for over 25 years Jeep had the off-road industry largely to themselves imagine that over two decades of loyal almost fanatical customers that would get your brand tattooed on themselves I mean what other brands have that kind of cache maybe like Harley-Davidson Iron Man Triathlon but like you're certainly not going to see a lot of people getting Stanley mugs tattooed on their thigh okay well that's not strictly true so the Ford Bron one of the last old school American name plates died in the 1990s and then came back in 2021 the Chevy Blazer is back in the same way that ABBA is back it's a little bit of a disappointment at least from an off-road standpoint so really for like 20 something years jeep was competing with the Forerunner in terms of the relatively affordable off-road space there was a point about 15 years ago when a Jeep representative told us the vehicle that was most cross shopped with the Wrangler didn't even have wheels or tires wasn't even a car it was a speedboat that's right internal studies showed that folks were Cross Shopping a speedboat with a Wrangler but a lot has happened in those 15 years from back when folks were Cross Shopping Wranglers with boats I suppose I mean we've gone through 14 generations of iPhone I was 12 when a Jeep representative told us that I would argue now we are in an era where off-roading and off-road vehicles are more popular and more impressive than they ever have been listen I love classic cars like this 1968 Mustang but I don't love how I can't charge my phone or play my music which is why I present to you today sponsored the Duracell m150 portable charging Hub I can use this to keep my phone charged and keep the tunes playing the duracel m150 can also save your camping Adventure so right now I'm using this portable unit to power the lights in this Rooftop tent and charge an iPad so those movies never stop and charge a phone all at the same time but the best part is it's small enough and portable enough where you can just store it in one of these little Cubbies one of the more difficult parts of this job is we're often out in the boonies and we need to keep our cameras charged and check this out with these four outputs I'm currently charging two GoPros a main camera a drone and my phone all at the same time and this 91w hour battery in durel will make sure everything stays charged click the link in the description and get powered up anywhere anytime with the Duracell portable charging Hub m150 whether you want to update your vehicle Tech or power up your car camping Adventures the Duracell m150 is the perfect addition to your [Music] ride this generation of Wrangler the JL Wrangler debuted in 2018 and since its debut the number of iconic name plates that have return to the off-road space is truly astounding there have been so many off-road vehicles introduced since the ja Wrangler came out in 2018 I had to write them down or I'd forget but let's start with the obvious one Ford Bronco first one since like 19 1996 and the first open top Bronco in something like 43 years an allnew Land Rover Defender that's right the defender was last seen in the US in the 1990s we also got the brand new 250 series Land Cruiser which is smaller and more affordable we've got an allnew 4Runner coming I mean let's put this in perspective back in 2009 an off-road midsize truck looked like this and now we've got Vehicles like the ranger Raptor which has two locking differentials the Silverado Z 2 which has two locking differentials same with the at4 X the Tacoma TD Pro the Tacoma Trail Hunter I mean heck you can get a Bronco Raptor on 37in tall tires from the factory and that's before we even talk about not only vehicles but entire manufacturers that didn't exist selling cars back in 2018 I'm talking Vehicles like the inos Grenadier and the rivan r1s and r1t and then of course you got weird stuff like the cybertruck and then if we go to the full size segment I mean folks it is just nuts out there so the question remains has Jeep done enough with the Wrangler to keep it relevant throughout it all the Wrangler formula has remained pretty much the same for 6 years 10 years 15 80 years let's be honest since this vehicle came off the battlefield in World War II upfront is a choice of gasoline engines depending on the decade that you're looking at your CJ or Wrangler but they all have had a solid front axle a beam front axle every variant of CJ and Wrangler have had a windshield that falls down every CJ and Wrangler has had a top that comes off in one way or another same thing with the doors they all have had four-wheel drive not entirely true actually there was a period there where they offered a two- wheel drive Wrangler that's a fun fact that's rather depressing but most of them have been four-wheel drive with a ladder frame underneath and a solid axle out back and they've all been TW doors until 2007 when almost all of them became four-doors but look the point is the formula has been the same for almost a century now so with vehicles like the Bronco and the rivan and the inos is how has Jeep responded to keep the Wrangler relevant well engines are a big thing that they've done so for a period there between like 2007 and well 2018 you had a choice of engines as long as you liked v6s if you like six cylinders and the v formation the Wrangler was your vehicle but eventually Jeep wised up and they put a 2 L turbo underneath the hood and then they put a hybrid underneath the hood and then they put a V8 underneath the hood so they haven't really adapted the architecture all that much to meet the Bronco and all the onslot of new four-wheel drives but they have changed the engines now the four-cylinder turbo powerful lot of torque kind of a weird Power Band in my opinion and sounds like a Dyson that's sucking up some cat hair it just doesn't work for me the V8 is incredible but super expensive the plug-in hybrid is what Jeep wants you to buy but it's uh also super expensive and this is the engine you want it's actually the engine in this vehicle that secret our videographer Alex just bought is a 3.6 L V6 so maybe they were on to something with that V6 to begin with but yeah I mean look in a world where you know you you've got people rock crawling Subaru Foresters Jeep had to do something to respond to crazy off-road thing and what they chose to do for the most part was go crazy with engines now that's not to say the Jeep hasn't done anything to update the jail Wrangler to meet the new competition they have refreshed it for the 2024 model year which this one is it's got a different Grill up front it's got more safety Tech it's got UK connect 5 some of them have power seats we've got side curtain air bags with more availability we got new Wheels some new colors so yeah they are tweaking things but no really Monumental shifts in the Wrangler in about 6 years I think that this new UK connnect 5 system is definitely a high point it's this massive like 12.3 in screen it had basically every function in the vehicle Incorporated in this display it's fast it's easy to use and it's very effective I also like that theyve retained physical controls for stuff like the heated steering wheel and the heated seats and the fan which is blaring kind of crazy there and of course you know your window switches are all over here auxiliary switches on this model so like I like the physical controls that's a big plus a downside for me still the seats so this vehicle is a pretty well equipped sport s and we do have lumbar control on the driver side which is great older Wranglers didn't have that but on the passenger side still no lumbar control which is just some silly cost cutting and I'm still not convinced that the driver's seat goes back far enough for folks over like 62 63 that's 6 ft tall my driving position my seat is all the way back in this vehicle I do think the materials are quite nice now we've got this cool finish across the dash the seats and this almost denim material like it's a pretty nice place to spend time plastic everywhere who cares pull the top off spray it down I think interior quality still better than the Bronco maybe not as good as like a 4Runner but a decent interior overall let's talk about how this Wrangler drives you know there is a perception online that Wranglers drive like a wheelbarrow full of manure that is not true look the solid front axle does have its compromises it it really does and there are a certain number of G people that are so loyal to it just like there are people that are really loyal to records um is it better than independent front suspension in a small number of circumstances yes overall not not really because it it's just it links the two wheels together and it's hard to get Road manners exactly where you'd want them for a comfortable Driving Experience but really it's not an uncomfortable vehicle to drive it's fairly quiet the steering is okay forward circulating ball the ride is surprisingly comfy and the power in all configurations is actually surprisingly good even this V6 has nearly 290 horsepower and it's made to an 8-speed automatic nearly a $5,000 option by the way but the 8-speed is a fantastic transmission and the two L and the other engines available are just as powerful so it actually drives surprisingly well does it drive as well as the new Land Cruiser the onward Dynamics aren't there does it drive as well as a Bronco the onward Dynamics aren't quite there but it's not a bad thing to drive especially compared to old Jeeps it really is pretty good in my mind what has drawn millions of people to the Wrangler over the last several decades is a rather simple formula for a relatively small amount of money you can buy a driving experience which is completely unique let's be honest the vast majority of new cars are the same Blobby Crossovers and they all kind of Drive the same and unless you have 3 four $500,000 for a superc car most new car driving experiences are kind of they're always good but not great except for the Wrangler you see for a small amount of money you could buy a Wrangler Which pull the doors and the roof and fold the windshield and have an experience that's completely unheard of and the key to that was for a relatively small amount of money now would tell you that the Wrangler has stayed price competitive through its 2024 model year they would say the base price is$ 31980 that is less than the Bronco and they are right about that but they are also very wrong about that because go out into the real world and try to find a Wrangler in the $30,000 territory I did and Alex did with this Wrangler which is an interesting story so I went ahead and looked in a 50-m radius there are 850 brand new Jeep Wranglers for sale right now let me let me give you some numbers 23 of those are over $1,000 MSRP $312 of those are between 60 and $770,000 and guess how many have an MSRP of under 40 Grand two that's right of 850 brand new Wranglers for sale ear area right now to have an MSRP of under $40,000 these are no longer cheap vehicles in the real world they simply are not this is an expensive piece of equipment let me tell you about this one so our videographer producer and tfl bike extraordinaire Alex Lightman just bought that brand new Wrangler and that's a sport s which if you know Wranglers is kind of near the bottom of the Wrangler lineup so there's the sport which is like no power windows maybe find it at a rental car agency sport s which gives you power windows and then you've got Vehicles like the Sahara and the Rubicon and the Willies and the 392 Rubicon I mean it just goes up from up from there so Sports is kind of near the bottom of the Wrangler lineup it's a two-door which saved you quite a bit of money over the four-door and let's see what the sticker on Alex's sport s is $52,750 for a two-door sport s now granted it is a very nicely equipped Jeep it has heated seats and heated steering wheel and LED headlights and fog lights and the trailer tow group and it's got the safety group so he's got um Park sense and that kind of stuff but still 52 grand for a non- Rubicon is pretty nuts now Alex didn't pay 52 Grand because he's got some major coones and with money on the hood he was able to get this vehicle for about $110,000 off but Jeep's pricing model right now is just out of whack if you ask me a couple years ago I B bought a JL same generation as this granted preface lift Willie sport so it had the nice Wheels it had a limited slip still manual windows it was 3 three grand and then in 2016 I bought a sport S manual transmission power windows a little bit less well equipped for this but it was like 32 Grand so that's a 20 grand difference between my 2016 Wrangler Sport s and Alex's 2024 now Jeep will tell you while it's got all the safety equipment and you connect 5 but I would argue that the bones of the Jeep are not different enough to justify that price increase and I think that jeep needs to do more for Less which is a frust rating thing if you're a Jeep executive I think we need a vehicle that's more stripped down for $29,000 that will get you apple carplay and nothing else and I don't know if that's possible in today's world but that's what would sell and that's what would Elevate the Wrangler above the Bronco and the Grenadier and the fourer in these huge numbers of uh off-roader SE stays folks let me know what you think in the comments section below big thank you to Alex for letting me seemingly take a dump on his Jeep even though I love it I think it is a very cool spec and as always head over to alf.com for more Jeep Wrangler and everything else reviews
