mr72

Just got back from a trip to Kauai and Maui where my wife and I rented JKUs. For clarification I have a 2015 "mostly stock" JKU with soft top, 6sp as my DD. We figured it'd be pretty seamless to drive the rentals.

Both JKUs we rented were 2016 sports with automatic transmission, 17" wheels and Wrangler SR-As. Hard top on both.

First thing I noticed driving the bone stock 2016 out of the gate is how much different the ride and handling is, more than I expected, compared with mine. 2.5"/1.5" lift and slightly bigger tires makes a marked difference in road manners.

The automatic was ... different. I had never driven a JK (or any Wrangler for that matter) with an AT. Last Jeep I drove with an AT was an 80s XJ, 25 years ago. I developed a tolerate/dislike relationship with the automatic. I recognized my very strong preference for the manual. The one thing to really like about the AT is the way it applies torque. It seems like it revs the engine higher at low/take-off speeds than you can with the MT, resulting in what feels like more torque at the wheels say at 0-5 mph. Also when you really want to get up and go, pinning the accelerator results in the Jeep revving higher than I typically ever rev my Jeep with the MT. So overall the Jeep kind of had a "more power" feel than I am used to, but that's because I don't drive my Jeep at >4K rpms very often. I did notice the AT will variably either hold a gear and cruise at 2000-2200 rpm or sometimes upshift and cruise at just a hair above 1K. I thought this variability was odd.

I also developed a complex like/dislike for the hard top. Being 75-85 degrees and no rain the entire time we were there it was perfect time to have the top all the way off which wasn't possible. I would have seriously preferred a soft top in this case but I can see why they don't rent them. No way a typical car renter would know how to put down the soft top with the windows and all that. But the freedom panels out driving with all four windows down did get maybe 75% of that "top down" feel. And it was a relief to be able to lock the vehicle without the risk that anyone who can find a zipper can get in. The Jeep sure was a lot quieter than mine with the panels in. A lot. Almost like a regular car.

We did a little bit of what you guys would call "light" off roading to get to some out of the way beaches etc. in Kauai. Needed 4WD and the ground clearance to make it work. Again, it was uneventful in its ease much like my own off-roading experience in my Jeep back home.

Stock Wrangler SR-A tires were surprisingly decent on the windy roads such as the Road to Hana and the Maui north/northwest road which is insane to drive on. But they were just as awful on wet pavement as I expected them to be. The Cooper Discoverer AT3 on my own JKU are in a whole different class.

However I did find that at stock ride height (no lift) these Jeeps seemed to have a lot less body roll than my Jeep. And it further reminded me that even at only 27K miles my shocks are shot on my Jeep. These two I rented had the same or more miles so I don't know why the shock damping seemed so much better. Maybe it's because of my lift, the shocks are running too far past the middle of the valving. After I got home and drove my own Jeep, it made me think that with lift you actually probably need bigger sway bars and different shocks both to maintain the same kind of handling stability as the stock Jeep. Truly it made me really seriously consider an alternative to my lift.

In the end we were really glad to have the Jeeps on the trip and they were well worth the extra cost. On Kauai it seemed like 70% of the rental cars are Wranglers, and there were plenty of times when we found ourselves in a long caravan of 10-12 JKUs. They are not nearly as popular in Maui, but there's far less need of any high clearance or 4wd since Maui is much more user-friendly in terms of access to things you want to see.

There was also a funny trend in Kauai where folks uber-lift old junky trucks like mid-90s Toyotas or Dodges. And by mega, I mean combo body lift and suspension lift of maybe 10-14 inches. So much that no part of the tire intersected the body in any way. No overlap of the fender and the tire/wheel. That trend didn't seem to carry over to Maui. Maybe they do it so they can run over all of those chickens without harming them

resharp001

Interesting review. The top debate is always a pickle. I’m just north of you in DFW and have a hard top. I have a soft top too that is mainly just for longer wheelin trips. My top is off the majority of the time, but I really prefer the hard top when I need one. Thing is on/off in a matter of minutes in my garage. The soft top is always so cumbersome to me…..and I absolutely hate it when it’s down and sitting on the tailgate. It looks so sloppy. I hardly ever see soft tops down around here. Seems like so much. Mine is great as a trail top, but that is about it.....gets used once or twice a year.

I like my automatic for wheelin, but I sure wish I could have a manual for just every day driving. I obviously don’t have stock tires or gearing, but it’s all calibrated. Sometimes when I’m getting on the highway it holds 3rd gear so damn long it kills me. Sorry, I don’t need to be in 3rd gear up to 5k rpms before shifting to 4th for a couple seconds before getting to 5th. I also hate the manual shifting in the auto. I’m not a huge fan of that in general, but I’ve never cared for the side to side movement of the stick compared to sliding it over and using a forward/backward movement to shift.

Sounds like you had a fun trip!

mr72

There are also far fewer soft tops than hard tops here, I'd have to guess at least 80% of the JKs I see are hard tops, especially JKUs. I also guess most of these hard-top owners never remove the top.

I drove a convertible for the past 17 years so a soft top is the only way to go for me. It is a pain to use but worth it for the ability go get the top "off" whenever I want. So if I am driving to work and it's raining, but it clears by the time I come home, I put the top down to come home. Also it gives me the confidence when going out with the top down that in the event of rain, I can easily make the Jeep dry. I do remove the top (and doors) altogether often if there are several days of no-rain expected. I can't park inside a garage so leaving the top off on a daily-driver is a reasonably rare event, requiring me to be in the midst of a drought, which usually is not a great time in TX to be going top down due to heat.

I agree a lot with your commends about the auto on the road. Especially the manual shifting. I only used it when coming down from the top of the crater on Maui which is a 28 mile switchback downhill and I needed to hold a lower gear to get some engine braking. Couldn't figure out how to get it back to "auto" without shifting to neutral and back. I just stink at driving an automatic in general. 99% of my miles have been driven in a manual-transmission car for nearly 30 years now.

Yeah, it was fantastic. Highly recommended. Kauai was the best, especially if you want to do any off-roading. Just don't tell the car rental company.