Recently I've been on the fence to get a new jeep. I love the new wrangler unlimited special editions. However never drove one. This weekend I took a 6speed out for a test drive.

Impressions. What a slow clanky POS. I love the interior and exterior. But the engine was beyond noisy, had zero torque, zero power. No clue where in hell this 265hp is because my lifted 31' tire cherokee could totally whoop the *** of a new wrangler. Will be keeping the cherokee.

Just very surprised. And disappointed since I had high hopes. Anyone else's thoughts?

 

nothing? wow, doesn't anyone have experience with wranglers?

 

One of my friends bought a 2014 JK and the two times I rode in it i felt it had some decent power & torque. It was an automatic. Also the motor was fairly quiet...

 

One has a payment book, the other not. Give it more than 2 hours next time someone doesn't jump on your question.

 

My guess is you drove the wrangler like you drive your XJ.

The wrangler makes 285hp at 6400 rpms, if you aren't getting to at least 4000-5500 rpms before shifting you are shifting too soon to get the power. Unless your XJ is heavily modified for horsepower, I seriously doubt it I anywhere near as fast as a modern wrangler.

If you drive a Ferrari like you drive a tractor it would feel slow and clunky too.

 

QFT then FIFY. I think I'm too old to be using those letter combinations correctly.

 

Traitor

 

We're both right

That engine makes about 90% of its torque @ 3500 and pretty much flat lines until red line. The hp curve is very linear and quite steady with no real spikes from 1000-6500 rpms.

If you were shifting at 5500-6000, I'm guessing you'd be dropping into the full torque area in the next gear for a quick steady pull.

I'm guessing the old low rpm 4.0 is a better off roading engine though.

 

JK I had on my honneymoon had no were near the low end feel of my xj but was nice to drive around although it did find its self shifting way to much on maui

 

Its got a minivan engine you think its going to be fast?The 4.0 is like a old tractor engine all the torque down low where you want it.

 

I've never bought a Jeep product thinking I was buying a super fast sports car.

 

JK's aren't exactly SRT8's.... They weigh a lot and have Caravan motors.

 

2001 XJ 0-60 9.1 seconds.

http://www.automobile-catalog.com/ma...2_4d/2001.html

2014 dodge caravan 0-60 7.2 seconds.

http://m.autos.aol.com/2014-dodge-gr..._van/overview/

I'm not saying the new motor is a better off roading motor but it's faster than a 4.0 XJ on the road.

 

Car and Driver shows the 2012 JK doing 6.8 0-60.

I havent driven one but something doesnt sound right. I agree with all about our beloved 4.0s low rpm torque but those JKs should scoot if you let it rev.

 

By a stop watch the JKs probably are faster, but lack of low-end torque has a major effect on the "feel" of a vehicle.


At work we have a bunch of 2012-2013 Chevy Impala company cars with the GM "High-Feature" (LFX) 3.6L V6 (302hp, 252 lb-ft) that we use for business trips, these are pretty quick on paper (~6.5 sec. 0-60) but with no low end torque they feel like absolute slugs and usually need to downshift two gears on even the slightest incline.