S2k Chris
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Chris
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2018
- Threads
- 39
- Messages
- 1,014
- Reaction score
- 2,439
- Location
- Arlington Heights, IL
- Vehicle(s)
- AP1 S2000, Willy’s, Honda CB360 project
- Occupation
- Food industry finance
- Thread starter
- #1
I originally leased a 2018 Sport S in August of 2018. It was my first ever Jeep after years of admiring them from afar. I loved it, and honestly should have just bought the lease out. But they were firesaleing 4xes and I got a Rubicon for a bargain price. I had that for 3 years, and I loved the Jeep but came to hate the drivetrain. Lots of issues (recalls, failures) and just generally an unrefined drivetrain. I eventually grew to hate that I felt it was unreliable and I wanted nothing to do with it long term. So I gave the lease back at the end and ordered a new Wrangler Willy’s from Mark Dodge, which was, as always, excellent to work with. I picked it up on Friday from the Houston airport and set out on a 2-day trip to drive it home to Chicagoland. Below are my thoughts and impressions I posted to another non-Jeep forum. There are some flaws and upgrades, if anyone has thoughts I’m happy to hear them.
First, the drivetrain is so much more linear than the 4xe. It’s not as powerful, but it’s more predictable, and no hesitation off the line and no jerkiness or questions what it’s going to do.
It also feels (and is) a lot lighter. That results in a less ponderous/more tossable feel, but also results in the Jeep being tossed around more on the highway. I did notice that the tires were aired to 42psi cold; I dropped them to the recommended 37 cold, we’ll see how that affects things (haven’t driven it since doing so). Should reduce some of the wandering/instability. I was very happy with the mud terrain tires, they are Falken Wildpeak MT01 which I’ve heard good things about. Not a ton of siping so not sure how they will do in snow but reviews sound promising. The road noise was I thought a little muted from the Rubicon and it’s K02s, but that was at 32k miles, and apparently the 2024s have increased noise mitigation.
Features wise, I did step down a trim level. Aside from the obvious front locker and sway bar disconnect, I lost a few other odds and ends. No native nav (never used), no auto dimming mirror (kinda sucks), no front camera (optional on last build, rarely used), no led tails (might try to retrofit, we’ll see but don’t really care). Also lost the full time AWD for the transfer case, kinda regret this one but it is unavailable in Willy’s. Oh well. Theres also some pretty significant cost cutting evident. The passenger grab bar was embossed with Wrangler and had nice stainless bolts (people would use for mounts, etc); this has been replaced with a plain black panel. The rear seat loses the household plug, and crucially, the USB-A and USB-C chargers (2x ea) that were there. This is bad for my kids and I’ll probably do some sort of retrofit. I know my Rubicon had them, I’m not sure about my Sport but I thought so. I don’t think there’s an option pack that I could have selected to bring them back. Also stupid stuff, like the clip on the back quarter in the trunk for the hardtop wiring harness and washer line. There was a nice little mount to hold them, now you get a stupid door to open and try to cram them in and they only mostly fit. The trim in the back seat is also kind of crap, I had to press some of it fully into place, and there’s a big gap at the B-pillar where the trim doesn’t reach the body. On one hand, it’s a Jeep; on the other it’s a $56k Jeep. I think they’ve gotten sloppy. From the driver’s seat though, fit and finish is pretty good.
Trap door for roof harness:
The new infotainment is really really good. Huge map, and a nice status bar that shows the current song so you don’t need to have the split screen for CarPlay. No way to change the song without going into the menu for the passenger, but driver can do it with steering wheel controls. Also the gauge cluster is nicely simplified from the 4xe; that one was very busy, this one is like my Sport and much cleaner. You can chose what to show at the top, I do temp, compass, and range.
One maddening thing is that the center arm rest has a USB-A port inside, but it’s wired CarPlay. And it’s notoriously unreliable. It was bad on my Sport, bad on my Rubicon, and now bad on my Willy’s. It cuts out every 2-4 minutes. If it was a dumb port it would be no problem, but it’s a smart port so when it cuts you lose your CarPlay connection briefly (30s or so). I don’t know why in the world this is such a problem. What I’d like to do is chuck my phone in there on long trips plugged in and charging and running off wireless CarPlay. What this actually means is that to charge it I have to use the dash mounted aux inputs, which work fine, but it means a cord, and it means finding a spot to stash the phone. Not bad with 1 person in the car but with 2, that becomes a pain. I may try to wire up a dumb port in there when I do ports on the back of the console for the back seat and that way I can charge in the console as desired. More to come on that.
As with all Jeeps the rear view mirror is too low. It seems as though there’s an arm that connects to the adaptive cruise camera box for the mirror; I’m wondering if there’s an aftermarket shorter arm to bring the mirror up an inch. If not I might see if I can fab one up. That would be really nice to raise it up.
On the subject of the adaptive cruise, this was a real surprise. It’s excellent. I hate the one in my wife’s car because it is way too passive (closest follow setting is too conservative) and because when you can get back up to speed it accelerates real slowly. The Jeep is the opposite. The closest follow setting is uncomfortably close in some situations ( I was behind a couple Harleys at one point and had to back off some to give them room) and when you pull out to pass or a car turns out from in front of you, it races HARD up to the chosen speed. Like aggressively so. I’d turn it down a notch if I could. In a few instances (maybe 5) it accelerated so hard over bumpy pavement that it engaged the EPS which then cuts the cruise control. I need to look into the calibration of that. Or maybe the aired down tires will help. It also 2-3 times phantom braked for a car in the next lane, or for a barrier as I went around a turn, or something, but 2-3x over 1200 miles isn’t terrible. I never would have spec’d this, and probably won’t use it day to day, but it was nice to have on the road trip. And you still have regular “dumb” cruise as well, though I’m not sure when you’d use it.
Updated screen:
That black icon at the top center is telling you the hotspot is turned off. Given that I can’t imagine why anyone would pay for a 4G hotspot when everyone has phones and 5G tablets, that seems like a big waste of space but that’s a small nit to pick. And yes that’s a Taylor Swift song playing, my daughter was with me so shut up.
I put the soft top on from my old Jeep, ripped the doors off, and parked next to one of our cheer coach’s old TJ.
As far as mods, I’m going to install the KC round LED bumper lights and the Oracle rear LEDs (replace red triangle reflectors) from my last Jeep. And at some point reinstall the hideaway GMRS. I might look into rear LED tails, and I want to solve the charging issues. And while I have the console ripped open, it probably makes sense to install a rear heated seat kit too, would make my kids happy when we go to WI to snowmobile. Otherwise, I’m just going to drive the thing.
tl;dr:
Good: better infotainment, much better drivetrain, much simpler, good adaptive cruise, general Jeepness
Bad: fit and finish in the back, some cost cutting, stupid audio/charging problem, some adaptive cruise squirreliness, less directionally stable than heavy 4xe
Overall: I love Jeeps and I love this Jeep
First, the drivetrain is so much more linear than the 4xe. It’s not as powerful, but it’s more predictable, and no hesitation off the line and no jerkiness or questions what it’s going to do.
It also feels (and is) a lot lighter. That results in a less ponderous/more tossable feel, but also results in the Jeep being tossed around more on the highway. I did notice that the tires were aired to 42psi cold; I dropped them to the recommended 37 cold, we’ll see how that affects things (haven’t driven it since doing so). Should reduce some of the wandering/instability. I was very happy with the mud terrain tires, they are Falken Wildpeak MT01 which I’ve heard good things about. Not a ton of siping so not sure how they will do in snow but reviews sound promising. The road noise was I thought a little muted from the Rubicon and it’s K02s, but that was at 32k miles, and apparently the 2024s have increased noise mitigation.
Features wise, I did step down a trim level. Aside from the obvious front locker and sway bar disconnect, I lost a few other odds and ends. No native nav (never used), no auto dimming mirror (kinda sucks), no front camera (optional on last build, rarely used), no led tails (might try to retrofit, we’ll see but don’t really care). Also lost the full time AWD for the transfer case, kinda regret this one but it is unavailable in Willy’s. Oh well. Theres also some pretty significant cost cutting evident. The passenger grab bar was embossed with Wrangler and had nice stainless bolts (people would use for mounts, etc); this has been replaced with a plain black panel. The rear seat loses the household plug, and crucially, the USB-A and USB-C chargers (2x ea) that were there. This is bad for my kids and I’ll probably do some sort of retrofit. I know my Rubicon had them, I’m not sure about my Sport but I thought so. I don’t think there’s an option pack that I could have selected to bring them back. Also stupid stuff, like the clip on the back quarter in the trunk for the hardtop wiring harness and washer line. There was a nice little mount to hold them, now you get a stupid door to open and try to cram them in and they only mostly fit. The trim in the back seat is also kind of crap, I had to press some of it fully into place, and there’s a big gap at the B-pillar where the trim doesn’t reach the body. On one hand, it’s a Jeep; on the other it’s a $56k Jeep. I think they’ve gotten sloppy. From the driver’s seat though, fit and finish is pretty good.
Trap door for roof harness:
The new infotainment is really really good. Huge map, and a nice status bar that shows the current song so you don’t need to have the split screen for CarPlay. No way to change the song without going into the menu for the passenger, but driver can do it with steering wheel controls. Also the gauge cluster is nicely simplified from the 4xe; that one was very busy, this one is like my Sport and much cleaner. You can chose what to show at the top, I do temp, compass, and range.
One maddening thing is that the center arm rest has a USB-A port inside, but it’s wired CarPlay. And it’s notoriously unreliable. It was bad on my Sport, bad on my Rubicon, and now bad on my Willy’s. It cuts out every 2-4 minutes. If it was a dumb port it would be no problem, but it’s a smart port so when it cuts you lose your CarPlay connection briefly (30s or so). I don’t know why in the world this is such a problem. What I’d like to do is chuck my phone in there on long trips plugged in and charging and running off wireless CarPlay. What this actually means is that to charge it I have to use the dash mounted aux inputs, which work fine, but it means a cord, and it means finding a spot to stash the phone. Not bad with 1 person in the car but with 2, that becomes a pain. I may try to wire up a dumb port in there when I do ports on the back of the console for the back seat and that way I can charge in the console as desired. More to come on that.
As with all Jeeps the rear view mirror is too low. It seems as though there’s an arm that connects to the adaptive cruise camera box for the mirror; I’m wondering if there’s an aftermarket shorter arm to bring the mirror up an inch. If not I might see if I can fab one up. That would be really nice to raise it up.
On the subject of the adaptive cruise, this was a real surprise. It’s excellent. I hate the one in my wife’s car because it is way too passive (closest follow setting is too conservative) and because when you can get back up to speed it accelerates real slowly. The Jeep is the opposite. The closest follow setting is uncomfortably close in some situations ( I was behind a couple Harleys at one point and had to back off some to give them room) and when you pull out to pass or a car turns out from in front of you, it races HARD up to the chosen speed. Like aggressively so. I’d turn it down a notch if I could. In a few instances (maybe 5) it accelerated so hard over bumpy pavement that it engaged the EPS which then cuts the cruise control. I need to look into the calibration of that. Or maybe the aired down tires will help. It also 2-3 times phantom braked for a car in the next lane, or for a barrier as I went around a turn, or something, but 2-3x over 1200 miles isn’t terrible. I never would have spec’d this, and probably won’t use it day to day, but it was nice to have on the road trip. And you still have regular “dumb” cruise as well, though I’m not sure when you’d use it.
Updated screen:
That black icon at the top center is telling you the hotspot is turned off. Given that I can’t imagine why anyone would pay for a 4G hotspot when everyone has phones and 5G tablets, that seems like a big waste of space but that’s a small nit to pick. And yes that’s a Taylor Swift song playing, my daughter was with me so shut up.
I put the soft top on from my old Jeep, ripped the doors off, and parked next to one of our cheer coach’s old TJ.
As far as mods, I’m going to install the KC round LED bumper lights and the Oracle rear LEDs (replace red triangle reflectors) from my last Jeep. And at some point reinstall the hideaway GMRS. I might look into rear LED tails, and I want to solve the charging issues. And while I have the console ripped open, it probably makes sense to install a rear heated seat kit too, would make my kids happy when we go to WI to snowmobile. Otherwise, I’m just going to drive the thing.
tl;dr:
Good: better infotainment, much better drivetrain, much simpler, good adaptive cruise, general Jeepness
Bad: fit and finish in the back, some cost cutting, stupid audio/charging problem, some adaptive cruise squirreliness, less directionally stable than heavy 4xe
Overall: I love Jeeps and I love this Jeep
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