It's a slow day at the office, so I thought I would end this year thinking about my gripes and praises of my JK unlimited X manual. I'm leaving out gripes that I'm able to dismiss as being a "Jeep Thing", and only putting in things that I believe should have been addressed by the manufacturer during the design process.

Going into the new year, I want to resolve to fix the gripes that are fixable, and to set aside the ones that can't be fixed.

Gripes:

Defroster: The defroster does not touch anything on the outer sides of the windshield, and you can't stop the ice buildup. The drefrost also doesn't touch the wipers in their down position, and ice builds up on them as well. This is really a design issue, I know things get difficult with a nearly flat windshield, but this should have been compensated for with a wider defrost vent, and better wiper placement.

High Beams: The high-beams are nearly useless, and the high beam indicator in the instrument panel is so bright, a person's eyes don't dialate properly to see the poor high beams well at all. Ironically I saw that someone had put some Harley dual core lights on their Jeep as replacements. Its frustrating that Jeep was too cheap to consider a solution like this to make the high beams useful, but a motorcycle company was able to solve this problem. Also, the last vehicle I had which had a high beam indicator brighter than the actual high beams was a 1988 tempo.

Arm Rests: The door side armrests are thin and short, making them nearly useless for use as an armrest.

Overhead grab bars: Why didn't they put these in?

Shock for rear tailgate. Again, why not

Praises:

Electronic nannies: When driving on the road, these nannies really do a great job of keeping the Jeep under control in bad weather conditions. Plus, we can shut them off when off-roading

Simplicity: I love the simplicity of the wrangler. This simplicity will pay off down the road, when things need to be fixed or modified. It really makes it easy for the aftermarket to come up with replacements that are as good or better than the factory parts.

Off road capability: There's no other vehicle out there that has the JKs off-road ability right out of the box. Even the base X has what it takes to do a lot more off road than what it is given credit for.

Pure emotional fulfillment: I've never had a vehicle that I'm more attached to than the wrangler, even with all my "gripes", I have to say I love it. The unlimited has a great mix of the usability of an SUV, with the off-road capability of a Jeep. If it would have been made years ago, I would have bought one instead of my previous Jeeps, XJ and WJ.

In conclusion:

Overall I'm very happy with my '07 JK, and I hope all of you are as well. I'd also like to wish all of you a happy new year, and hope the end of this year finds you well, and that the next treats gives you what you need.

How about the rest of you, do you have any gripes and praises you'd like to get out at the end of this year, and the start of the next? JK related of course

 

Good post.

My only gripe is that the production plant / assembly line needs better quality control... to hear of all the problems (some serious, some not) that JKers are experiencing is proof of this. Personally, my JK's been very reliable, and only had a few minor issues, most of them trail-related. But to think that there's such a wide spectrum of JKs out there, where one owner's is bulletproof, and another where the JK is a total (unrepairable) Lemon is just unnacceptable.

When you buy a vehicle, espcially one that builds such an instant bond with its owner, you shouldn't be gambling and hoping that you end up with "one of the good ones." They should ALL be good ones!

 

i know the feeling when my 07 jk dosen't defrost the sides of my windshield either, as a matter of fact i have to go out and it is snowing so i can only defrost part of it overall i love my jk

 

My gripe is the fact that I was stupid enough to trade it in!

I praise the fact that they have plenty more at the dealer and will buy another one very soon!

The only thing I wish was different was the engine. I know its not supposed to be fast or a "race car" as some many have termed it when you talk about power but a more hp/tq would also make for better all around performance. It would make it easier on the engine if it had more power because it wouldnt be laboring to pull the vehicle around. Once the bigger tires go on there its a slug, and regearing helps but it doesnt add power. Mileage, regearing helps that as well but if the engine wasnt working as hard, it would have better mileage.

Basically what I am saying is that I love the JK's but next time I will be adding a Ripp s/c to it. I would like to get a Hemi but I cant see spending as much on aa engine swap as I did for the entire Jeep.

 

My gripe list is short, I have a SWB 07 Sahara w/ soft top. The rear window clips that supposedly keep the bottom of the window secured to the tub suck so bad that I finally just left them off and now the tailgate seals better than when they're on, also the poor fitment above the doors, when it is raining and I open my door I get a stream of water directly onto my left leg. I have no problem w/ power, the 3.8 moves my 2DR down the road just fine w/ 18'' rims, 32" tires & 4:10 gears. I wuoldn't trade it for anything else out there .

 

2 door X here. Only gripe was beating my knee up on the window crank. Had them removed and replaced with power windows. Now, zero gripes. Love our Jeep and wouldn't trade if for anything else on the road.

 

Also happy New Year to Everone. My wife and I love our 08 Unlimited Sahara.

 

oI agree with all of the above, but would add it could use some more power, mine has to downshift a lot. I think it would get better mileage with some more power, I guess that is another complaint, it would be nice to get 20 mpg instead of 15-16.

This is my wife's daily driver and she loves it. It is awesome in the snow!

The high beams SUCK, I never use them because the low beams with the fogs on are brighter.