Waiting for a Turbo Jeep Wrangler With Insane Horsepower? No so Fast…
Last week brought quite a flurry of excitement for eager Jeep Wrangler aficionados. The long-awaited next-generation JL model has steadily revealed its secrets in dribs and drabs, but last week’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration filing appeared to reveal one of the biggest nuggets to date — a horsepower figure for the model’s 2.0-liter turbocharged “Hurricane” four-cylinder.
368 horsepower. Even from a unit expected to arrive with power in the neighborhood of 300 hp, this figure came as a shock. 368 hp isn’t “in the neighborhood” — it’s eight blocks over, past the train tracks, and in a better part of town.
Well, to all of you anticipating a real screamer of a Jeep, it’s time to hold your breath once again. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has updated its NHTSA filing.
Drumroll please. According to the new filing, the 2.0-liter four-banger in uplevel 2018 Wranglers is… not rated. That’s right. The rest of the information on the data sheet stays the same — the 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 soldiers on in the JL and older JK Wrangler with 285 hp, the diesel options remains absent for now — but the Hurricane is now downgraded to a tropical disturbance of unknown ferocity.
It’s quite possible FCA simply inputted the wrong number by mistake. Speaking to Road & Track, an FCA source recently claimed the 368 figure is “dead wrong.”
Certainly, 368 hp from two liters of displacement doesn’t ring true for a brand like Jeep. Such an engine would out-muscle all but the hottest European four-cylinders. Still, the document was an official NHTSA filing.
If the original rumors bears out, JL Wrangler buyers won’t have to worry about a lack of propulsive force. 300 hp, or thereabouts, and an unknown torque figure will surely give the Wrangler enough in the giddy-up department, as well as providing it with an EPA-placating fuel economy rating. We know already that 2.0-liter buyers won’t have a choice of transmission besides an eight-speed automatic.
Pentastar-powered Wranglers, in two-door and Unlimited guise, will still be available with a six-speed manual.
[Images: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, NHTSA]
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Why do they have to file that information with the NHTSA, anyway? Is it for crash testing purposes?
As the proud owner of a pre pentastar 2.5 I-4 (1995 model year to be exact) I can attest that the I-4 NEEDS more power. 75 mph is possible on the highway but it's about all the lil Wrangler wants. now something closer to an old chevy 5.0 (302, 305, 307) in power and torque numbers would be amazing especially with the Wrangler getting a little fat. Now I just have to wait to see one in the junkyard so I can steal err... acquire said turbo 4 and figure out how to mate it to an AX15 mwahahahahaha!!!