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My Initial Thoughts (after 6 hours of ownership...)

RisingEagle

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initial thoughts (about 6 hours of ownership, 1 hour of driving - city & highway) on the 2018 Jeep. First time Jeep owner, hadn't even hardly driven one; wanted a vehicle to consider doing overlanding / expedition type camping.

my background - 28 year retired Army, now doing the same thing I did in the Army but in commercial market - cybersecurity. 48 years old, for the past 15+ years have driven a pickup truck for a daily-driver. Previous three pickups have been 2003 Ram-1500 (bought used), 2009 Ram-1500 (bought new), and 2014 Ram 3500 (bought new). All 3 trucks were/are crew-cab short bed single-rear-wheel. Still in posession of Ram 3500 (for pulling the 5er). Not a huge creature-comfort guy - but my Ram 3500 IS a Laramie Longhorn edition, and it's pretty good quality stuff they did with it

On to the Jeep

Ordered Feb 3rd, took delivery today (apr 25th) so 11 week late. used a local dealer (Milton Ruben) who cut me a heck of a deal (friend is a mgr there) Ocean Blue JLURubicon, auto, tow pkg, LED, black hard top, proximity opening and remote start. That was it for packages - no leather, no infotainment.

everything that follows is 100% my opinion - worth what you paid for it

COLOR
the Ocean Blue is amazing, especially in sunlight. It looks fine normally, but when the sun hits that metallic, it's an ahhhh moment. The red doesn't clash at all (was a concern for me) and the blue/black/red work together well. I would have been fine with Granite Crystal - but I definitely like this blue.

the red dash is as unobtrusive as everyone points out. It's not even a wall of red, it's broken up by a lot of trim and such. it ties in very well with black interior, and the red stitching in places helps pull it all together.

COMFORT
I'm 6'1", 240ish lbs - and the Jeep fits me really well. I can easily see and reach everything, I don't feel cramped or scrunched up. I have about a fist-on-the-side between the top of my head and the roof, I sit long naturally and still have room to slide back in the Jeep. I feel like I have the same amount of room in the driver's seat of the Jeep as I do in the Ram 3500. I can easily reach all controls, radio, etc. Windshield is closer than what I'm used to - but not bothersome. My arms are comfortable when I drive.

I still need to adjust the seat I'm sure - all I did so far was move it back from the steering wheel. I haven't messed with the steering wheel adjustment either

It is a bit more of a climb getting into the cab of the Jeep; have running boards on the Ram, and I think with the tires I have on it the height / clearance is about the same between the two - but no running boards on the Jeep so it's a higher climb. hiking my pants a bit to get in

DRIVING
the Jeep drives about the same as my trucks have been. The steering wheel is responsive, occasionally find myself correcting but nothing noticable, same as a truck. Doesn't take a ton of steering to make turns, I can drive one-handed and still turn on turn-signals and wipers. Cruise / radio are already ingrained (same basic system in the Ram) and the Jeep feels responsive to control.

testing the suspension a little, I was hitting a set of speed bumps at 35mph. in the truck it will bounce you to the roof at that speed (there are 5 total on a short 1/2 mile) but the Jeep floated over them comparatively. I'll take them faster when no danger of other folk being around (it's the speed-bump game!)
ride in general felt pretty nice

there IS wind noise. Not unbearable, but don't kid yourself into thinking there isn't any. I had normal conversations, and stereo at normal volume, but if it was quiet in the cab you could hear it.

7" DEFAULT STEREO
my Ram has the 8.4" in it; I didn't upgrade (subwoofer would have been in the way of my plans) so I got the 7" in the default Rubicon. Sound system is great, everything was easy to read and configure (already familiar with UConnect / ApplePlay). I'd be telling a lie if I said there was no difference between 8.4" and 7"; to do again, I might consider going with the larger screen just because. But it won't hinder me; I think you can do everything with the smaller other than GPS (which I use my phone for anyway)

ELECTRONIC STOP START
this feature bothered me - for about 3 seconds, and then I was used to it. I did maybe 30-40 minutes of in-town driving, lot of stop-n-go, and it sure does help the displayed gas mileage when it cuts off vs when it doesn't. It seems really quick / responsive - by the time I'm off the brake it is started back up.

I did disable it once - it was a lot of stop/go, and the A/C wasn't blowing that cold (about 77 outside) because engine was off so I disabled it - but having the option to disable seems plenty for me. I imagine I'll leave it on most of the time and disable it on exception

CLOTH AND INTERIOR
On the Rubicon trim with cloth default, you lose the leather seats; that's about all I noticed. Everything is fit and finished, I still have plenty of accent-red-stitching inside. The cloth seats are very comfortable. Steering wheel has something on it (leather-wrapped? I donno) with the red stitching. Back seat has cup holders on the floor, no pull-down arm rest, but I do have seating for 3 back there.

PROXIMITY ENTRY
I was a bit worried about this feature from a couple other threads on here - I must have been given the prize one on the lot. I grab the handle, and the door is unlocked. it's definitely faster than the feature on my 2014 Ram 3500. I tried it a number of times, different doors, different approaches - each time, it was quick to unlock. I didn't have to pause a single time opening the door.

locking the door was just as good. touch the little button and it locked. I would have liked an auto-lock feature (wife's car has this, I'm spoiled from it) but 1st-world-problems, right

FOUR-WHEEL DRIVE
my driveway is gravel / dirt, so I wanted to see how the shifting worked. Putting the Jeep into 4H was fine, putting it into 4L I felt as if I was manhandling it. Much different than the Ram (turn a knob on the dash) but much more capability in a Jeep. Lockers and sway bar disconnect functioned as expected. but pulling it out of 4LOW was another manhandling experience. I'll get used to it.

SURPRISES
the backup cam - you can turn this on at speed of 25mph in the "apps" area, and it will display a short time. pretty nice at lights if someone is riding your tail. I liked it
freedom panels - removed one just to see, it was a piece of cake. flip 3 levers, pull one latch and it comes right off
back window - I have to keep reminding myself to close the back window BEFORE closing the back door of the Jeep. With my camper shell on the pickup it's opposite. I'll catch on eventually, but I have had to re-open the door 5x today to close the top window first
tow package - comes with a nice little rubber insert for the hitch that says Jeep on it
armrest / center console - has two levels. smaller top part and larger bottom. larger bottom will get a console-vault installed in it eventually

SUMMARY
I'm very happy with my purchase, and am probably now a Jeep guy for life. For now, this is my daily driver (instead of a Ram 3500) so the 18mpg I've been seeing in-town with all my stop-go and 5 minute spurts is great with me. No fuel filters to change, gas is cheaper than diesel, etc.
If you approach a Jeep as a truck - it fits right in. Most of the "complaints" I've seen have been oriented at it doesn't do XXX like a car does; probably because it's not anywhere near a car. If you compare it to a truck, it holds it's own and then some in everything from comfort to handling. Ya not as much cargo - but you definitely get a lot of capability in other areas.



jeep-1.PNG
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HardRock

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SUMMARY
I'm very happy with my purchase, and am probably now a Jeep guy for life. For now, this is my daily driver (instead of a Ram 3500) so the 18mpg I've been seeing in-town with all my stop-go and 5 minute spurts is great with me. No fuel filters to change, gas is cheaper than diesel, etc.
If you approach a Jeep as a truck - it fits right in. Most of the "complaints" I've seen have been oriented at it doesn't do XXX like a car does; probably because it's not anywhere near a car. If you compare it to a truck, it holds it's own and then some in everything from comfort to handling. Ya not as much cargo - but you definitely get a lot of capability in other areas.

jeep-1.PNG
Wow, that color is sick. Absolutely amazing. It did not look great online but in real form its amazing.
 

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RisingEagle

RisingEagle

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Excellent details, thanks for sharing. Curiosity question... what did you mean "Subwoofer would have been in the way of my plans"? What plans?
one of the reasons I went with a Jeep Wrangler was I wanted to build up an overland-expedition style vehicle. There are plenty of platforms out there to do it on, but the Wrangler is one of the better I saw for overall capability in that area.

One of the challenges of the Wrangler - when comparing it to, say, a 4Runner which is also a viable overland vehicle - is limited space. The way the subwoofer is positioned in the back eats up some of that space.

my plan is to put an ARB fridge on a slide on the driver side, and at least temporarily use the passenger (or '60' of the 40/60 back seat) side to sleep in. Having the sub back there chews into that space. Not a lot - but enough that I noticed it.

and I'm not much of a super-music guy anyway - so the 'basic' sound system suit me just fine. saving $1500 was side-bonus

but the original reasoning was that the space used by the subwoofer - in my opinion - could be used for something else I wanted back there more.
 

klhjeep2018

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Beautiful Jeep congratulations! A lot of thought in your write up. Your assumption is correct it will get in your blood and you’ll never want to own anything else
 

jeremyjeep

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one of the reasons I went with a Jeep Wrangler was I wanted to build up an overland-expedition style vehicle. There are plenty of platforms out there to do it on, but the Wrangler is one of the better I saw for overall capability in that area.

One of the challenges of the Wrangler - when comparing it to, say, a 4Runner which is also a viable overland vehicle - is limited space. The way the subwoofer is positioned in the back eats up some of that space.

my plan is to put an ARB fridge on a slide on the driver side, and at least temporarily use the passenger (or '60' of the 40/60 back seat) side to sleep in. Having the sub back there chews into that space. Not a lot - but enough that I noticed it.

and I'm not much of a super-music guy anyway - so the 'basic' sound system suit me just fine. saving $1500 was side-bonus

but the original reasoning was that the space used by the subwoofer - in my opinion - could be used for something else I wanted back there more.
Makes sense. Here is a thread about making a sleeping pad - https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...d-in-the-jl-unlimited.6216/page-5#post-158409 It is a bit different compared to what you described, but there are pictures. You can see how the bass speaker does stick out some as you described. I've purchased the Mopar Jeep SUV tent - https://www.justforjeeps.com/tent.html. Got it for $308, no tax, free shipping.
 

i64X

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Thank you for your service.

That is a sexy color. Absolute spot on review. A Jeep isn’t a car, it’s a truck. A proper truck. Not a plush, unibody CUV “truck,” but a body-on-frame, REAL truck. Not an independent rear suspension go-get-groceries-while-listening-to-NPR “truck,” but a solid-axle, rides-like-shit-but-that’s-why-we-love-it TRUCK. Love my Wrangler. :like:
 

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Tunesoul

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Very nice writeup and awesome photo! Thanks for posting!
 

HardRock

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one of the reasons I went with a Jeep Wrangler was I wanted to build up an overland-expedition style vehicle. There are plenty of platforms out there to do it on, but the Wrangler is one of the better I saw for overall capability in that area
I'm with you brother - doing the same thing. Not sure if I will roof tent or not but will have the fridge for sure. Check out OVRLNDX on Instagram for ideas. Crazy cool rig.
 

MacBigButt

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Now I want a blue one.

Good write up.
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