Ordered a 4Xe …. was that smart?

[Brandonhgt]

We have 10k miles on our 4xe and love it so far. It is our primary city/errand runner. However, I dont think its forte is long distance trips at highway speeds.

We take several 700 plus mile (each way) road trips each year to visit family. I typically set the cruise at 80mph. At that cruising speed our 4xe gets less mpg than our nissan armada with a v8. The 4xe is better suited for in town short trips below 70 mph and especially great when you can plug it in often. For highway trips I would look into the diesel instead.

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[Echo4papa]

We have 10k miles on our 4xe and love it so far. It is our primary city/errand runner. However, I dont think its forte is long distance trips at highway speeds.

We take several 700 plus mile (each way) road trips each year to visit family. I typically set the cruise at 80mph. At that cruising speed our 4xe gets less mpg than our nissan armada with a v8. The 4xe is better suited for in town short trips below 70 mph and especially great when you can plug it in often. For highway trips I would look into the diesel instead.

I did some non scientific testing over the course of a couple road trips from FL to Maryland. The difference in MPG from 70-80 is significant. Keeping it under 75 I ended up ~24mpg over the entire drive up.

 

[bossboy302]

In the end, a Wrangler is about as aerodynamic as.....well....a Wrangler. Aerodynamic drag increases at the square of speed. Faster you go, more resistance. Less mpg...
Suitable, but far less than ideal, for highway travel regardless of powertrain.

 

[blueweb]

I mean you have already placed the order, so there is really no point in debating/arguing about it being a smart move or not now.

But overall, the 4xe is a niche vehicle. If you have a long daily commute or live in a very cold climate, at this current point with the 4xe (or any other electric/hybrid vehicle for that matter); there is no point in buying the 4xe. Based on what other people have said about taking their 4xe on road trips, it does just fine with that. Sure, you won't be getting the same MPG out of the 4xe as you would as a normal 2.0 Unlimited. But the slight decrease in MPG doesn't really justify NOT buying a 4xe just because of that reason alone.

When will an electric Wrangler ever be ready for prime time? We gotta start somewhere, and Jeep had no other choice with the government regulations. The whole reliability and 4xe problems are what you get for buying a 4xe unfortunately. It is more of just a gamble that comes with buying a Jeep hybrid. I think the Pros vastly outweigh the Cons of the 4xe. If you just play it smart about owning a 4xe, then you shouldn't regret the purchase.

 

[Naylia]

10k miles. No issues until this past week. Jeep was dead two mornings in a row and had to be started with a jump pack. Everything seems fine though and I'm pretty sure my phone and the wireless Car Play adapter are to blame. Trying to confirm that now. Even this is just a minor inconvenience. Love the 4xe.

Might want to get battery tested. 12V Jeep batteries are known trash.

 

[Ratiogear]

I'm honestly not familiar with the ecodiesel, so my earlier thoughts on that were based on purely absorbed info that set me to the thought process that 2.0=cheap, standard, reliable, 4xe=short drives, ecodiesel=long drives, 392=moremoneythansense.

I posted this in the 4xe regrets thread, but I purchased my 4xe with a planned ~15mi round trip commute to work. Then I got a promotion that involves a lot more travel to sites around the metroplex (And DFW is a pretty fkin sprawling metroplex) so now I'm doing more like ~250mi a week, with a ton of variance in trip lengths. Sometimes I do 15 miles to the office, sometimes I do 80 miles to the outskirts. Some days I do multiple sites and get closer to 100 miles.

So while I'm not getting infinite free driving (TX has free nights and weekends energy plans, so I actually do drive 'for free' on electric), I'm still averaging ~33mpg lifetime right now, with about a dozen TX weekend road trips mixed in since I bought it.

That being said, you're still paying a premium for the 4xe, because you're forced into a rubicon/sahara trim at the minimum. If you're already looking at that, definitely worth it with the tax credit. I assume that's OK with the OP, but I wouldn't personally pay 60k for the 4xe trim specifically to utilize it as a road trip vehicle. Seems like you're stress-testing a new powertrain at its least effective use-case. Charging/discharging over a 150 mile trip is not going to overcome the 800lbs of extra load.

Now maybe my impression of the original post is incorrect but I took

I’m now hesitant to see this as our travel vehicle

to mean that this is a vehicle that will see 50% or more of its use case as a family road tripper. If it's more "I'll drive this every day but also we do 10-12 trips a year in it" that obviously means something else and the 4xe would still be a great pick.

 

[REDSEAL199]

New to this forum. Thanks for all the info here.

We have owned Jeeps for over 30 years and have had great experiences, reliability and fun with them. We currently own a 21 Gladiator Mojave and an 18 Rubicon 2 door. Ordered a 22 4Xe Rubicon a few weeks ago to replace the 18. After reading all the threads on this forum I’m wondering if we made a mistake. Dead batteries, 3-5 months to replace them, FORM issues, lack of support from the dealer and the company, questionable ability to find the problems by the dealer, etc, etc. I’m wondering if Jeep really was “ready for prime time” by releasing this model and now the monkey is on us to deal with all the teething issues. We do a lot of traveling, including coast to coast trips. I’m now hesitant to see this as our travel vehicle. I guess time will tell.

I can tell you we have 22K miles on ours with zero issues.

 

[SQTowelie]

Now I know it's not a Wrangler 4xE. But I have a current Volvo S60 T8 plug in that only gets 20 miles of electric range. Power output is very similar to the jeep 400HP/472Tq. Now, I'm averaging about 60+mpg a day with plugging it in every day and depending on where I work, I can plug in as well there. I've seen as high as 100mpg and as low as 29mpg. It averages 30+ on the highway going 75-80mph. So I know I won't get that in the jeep, but if you can plug it in all the time on short trips, it more than makes up for the longer trips around town. I really enjoy my car with the extra power, the gas mileage, and just electric driving in general.

I'll be interested to see how the electric driving only compares, as mine gives me a tach where I know I've maxed out the electric motor before it turns on the gas. Wish the Jeep had something like that. But it's a fun daily, just ready to try something new. If you know what to expect going in, then it won't be bad. If you expect it to be a 100% electric car...you will be disappointed. You always want more electric range for sure, but it is what it is.

Now, the newer versions of my car get 50 extra HP/TQ plus double the electric range which I would really like but again they don't give the discounts that jeep is giving right now as far as price per month on leases. So we shall see, but I will say it's great to not have a full electric sometimes on the long road trips. And it's great to just keep plugging it in and charging for those short daily trips on the weekends.

 

[wolf]

New to this forum. Thanks for all the info here.

We have owned Jeeps for over 30 years and have had great experiences, reliability and fun with them. We currently own a 21 Gladiator Mojave and an 18 Rubicon 2 door. Ordered a 22 4Xe Rubicon a few weeks ago to replace the 18. After reading all the threads on this forum I’m wondering if we made a mistake. Dead batteries, 3-5 months to replace them, FORM issues, lack of support from the dealer and the company, questionable ability to find the problems by the dealer, etc, etc. I’m wondering if Jeep really was “ready for prime time” by releasing this model and now the monkey is on us to deal with all the teething issues. We do a lot of traveling, including coast to coast trips. I’m now hesitant to see this as our travel vehicle. I guess time will tell.

You might be fine with it. Personally I wouldn’t have one if you gave it to me. I wish you luck. Right now is the infancy of electric vehicles.

 

[john adams]

New to this forum. Thanks for all the info here.

We have owned Jeeps for over 30 years and have had great experiences, reliability and fun with them. We currently own a 21 Gladiator Mojave and an 18 Rubicon 2 door. Ordered a 22 4Xe Rubicon a few weeks ago to replace the 18. After reading all the threads on this forum I’m wondering if we made a mistake. Dead batteries, 3-5 months to replace them, FORM issues, lack of support from the dealer and the company, questionable ability to find the problems by the dealer, etc, etc. I’m wondering if Jeep really was “ready for prime time” by releasing this model and now the monkey is on us to deal with all the teething issues. We do a lot of traveling, including coast to coast trips. I’m now hesitant to see this as our travel vehicle. I guess time will tell.

I ordered one and later canceled my order. I thought (and still think) it's the nicest Wrangler to drive. Great pickup. Stays glued to the road. Run in EV mode.

Why did I cancel? There are more issues than other models, as you would expect with a new vehicle. Some of those issues (highway shutdowns) are pretty serious. There are fewer trained techs. There are fewer replacement parts. The range sucks and sucks worse when cold if it even kicks into EV when cold. And you know that this PHEV v1 tech will be totally dated in a few years. I like my back seat to lay flat and didn't love giving up the trunk storage.

I canceled and went for the diesel. Even so, I will watch for a future EV (fingers crossed) or PHEV improvements. I would like a second EV-based car in my house as I really like our Chevy Bolt.

Upside of the 4xe. Get the fed rebate, which is especially sweet if leasing. Best Wrangler off the line that isn't a 392. EV range is nice when it works.

No wrong answer but this was my thinking. I will likely be early into the EV Wrangler pool when that comes or early into the 4xe v2 if it comes with 80+ miles of range.

 

[Donp]

I ordered one and later canceled my order. I thought (and still think) it's the nicest Wrangler to drive. Great pickup. Stays glued to the road. Run in EV mode.

Why did I cancel? There are more issues than other models, as you would expect with a new vehicle. Some of those issues (highway shutdowns) are pretty serious. There are fewer trained techs. There are fewer replacement parts. The range sucks and sucks worse when cold if it even kicks into EV when cold. And you know that this PHEV v1 tech will be totally dated in a few years. I like my back seat to lay flat and didn't love giving up the trunk storage.

I canceled and went for the diesel. Even so, I will watch for a future EV (fingers crossed) or PHEV improvements. I would like a second EV-based car in my house as I really like our Chevy Bolt.

Upside of the 4xe. Get the fed rebate, which is especially sweet if leasing. Best Wrangler off the line that isn't a 392. EV range is nice when it works.

No wrong answer but this was my thinking. I will likely be early into the EV Wrangler pool when that comes or early into the 4xe v2 if it comes with 80+ miles of range.

I agree with everything you said. If I knew about the highway shutdowns prior to ordering I probably wouldn’t have ordered. On the plus side, there are many 4Xes out there running just fine that we never hear about. Thanks for the input.

 

[ViperJon]

My biggest issue with any hybrid vehicle now is that as stated it’s an emerging technology that is constantly being improved. Three four years from now will it be hopelessly outdated by the far better batteries and systems out there and be hard to sell? Will I be trying to sell an IPhone 7 when the IPhone 15 is out that is far better? Of course that is true of most any technology but cars are big investments. At least with gas or diesel it is what it is.

 

[mllcb42]

Three four years from now will it be hopelessly outdated by the far better batteries and systems out there and be hard to sell?

Fortunately, the 4xe makes for a really cheap lease.

 

[john adams]

Fortunately, the 4xe makes for a really cheap lease.

This is the most compelling case for it.

I hate leasing cars though.

 

[dcmdon]

Except that's not what happens. Yes, the mpg is reduced, but the electric motors still assist and give you full power anytime you want. They don't turn into a boat anchor.

Many people get more like 25mpg when the battery is "depleted" as well. (There are also people that get the 16-17 range you're talking about).

Its funny how people hear PLUG IN hybrid and think that you have to plug it in. They don't understand that it charges every time you let off the gas or step on the brakes through regenerative braking.

Though I would be hesitant to buy a 4xe at this point in time. Its got nothing to do with performance or fuel economy.

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