agordon117's first thoughts on JLUR

[agordon117]

Picked up my new JL yesterday, have about an hour driving it so far, and I have a few thoughts about it so far. I came from a 2016 JKUR Hard Rock, so I'll be able to compare to that

Manual transmission:

The manual transmission reminds me of the current model corvette. It's super light but rock solid. The shifter doesn't bounce around (no more jumping out of 4th gear) at all, the throw is much shorter, and the clutch, while only requiring about half of the force, has a more distinct engagement point. Everything is super smooth. If you accidentally let the clutch out a little too fast, you aren't standing upright on your spare tire anymore.


Steering: I have about 42 psi in the tires, have to grab a gauge before I can let any out. It does wonder a bit more than my JK, but not a lot.


Wind noise: I haven't had it above 70 yet, but so far I don't have any buffeting or whistling. I will say, the wind noise is different than the JK. It isn't louder really, but it is higher pitched. This may be why people without seal problems are complaining about the wind noise a bit. It used to be a much deeper sound and now it's higher pitched.


Road noise: I haven't actually detected any road/tire noise. It's so much quieter than the JK in that regard, it's unbelievable.


Ride comfort: The ride is so much smoother than the JK, it doesn't really even feel like it's a Wrangler anymore.



More thoughts as they come, but so far those were the important ones I have as of now.

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[alltimesaresoon]

Your review makes me happy I picked a manual.....now the waiting continues......wonder if I'll ever regret picking a 2 door

 

[angrynewyorker]

Your review makes me happy I picked a manual.....now the waiting continues......wonder if I'll ever regret picking a 2 door

Not possible to ever regret a 2 door, there’s nothing else like em.

 

[agordon117]

A few more thoughts:

The homelink garage door openers are nice, but it's annoying that I have to start my jeep in my garage in order to use the opener to open the door. Or go through the gyrations of putting the jeep in accessory, pushing the opener, and then starting it. I saw a mod around here somewhere than enables them full time, but I'd prefer if they activated when the key was detected inside the vehicle. That seems to be the most logical.


The led headlights are not as good as the mopar led ones were on the JK. These are the ones I had: https://www.justforjeeps.com/82214333ab.html. The JL ones project higher up, which is good since the JK ones were too low, but they do not throw light as far. They are good, but the ones I had on the JK were amazing, so it's annoying to take a step backwards. The brights don't really do anything either. They project light higher up, but they don't throw as far as the normal beams, so any benefit they give is negligible. I will probably upgrade to JW speaker lights if they make some for the JL, since that's what the mopar JK ones were based on. I just am not nearly as impressed with the stock led JL lights as I was with the ones on my JK. It's not a step back to the halogen lights of old, but I used to be able to light up a quarter of a mile of road. It's hard to take a step back once you are there.


The led foglights are fantastic. The mopar led fogs on the JK (https://www.rubitrux.com/mopar-82214785-rubicon-hard-rock-x-and-10a-fog-light.html) barely illuminated more than 6 feet in front of the vehicle, but the JL ones probably throw 20 or 30 feet. I was shocked how much light they added.



I have the cargo area mats, and the large section that attaches to the gap cover does not work well. It's supposed to allow you to fold only one seat at a time, but despite the fact that the holes are already on the gap cover, they do not have the proper spacing. The grommets are also not secure enough, so if you fold only one seat, usually the grommets on the mat will let go. I'm pretty close to just gluing them in place, because it seems like it would flex enough to stay attached if the mounting force was just a little higher.


Someone complained that the reading light for the driver and passenger aren't good enough, and I 100% disagree. Whatever is in your lap will easily be illuminated by the reading light, despite the fact that it is behind you in the roll bar.


For anyone who had any sort of under seat safe in a JK, that's not going to be possible in the JL. The seat adjustment handle is dead center between the bottom of the seat and the floor, and the gap is already smaller between floor and seat. Raising the seat does not raise the adjustment lever like it did on the JK.


There are so many little details that are really nice. The usb ports around the car are all illuminated, so you can find them easily at night. There are a lot more convenience lights in the various sections of the jeep.


The rubicon sits higher than the JK did, but it seems to be easier to get in and out. The grab handles in the A pillars help with that, but the door opening must be bigger or something.

 

[sost1sg]

Great reviews! I’m eagerly awaiting my manual JLUR and this makes me want it even more! Post some pics when u get a chance.

 

[agordon117]

Got my dash cam wired up. It's a blackvue DR750s I think, with power magic pro box (battery protection timer for parking mode). The install came out super clean like I wanted. The rear camera is a hair crooked because the adhesive is flexible. I mounted it level and it sagged a bit. It came with more adhesive pads, so at some point I'll replace it and mount it a hair high. That way when it sags, it ends up being level. I swear the power magic pro box is mounted square to the top edge of the glove box. No matter how many times I stare at it in person, or measure the gaps, it is mounted evenly, but every picture comes out weird. I tied into the aux switch wiring below the glove box, and tied into the ground below the passenger grab handle in the A pillar. It's all covered in this thread. https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/dash-cameras-i-want-one-but-whats-good.3310/page-5 Overall the system is very unobtrusive, and the fact that I spent time running the wires under all of the trim panels made it look almost factory installed. Easiest way to get it all installed was to take off the passenger door, the whole roof, and fold the windshield. Gives easy access to the passenger floor board for wiring, and all of the trim panels for running the wires.

As I mentioned, I don't really like the way the cargo mat fits the gap cover. Even when both seats are folded it looks wrong. It's not like there's a right and wrong way to install it either. The grommet locations are precut in the gap cover. I'm pretty annoyed with the fact that this wasn't a factory option, I had to buy the mat, and it didn't fit the premade holes in the gap cover the way it was designed. For anyone who installs one though, an exacto knife is your weapon of choice. Cuts through the seat fabric like butter. I'm not sure what to do at this point, because it's possible I either got an out of spec mat or gap cover, but how am I supposed to know which? I guess I could ask the dealer.

 

[That One Guy]

Your review makes me happy I picked a manual.....now the waiting continues......wonder if I'll ever regret picking a 2 door

I've also driven a JL manual (and JK and TJ and YJ). It's a truly great clutch and transmission, especially compared to the very "trucky" JK manual.

You'll dig it.

 

[agordon117]

Somehow I missed this picture in the previous post, and I the advanced editor isn't working for me to add another image.

 

[chcg12]

I have the under drivers seat sliding / locking drawer and it is one of my favorite mods. Will a redesigned drawer fit somehow or simply too little space no matter what? Thanks

 

[agordon117]

I have the under drivers seat sliding / locking drawer and it is one of my favorite mods. Will a redesigned drawer fit somehow or simply too little space no matter what? Thanks

It won't fit no matter what. I'm trying to figure out what to do from this point but without redesigning the seat adjustment mechanism, it just won't fit. I'll grab a picture.

 

[agordon117]

might be hard to tell, but there's only about 1-1/2" under the bar. My picture is a little weird where the tape measure hit, but it's an awkward position trying to snap the picture and hold the tape. To my eye there was no more than 1-5/8" when I looked at the tape without the camera. The bar is level to the floor the entire way back, and is not wide enough even if the drawer was very slim to fit the entire safe in between the driver and passenger sides of the handle.


I don't think it's likely that a safe would fit above the bar either, even if the bar was designed differently and the seat was raised. If it was like the JK we could just raise the entire seat, but the driver's seat is already so high in the JL you wouldn't be able to see the speedometer through the steering wheel, and your head would hit the ceiling (I'm 5'10").

The under seat safe was one of my favorite mods as well. I'm pretty bummed that it won't work.

 

[chcg12]

Is the front passenger seat exactly the same as well? I could see reaching over that far if I had too...thanks for taking the time to send a pic. Hopefully aftermarket comes up with a solution.

 

[agordon117]

Is the front passenger seat exactly the same as well? I could see reaching over that far if I had too...thanks for taking the time to send a pic. Hopefully aftermarket comes up with a solution.

The passenger seat is the same, yes.

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