on topic...

 

[shouldnthavesoldmyJEEP]

Yeah, I’m still guessing what shade of color “bikini” is.

My wife said her guess is a Pink like color or a Yellow.

 

[beachbumm78]

Look at the JK coming in extreme purple. Jeeps are supposed to come in ridiculous colors. Though I'd love it to be a Tiffany blue.

I would LOVE a Tiffany blue color

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