Is Jeep Shifting Gears? Rumors Fly Over Automatic-Only Wrangler

Matthew Guy
by Matthew Guy

There’s been plenty of digital ink spilled over the forthcoming JL Wrangler, due out in 2018. Jeep is a huge cash cow for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, so the pressure is on to design a Wrangler which appeals to the general public and placates the hordes of rabid Jeep fans — who are known to gather torches and pitchforks at the mere suggestion of even the slightest design change.

A diesel option has been widely speculated, along with the chance of a turbocharged four-cylinder powerplant, both hooked to eight-speed automatics. Now, Andrew Collins over at the Truck Yeah arm of Jalopnik speculates the new JL could be offered solely as an automatic.

The automatic-only option was one of several possible scenarios put before the buying public at the 2016 Overland Expo. FCA representatives were clearly gathering consumer feedback before making a decision, one way or the other.

It’s an interesting notion, as more than a few offroaders consider an automatic to be the better choice for trail busting, and people who buy Wranglers with no offroad intent gravitate towards the automatic anyway. Take rate of the manual reportedly hovers between 10 and 20 percent, making it only slightly more popular than broccoli flavored ice cream at a kindergarten birthday.

At what stage does FCA stop offering an option simply for the sake of tradition?

Case in point: the Wrangler’s signature fold down windshield. With each successive iteration, the act of flipping the windshield down has become prohibitively more difficult, to the point where it’s now easier to drop the top on a Citroen Pluriel than it is to have a bugs-in-yer-teeth Wrangler experience. It begs the question whether FCA will bother engineering a drop windshield into the new JL when it will only be used by 0.0001 percent of Wrangler owners, history be damned.

It’s not a stretch to think FCA’s engineers are giving similar considerations to the Wrangler’s stick shift.

Having driven several examples, I enjoy a manual transmission Wrangler, even if its shifter does feel like a Louisville Slugger with only the most tenuous of attachments to anything inside a gearbox. Our Managing Editor feels differently, calling it “garbage,” “undriveable,” and stating that the Wrangler is one of the very few vehicles where a manual option makes no sense.

He may have a point. After all, we live on a planet where the entire Ferrari catalog is unavailable with three pedals and the rest of the world is rapidly following suit.

What say you, B&B? Does the prospect of a slushbox-only Wrangler send you into a rabid froth? Or do you tire quickly of needing three legs to drive slowly offroad?

[Image: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles]

Matthew Guy
Matthew Guy

Matthew buys, sells, fixes, & races cars. As a human index of auto & auction knowledge, he is fond of making money and offering loud opinions.

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  • Mikein08 Mikein08 on May 26, 2016

    The ONLY advantage of a manual tranny in off-road situations is when you are descending a very steep hill using compound low. You'll go slower. If you have an automatic in such a situation, you just ride your brakes. New brakes are a lot cheaper than clutches. The biggest advantage of an automatic tranny off-road is that you can concentrate of driving instead of shifting. And yes, I've driven both in really rough off-road situations.

  • Pete Zaitcev Pete Zaitcev on May 27, 2016

    Chrysler was preparing the public for this for many years by doing two things: they installed garbage manuals into jeeps and denied the 3rd hand kit in JK.

  • Corey Lewis Think how dated this 80s design was by 1995!
  • Tassos Jong-iL Communist America Rises!
  • Merc190 A CB7 Accord with the 5 cylinder
  • MRF 95 T-Bird Daihatsu Copen- A fun Kei sized roadster. Equipped with a 660cc three, a five speed manual and a retractable roof it’s all you need. Subaru Levorg wagon-because not everyone needs a lifted Outback.
  • Merc190 I test drive one of these back in the day with an automatic, just to drive an Alfa, with a Busso no less. Didn't care for the dash design, would be a fun adventure to find some scrapped Lancia Themas or Saab 900's and do some swapping to make car even sweeter. But definitely lose the ground effects.
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