Traitor

LOL - Careful with those 'J' turns! We had some near-death experiences going too fast in our CJ on J turns. Guess driving on 2 wheels just isn't my thing..

Cheers

Jakob1972

I am a traitor today. Got a Jeep for my rental. Drove it 3 hours from Phoenix to Holbrook AZ for work. Here is a pro and con list

Pro
Very quiet the top made 0 wind noise.
Plenty of pep in the 2.0l
Good fuel mileage 22mpg
Drove fine, never felt like the front end would wobble off.
Stereo was good.
The wireless CarPlay works like a champ it knows the phone after you plug it in once.


Cons
The foot well was small and no dead pedal.
The ac controls are confusing.
The seats are not comfortable.
The tiny hood makes you think the vehicle is narrower than it really is.
The dash and infotainment are too bright. if you try to look out the side windows at night they are just mirrors at this point.
The tiny backup camera only takes up half the screen.
The font on the infotainment is just a tad small, 3 and 8 are had to distinguish without readers, but I shouldn’t need readers to see the dash.

These are just my observations and even though I was driving the thing for 3 hours I was not monkeying around with stuff. I have another 3 hour drive back tomorrow so if I think of anything else I will add it.
Please know I am by no means digging on the Jeep this is just my take on things, most of it I would get used to so it would be no problem.

Hey Jakob,
We appreciate your insights and kindness in sharing them. I am curious about the wobble as I have experienced it first hand driving jeeps. The latest was a 2022 Gladiator. What year is your rental? Did you get it up to 70 mph, as this is a speed I always seem to get it at?
We look forward to your further comments after your drive home.

the poacher

Hey Jakob,
We appreciate your insights and kindness in sharing them. I am curious about the wobble as I have experienced it first hand driving jeeps. The latest was a 2022 Gladiator. What year is your rental? Did you get it up to 70 mph, as this is a speed I always seem to get it at?
We look forward to your further comments after your drive home.

Just turned it in An hour ago. It was a 2025 with 24k on the clock.
I did get it up to 70+ I think 82 was the top speed for a short period to pass. No wobble. I needed the 4x4 to check a remote job site that was just in a pasture no road. Surprisingly the stupid street tires they had on it did reasonably well. The spare was a proper AT tire Goodyear wrangler. The 4 wheel drive was difficult to engage but I can appreciate having a mechanical 4x4 lever. When I finally got back to pavement it was pulling hard to the left. But after I drove for 15 miles it straightened out so it is possible that it was just the road.
The drivers side mirror did not have enough adjustment it was like the mirror was folded in a half inch. And the mirrors are a tad bit small they need to be rotated 90 degrees. I figured out the AC controls and they are worse than I thought. When you change the temp up or down a tiny little square pops up and shows where you are on the blue/green scale. It’s about the size of a quarter. I found the infotainment screen to be large but the stuff on the right side of the screen is too far away to see it well. Just my honest take aways. Not trying to bash the Jeep, it was a comfortable enough vehicle and it did everything I needed it too.

When we had my wife's 09 JK it only had a modified street tire. Had i off road a lot and those tires did a good job. They were a Goodyear, but don't remember what. The tire noise I'm getting know with the K02's is starting to bother my wife, and after driving my F-150 all summer it takes a bit getting used to. The other thing I liked about the JK was the lack of wind noise. Ford needs to put window frames on the Bronco. My2¢.

Glad you posted this. Made for a good read.
Between the broncos and jeeps, I don't know how fussy to get. Being that they are a purpose built vehicle.
I like how you kept it. Good post.

MIGeezer

When we had my wife's 09 JK it only had a modified street tire. Had i off road a lot and those tires did a good job. They were a Goodyear, but don't remember what. The tire noise I'm getting know with the K02's is starting to bother my wife, and after driving my F-150 all summer it takes a bit getting used to. The other thing I liked about the JK was the lack of wind noise. Ford needs to put window frames on the Bronco. My2¢.

And a better fitting too would help.

Also I don’t know how I feel about the door panels the hard plastic was kinda soft and spongy feeling. No sure if that was a bad thing, per se, but felt weird when I pushed my knee against it. I guess it won’t give you bronco knee, that is the horizontal lines that get imprinted in you knee when you lean it against the door. Final observation you have to keep your hand on the tailgate window when you close it. Too little pressure and it pops right back open one time I tried a little more force and it popped (bounced) right back open. Just used to the broncos when you get it below horizontal it closes.