24 hours with my first Jeep

[Atomic Anvil]

Not only is this my first Jeep, but my first custom order vehicle that I actually took delivery of. I ordered my 2018 JLU Sahara on 1/31 and was fully expecting not to see it until sometime in April. Thanks the the forums I was able to track my order, and much to my surprise, my Jeep arrived very unexpectedly about 3 weeks early. All in, the Jeep arrived in exactly 7 weeks!

After seeing some of the issues that people have experienced here, I did an extremely thorough walk around, and did find a huge scratch on the body colored hart top side, and a few paint bubbles as well. There was also terrible coverage near my hood hinges, and the inside of the hardtop had quite a few spots that were missed completely with the camo texture.

Mall of Georgia CJD was more than happy to document everything, and is setting up making sure it gets corrected back to factory finish. In all honesty, it really didn’t bother me too much, and I even told my girlfriend that Jeep took care of my first scratch for me...so that worry was gone.

Other than the minor issues, the rest of the Jeep is absolutely immaculate. I have been driving a Mercedes Benz CLA 250 Sport with an AMG kit for the past 3 years, and this interior finish of my Sahara is absolutely on par, if not better in some respects. I am 6’1 with a 52” chest and really broad shoulders, and that damn seat fits me like a glove! I have absolutely no issues seeing the entire instrument cluster, reaching the Infotainment unit, or reaching the shifter. It literally feels like the cabin was designed around my frame, and I could not be happier.

I am completely impressed with the automatic transmission. I have used it both in autostick and straight automatic, and I can honestly say it is smoother than the Mercedes was when I drove it off the lot brand new. The engine sounds great, feels strong, and accelerates much quicker than I remember when I test drove one in January. I can’t wait to get an exhaust on it, and look forward to it sounding a bit more aggressive.

My only dislike at this point are what have to be some of the ugliest, mismatched wheels I have ever seen... Apparently a few of the designers at Jeep need to be beaten about the head and face, then put back into some remedial color theory and design aesthetics courses. How the hell do you not offer something in a black factory wheel? Do you think everyone wants some shitty shade of chrome/granite? Oh well...I ordered the 17” XD Monster 2’s and some Nitto Ridge Grappler 285/75x17’s yesterday, so anyone in the Atlanta market looking for some take off’s feel free to reach out to me.

Overall, I literally feel like a kid on Christmas! I have been a Jeep owner for a little more than 24 hours, and it is the best car experience I have had in years. I am already finding excuses to take it out for a spin, and I can’t wait to get it up into the mountains in North Georgia. I have wanted a Jeep since I was very young, and so far it has definitely been worth the wait.

If you live anywhere near the Metro Atlanta area and are looking for a fantastic dealership, I can not recommend Mall of Georgia CJD in Buford highly enough. I have been dealing with Derek Langley directly, but the entire staff has made this experience extremely noteworthy. Derek will absolutely honor 3-5% below invoice pricing along with Tread Lightly discounts. Your purchase also comes with free oil changes for the first 2 years.

Being a Professional Photographer, pictures will be forthcoming, but not until those God-awful stock wheels are history...

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[JLU_Pilot]

Not only is this my first Jeep, but my first custom order vehicle that I actually took delivery of. I ordered my 2018 JLU Sahara on 1/31 and was fully expecting not to see it until sometime in April. Thanks the the forums I was able to track my order, and much to my surprise, my Jeep arrived very unexpectedly about 3 weeks early. All in, the Jeep arrived in exactly 7 weeks!

After seeing some of the issues that people have experienced here, I did an extremely thorough walk around, and did find a huge scratch on the body colored hart top side, and a few paint bubbles as well. There was also terrible coverage near my hood hinges, and the inside of the hardtop had quite a few spots that were missed completely with the camo texture.

Mall of Georgia CJD was more than happy to document everything, and is setting up making sure it gets corrected back to factory finish. In all honesty, it really didn’t bother me too much, and I even told my girlfriend that Jeep took care of my first scratch for me...so that worry was gone.

Other than the minor issues, the rest of the Jeep is absolutely immaculate. I have been driving a Mercedes Benz CLA 250 Sport with an AMG kit for the past 3 years, and this interior finish of my Sahara is absolutely on par, if not better in some respects. I am 6’1 with a 52” chest and really broad shoulders, and that damn seat fits me like a glove! I have absolutely no issues seeing the entire instrument cluster, reaching the Infotainment unit, or reaching the shifter. It literally feels like the cabin was designed around my frame, and I could not be happier.

I am completely impressed with the automatic transmission. I have used it both in autostick and straight automatic, and I can honestly say it is smoother than the Mercedes was when I drove it off the lot brand new. The engine sounds great, feels strong, and accelerates much quicker than I remember when I test drove one in January. I can’t wait to get an exhaust on it, and look forward to it sounding a bit more aggressive.

My only dislike at this point are what have to be some of the ugliest, mismatched wheels I have ever seen... Apparently a few of the designers at Jeep need to be beaten about the head and face, then put back into some remedial color theory and design aesthetics courses. How the hell do you not offer something in a black factory wheel? Do you think everyone wants some shitty shade of chrome/granite? Oh well...I ordered the 17” XD Monster 2’s and some Nitto Ridge Grappler 285/75x17’s yesterday, so anyone in the Atlanta market looking for some take off’s feel free to reach out to me.

Overall, I literally feel like a kid on Christmas! I have been a Jeep owner for a little more than 24 hours, and it is the best car experience I have had in years. I am already finding excuses to take it out for a spin, and I can’t wait to get it up into the mountains in North Georgia. I have wanted a Jeep since I was very young, and so far it has definitely been worth the wait.

If you live anywhere near the Metro Atlanta area and are looking for a fantastic dealership, I can not recommend Mall of Georgia CJD in Buford highly enough. I have been dealing with Derek Langley directly, but the entire staff has made this experience extremely noteworthy. Derek will absolutely honor 3-5% below invoice pricing along with Tread Lightly discounts. Your purchase also comes with free oil changes for the first 2 years.

Being a Professional Photographer, pictures will be forthcoming, but not until those God-awful stock wheels are history...

Matt, Congrats on taking ownership of your Wrangler! Awesome! I too will be a first time Wrangler owner. While my Wrangler is somewhere in the build process, I was wondering if you could share pictures of those imperfections you described in the 1st-2nd Paragraph. Not sure what those would look like and after all I have seen on here about the build process itself I'd like to be able to spot the same things... Thanks for your time. Congrats again and have fun on the trails (and roads)!

 

[JIMBOX]

Great to hear good report-satisfied(almost) owner !

I agree also on that 8spd auto, it is STUPENDOUS !

Good luck
JIMBO

 

[arjusmc]

Congrats on the jeep! I wish I would have know about that dealership, much closer to me than Little Rock however I got a great deal.

 

[Atomic Anvil]

Matt, Congrats on taking ownership of your Wrangler! Awesome! I too will be a first time Wrangler owner. While my Wrangler is somewhere in the build process, I was wondering if you could share pictures of those imperfections you described in the 1st-2nd Paragraph. Not sure what those would look like and after all I have seen on here about the build process itself I'd like to be able to spot the same things... Thanks for your time. Congrats again and have fun on the trails (and roads)!

Here are some shots of the specific areas. I enhanced them as much as possible for clarity, but have not attempted to make anything look worse than it really is. Really odd issues, and only on the left side of the Jeep, so I am assuming a bit of calibration with the paint robot would have fixed this.

It's really minor stuff, but still annoying for the price!

 

[ALEX-4LO]

I don’t believe I have holes inside the freedom panel. Just a little dirty more of fingerprints from the workers building it. I have not gone over the paint like you. I didn’t buy a Mercedes Benz , even though MSRP on my bad boy is 55k.

It’s a Jeep. It’s built tough. As much as we want a perfect immaculate Jeep. Mistakes happen imperfections will happen it’s life.

Congrats..

 

[Atomic Anvil]

I don’t believe I have holes inside the freedom panel. Just a little dirty more of fingerprints from the workers building it. I have not gone over the paint like you. I didn’t buy a Mercedes Benz , even though MSRP on my bad boy is 55k.

Like I said...all really minor and fixable. I thought it was just dirt on my freedom panels at first as well, but when tried to wipe it clean you can feel how deep it is actually pitted. It definitely doesn’t come across in the photo, but when you look at it you can see exactly where the texture stops.

Trust me, Mercedes wasn’t much better, and finish on the paint was a pain in the ass to maintain...

 

[FrenchSSGTMike]

I don’t believe I have holes inside the freedom panel. Just a little dirty more of fingerprints from the workers building it. I have not gone over the paint like you. I didn’t buy a Mercedes Benz , even though MSRP on my bad boy is 55k.

It’s a Jeep. It’s built tough. As much as we want a perfect immaculate Jeep. Mistakes happen imperfections will happen it’s life.

Congrats..

As long as I don’t intend to pamper my JL as much as I did my Mustang, paint should be done properly. And delivered unscratched. QC and honest/quality built cars should’ve nothing in common with their intended use...

 

[EROCK]

I agree with your seat sentiments OP. I literally just traded a brand new 4runner when getting my Wrangler. Although I had intentions of making that a 10+ year truck, the drivers seat was a medieval torture device coupled with the high floor. At 6' and 175 lbs you wouldn't think seat fitment would be an issue, but I have a really hard time getting comfortable in a vehicle unless my legs hang downward naturally like a semi driver.
The JL seats/position was what made me jump ships to my first Wrangler, reliability can't cause me more backache than a jacked up seat position. At least thats how I justified the swap. Loving my new JL btw!! Never felt this way about the 4runner.

 

[Atomic Anvil]

Ok, now that the new shoes are on...

 

[jlroman2]

Ok, now that the new shoes are on...

No lift? What size tires?

 

[Atomic Anvil]

No lift? What size tires?

No lift yet. Running KMC XD Monster 2's (17") with Nitto Ridge Grappler 285/75x17 tires. No rubbing, good clearance, but still worried about the extra weight on the gate, so I may yank the spare until I can get something reinforced.

 

[EROCK]

Does the tire holder rod seem labored holding that extra weight? What offset did you order on your Monsters? Looks great by the way.

 

[Atomic Anvil]

Does the tire holder rod seem labored holding that extra weight? What offset did you order on your Monsters? Looks great by the way.

Thanks very much! The tire holder rod doesn’t seem stressed at all, but I am not sure it would stay that way in any type of off-road situation.

I stopped at Fortec 4x4 in Marietta yesterday, and the guys all said it would be fine for normal road use for a bit. They have ripped apart the JL tailgates on a few already, and said there is quite a bit more support structure than the JK ever had.
That being said, I am still pulling it off until I get it reinforced.

The Monster’s are at -12mm. I believe that once XD actually tunes them for the JL that will increase, as they definitely stick out quite a bit.

 

[Smarrtazz]

Here are some shots of the specific areas. I enhanced them as much as possible for clarity, but have not attempted to make anything look worse than it really is. Really odd issues, and only on the left side of the Jeep, so I am assuming a bit of calibration with the paint robot would have fixed this.

It's really minor stuff, but still annoying for the price!

Wow...glad they are taking care of those issues. Hard to believe it was missed. I about died laughing when you said the designers need to be beaten about the head and face :cwl:

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