The current Wrangler has been in production for nearly a decade, which means Jeep is now regularly rolling out new special edition trims to keep America’s most famous off-road SUV fresh. The company’s latest attempt to bring in buyers, a trim called the Rewind, is essentially just retro-inspired stickers inspired by ’80s and ’90s multi-color patterns.
Normally, I’d dismiss this sort of news because trims like this don’t actually add anything new to the driving experience. But the Rewind Wrangler and its sister car, the Gladiator Rewind, pull my heartstrings at just the right angles. Finished in a deep purple as standard and covered in funky light-blue and orange stripes, it’s probably my new favorite of the two trucks – except for one big issue: it’s not available with a stick.
Anyone who’s been following Jeep lore for the past year will know the Rewind is not an entirely new car. It originally appeared as a concept at last year’s Easter Jeep Safari as a two-door Wrangler with a similar paint job and hood stickers, plus a lovely multi-color pattern from your favorite ’90s city bus seats.
Jeep says the Rewind proved so popular that the company turned it into a production trim for the Wrangler and the Gladiator. If the press release is to be believed, it’s proof that voicing your opinion on what you like and what you don’t like might actually drive executive decisions. So that’s nice.
Okay, back to the Jeep. Whether you go for the standard Wrangler version or the pickup-bed-equipped Gladiator variant, you’ll be getting something akin to a Willys trim, albeit with a handful of aesthetic changes. There are LED headlights and taillights, keyless entry, adaptive cruise control, a trailer hitch, heated front seats, a heated steering wheel, and remote start. Those who plan to actually off-road will be pleased with the rear locking differential, the steel rock rails, and the off-road tires.
Aside from the exterior graphics, which Jeep describes as “inspired by the bold hues and patterns of the mixtape and roller skate era,” Rewind-trimmed trucks get gold-accented wheels and tow hooks, as well as body color-painted fender flares. Wranglers get a specific spare tire cover. In addition to purple, you can also get the Rewind in Bright White, Granite Crystal (dark grey), Anvil (grey), Gloss Black, Hydro Blue, Joose (orange), and Earl (lighter grey).
While the inside of the production Rewind isn’t nearly as cool as the concept, there are still some neat touches. The most interesting have to be the seats, which are covered in Nappa leather that’s embossed with 8-bit arcade graphic patterns. There are also a handful of smaller changes, like color-matching interior trim pieces and contrast stitching.
A Jeep spokesperson told me via email that, like the Willys trim, the Rewind will be available with either the standard 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 or the optional 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-four. If you choose the V6 on the Willys, you can option a manual transmission. Sadly, that’s not the case with the Rewind. The Jeep rep confirmed to me that no version of the Rewind will be available with the stick shift. Seeing as how the manual transmission carries its own kind of nostalgia, it feels weird to exclude it here, in a car dripping with nostalgia.
Either way, interested buyers won’t have to wait long. Jeep says both versions of the Rewind will be available to order starting next month. They’ll be priced at $1,900 more than a similarly equipped Willys trim. That means it’ll come in around $48,245, including destination, for the Wrangler, and $50,415 for the Gladiator.
Is this just a blatant nostalgia play to drum up a bit of sales late in the Wrangler’s and Gladiator’s product cycle? Almost certainly. It is, in essence, a $1,900 sticker package with some different leather and stitching. While I greatly enjoy the design, I feel like a manual would’ve been the cherry on top. Still, I think a fun ’90s-themed Jeep without a stick is more fun than no ’90s-themed Jeep at all. So I’m not mad.
Top graphic image: Jeep
Well yeah, if you tried to hook those stickers up to a manual transmission the ECU would just explode! Makes perfect sense if you know your tech.
Not surprising that they’re doing this since retro sticker kits have been available third-party for the Wrangler since at least the start of the JL, and a fair number of Broncos I see have a factory retro trim.
Baffling that on the truck thing they follow the wheel arch with the stripes, but on the Wranger they couldn’t give a bother and just pretend there is no wheel there at all…
Everything about the Wrangler screams retro. This seems such a nobrainer.
I can take or leave the manual transmission – the market has spoken on that. But why such a lame interior? Fun upholstery colors or patterns were a hallmark of the era and would not cost much to implement. Hell, just use the same fabric from city bus seats.
I honestly don’t get the fascination with manuals. The offroad crowd loves automatics, those that live in cities with stop and go traffic love autos, I mean are you planning on heel toe shifting this thing, are you worried about gas mileage?
an auto is fine
Some of us just love to row gears. They’re also fantastic in the snow compared to an auto.
They need excuses other than they can’t afford it.
Jeep, we hardly knew ye.
In the motorcycle business, we called this “NEG”. It stood for New & Exciting Graphics
The WHOLE vehicle sort of “ruined it for me”… because they look STUPID. They took a Jeep and slapped a short bed on the back.
Yeah, having no manual option is a pretty low blow.
What I’m wondering is if one of their remaining special variants will be a stripped down Wrangler.
Take a Wrangler Sport, doors off kit from the factory, no top, a fully waterproof interior, etc.
Let the customer buy the aftermarket doors, top, etc. they want, or let them leave it open air.
I’ve been of the opinion ALL convertibles should have fully waterproof interiors for a long time, and 4WD convertibles especially.
And NGL I want to see a new Dispatcher Jeep version of the Wrangler.
RWD base with better steering angle for a tighter turning radius (with optional 4WD)
RHD optional
Lunchbox locker optional
Maybe even a high roof hardtop option
Sadly most of the people who would want a striped down wrangler all bought side by sides
I’d argue they did so because if they wanted a waterproof wrangler they’d have to buy a Wrangler Sport, buy Dana 44s front and rear, waterproof the interior themselves, remove the doors they didn’t want, the top they didn’t want, and then they’re in UTV price territory.
*for the stripped down wrangler variant it should have Dana 44s front and rear and the Rubicon transfer case.
This is one of the reasons the manual is dying, automakers won’t let you pair it with any desirable options. You want a stick? You get the base engine, the cheapest seats, and the worst greyscale paint options. This is literally a paint & stickers package! How could that possibly clash with the transmission option?
Or worse-the manual is behind a paywall like in the Integra or 911.
100% Ford is/was notorious for this as well. For totally unrelated reasons, they will pull a manual from a trim package even though it has nothing to do with anything. Years back I was considering a Focus – I didn’t want a base model. I wanted one of the higher trim levels, but only the base came with a manual. Even though it was the same engine and the interior plastic trim pieces already existed from the lower trim, they wouldn’t give consumers what they wanted.
Left Ford, and haven’t really considered them since.
“There are LED headlights and taillights, keyless entry”
…are these things not standard? I get that Stellantis is cheap and that truck buyers love to just slurp up that slop but either of these things not being standard in 2026 is absurd to me. This shit was standard on Hyundais and Kias like 5 years ago at this point….
“…you can also get the Rewind in Bright White, Granite Crystal (dark grey), Anvil (grey), Gloss Black, Hydro Blue, Joose (orange), and Earl (lighter grey)”
Thank god, I was worried there wouldn’t be enough grays on offer. Imagine being such an unimaginative loser that you buy a 90s neon themed Jeep in fucking gray. This should literally only be offered in purple. If you aren’t going to fully embrace the a e s t h e t i c you should have to buy one of the approximately 20,000 other grayscale Wranglers that are languishing on lots as we speak. Swing and a miss….
Anyway, I do like the look of these. I’d never ever buy one because Wranglers suck at literally everything other than going off-road and having a roof that comes off, but if you’re going to do one this is the way. Also I’ve seen other blogs reporting that Jeep’s design brief for the next Wrangler is to make it significantly more aggressive, so if you want a playful one you should probably hop on it because I think the ANGRY MACHO JEEP aesthetic is going to be factory spec soon.
Not ONLY purple, yellow and Chief Blue should be full production colors.
Fine. I’ll allow obnoxious orange as well.
Indeed, why make a retro special edition but no retro transmission for the enthusiast buyers? But as a child of the 90s it’s both awesome and makes me feel super old, haha. Is there a word for “makes me feel old”? Probably in German….
Where is the purple dash? Full on trapper keeper exterior but then just black plastic on the inside. Bogus
Trapper Keeper! 🙂 Waiting for the stripped down dark yellow PeeChee Folder version. No AC, No doors, No automatic, No top, preferably in 2door pickup form…
No kidding. I was hoping for some Tracker style seat inserts to really make it all pop.