Joined
·
34,388 Posts
If you are not aware yet, the owner's manual and user's guide for the upcoming 2018 Wrangler have been leaked on the JL forum as of today (well it was yesterday here, but if you're in the Western Hemisphere then its still the 15th). I have them sitting on my desktop right now and am giving them a good look over. Obviously I can't post that link here, but the Jalopnik article lays out some details:
https://jalopnik.com/here-is-the-entire-leaked-owners-manual-for-the-2018-je-1819485170
Why is this important? Because it shows what we can expect of FCA platform Mopars, of which the gen 5 Ram will be one. The JL is one of the, if not the most, highly anticipated vehicle in a series of new vehicle releases for Mopar under FCA. Whereas most vehicles in their current lineup were developed from the ground up under Daimler-Chrysler, with maybe a little input from Cerberus around a decade ago; they have really only been refreshed by FCA. That is not to say the refreshes have not been substantial, we have seen the introduction of a lot of the best current features as part of the refreshes:
-The Pentastar
-8 speed transmissions
-The current versions of UConnect
-EcoDiesel
-Much improved interiors
Nevertheless, most Mopars still have DC DNA in them:
-The Grand Cherokee and Durango are based on the Mercedes GL
-The 300/Charger/Challenger trace their roots to the E class
-The 4th gen Ram began its design under DC.
-The Grand Caravan is still in its 5th generation since 1984-its not substantially different from the one a decade ago
-The Wrangler has been on the JL platform since 2006.
With the introduction of the FCA developed vehicles, we will gain an understanding of some of the features we can expect to see in the 5th gen Ram. These FCA platform vehicles include some that have been released and some that haven't:
-Dart/200>launched
-Pacifica>launched
-Compass>launched
-JL Wrangler/JT Pickup>upcoming
-Gen 5 Ram>upcoming
-Gen 4 Durango/ gen 5 Grand Cherokee>upcoming
-Jeep Wagoneer/Grand Wagoneer/possible Ramcharger>upcoming
-LX/LY/LD (Charger/300/Challenger) platform replacement>upcoming
-New Journey>upcoming (rumored to be RWD and Stelvio-based)
While the 200 and Dart have been raked across the coals as failures for being a waste of money and resources for FCA after only being around for 3 model years, I would argue that the factory reshuffle required to implement and increase production of other models had more to do with their short lifespan. A factory needed to be gapped in order to move all the others around. Then you get into the wisdom of the decision to release them in the first place given what the future held for the factory, and yeah, I'm not sure what the thinking was there. Maybe they thought they'd be more successful and when they turned out to be the weak link (its a weak segment) they were chosen to be the ones to go to support the reshuffle. Either way, without going into my opinion of those two being underrated, the Pacifica and Compass have been released to critical acclaim and are selling well, so I think its safe to say that they have launched successfully.
Neither of those though, have the cult following that the Wrangler does. People who buy Compasses and Renegades are not considered Jeep people. People who buy Wranglers are. So the success of the JL is hugely important for FCA, the Wrangler is a vehicle for which there is no competitor, so they have to maintain the buyer base.
What are the key features (TL;DR)? Stuff that stands out:
-Removable doors
-the windshield still folds
-35" tires will fit without a lift
-Rear seats seem to be borrowed from the WK2/WD (Grand Cherokee/Durango)
-Reverse is now near 1st instead of 6th on the manual transmission
-Engine options are 3.6L and 2.0 Turbo; the diesel is expected in a later version of the manual since that will be a late availability option for 2018. No specs are provided for either engine, though we do know that the 3.6 is not FFV like it is in other applications (like my Durango) and for some reason seems to take 5 qts of oil instead of 6. The 2.0 will run on 87 but needs 91 octane for optimal performance.
-Tow ratings are unchanged over the JK; I would expect this to change as Chrysler always underrates the first year's capacity (e.g. 2009 vs 2010 Ram 1500 payload), and substantial changes to the axles and stuff have been made.
-New switch configuration for the locking diffs (may see this on the upcoming gen 5 PW)
-ESC can be completely disabled. For real. As if it weren't there. And it won't come back on if it thinks you're about to crash.
-Power folding top is available
-Some other tech stuff that newer Mopars will likely have
As far as looks go I like them, and I definitely think they have made improvements over the JKs adding door checks and stuff. I think the release was intentional to assuage the fears of some Jeep faithful who had their doubts as to the upcoming JL. They want strong sales the first year and probably don't want frightened buyers all rushing to get JKs instead of first year JLs.
https://jalopnik.com/here-is-the-entire-leaked-owners-manual-for-the-2018-je-1819485170
Why is this important? Because it shows what we can expect of FCA platform Mopars, of which the gen 5 Ram will be one. The JL is one of the, if not the most, highly anticipated vehicle in a series of new vehicle releases for Mopar under FCA. Whereas most vehicles in their current lineup were developed from the ground up under Daimler-Chrysler, with maybe a little input from Cerberus around a decade ago; they have really only been refreshed by FCA. That is not to say the refreshes have not been substantial, we have seen the introduction of a lot of the best current features as part of the refreshes:
-The Pentastar
-8 speed transmissions
-The current versions of UConnect
-EcoDiesel
-Much improved interiors
Nevertheless, most Mopars still have DC DNA in them:
-The Grand Cherokee and Durango are based on the Mercedes GL
-The 300/Charger/Challenger trace their roots to the E class
-The 4th gen Ram began its design under DC.
-The Grand Caravan is still in its 5th generation since 1984-its not substantially different from the one a decade ago
-The Wrangler has been on the JL platform since 2006.
With the introduction of the FCA developed vehicles, we will gain an understanding of some of the features we can expect to see in the 5th gen Ram. These FCA platform vehicles include some that have been released and some that haven't:
-Dart/200>launched
-Pacifica>launched
-Compass>launched
-JL Wrangler/JT Pickup>upcoming
-Gen 5 Ram>upcoming
-Gen 4 Durango/ gen 5 Grand Cherokee>upcoming
-Jeep Wagoneer/Grand Wagoneer/possible Ramcharger>upcoming
-LX/LY/LD (Charger/300/Challenger) platform replacement>upcoming
-New Journey>upcoming (rumored to be RWD and Stelvio-based)
While the 200 and Dart have been raked across the coals as failures for being a waste of money and resources for FCA after only being around for 3 model years, I would argue that the factory reshuffle required to implement and increase production of other models had more to do with their short lifespan. A factory needed to be gapped in order to move all the others around. Then you get into the wisdom of the decision to release them in the first place given what the future held for the factory, and yeah, I'm not sure what the thinking was there. Maybe they thought they'd be more successful and when they turned out to be the weak link (its a weak segment) they were chosen to be the ones to go to support the reshuffle. Either way, without going into my opinion of those two being underrated, the Pacifica and Compass have been released to critical acclaim and are selling well, so I think its safe to say that they have launched successfully.
Neither of those though, have the cult following that the Wrangler does. People who buy Compasses and Renegades are not considered Jeep people. People who buy Wranglers are. So the success of the JL is hugely important for FCA, the Wrangler is a vehicle for which there is no competitor, so they have to maintain the buyer base.
What are the key features (TL;DR)? Stuff that stands out:
-Removable doors
-the windshield still folds
-35" tires will fit without a lift
-Rear seats seem to be borrowed from the WK2/WD (Grand Cherokee/Durango)
-Reverse is now near 1st instead of 6th on the manual transmission
-Engine options are 3.6L and 2.0 Turbo; the diesel is expected in a later version of the manual since that will be a late availability option for 2018. No specs are provided for either engine, though we do know that the 3.6 is not FFV like it is in other applications (like my Durango) and for some reason seems to take 5 qts of oil instead of 6. The 2.0 will run on 87 but needs 91 octane for optimal performance.
-Tow ratings are unchanged over the JK; I would expect this to change as Chrysler always underrates the first year's capacity (e.g. 2009 vs 2010 Ram 1500 payload), and substantial changes to the axles and stuff have been made.
-New switch configuration for the locking diffs (may see this on the upcoming gen 5 PW)
-ESC can be completely disabled. For real. As if it weren't there. And it won't come back on if it thinks you're about to crash.
-Power folding top is available
-Some other tech stuff that newer Mopars will likely have
As far as looks go I like them, and I definitely think they have made improvements over the JKs adding door checks and stuff. I think the release was intentional to assuage the fears of some Jeep faithful who had their doubts as to the upcoming JL. They want strong sales the first year and probably don't want frightened buyers all rushing to get JKs instead of first year JLs.
