Auto or stick?

[bio86250]

I think my opinion is worth it for everyone who's struggling with auto or stick. My first manual car is a 2020 JL Willys, then I gave it to my dad and ordered a 2022 JL Willys sport (Manual, again). So far, I am delighted with it. If you like to shift, I tell you JL's stick is fun to drive.

I have some test drive experience with other brands like the 2019 civic si or the last-gen JK 2 door. To be honest, I am a little disappointed that driving high reputation honda stick shift didn't give me a night and day difference compared with JLs. Yes, the shift is shorter and lighter but guess I'm very used to the JL's stick. Driving JK's manual is even worse; the clutch is heavy and the shift isn't precise at all, feels like driving an old truck.

Overall, the JL's manual is good, hope this help.

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[zrickety]

Just traded my 392 for a TRX. Needed a Jeep in the stable so ordered a 2 door Rubicon with Auto and 4.88 gears. 35's in the future. I am having second thoughts about the auto. My 2015 Hard Rock was a stick and it had less than desirable throws and precision. But I do like driving a stick. Query: is the current manual better than that in the 2015. Will I sacrifice performance with the V6 and manual compared to the auto? First post and glad to be here! Included my latest toy.

I have never been disappointed with the manual. It's precise and works great. I drove 8 hours one way to get the one I wanted. Get them before they're gone.

 

[JLUW75]

Just traded my 392 for a TRX. Needed a Jeep in the stable so ordered a 2 door Rubicon with Auto and 4.88 gears. 35's in the future. I am having second thoughts about the auto. My 2015 Hard Rock was a stick and it had less than desirable throws and precision. But I do like driving a stick. Query: is the current manual better than that in the 2015. Will I sacrifice performance with the V6 and manual compared to the auto? First post and glad to be here! Included my latest toy.

I have a Willys with a stick. It is Aisen 6-speed manual. I got it because I didn't want to pay for the auto and the dealer was forcing the mild hybrid version of the V6 with the auto so I went with the simpler V6 and stickshift. The shifts can be a bit crunchy, especially 2nd gear but I love the exhaust note of the Pentastar V6 and I keep it at 4th gear around town with factory Willys tires/wheels and the engine comes to life at and above 2K rpm. I don't use 5th under 50 miles and 6th is strictly for the highway. I average 22mpg's but I do keep it under 3k most of the time My first Jeep was a 2000 Sport TJ with a stick so I'm reliving my youth and I love it.

 

[Micky]

This is purely a personal decision.

I have a manual. have driven manual for decades. I still enjoy it. From a safety perspective, a busy right hand on a stick isnt playing with the phone.

The Jeep is about fun, for me, the stick adds to the fun.

 

[vegasblue]

I'm a fan of stick shift vehicles, but I went auto on the Jeep. All day long trail rides and rock crawling in a 1969 CJ5 swayed me toward being lazy offroad. I find crawling much more enjoyable with the auto, power steering, disk brakes. If I went a two door, I would have went stick admittedly. But I have the Sport Glide, Street Rod, and STI for rowing gears. My Jeep is my daily vacation. The other three are thrill rides in their own right. Also use the Jeep for visiting job sites. Glad I'm not rowing gears all day.

 

[Bpieroway]

This is purely a personal decision.

I have a manual. have driven manual for decades. I still enjoy it. From a safety perspective, a busy right hand on a stick isnt playing with the phone.

The Jeep is about fun, for me, the stick adds to the fun.

Amen !

 

[AlgUSF]

The shifts can be a bit crunchy, especially 2nd gear.

I get the same sensation that 2nd gives a feel on the shifter like it is grinding just a little when I run 1st out a bit. When I roll doors off, I try to hear any actual transmission grinding on my shift from 1st to 2nd and I hear absolutely nothing other than the shifting linkage. Not sure what it is, I'm going to sweat it a bit on my first transmission fluid change when I pull the plug.

 

[Willing&Able]

I think my opinion is worth it for everyone who's struggling with auto or stick. My first manual car is a 2020 JL Willys, then I gave it to my dad and ordered a 2022 JL Willys sport (Manual, again). So far, I am delighted with it. If you like to shift, I tell you JL's stick is fun to drive.

I have some test drive experience with other brands like the 2019 civic si or the last-gen JK 2 door. To be honest, I am a little disappointed that driving high reputation honda stick shift didn't give me a night and day difference compared with JLs. Yes, the shift is shorter and lighter but guess I'm very used to the JL's stick. Driving JK's manual is even worse; the clutch is heavy and the shift isn't precise at all, feels like driving an old truck.

Overall, the JL's manual is good, hope this help.

Rockford here. I have a 2019 JLUR and would love to compare vs a 2022. My MT is just terrible. Burned up when stock but dealer didn't have a solution at the time. Bought a Center Force and couldn't shift into several gears. CF released another version - better but still flawed. They have a third version, but no ETA on stock dates.

For others - if you are going to heavily mod (add lots of weight) the 3.6MT is an absolute dog on hilly roads. I was in Ozarks MO in hilly country - nowhere near mountainous CO - and on decent uphill grades I would drop from 75mph down to 60's in seconds. I would downshift from 6th to 5th and then to 4th. Even in 4th gear with foot planted to the floor i would see mph go from 60 to 61 to 62 with roughly 3-5 sec per mph. Crest the hill then it would quickly return to cruising at 75mph until the next hill. I'm running 37" w 4.88. I had my wife and three small teenagers and towing a #500 kayak trailer. Doing this for 5 hours was brutal.

 

[J0E]

If you love to shift and don't care about hard core off road, stick with the stick. No one will convince stick lovers otherwise, and we're subject to their scorn for trying.

Technology is nice. There's a reason why the Germans stopped making racecars with manuals and either use a DSG, PDK or even with the new BMW GT4 car, a 7 speed automatic (with torque converter). The BMW M235iR uses the ZF 8 speed too. If you want performance, manual is not the way to go. Automatics have got too good all while manuals have got worse.

I was a hard core stick guy who raced motocross and autocross. I really wanted a big block corvette and found a screaming deal on a 72 with a turbo 400 (3 speed automatic). After a little autocross I found out the significant advantages to an auto.

But when I needed a new 3/4 ton truck, I couldn't find a stick so had to go auto. But I soon learned the huge advantages an auto has off road.

Banned Pony Tail dude stalls stick and says: "Stalling happens a lot when you're wheeling a stick".

I hear stalling and smell clutches smoking every weekend from the experienced folks in my off road club. Their RPMs are high. I crawl through the same line, never going above 1,200 RPM.

Do a 5 point turn on a hill, much easier with an auto.

The 8 speed auto is great but I'd rather have the Bronco 10 speed auto.

 

[RowdySouth]

JLR 2D MT. Its absolute joy to drive every time I get the opportunity. If I would've gotten a JLUXR, then it would be an auto for longer road trips, luxury camping lifestyle, and total lazy experience on the trail. But I rolled out with a 2dr and it had to be a 6 speed for this chapter of life. Its great to be back in the seat again. If you decide on a change, then the financial pain won't be too bad due to the retention value.

"NO RAGRETS", not even one letter.

 

[SteadyC]

The JL/JT 6-speed is a flawed design. It’s on the third recall. The “fix” is to retard power when it begins to overheat. Ridiculous.

I’ve owned three MT Jeeps before, but I’d never buy a manual JL/JT.

On top of that, the ZF auto in the JL/JT is a tremendous automatic. Just brilliant.

Excellent auto > sh!tty manual.

Incorrect, the 6 speed has no flaws. The issues are with the clutch, and more specifically improper air bleeding during assembly or incorrect connections allowing air into the clutch hydraulic fluid resulting in clutch slipping and thus heating. Has nothing to do with the six speed Transmission. And the total vehicles part of the recall with actual issues are the vast minority. Most have clutch dump test and pass without further work needed, other than replacing the hose and rebleeding. The recall to reduce power based on clutch temp, is a safety feature, but I do agree that one is bogus. I don’t think it’s fair to talk badly about the MT wholly when it’s the clutch issues, that are known and have been corrected. Especially when OP is buying new and won’t have the clutch historical issue. That’s like saying don’t buy a jeep, they have bad frame welds. I’ve not had either recall done, I know my clutch isn’t slipping, no need to have a dealer mechanic tell me that.

That said, I had a manual JK and have a manual JL. The manual in the JL is great, especially if OP will mostly be on pavement. when I off-road I do wish I had the auto, but i always have a good time n the trail regardless of transmission. . On pavement, I don’t have a strong preference either way. Other than mountain passes, with the V6, I’m in 3rd more than I care to. but we don’t go over the mountains that often in my jeep.

also, MT a is millennial theft deterrent.

My goal was to have a vehicle paid off sooner rather than later, and I opted for just about everything as cheap as possible, including no power windows For example.

I also like the easy serviceability of the MT, about to do 20k fluid change. The other consideration I have read from others, if other family members will be driving this jeep, like kids coming of age and driving soon, and what your preference for them would be.

 

[OldBlue]

We have a 2.0L/850RE (wife's) and a 3.6L/6 speed manual (mine). The 850RE is a great transmission and we get better MPGs w/ the auto, but for my money the manual is just SO MUCH MORE FUN to drive...

 

[FRV]

I have a 21 JLUR with MT. Very happy with it. I learned to drive on a stick almost 50 years ago. Had sticks all my life except for a short time frame recently. So driving a stick is intuitive for me. Delighted to have the MT again.

Have 16,000 miles on JLUR. Not a hiccup so far. Some mudding. Mostly overlanding unimproved roads/easy to moderate off-road trails with a few sketchy technical trails thrown in. All while fully loaded down. No issues. The fun factor would be an order of magnitude less with auto...for me. Wife has as much time in a manual as me. She would prefer the AT in the Jeep because there is more going on when driving off-road with MT, but she does fine and it's my Jeep so that's that. Just taught my college age daughter to drive the MT Jeep. She picked it up easily.

The little technical driving I have done with the Jeep informs me success requires intuitive foot/clutch work and gear selection. It's unforgiving if you goon it up. But it's not "hard." You just have to be paying attention and actively thinking and mentally ahead of your Jeep. If you desire lazy driving experience then get the auto. But if you want to feel real satisfaction and reward for your aforementioned clutch/foot work and gear selection skills then MT all the way.

If it was east anyone could do it.

 

[MawlCrawl]

I had a 2016 JKRU on 35s with a manual transmission. Loved driving it! Now I have a 2022 JKRU on 37s and love driving it more! The manual is much better with shorter throws in the JL. It’s not my everyday driver and I don’t take is on road trips, but I highly recommend adaptive cruise control. Not sure if you’ve already ordered, but it works great with the manual. If you truly love driving a manual, there is no automatic trans that will change that. Some above have said it’s underpowered. This is true, but unfortunately they don’t offer the manual in diesel. When you need more power just downshift. Also, I ordered in January and it showed up in April. If you’re keeping your truck, I would 100% get the manual. If this jeep will be your every day driver, I’d probably go automatic.

 

[Grayone]

Thanks for all replies. For this Jeep I opted for the auto. I will drive it for awhile and if I find myself missing that 3rd petal, it will make great trade material. As for the TRX, jury is still out on the longevity in the stable. Well built vehicle, nicely put together and an impressive ride. That said practicality is not a strong suit! It only has 200 miles on the clock so recouping my initial investment should be possible. Time will tell. Thanks again.

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