How To Get Sponsorship By Wrangler

Look for:

Mail-2012 JK-generation Jeeps, which have the 285-hp 3.half-dozen-liter 5-6, a five-speed automatic and a nicer interior.
An original 2004-2006 Unlimited (long-wheelbase, but two-door).
A 2018 or newer JL with the 270-hp 2.0-liter turbo, if the price is right.

Avoid:

The iii-speed automatic manual (final twelvemonth: 2002).
The last of the 202-hp three.8-liter 5-6/old interior JK years. At that place'due south a big departure between a 2010 and a 2012.
Anything so new that you may likewise get a new i.

So, you want to buy a Jeep Wrangler but the new ones are simply too pricey? We experience y'all. Wranglers seem like they should be inherently affordable, given that they're the closest affair to a street-legal dune buggy that you can buy. But feature creep means that a new JL, while unquestionably the best Wrangler ever, starts at $29,790 and can get mode more expensive from there, topping $lx,000 for a loaded diesel fuel model.

So the used market is always decorated, propped up in part past the iconic Jeep's stylistic consistency—a 2000 model doesn't actually await dated because a 2021 even so looks fundamentally the same. The driving experience and features are going to be far dissimilar, though, and that'due south where you might need some advice. And then indulge united states this primer in preowned Wrangler wrangling, in which nosotros attempt to steer y'all to a Jeep that'south used, but non used up.

1986-1995: The Square-Headlight Ane

OK, we know this generation (known as the YJ) has its fans, but we'd confine our Wrangler hunt to newer models. The YJ, the first with the Wrangler name, has solid front and rear axles like the electric current Wrangler, but what it didn't take was coil springs. Like the CJ and all its predecessors dating back to World War Two, the YJ Wrangler rode on leaf springs, front end and rear. And if you tin avoid driving a short-wheelbase, body-on-frame, solid-beam, leaf-sprung vehicle, yous should.

The One To Become: The side by side one that followed the YJ, the coil-sprung TJ. But if you must, go with the 180-horsepower 4.0-liter inline-vi that showed upward in the 1991 YJ. If you lot don't, you'll have to live with the before 112-hp iv.2-liter inline-six. A C/D test of a 1990 Wrangler Sahara with that engine yielded a 15.four-second fourth dimension to 60 and a top speed of 81 mph.

1997-2006: The Modern Template

Wait, what happened to the 1996 Wrangler? Did Jeep go actually into grunge and surfing America Online and forget to build it? Nope, it just got caught between generations, such that by the fourth dimension Jeep switched production from the YJ to the new TJ, it was already 1996. So they went directly from selling the 1995 YJ to the 1997 TJ. If you find a 1996 Wrangler, you can park it side by side to our 1983 Corvette.

Anyway, the TJ represented a revolution, in addition to the iv.0-liter inline-6 gaining i horsepower bringing the full to 181, it brought 4-bike coil-bound suspension to the game. (It's possible Jeep got ahold of some '90s N American Spec Land Rover Defenders and realized that they should at least exist equally technologically advanced as that.) So the TJ non just rides meliorate than its predecessor, merely it tends to be better off-road, besides, with excellent articulation. The interior took a big step forward, every bit well. Or at to the lowest degree, it took a step from the rectilinear 80s into the softer 90s.

And of course: round headlights. Which means that a TJ looks reasonably contemporary, even now. This is also the generation when Jeep realized that some Wrangler buyers wanted more than room, so in 2004 they rolled out a stretched wheelbase version called the Unlimited. It was all the same a ii-door (the proper noun was later applied to the four-door models) only gained xv inches of length, 10 of which went to the wheelbase. Back seat passengers got some extra legroom, and cargo space doubled. And if you're into towing, the Unlimited rating was 3500 pounds, well above the standard Wrangler's 2000 pounds. This sought-after derivative is known past its devotees as the LJ.

The Rubicon model debuted in 2003 with the same basic ingredients information technology has at present: heavier-duty axles (Dana 44s front and rear), locking front and rear differentials and bigger tires. Expect to pay more for one of those, with the LJ Rubicon flexing a resale value that might cause you to wait for something newer that might well be less expensive.

The One To Go: A 2005-2006 Unlimited Rubicon with the iv.0-liter six and a 6-speed manual transmission.

Car and Driver Machine and Commuter

2007-2019: The Pop Ane

By 2007, Jeep figured out that the Wrangler could go mainstream if it was less painful to live with and drive. To that cease, the biggest revelation was the four-door Unlimited model, which finally fabricated the Wrangler viable family unit transportation. Jeep had shown a four-door Wrangler concept in the '90s, but information technology took them until 2007 to build information technology. Sales numbers took off— 2,165,678 were built—and the Wrangler transitioned from a niche off-roader to the ubiquitous sight that information technology is today.

Inasmuch as there's such thing as a Wrangler bargain, it'due south to be constitute in the 2007-2010 JKs, which had different (read: not as desirable) powertrains and interiors. In the transition from the TJ to the JK, Jeep killed the aboriginal but love 4.0-liter inline-six and installed whatsoever was handy, which happened to be a nearly as old 3.eight-liter V-six borrowed from Chrysler's minivans. It was resolutely acceptable, making 202 horsepower and 237 lb-ft of torque. And the interior in those early JKs was likewise best described as adequate. But hey, you lot however got the essential Jeep goodness—drop the top and remove the doors, and who cares what's under the hood?

For 2011 the JK got the new, much modernized interior but however had the sad 3.8-liter. In 2012, the pushrod 3.8 Five-six was replaced by the 285-hp DOHC 24-valve 3.6-liter V-half dozen that's nevertheless in employ today—which not only produced a lot more than power and made cruising at freeway speeds less of a chore, but is considered significantly more than reliable. Compounding the advantage, the 3.6-liter engine came with a v-speed automatic, while the 3.viii made do with a four-speed auto.

The JK was such a hit that they kept building it for a couple years fifty-fifty subsequently it was replaced by the current Wrangler, the JL. Equally a second-hand-Jeep shopper, the main thing to exist wary of with JKs is stupid pricing, which gets stupider the newer they are. We institute a used 2017 JK Rubicon with 16,000 miles with an asking price of $39,000. Meanwhile, new 2021 JL Rubicons offset at about $42,000. Don't exist penny wise and Rubicon foolish.

2018-Now: The JL Era

The JL was an uncharacteristically huge leap for the Wrangler, with Jeep fine-tuning the fun while retaining the Wrangler's essential appeal. The doors got lighter and easier to remove and the tops and the soft tops are less of a struggle, with attachment-less windows. The automatic transmission gained three more gears (for 8) and a new 2.0-liter turbo four-cylinder and 3.0-liter diesel joined the lineup. If y'all're looking at a tardily JK versus a similar (but mayhap less decked-out JL) for the same money, nosotros'd vote for the JL. Only over again, if you're looking at a used JL, make sure its cost makes sense compared to a new one. The new ones tend to have incentives and financing deals. Used ones, probably non. A $32,000 car financed for 60 months at half-dozen.5 percent is going to add together upward to about the same total outlay as a $35,000 one at two.9 percentage. Pay attention to the full numbers, and it might turn out the best used Wrangler is a new one.