#Jeep

It’s always risky trying to soften up an object that’s known for being badass in order to better please the larger market.

After all, who wants to see a movie in which Danny Trejo and Norman Reedus debate Wittgenstein over a game of backgammon while sipping on tea?

That’s the challenge Jeep faced with the 2018 Wrangler – how to modernize it in terms of on-road behavior and creature comforts while not losing any of its off-road capabilities. The company had to keep the toughness while also softening the roughest edges. It’s not an easy balance to strike, but based on a first drive, Jeep pulled it off.

Thanks to a seemingly never-ending slow drip of leaks, it feels like we’ve known the next-gen Wrangler’s official details for eons now. Never mind that I took my turn behind the wheel just about exactly one week after the official wrap came off at the 2017 Los Angeles Auto Show.

We know from spy photos that the refreshed 2019 Jeep Cherokee will (finally) ditch its awkward stacked headlamps, instead adopting a conventional setup that doesn’t make the vehicle look like it’s squinting. The look is more in keeping with the second-generation Compass and Grand Cherokee.

Expect very little outcry over this sensible and long overdue decision.

However, an updated fascia isn’t the only change in store for 2019. The midcycle revamp also brings a new powerplant sourced from the 2018 Jeep Wrangler, documents show.

Over the past day or so, the Jeep brand has cast off every last bit of mystery that once surrounded the next-generation 2018 Wrangler like a cloak. The long-anticipated model is now laid bare, exposed to more scrutiny than your average Hollywood/media sex suspect.

We know all the intimate details. Every reshaped opening, every rejigged returning feature, every new powertrain option. Jeep may as well have accidentally sent us a series of bathroom selfies.

Having seen all there is to see, does any element of the new JL give you pause? Is anything needling you, leaving you with a less-than-perfect taste in your Jeep-loving mouth?

Jeep Wrangler fans are the type of enthusiasts who know and appreciate the history of the model, and Jeep knows that. Since we already knew just about everything about the 2018 Wrangler before the sheets came off in Los Angeles, we here at TTAC figured it might be interesting to take a closer look at some of the smaller details that go beyond horsepower, torque, and transmission type.

One of Jeep’s PR folks walked me through the various callbacks to prior Wranglers that are evident, if not obvious, on the new Wrangler.

Finally, after what seemed at times like the world’s longest striptease, the new 2018 Jeep Wrangler JL officially debuts today at the L.A. Auto Show. Our intrepid Managing Ed is live on the show floor to bring you all the details.

Until then, here’s all the official down-n-dirty, nitty-gritty details about Jeep’s new Wrangler.

The leaks concerning Jeep’s next-generation Wrangler have been like a screen door on a submarine, with FCA itself fueling the fire by releasing a couple of official images during the recent SEMA show in Las Vegas.

Rumours of a Wrangler-based pickup began swirling ages ago, with Fiat Chrysler eventually assuring us that one will appear at some point during the new Wrangler’s product cycle. Now, in a report from Automotive News, there is speculation the new-age, four-door Scrambler will be offered as a convertible.

Jeep has gradually parsed out photos of the 2018 Wrangler over the past couple of weeks, and now we have shots of the new model’s interior. It looks a hell of a lot nicer than the outgoing version, albeit slightly more cluttered with tech. However, the fundamentals remain constant — vertical orientation, passenger grab bar, center-mounted window switches, and circular air vents all persist on the new model.

Compared to the previous generation, the new Wrangler’s interior is absolutely brimming with interesting trim pieces and digital screens. The dashboard has color-matched plastic and the same goes for the stitching, although that is likely an optional extra. Both the six-speed gear selector and transfer case knob are shrouded by shift boots and the array of buttons appear large and clearly labeled.

The program for Jeep’s new Wrangler has had more leaks than a screen door on a submarine, from the leak of its owner’s manual and standard options list to the discovery by our own Bozi Tatarevic of potential power numbers for the JL’s new turbocharged mill.

Always of interest to new-car shoppers are the official fuel economy ratings. Such numbers just appeared for the new Wrangler on the EPA’s website, leaving only the texture on underside of the JL driver’s seat as a surprise for its big reveal at the L.A. Auto Show later this year.

If the Detroit Three want to keep wind in their sales sails, it sure won’t happen on the strength of traditional passenger cars.

Several brands from Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles posted U.S. sales declines in October 2017, all thanks to the slipping popularity of regular cars. In many cases, the continued strength of the crossover/SUV/truck market wasn’t enough to tip the scales back in the automakers’ favor.

It’s been rumored and reported on for months, but we now know what the 2018 Jeep Wrangler will look like.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles spiced up Halloween — and made Wrangler aficionados’ day — by confirming in photos the design of the two- and four-door JL Wrangler. Purists should breathe a sigh of relief.

FCA also released a brief press release late Tuesday, but it’s sparse on any details that can’t be seen in the photos. That means no confirmation of powertrains, transmissions, or specifications. The only truly key detail that’s been confirmed is the available fold-down windshield, but then again, that’s one feature that was almost certain to carry forward from the previous Wranglers.

Despite months of denial, Sergio Marchionne confirmed that Ferrari will put a sport utility vehicle into production on Monday. “We’re dead serious about this,” Marchionne said at the New York Stock Exchange earlier this week. “We need to learn how to master this whole new relationship between exclusivity and scarcity of product, then we’re going to balance this desire to grow with a widening of the product portfolio.”

The working title for Ferrari’s SUV is “FUV” and its confirmation undoes months of Marchionne’s claims that it would “never be built.” In February of 2016, the CEO even said he would have to be shot and killed before Ferrari made an SUV. For his sake, we hope that is no longer a provisional aspect of the build.

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.

Time to eat my words. Two years ago, I said the real reason there’s no Jeep pickup is this: A Jeep and a pickup are the same thing. I was wrong. The JL Wrangler Pickup is apparently a sure thing, although I’ll believe the existence of a two-door version when I see it in showrooms.

Let’s assume for a moment that Jeep will start by selling a four-door Wrangler with a 6.5 foot bed, pretty much like all the mules that have been spotted running around. Where will the volume for this vehicle originate? And how much of that volume will there be?

Our resident document digger, Bozi Tatarevic, stumbled upon a document submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that may confirm at least some details about the next Jeep Wrangler.

The docs appear to confirm that the upcoming JL-platform Wrangler will offer two engines at launch – a 3.6-liter V6 that makes 285 horsepower and a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder that makes 368 horsepower. Yes, you read that right.

The other piece of news gleaned from the submitted docs is that the Wrangler will initially debut as four-door only. Just three trim levels were listed: Sport Unlimited, Sahara Unlimited, and Rubicon Unlimited.

Earlier this week, we brought you a Rare Ride straight from the Eastern Block. The Skoda 120 was Czechoslovakia’s answer to the middle-market family sedan. Today we keep it Communist and look at Russia’s answer to the decadent and capitalistic Jeep Wrangler and Land Rover Defender, the UAZ-469.

This four-by-four can really do some work.