Advice Wanted for First Time Jeep Owner (Custom Order)

[HotSoup]

Hello Everyone,

I finally convinced my wife to allow me to get a JL Wrangler Unlimited after we rented one on a recent beach vacation. The whole family loved it and is bugging me to hurry up and get one. I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on the attached order, but wanted to solicit some feedback from the experts first. Please feel free to chime in with thoughts, comments, what you would do differently, etc. This will be my daily driver and summer kid-hauling machine. I have a short commute @ 5 miles each way, so I can be on freeway or local roads. Weather here in Central Ohio is cold winters and hot summers with great shoulder seasons. I'll wheel it a few times a year on novice and intermediate trails...nothing too crazy. I've driven manual my whole life and I love that Jeep still offers a manual transmission. General plan is hardtop for the winter, bestop ultra soft top in the summer.

Curious for general feedback, but here are some specific questions:

1 - Does the manual make wheeling significantly harder? I'm solid with a manual, but wheeling will be mostly new to me.

2 - Dealer is asking MSRP...what are other folks proposing on their custom orders from local dealers?

3 - I lean heavily towards NOT getting either safety system...it's gonna be a manual transmission and I like to actually drive a car. I might take the odd trip to the beach every year but will generally be just bumming around town (not on freeway). Seems expensive and not my style...if anyone feels the need to convince me otherwise I'd love to hear the argument.

Thanks all.

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[Opus]

Yeah. I went with the Safety group because I like the blind spot monitor. But the Advanced Safety seemed a little excessive to me. My wife’s Compass has the lane detection thing where it tries to correct your steering if it thinks you’re drifting into another lane. I hate that. Every time I take an off-ramp I have to fight with the steering wheel.

 

[blnewt]

Don't know where Flavortown is but if Gupton is within a reasonable drive I believe they still offer below invoice pricing. Also w/ a manual transmission you should consider lower gear option if you can get that. I believe you can get 4.56 or 4.88 gears. A 4.56 would be perfect w/ your 33s, and if you plan to get larger tires eventually the 4.88s would be great!

If you're solid w/ a manual you'll be fine on the trail, just more involved. FWIW the 8AT is a awesome setup on the JL, and a bit less to worry about on the trail, but if you're really a row your own lover you know what you want!

 

[JayJay]

My wife’s Compass has the lane detection thing

Wranglers don't offer that feature.

 

[Steel8083]

At least get a price from Gupton or one of the below invoice. It's definitely worth the drive.

 

[JayJay]

At least get a price from Gupton or one of the below invoice. It's definitely worth the drive.

Below invoice dealer list.
https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...-below-invoice-spreadsheet.95841/post-1986196

 

[rickinAZ]

I bought both safety systems and they work great. It would be like you passing on antilock brakes in the 1990s. Progress marchs on. As for cost: pay me now or pay me later. Just hope that pay-me-later is limited to money.

Different subject: you can do much better than MSRP. Are there other dealers to shop in Flavortown, USA?

 

[Heimkehr]

I lean heavily towards NOT getting either safety system...it's gonna be a manual transmission and I like to actually drive a car.

I've bolded what you might consider to be the answer to your own inquiry.

My wife's Honda has the full suite of electronic driver safety aids. They are well-integrated and function flawlessly. And I wouldn't want any of them on my Wrangler. Thankfully, I was able to configure and order my JLU in that manner.

This is a subjective decision, so your personal preference is the correct choice. The day will eventually arrive when consumer choice in such matters is removed from the equation, across all brands and models.

 

[Tethmes]

If you'll mostly be running novice to intermediate trails in the midwest plus a beach trip every once in a while, that's almost exactly the same use case as I have for mine. While the manual does make it a bit more annoying off road, especially if you're wheeling with friends and behind someone who has an auto, it's not enough to make me regret getting the MT, especially since I just have so much fun driving it on road the rest of the time. For the type of trails I run it mainly just makes it more engaging. If I was planning on the majority of my wheeling being the big rocky stuff out west, that would probably be a different story.

Due to the tall gearing in the MT though, I very much agree with those who say to consider the lower gearing option. Looking on the jeep builder, it appears you can't get the 4.56 with the MT, so 4.88 will be the only option if you want to go that route from the factory. (If the website builder can be trusted anyway, it's not known to be the most accurate thing on earth.)

 

[blnewt]

Due to the tall gearing in the MT though, I very much agree with those who say to consider the lower gearing option. Looking on the jeep builder, it appears you can't get the 4.56 with the MT, so 4.88 will be the only option if you want to go that route from the factory. (If the website builder can be trusted anyway, it's not known to be the most accurate thing on earth.)

Might sacrifice a bit mpg on the hwy, but probably not much, and the crawl ratio would be incredible when you need it. Would love to have more gear than not enough for sure, and much easier to go taller if & when

 

[laroo]

Below invoice dealer list.
https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...-below-invoice-spreadsheet.95841/post-1986196

My only advice is the above... Don't pay MSRP, especially for a custom order. Easy enough to make a road trip out of picking the Jeep up. You'll save thousands.

 

[Slowregal]

If you plan to run the stock 33 tires(actual 32.2) you will be ok with the 4.10 ratio.
4.88 will make 1st gear useless and every gear is perfectly usable with 4.10 and 33s

I also didn't get any of the safety features, I probably would have got the basic safety package for the blind spot monitor on mirrors if I lived in the city but I don't think those are required on a Rubicon ;P

Also, I got $2k off my order since it was a custom order. In my area the only ones sold for MSRP are the ones on the lot if they don't have many.

 

[bjm00se]

Looks like you know what you want.

Parts shortage delays are still a thing - so it pays to skip anything - "grab handles" in this case, that are easy to add later and might possibly cause your jeep build to be delayed.

Folks mention gearing -- the 4.10 for Rubicon is fine. 4.88 is overkill and not recommended unless you're planning on lift and oversized 35/37 tires. Folks who gripe about "tall gearing" on the 6MT are driving sport/sahara with the 3.45 rear end, not the 4.10 Rubicon gearing and 4:1 transfer case.

Yes, it's harder to wheel with stick, you can kill the motor while traversing harder obstacles, but that's OK, and just part of the challenge - drive whatcha like!

 

[Opus]

Wranglers don't offer that feature.

My mistake. I thought that was part of the Advanced Safety.

 

[M_Pluto]

So I ordered a '23 JLUR, mostly because my one big no compromises option was a MT, you could presented me at the time of order with a car that was exactly what I wanted, and 10% below invoice, except it had an AT, and I would have turned it flat down.

I also got the 4,88 gears after talking to some people and the advice I got was, if I planned on getting 35s or bigger tires almost right out the gate, go with 4.88, if I planned on sticking with 33's, stick with the 4.10 gearing, it will do just fine.

The other thing about a Manual transmission is that it saves you money, both because it's the default offering, and getting an AT costs money, but also because it takes some of the decision making out of your hands about certain options/packages (XR, remote start, and some rim choices are the immediate ones that come to mind.

That all being said, your order looks fine to me, I would have skipped on the grab handles and figured something out myself, but that's just me.

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