So I have to post something just because I've had a rough transition and am severely missing getting to talk Jeeps with JK owners. I recently traded my JK in on a WK2 for the sole reason that my JK was a 6-speed and my wife doesn't know how (nor has the interest in learning) to deal with both driving stick AND dealing with an off-road only 4WD. This wasn't an issue until it became eminent that we were going to move to Alaska (where she HAS to be confident in the family 4WD vehicle in case of emergencies etc.).

Let me just say that (not everyone of course) but most WK2 owners are a completely different breed from JK owners They spend all their time on the forums b*tching about silly things like "oh my, I have a slight transmission shudder when shifting between 60 and 62 mph" or "the non-quadralift suspension ride quality is awful" and I -never- see anything posted about actual off-roading. Honestly I can't stand the silly people that spend all their time complaining about little things that you should be having too much fun with their rig to care about.

So if you still see me lurking around the forum and posting responses, try not to hold it against me that I don't have a JK anymore. I still wave to other Jeeps and have the mentality of someone who has a JK. I'm just a JK owner in a WK2's body

 

Wow your wife dont want to drive stick? Thats sad you have to trade your JK for that reason. You are still greatly welcome on this forum. I thought about the same thing on a bmw forum once, people just complain about anything..

 

Just so you know, people do plenty of bitching on any forum, and yes that includes this one.

 

What is a WK2 and why didn't you get an auto JK? Just wondering.

 

Wk2 are the new grand Cherokees.

 

Really there were a few reasons why I ended up with a WK2 compared to a JKU. First off when I built each as I wanted them for Alaska they were surprisingly similar in price. I think in the end when I built both a JKU and a WK2 with the options I wanted, the WK2 was ~$3000 more than the JKU, so money was not as much of an issue as I thought at first.

Secondly, after driving the JKU with the 3.6 and the WK2 with both the 3.6 and 5.7, the 5.7 was such a sweet motor (especially coming from a 3.8 with 3.21 gearing ) that I just couldn't pass it up. Especially when I looked at the fuel economy ratings and noticed I could get the same highway fuel economy with the 5.7 hemi in the WK2 as you can with a JK while having 80 extra HP and 100 extra lb-ft of torque!

Finally I wanted an engine that has all the bugs worked out and with abundant parts for repair just in case you get the one bad engine of the bunch. With some of the issues with the early pentastar engines, from what I understand there are still some parts for the pentastar that are on backorder so God help you if you need to repair a pentastar in Alaska. Meanwhile there is a much greater abundance 5.7 hemi parts from the long use of the same engine.

It isn't so much that she doesn't want to drive it as much as she never felt comfortable and confident driving stick (even in good conditions). And really I want her to be able to enjoy driving the Jeep as much as I do and getting rid of the 6-speed is a small price to pay to see my wife smile as she steals the keys to the Jeep while her car is in the shop being repaired