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Car & Drivers take on the upcoming JL.

4K views 21 replies 17 participants last post by  turnbull 
#1 ·
#7 ·
The geometry feels a bit off.

The front wheel well, in relation to the hood height, is incongruous with the rear wheel well & bed wall ratio.

(Yes, I understand it's just a speculative rendering)
 
#17 ·
2 Door has been confirmed, what constitutes a soft-top now is still at question until they release the preview model.

Will it be a fully removable soft top, or an accordion-style integrated canvas top? Still waiting...
 
#22 ·
It probably will not be like that. Even with a permanent top structure, it would make no sense for Jeep to do this. It makes much more sense to keep the removable side panels like we have on the JK.

The truck is a different story since it will not have side panels either way. I doubt the accordion style would work on the truck because of the flat backside of the cabin and the short roof (short meaning front to back).

If we see a "soft top" truck, I'd imagine simply a removable top panel in addition to removable doors. For safety reasons, I doubt the backside of the cabin will be soft, so just the roof. Besides, I think the truck would look weird if you removed the entire backside of the cabin. It may have a removable soft window in the back though. Just speculation of course.
 
#19 ·
Yeah that's exactly what we mean by the accordion-style, and yeah it's not getting a warm reception here, so I'm sure it would impact sales in a negative fashion, the question is whether the positive bump of people who think it improves easy of use, storage, security or whatever their problem with the current setup would balance out.

There has been pressure for improvements of the sport bar for numerous reasons, so FCA may have felt forced to provide this change to meet those pressures, but outside of that if it's really not a positive move for most people who currently own a soft-top (or both like me). I'd prefer a more modular hard top that more fits the Renegade sky panel thing from front to back, but getting rid of the completely open-air soft top would be a big disappointment to those of us who do go the full-monty (fully removed / all doors off), or even just full top down or off.
To me it makes it similar to the sunrider partial open as the max openess, and while better than many other vehicles out there for open skies, still not the same.
 
#20 ·
The Liberty got the "SkySlider" open roof option several years ago. From what I heard, dealerships complained of excessive repairs to it from leaks and issues with the track. Seems like a terrible idea to me. Jeep has had their fair share of leaks with the JK tops as well. What they desperately need is a RELIABLE top that can still be fully removed. I think that calls for a clean sheet design that we haven't seen before.
 
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