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Looking for Opinions on A New JK

4K views 55 replies 27 participants last post by  GroovyGeek 
#1 ·
I have been reading this forum every day for about tow weeks or so.
Mostly on lifting and prices.

Read the reviews on Consumer Reports. Are the Wranglers really that bad ? Noisy, unreliable ? Uncomfortable ?

Also a few questions...... (Not planning on off roading )

I am in the hunt for a 2014 - 2015 4 Door Sahara
Hardtop
Max Tow PKG w/3.73
Anti Spin Differential
Leather Seats

Why Sahara ? Better gear ratio and ground clearance just in case. I prefer the looks over the Willie and I want leather seats.

That's pretty much it. No blue tooth or nav system.


Can I get BLACK aluminum wheels rather than just the silver ?

Any reason why I should NOT go 18" rims ?

Will eventually get a 3" lift cause I love that look.
Don't know if I will get a lift right away or not. Dealers I have read on here are usually more expensive than after market.

Any reason to STAY AWAY from 35" tires ? 20" rims ? Heard something about a loss of power. I know the wheels will be heavier.

Is it cheaper to go bigger tires from the dealer right away or wait and buy them later ? I figure I might not have to hassle with selling older tires and rims but then if I don't get the lift right away I can't really put 35's on it seems.
 
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#2 ·
There's lots of good information here:

http://www.wranglerforum.com/f274/jk-tech-common-questions-here-622938.html

Especially the Newby's Guide to Lifting Your JK and So You Want Bigger Tires. Have you tried them?

There was talk of a new wheel/tire option, but I haven't heard any details if or when it's coming out. You could try to work a swap with the dealer when you purchase, but there's no built in alternatives.

In general people here stay away from 20" wheels, just because they aren't good for off road or they don't care for the look. But it's your jeep and your money, so fix it up the way you want! Don't let the haters get you down. :thumb:

As for the comments from Consumer Reports... You're asking in the WRONG place. If we all agreed with that, we wouldn't have jeeps in the first place! Jeeps aren't Cadillacs by any stretch of the imagination. But for those of us that have them, they are perfect for what we want to do with them. They CAN be louder, but we enjoy it for what it is. There have been some issues, you just need to be aware up front and willing to deal with it. Typically they aren't unreliable though. Uncomfortable? Well, the headrests aren't in the best position and the back seat sits a little too upright, but you can find work around a for them. Go take a test drive or rent one for a weekend and make sure you'll be happy with what you're looking for first and then make an informed decision. That's the best advice I can think of!

Good luck deciding and :welcome: to WF!
 
#4 ·
Since your asking for opinions.
Throw away consumer reports right now.
My Best advise is if you buy one, drive it like is is for a few months. Read as many threads as possible about lifts and tires. Then you can make an informed decision.
 
#5 ·
Yes, consumer reports is right: the jeep wrangler is noisy, uncomfortable, and unreliable. COMPARED to the vehicles they usually test in the $30-$40,000 range, which is where the vast majority of wranglers wind up.

Is it TOO noisy, uncomfortable, or unreliable for you? Only you can answer that! But CR is not crazy; it really is worse than a $40,000 car or street SUV will be in all of those measures that you asked about.
 
#7 ·
Noise, comfort, ride, et al are all dependent on the individual, so the only person who can answer that question is you.

That being said, my '14 JKRX is quieter than my '08 was and even it wasn't that loud. Ride? Stock was a bit more "car" like, now that I've got her lifted, she rides more like a Jeep (that I'm used to) which is fine with me.

I'm running RK 1.5 X-Factor Lift (2.5" actual on my 2-dr) and 35s of 17x9 rims. Not so much a loss of power, but the dropped RPM due to the larger diameter tires has made 6th strictly for highway only.
 
#8 ·
Sahara's are nice but I'm not a fan of 18" for the same reasons listed above.

I think most people here are very happy with their Jeep. I am. It drives extremely well. Like another poster said leave it completely stock and drive it for a few months while you read and research on forums like this. You'll have a much better understanding about what you'd like to accomplish with your Jeep, and how to go about it.

Good luck (!)
 
#9 · (Edited)
CR's is too busy looking for luxury amenities and not finding them to give Wranglers a good rating. Try to find a Wrangler two or three years old with a price that's low enough for you not to be better off buying a new one, meaning the resale on them is so high and you'll see how "hated" Wranglers are. Wrangler's are no Lexus' but they are plenty quiet enough, ride comfortably and are as amenity filled as you'd like to make it within reason. You won't find memory power seats in them and things like that and unfortunately, that's what CR's looking for.

In 2012 I ordered my wife's Sahara Unlimited and since then was looking to buy a Wrangler for myself and finally found one and bought it. With two Wranglers in my driveway, CR is going to be hard pressed for me to listen to them.

As a suggestion to you, what gave us the Wrangler bug in the first place was while my wife was out a vehicle due to her vehicle being totaled, we rented a Unlimited Sport for a week or two from Enterprise. If you want a real world test, check to see if the car rental places around you have one available and rent one for a few days. As stripped down as that one was, we fell in love with them.

As far as your pick of the Sahara, just remember that they have painted fenders so if you plan on off roading, they're going to get beat up a bit. The Sahara does give some things to make it quieter like the insulation under the hood. Best thing for you is look heavily into what model comes with what and what would suit your needs and wants. Bounce a few questions off people here and you'll figure out what you want or need in no time.
 
#11 ·
Man you guys are helpful !

Did not realize the Sahara came with painted fenders. I am getting that glossy black color so that should be OK.

Although that Commander Green color I like alot also.

Actually I am trading in my 04 Lexus as street value is around $12K, Dealer trade in is about $8500 and it would take about $5K to get the vehicle into shape to sell on the street. And it ain't gettin' any younger.

Saharas also have nice ground clearance compared to a Sport.
 
#24 ·
Saharas also have nice ground clearance compared to a Sport.
Don't get wrapped up in the ground clearance as anything meaningful. There is no real difference between any of the models in ground clearance. The Sahara is listed as slightly higher on the Jeep website and specs, but the only difference is between the wheel size which "might" give it slightly more (fractions of an inch) over a sport. There is nothing from a clearance perspective that a Sahara has over a sport or any other model with respect to clearance that will provide any advantage while wheeling (I own a Sahara, so I'm not just slamming them here).

Especially if you plan to lift and change wheels/tires on whatever you buy, you're essentially throwing that additional ground clearance away at that time in favor of buying your own ground clearance.

When choosing which model you want, consider what your real needs will be down the road with mods. Then ask if those mods are standard options with a particular model and if you were to go out and purchase that mod, would you purchase the exact same one that is provided on that model. Also consider the price of that feature through Jeep and in the aftermarket arena. In most cases, you'll opt to want the non OEM option for your modification. So if you purchase a fully loaded Jeep, paying extra for these features, only to unbolt those and pay to replace them with others, it's not such a great value.

Really think through what you want from your Jeep and if it makes sense to pay for those options up front or add them yourself later. This is the best advice I can give that will reduce buyers remorse down the road.
 
#12 ·
I really liked my 2007 Jeep. I did not mind the ride at all. My wife liked driving it, however as a passenger she said it rode rough. With a soft top I had bad wind noise for a while. I took it to a dealer for an unrelated issue. Told them about the soft top while I was there and ended up with a new soft top. A lot less road noise after that. I will say hard tops have less wind noise.
 
#13 ·
My .02

If I was planning on never ever being off the pavement, id never consider buying a wrangler. I mean, that's it's purpose. There are tons of better on road options on there for the amount of dough you'll pay for a wrangler. To me, buying a wrangler you'll pay for a lot of things that you'll never use if you never take it off road. It's like buying high end gaming computer to run ms word.

That being said, it's nice to have the extra capability if you ever need it.

But I would seriously consider other options. Your essentially grabbing the wrong tool from the shed.

To me, I would sit long and hard and make a list of things you needed to do with your vehicle before you go blasting 30-40k on a vehicle you may end up hating because it doesn't fit your needs.

Here my pros and cons list after owning mine for a few thousand miles so far.

Pros:
Offroad ability
Designed to be dirty and rugged. (I'm a dirty guy. What can I say?)
The only SUV of it's kind other than a soft top h1.
Very flexible.
Tons of aftermarket support.
Simple user components and simple to work on.
Great resale value
Relaxing (serious)
Ride is nice if you ask me.
Mpg. To me 17mpg plus is nice.
Decent power. It's not going to win any races, but it's not anemic to me.

Cons:
It's loud (if you care)
Not as nice of a ride as a lux vehicle
No room. My JKU feels like a Cracker Jack box
Stupidly overpriced
The people with problems seem to have a LOT of them
Leaks. It does. Some a little, some a lot. I don't care about it. Just keep a towel in the car.
3000lb towing capacity.
Tiny gas tank


So, take my opinion with a grain of salt, since everyone had their own biases and perspective, you have to take that in consideration.

If I had to sum it up id say it like this.

If you want a vehicle that is rugged, can take you where you need to go, throw the recent kill or catch in the back, spray out the dried blood, drive out on the beach, wind in your beard, fix it during the zombie apocypse, who cares about snow, drag a beat up trailer, jump in the back fido, there's a great fishing hole down this POS path vehicle. Then the wrangler is for you.

If you want a quiet, comfortable, mobile office, nice relaxing ride from work, listen to Bach, block out the world, wrapped in leather, butt massaging, ball blowing, family hauling, what pothole?, ultra safe vehicle. Then you should probably look elsewhere, you can get a NOICE ride for 40k. In fact I came a breath away from buying a used land rover evoque with 28k miles for 32k last week.
 
#14 ·
Consumer Reports is not the right place to go when looking for an unbiased review of the vehicle. I know that some will scoff this off but here me out.

CR does an excellent job reviewing appliances designed to do a very narrow range of tasks. Their system of reviewing cars does this very well....if you want a car. The modern wave of SUVs are largely sculpted by this metric and it shows. They are very well suited for what the majority of people are looking for: lots of room, a smooth quiet ride and a sure foot in inclement weather. BUT, they are essentially just large AWD cars. Hence, CR biases towards a very specific KIND of vehicle.

The jeep on the other hand is designed from the ground up to be a mechanical mule. A do-all, go-anywhere mule. And while they are unbeatable when used for their intended purpose, they can be downright frustrating for the uninitiated or for those who review it by a different system of measurement.

Consider this: would you review a kabar knife as a good steak knife? Not me. Certainly not CR. However, if the question was expanded to ask which was a better choice for general use, toughness, capability, and durability under extreme situations. Well then, now the answer becomes much more interesting.
 
#16 ·
Yup.

It's also worth noting that reliability data CR collects is also skewed by the applications as well. Jeeps typically see abuse that other vehicles almost never endure. Some of it comes from physical abuses such as off roading, but much also comes from the unintended consiquences of modification. While most people here are very careful to make sure mods are done in a manner that do not greatly effect reliability, there are thousands more that don't. I'm not saying most of the data is impacted by this. But I'm willing to bet quite a bit of it is.
 
#17 ·
If I was never going to go off-road I wouldn't own my Jeep. If you know for a fact your not interested in driving off-road, beach etc, do yourself a favor and fall out of love with the Wrangler.

Just my opinion, but there are too many negatives to the JK unless you offset them with off-road capabilities.
 
#20 ·
It's a tough question and only your opinion will truly matter.

Is it loud? More so than other vehicles I'm sure. And it doesn't get any quieter when you take the Freedom Panels off. That's part of the fun.

Unreliable? I've had no issues though mine is new so I don't have too much first hand experience.

Do I think it's uncomfortable? No. I have the leather seats and my family runs the gambit from 5'3" to my husband who is 6'3" and even a wee one. No complaints from us.

I don't think many people here would drop 35k+ on a vehicle that we didn't love and I don't think you should either!
 
#22 ·
Only thing I would say is that I would rethink the BT. It will add resale value, is not that expensive and it incredibly useful. It also adds a USB in the center console that works with an ipod. It also puts a built in mic. You can get this on a Sport as well.

It is one of my favorite thing I got on my Sport. Using the Ipod and steering wheel controls is worth every bit of the price. Even if its just hit the button and tell the ipod what to do (which is locked in the center console full time).
 
#25 ·
Thanks guys. You have me considering the Sport now. I wrote it off after I could not build one on Jeep's website with leather seats.

I should mention I plan on keeping this for 10 years as I did my RX330.

I also want 3.73 to put at least 33" tires on.

Max Tow package because I think of better resale value.

With regard to the Land Rover - I have been on their forums. Talk about problems.
I don't know what is worse a Land Rover or a BMW LOL !

I should mention I had a 1999 Grand Cherokee. It had so many problems so I got rid of it for the RX330 that I have now.

My dad drove a jeep for a long time. My sister dries the 6 in-line old engines and they last forever. She said the Grand Cherokees were the worst Jeeps in terms of reliability. I love the looks of the Wranglers and I am not snobby when it comes to having to have a luxury vehicle.

The only reason I got rid of the Cherokee is it started having all kinds of issues. Hell my roters went after 23 K miles ! And I babied that thing.

I don't mind the noise. My big concern is reliability.

I could save a lot of money going to the sport though. Hmmm..... more thinking to come. Can I get painted fenders with a sport ????

I really like the look of painted fenders on a black hardtop.

Basically I love this look here except I would not get a winch:
 
#27 · (Edited)
You can get painted fenders on a Freedom Edition, which is based on a sport. But that's the only way I know of. Drawback there is the Freedom Edition does NOT come with the painted hard top. It's the stock black or soft top.

You might also be able to find black painted take off fender flares from someone who went aftermarket.

The Freedom Edition also comes with leather/tectonic seats rather than the stock cloth, if you could be happy with that...
 
#26 ·
^why would you want to do that to a pavement vehicle? Would you not want to optimize it for the road? Good mileage, nice quiet highway tires etc?

I'm confused.


And as far as reliability goes. Your rolling the dice with every vehicle IMO regardless of who makes it. There are so many things that could go wrong with any of them that odds are your gonna have an issue. It seems very random though and every single manufacturer has their share of problem vehicles. Your just gonna have to get one and hope your specific vehicle was made on a good day.
 
#28 ·
There is definitely a significant reason to get a Wrangler even if you never intend to take it off road: removable top. You can't get that with any of those giant AWD cars they now call "crossovers."

I've always thought that if GM brought back some version of the Tracker with a removable top and AWD it would be a huge seller. Maybe I am delusional.
 
#30 ·
Rebates are typically lease conquest, recent college grad and military. Unless you live in Canada. There are more incentives there.
 
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