Jeep has ranked right bang in the middle of the latest Initial Quality Study published by J.D. Power, which analyzes the reliability of brand-new cars, but an urban legend says that the company’s latest models are nowhere near as reliable as one might expect.
This is exactly why the person in the video embedded above didn’t want to buy a Jeep, afraid that it would constantly be on the shop floor, but as life would have it, his wife had a different opinion, so they ended up with a bright orange 2018 Wrangler JL Unlimited.
The American off-roader was built in October 2018 but sat on the dealer lot until September 2019 because apparently, nobody wanted a Jeep that could be seen by a satellite in outer space. Joking aside, the vehicle ended up in the hands of the presenter’s wife, who has been using it without major issues for over 40,000 miles, putting about 10,000 miles on the odometer every year on average.
As detailed in the video, the owner encountered more than one powertrain-related issue, but they were all easy to fix as they had to do primarily with switches, sensors, relays, and solenoids. One niggle, the presenter notes, is the accelerator pedal lag, which was fixed by installing an aftermarket throttle response controller.
It’s worth noting that even if the Wrangler is kitted out with a 2-inch suspension lift, a pair of rock crushers, and stubby 35-inch off-road tires, it just gets used as a grocery-getter and looks as good as it looked when it came out of the factory almost four years ago.
It doesn’t ride like a Lexus, the presenter says, but it doesn’t rattle and overall it wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. In fact, he says that he would buy another Jeep if he got the chance because it was a very good, mostly trouble-free ride.
The 2024 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited starts at $35,896 and comes with a 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 engine that makes 285 horsepower, as well as a six-speed manual transmission. A 2.0-liter engine is also available, but only linked to an eight-speed automatic transmission, as well as the muscle car-worthy 6.4-liter V8 that outputs an impressive 470 hp. The Wrangler 4xe plug-in hybrid is also part of Jeep’s offer.
As always, we’d like to know what you think about this, so head over to the comments section below to give us your thoughts.
