Twelve years ago, I got my dream job on the engineering team of the only new Jeep that really matters anymore: The Wrangler. I was a 21-year-old recent college graduate attending meetings I had already attended before in my dreams, the most memorable of which involved an old-timer (and my friend) Jim Repp defending the Jeep’s solid-axle heritage from a suspension engineer who was missing the forest for the trees in an effort to meet his dynamic handling goals. Two years after my 2015 departure from Chrysler to become a car journalist, I had the rare privilege of being one of the first to review a product I had helped develop. But as much as I loved the new JL Wrangler, it’s now eight years since the launch, and I still don’t own one. That’s going to change soon; here’s why.
The obvious answer is: It’s the only vehicle whose engineering I had a significant hand in (I was in charge of cooling system design). But there’s a good reason why I haven’t plunked down the cold, hard cash yet for a Wrangler, and that’s because, for the longest time, I’ve believed that the Wrangler is not a vehicle worth buying new, or even new-ish.
I’ve said it before: Off-road capability has not increased much since American Bantam showed off what would become the World War II Jeep back in 1940. Yes, you read that right: If you were to take a World War II Jeep and put it in an off-road comparison with a base Jeep Wrangler, you’d be shocked by how well the World War II Jeep does. And sure, the Rubicon model with lockers would leave the World War II Jeep in its dust in plenty of scenarios, but as a platform, the World War II Jeep is arguably just as good due to its combination of low center of gravity (thank you Go-Devil flathead motor!), short wheelbase, narrow track, flexy frame, and decent overall geometry. Install a few lockers into the WW2 Jeep’s diffs (if you want shorter gearing, grab a CJ-2A for those 5.38s), chuck on some 31-inch all-terrains and that thing will go toe-to-toe with a modern Wrangler Rubicon. And even if it’s still a bit shy of the Rubicon, the fact that it’s in the same ballpark is remarkable when you consider how far in the dust a 1940s sports car would be left when raced against a modern sports car.
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This is one of the reasons why I’ve foregone buying a new Wrangler. I already own a CJ-3B and a Jeep Wrangler YJ, both of which are plenty off-road capable. I just haven’t seen the advantage to buying a modern off-roader, and that became doubly true when I bought my BMW i3 daily-driver; the refinement upgrades of the modern Wrangler over my old Jeeps just aren’t that valuable since I already have a daily.
Why would I spend $30 grand on a new Wrangler when I can get similar off-road capability for a quarter of the price? And why would I want to off-road a vehicle so valuable? I’m just going to damage it. To me, especially since I can easily keep an older car on the road with my own tools, there’s really no point in spending a bunch of money on an off-road vehicle. At least, there wasn’t. But now things have changed.
Since the launch of my son Delmar (Not His Real Name), I’ve begun thinking about my old vehicles differently. My Wrangler and CJ are vehicles that I know I cannot reasonably use to daily-drive my child around. They’re deathtraps. Maybe I can give Delmar a ride around town every now and then, but that’s about all I’m comfortable doing.
This means that, if I ever want to take my son on the freeway (which is what LA people call “the highway,” which you basically have to use to get anywhere around here), I have to take my i3. And look, I love my i3, but what’s the point of having a bunch of other cars I can barely drive? Whereas before I drove my old cars all the time, I now have a human barnacle attached to me pretty much 24/7, rendering most of my vehicles as just toys. It’s fine to have toys, but it’s harder to justify having seven of them than it is to justify having maybe one toy (the Willys, whose max cruising speed is 45 mph) and six potential daily-drivers for single-David.
Basically, with the birth of my child, all my classics have now become toys.
This is where a new Jeep Wrangler becomes appealing. For the past four months now, anytime my wife and I have gone somewhere with Delmar we’ve taken her car, the Lexus RX (yes, the i3 could work, too but it’s a bit small for his infant car seat). For the foreseeable future, I see myself having to drive that Lexus all the time except for when I commute to work. This isn’t ideal.
I think the Lexus is a great car at fulfilling its intended purpose (be safe, be comfortable, work reliably, keep the BS to a minimum), but it’s not me. And right now, the only time I get to drive a me-car is when I’m in traffic heading to work three times a week, or when I want to do a solo drive to the grocery store in one of my now-toy cars.
I want a fun car I can drive everywhere, with wife and child. I’m tired of the Lexus.
The answer, at some point, will probably be the Scout Traveler since I love the efficiency and ease of maintenance of an EREV, but I cannot drop 50 grand on a car. Delmar’s college fund — and just being able to live here in LA, period — is more important than having the latest-and-greatest machine to drive around in. Plus, I knew that, at some point, I would be buying a new Jeep Wrangler, as I was on the engineering team. Now seems like the right time.
It will allow me to drive around in a car that I genuinely love, daily, while keeping baby-Delmar and Elise significantly safer than if I drove them around in my old Wrangler YJ.
The only issue is that the JL Wrangler I want is basically hen’s teeth. I want one of the few 2024 four-door models made with the old JL grille (as I understand, Jeep had some kind of shortage of the new grilles, so they kept using the old ones for a few months on Sport and Sport S trims), but with a stickshift (and Jeep did a stop-sale on stickshifts that year due to clutch issues). I find the new grille to be hideous, I like the 2024+ interior, and I like that the 2024+ models have safer rear restraint systems, per IIHS.
Finding a 2024 four-door with a stick and the old grille will be incredibly tough, but I’m in no rush. I’m grateful we have my wife’s Lexus, and of course, I’m grateful to have my old Jeeps too. I also understand that not everyone has the privilege to drive their kids around in modern cars, so even being able to have this discussion is something I’m grateful for.
My search will start in about a year, when 2024 Wranglers start coming off lease. This strategy helped me find my Holy Grail BMW i3 (in 2024, just as three-year leases were ending; finding highly-optioned BMW i3s has since become borderline impossible). Hopefully 2024 models will depreciate a bit more, as four-doors are commanding almost $40 grand now, and that’s way too expensive for my blood. I might have to just buy a 2019 or 2020 model (in which case, maybe I just go with the Rubicon like the one above), or wait a bit longer so I can keep the costs down. Either way, some of my old Jeeps are going to have to go.
Top graphic image: David Tracy
> what’s the point of having a bunch of other cars I can barely drive?
Who are you and what have you done to the real David Tracy?