knower
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Giuseppe
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2018
- Threads
- 6
- Messages
- 110
- Reaction score
- 83
- Location
- Squamish
- Website
- www.wildbreath.com
- Vehicle(s)
- Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited JL
- Occupation
- VFX Artist / Photographer / Cinematographer
- Thread starter
- #1
Hello everybody,
I thought I would write my impressions on my new Jeep, just for the sake of sharing!
This is KUMA, JKU Rubicon. Just passed my 1000Km, I am currently daily driving it (almost 150km a day), waiting for the sun to come out, to cold to go away and the Ducati to be on the road :D
A little background: I am a wildlife and nature photographer and I work in the film industry. Between movies I take long trips to collect pictures that then become big prints for sale.
This means I travel a lot.
In the past I have always built my vehicles:
1) A Suzuki Samurai when I was in Europe (travelled all over Europe with it!). Incredible little machine!
2) A Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ - 6.5" lift and lockers and too much other stuff..
3) A Mitsubishi Delica v6 Gas - 2" lift and all sort of electrical stuff
On the last two vehicles I also did all the electrical system to have them camperized. Added all sort of things that are useful for long expeditions (my average travelling distance is 6000Km per trip).
The Delica, especially, had a lot of stuff in it, including a full dual battery setup with double feeding (primary battery and solar panels), dash cams, forward and backup cameras, lights and a lot of other things.
Of course I had to add everything myself, since nothing was available stock.
I decided to sell it because I had other plans, but then things turned around and I found myself in need of another 4x4.
The JL came out and I was reading about all the features and the better gas mileage etc and I decided to pull the trigger and buy it new. My first new vehicle.
Reason for buying it: it does come with pretty much all the stuff I added on my previous vehicles, stock.
In particular all the electrical setup with the tow package is great.
You have USBs everywhere, the heavy duty alternator, the AUX switch etc. etc.
This is really awesome, and makes installing new things much cleaner and effortless.
The 8.4 screen is also great, I am glad I went for the updated package.
Android Auto works like a charm.
Alpine Audio works really nicely, at least with the hard top, we'll see with the soft top, but that doesn't matter to me that much.
I am absolutely loving the gazillions of informations on the screen, the fact that you can switch between dashes and decide what you want to see and while leaving the other screen on music or navigation, the fact that you can customize pretty much everything.
The integrate inclinometer alone makes me smile every time :D
The ESS doesn't bother me, it's pretty much seamless and I got totally used to it. Is actually nice to have the engine off when the train is passing or in a bad traffic situation.
I like all the things that jeep has done to make this vehicle a true expedition one, like all the molle setups that are behind the seats, on the tailgate etc.
The storage compartments are good in my opinion. Yes the glove box is small, but it contains the usual stuff. The one on the armrest is definitely a good size.
The USB in there is really useful and they even though of having two little holes so you can have a cable passing through it. So my USB cable is there and the phone gets attached for android auto without having the cable too visible or visible at all.
Cups holders everywhere help, too.
If you can, get the rubber mats, they look great and definitely help with dirt and mud etc.
I love that it comes with 33" and nice travel out of the box, although I think such a long wheelbase needs a 2" lift at least and a nice 285/75-17 to avoid too much belly-sitting.
The doors are solid and the auto stop in two different positions, including the tailgate is really nice.
The crawling ratio is great and the lockers work well. Love to be able to shift to 4H on the fly and not having to worry about gears meshing etc.
The 8 speed transmission seems really appropriate for this vehicle. I love to be able to switch to manual override and change gear ratio when downhill or uphill, it works seamlessly and very well and I don't regret going for an auto.
So far the one thing that pisses me off is that the Jeep will go to auto-parking mode when the door is open, which is annoying. Hopefully we find a way of disabling that....
Other than that, I can't find much to complain about.
For me it has been rock solid so far, no electrical issue (yet) and everything works properly.
Also, I have to say it feels like everything is of a good quality and solid built. Removing the sides of the bumper, for example, I noticed that all the screws were treated with locktite-sort of compound and I guess also to protect from water.
I think this is a great overlanding machine and I am really happy I bought it, albeit is really expensive when you get it almost fully loaded (I am missing the keyless entry).
I think it's definitely a good upgrade from a JK, and while before the JL I was looking into a 4 runner, I have to say I am glad I waited for it, this thing is a beast.
Cheers,
G.
I thought I would write my impressions on my new Jeep, just for the sake of sharing!
This is KUMA, JKU Rubicon. Just passed my 1000Km, I am currently daily driving it (almost 150km a day), waiting for the sun to come out, to cold to go away and the Ducati to be on the road :D
A little background: I am a wildlife and nature photographer and I work in the film industry. Between movies I take long trips to collect pictures that then become big prints for sale.
This means I travel a lot.
In the past I have always built my vehicles:
1) A Suzuki Samurai when I was in Europe (travelled all over Europe with it!). Incredible little machine!
2) A Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ - 6.5" lift and lockers and too much other stuff..
3) A Mitsubishi Delica v6 Gas - 2" lift and all sort of electrical stuff
On the last two vehicles I also did all the electrical system to have them camperized. Added all sort of things that are useful for long expeditions (my average travelling distance is 6000Km per trip).
The Delica, especially, had a lot of stuff in it, including a full dual battery setup with double feeding (primary battery and solar panels), dash cams, forward and backup cameras, lights and a lot of other things.
Of course I had to add everything myself, since nothing was available stock.
I decided to sell it because I had other plans, but then things turned around and I found myself in need of another 4x4.
The JL came out and I was reading about all the features and the better gas mileage etc and I decided to pull the trigger and buy it new. My first new vehicle.
Reason for buying it: it does come with pretty much all the stuff I added on my previous vehicles, stock.
In particular all the electrical setup with the tow package is great.
You have USBs everywhere, the heavy duty alternator, the AUX switch etc. etc.
This is really awesome, and makes installing new things much cleaner and effortless.
The 8.4 screen is also great, I am glad I went for the updated package.
Android Auto works like a charm.
Alpine Audio works really nicely, at least with the hard top, we'll see with the soft top, but that doesn't matter to me that much.
I am absolutely loving the gazillions of informations on the screen, the fact that you can switch between dashes and decide what you want to see and while leaving the other screen on music or navigation, the fact that you can customize pretty much everything.
The integrate inclinometer alone makes me smile every time :D
The ESS doesn't bother me, it's pretty much seamless and I got totally used to it. Is actually nice to have the engine off when the train is passing or in a bad traffic situation.
I like all the things that jeep has done to make this vehicle a true expedition one, like all the molle setups that are behind the seats, on the tailgate etc.
The storage compartments are good in my opinion. Yes the glove box is small, but it contains the usual stuff. The one on the armrest is definitely a good size.
The USB in there is really useful and they even though of having two little holes so you can have a cable passing through it. So my USB cable is there and the phone gets attached for android auto without having the cable too visible or visible at all.
Cups holders everywhere help, too.
If you can, get the rubber mats, they look great and definitely help with dirt and mud etc.
I love that it comes with 33" and nice travel out of the box, although I think such a long wheelbase needs a 2" lift at least and a nice 285/75-17 to avoid too much belly-sitting.
The doors are solid and the auto stop in two different positions, including the tailgate is really nice.
The crawling ratio is great and the lockers work well. Love to be able to shift to 4H on the fly and not having to worry about gears meshing etc.
The 8 speed transmission seems really appropriate for this vehicle. I love to be able to switch to manual override and change gear ratio when downhill or uphill, it works seamlessly and very well and I don't regret going for an auto.
So far the one thing that pisses me off is that the Jeep will go to auto-parking mode when the door is open, which is annoying. Hopefully we find a way of disabling that....
Other than that, I can't find much to complain about.
For me it has been rock solid so far, no electrical issue (yet) and everything works properly.
Also, I have to say it feels like everything is of a good quality and solid built. Removing the sides of the bumper, for example, I noticed that all the screws were treated with locktite-sort of compound and I guess also to protect from water.
I think this is a great overlanding machine and I am really happy I bought it, albeit is really expensive when you get it almost fully loaded (I am missing the keyless entry).
I think it's definitely a good upgrade from a JK, and while before the JL I was looking into a 4 runner, I have to say I am glad I waited for it, this thing is a beast.
Cheers,
G.
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