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Miscellaneous impressions from Detroit Auto Show

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  • They only had two vehicles to climb in and out of - a Sahara and a Rubicon.
  • New lighter doors sound cheap, tin can-ny. These may have been early vehicles. Maybe the NVH people will have tweaked them by the time production is really rolling.
  • The hard top with the powered cloth opening seemed fairly aimed at people who want a Wrangler for fashion reasons. No difficult removals, push-button access to sky.
  • Satisfactory back seat leg room with front seat all the way back. (I'm 6'3".)
  • Clunky center console look and operation, but in the end very useful. It's a Jeep thing.
  • Tiny glove box.
  • Sahara running boards too wide.
  • The cargo rail system has two versions. One of them has beefier tie-down anchors with key holes.
  • I though the trailer tow option had class II hitch (isn't that 1.25"?), but the Rubi had a 2" hitch.
  • Love the fold down rear head rests.
I'll need to test ride it before I pick my model and options. I wouldn’t want to pay Rubi cash for something that felt cheap. In that case I'd rather get the Sport and add my desired options.
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Bgs133

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So you need to have a difficult removal of the top to be a "real" Wrangler? Good stuff..lol
I will have one bc I had a dual top before and storing the top is a pita for me.
As far as fashion goes, it's raining out and my favorite sneakers have holes in them, I refuse to get rid of them.
Embrace technology Grasshopper!!!
...as long as it doesn't leak!!
 

FCrackerJLRubi

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JKs always had a chunky double tap sound when you close the door (ka-thunk-chunk)....it was not tin can, or rattling, or whatever...it was honestly a very satisfying sound. The JL I saw in Virginia Beach was no exception to this, and was basically the same as the JK, and they dont sound cheap. I dont necessarily agree nor disagree with the power touch top...not gonna touch the fashion thing....my own opinoin is just meh...its not really removable and turns the Wrangler into more of a solid roofed SUV with cool features, and the last one failed horribly (liberty) so meh. But the rest of it I am on board with, those Sahara steps were pretty wide, I wouldnt say they were obnoxious or anything, or looked bad....just wide and looked huge given the flat sides of a Wrangler.

Edit: to the door thing, since this auto show was recent, maybe this poor Jeep was just subject to all the other auto shows it has been in since the reveal. Those doors got slammed 1000 times per day at every show they went to...I dont know why but people loved slamming doors at the auto show. "its not mine, i dont care" mentality I guess
 

galleywinter

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JKs always had a chunky double tap sound when you close the door (ka-thunk-chunk)....it was not tin can, or rattling, or whatever...it was honestly a very satisfying sound. The JL I saw in Virginia Beach was no exception to this, and was basically the same as the JK, and they dont sound cheap. I dont necessarily agree nor disagree with the power touch top...not gonna touch the fashion thing....my own opinoin is just meh...its not really removable and turns the Wrangler into more of a solid roofed SUV with cool features, and the last one failed horribly (liberty) so meh. But the rest of it I am on board with, those Sahara steps were pretty wide, I wouldnt say they were obnoxious or anything, or looked bad....just wide and looked huge given the flat sides of a Wrangler.

Edit: to the door thing, since this auto show was recent, maybe this poor Jeep was just subject to all the other auto shows it has been in since the reveal. Those doors got slammed 1000 times per day at every show they went to...I dont know why but people loved slamming doors at the auto show. "its not mine, i dont care" mentality I guess
Agreed. When I saw the demo on the power soft it didn't take long for me to rule it out of my order. Not available anyway but... I've had 7 Wranglers, my current JL on order will be my 8th. I run soft top from March to October and if it's not raining I'm topless. The connivance of unhooking a couple of hooks and dropping the top is one of the things I love about Wranglers. Same working the other way. If a storm blows through pull over and raise the soft top in two minutes. So the idea of the power top was great but you are never going to be completely topless with the power soft top. The side panels pop out and thats' cool but you can't run with just the roll bar in the power top and when I run topless I want to be topless not just almost. Just IMO.
 

FCrackerJLRubi

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Agreed. When I saw the demo on the power soft it didn't take long for me to rule it out of my order. Not available anyway but... I've had 7 Wranglers, my current JL on order will be my 8th. I run soft top from March to October and if it's not raining I'm topless. The connivance of unhooking a couple of hooks and dropping the top is one of the things I love about Wranglers. Same working the other way. If a storm blows through pull over and raise the soft top in two minutes. So the idea of the power top was great but you are never going to be completely topless with the power soft top. The side panels pop out and thats' cool but you can't run with just the roll bar in the power top and when I run topless I want to be topless not just almost. Just IMO.
Yea I hear ya, and with how much easier and faster the new top design is with the channel guided system, the soft top was instantly a no brainer for me. We had the hard top only on my wifes 2008 JKU and kinda just both agreed it wasnt worth it to us. When I originally saw the power top, and saw the pop out side panels I said yea screw that electric top mess but make those pop outs for a regular hard top and I am sold. A hard top that you could break down into a bunch of separate flat pieces is much easier to store (assuming the rear would unscrew/unmount from the main top piece too)! But since that didnt happen we stuck to it and went premium top only.
 

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RedTRex

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I love the concept as it fits my needs - hopefully cost is not crazy high.....
 

Vintage

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I really like the lighter aluminum doors and tailgate.
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