Spank
Well-Known Member
Exactly. And that was the consensus with a lot of non-enthusiast JK owners. Now, imagine if they never came out with the 4-door at all and tried to push only a 2-door JK throughout those four years, especially during the 2008 bailout.Wrangler sales 2007-2011 were pretty much the same trend from the TJ, and it's known that the 4dr cannibalised 2dr sales, I'm one of those people that moved from a 2 to a 4, sticking with a 2 would have resulted in me needing a second vehicle, or giving up owning a Wrangler all together.
The Wrangler has always shared parts and gotten hand me downs from vehicles such as the Grand Cherokee, but both the YJ and TJ's suspensions and engines, shared for over a decade, were tried and proven. They were excellent applications for the vehicle. The JK was given the extremely dated 3.8L and its awful transmission choices only because Chrysler had nothing else to use (and I don't recall if the Pentastar was even on the drawing board before 2007). There was a discussion on JeepForum years ago with an engineer that stated they weren't proud of the powertrain they originally stuck in the JK, but they did the best they could with what they had "lying around." They just slapped in what they had because, again, Chrysler was in bad shape.Aside from the engine(common practice) and radios, I'm not sure what other parts were shared with other vehicles? The power window controls from the old PT cruiser?
While I'll admit I don't think the 3.8L was as bad as a lot of people thought, it was the dogshit transmissions it was paired with and the horrible gearing that gave it a bad wrap. It wasn't a great engine, but it wasn't the worst, either. Regardless of such, it was never the right engine for a Wrangler.
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