Here's Why a Used Jeep JK Is The Ultimate Wrangler- TFL Expert Buyers Guide

The third generation of Jeep Wrangler known internally as the JK is in my opinion the best used Wrangler money can buy and in this video we are going over the top 10 things you need to know before you buy a used Wrangler JK. The world's first four-door five-passenger Wrangler. Wrangler Unlimited. A new species from Jeep. Number 10. Which version do you buy? The third generation of Wrangler started production in 2006 for the 2007 model year and lasted all the way up through 2018. Now that is a long production run and there were many big revisions throughout the range which we'll talk about in this video. It was also the first Wrangler to be offered in a four-door configuration. Now this was so much hated when this vehicle launched that manufacturers weren't building parts for the four-door version because they thought nobody would want to modify one. Boy did they turn out to be wrong because later in the run over 75% of JK sales were the four-door. Now in my opinion the two-door looks better. I've owned two-door JKs in the past they are nice and maneuverable and they are so fun in the sun when you pull the top off. However if you have friends, family, things to carry, a small dog, a large dog, the four-door is the way to go. Let me show you. What the four-door did was turn the iconic Jeep from a vehicle that was very capable off-road but not all that practical into a vehicle that could be used every single day to haul not only yourself to the trail but the kids to the school. And let's be honest most folks that are buying these probably want to drive them on the road because unless you live out way in the boonies you're gonna have to drive on the road to get to the boonies and if you're driving on the road why not use it to go shopping and you know bring people places and that's why the four-door Wrangler is typically worth significantly more in the used market than a two-door. The unlimited Jeep as it's called also has a significantly larger trunk than the two-door Jeep. We actually drove a Wrangler JK to the 50 highest points in all 50 states. That's a journey of over 50,000 miles and let me tell you what from a storage capacity standpoint I'm not sure that would have been possible in a Number nine, which engine is right for you? Now across its 12-year lifespan the largest change that happened to the Jeep Wrangler JK is the shift in powertrains. So early JKs sold from model year 2007 through model year 2011 came with one engine option here in the U.S. a 3.8 liter V6. Now this engine didn't have great reviews when it came out because it only produced 202 horsepower and it was made into a choice of either six-speed manual or four-speed automatic and 202 horsepower just wasn't enough to motivate a four-door Wrangler especially when you added larger tires and bumpers and all the weight that a lot of off-roaders add to their vehicles. Now early 3.8s were known for oil consumption however as the decades have progressed it's generally regarded as a fairly reliable engine. Now if you want to go fast up mountains a four-speed automatic 3.8 on 37s is not going to be the great great option for you. Starting in model year 2012 Jeep shifted to this engine or I should say the early version of this engine so they went from the 3.8 to a 3.6 liter V6 known as the Pentastar V6. Now this engine produced way more power 83 more horsepower coming in at 285 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque. The manual transmission remained a six-speed but the automatic went from a four-speed to a five-speed Mercedes designed unit. Now early 3.6s I'm talking like 2012 through 2014s had some issues with their heads but starting from 2015 through 2018 they really dialed in the reliability of these engines and those are going to be the most desirable. Of course the newer the Jeep the more expensive it's going to be but specifically 2015 and later 3.6 liter JKs are kind of the sweet spot in powertrains. Number eight hard or soft top. Now the JK Wrangler came from the factory in a couple of different configurations in both a foldable soft top and of course the composite hard top. Now let's talk about the benefits of each. The soft top I think looks great it's a little bit easier to roll all the way back although not as easy as the new Wrangler JL and it's also a little bit lighter right. The downsides of the soft top is if you live in a city people can slash through them especially the windows and they also wear out over time. Would you consider that a 2007 JK Wrangler is now 16 years old if it is still on its original top figure you're going to have to replace it and that can be anywhere from a few hundred bucks to a couple thousand if you want a really premium top. Now the other option was this hard top. This is a three-piece design you got these freedom panels in the front that pull out and then the large rear portion comes out as a separate unit. For me I think hard top's the way to go it's better in the winter it's easier to resell especially if you live in a cold climate like Colorado and it's just a little bit more durable. Number seven daily drivability. Let's talk about what it's like to live with a JK Wrangler and this is something I have a little bit of experience with. Here at TFL we put over 50,000 miles on a brand new one and then I personally put about another 25,000 miles on a different one. We've had both two and four doors both automatic and manual transmissions and they are very easy to live with on a daily basis but that is going to depend a lot on your frame of reference so if you have been driving Lexuses and Acuras all your life and then you get into a JK Wrangler you're gonna think it drives pretty crappy on the road. This vehicle has solid axles front and back it doesn't coil springs but you do have the compromises that a solid axle brings to the table primarily with ride quality and handling. Keep in mind the left and the right wheels are tied together so if one of the wheels hits a bump the other wheel is going to be impacted and then you get the slow recirculating ball steering. It's not it's not a premium driving experience but compared to both YJ and TJ Wranglers which I have both also daily driven the JK is world better. I mean it's not even in the universe that's how much easier it is to live with on a daily basis from a driving standpoint. Now there are some things which are pretty frustrating the seats in every JK I've ever been in are just not very good they're a little bit like park benches there's very little adjustability there's no lumbar control even on a top spec 2018 you're not going to get lumbar support which is just crazy and after like three or four hours in the JK seat I'm feeling a little bit out of it they're just not very comfy but it's round town even short trips medium trips it really isn't a problem. Number six interior and build quality now once again we have a pretty big separation between early JKs and the later JKs so 2007 to 2010 have the original interior design which looked really great in pictures but felt pretty poor in person really cheap quality plastics in 2011 they reintroduced well I should say they introduced an all new interior design which is what we see here which is a little bit more modern and definitely seems to hold up better over time now it's nothing fancy still lots of hard plastic materials but they also introduced some pretty good tech now this one is a 2016 so this is going to be toward the end of the run still have the old-fashioned key but let's talk through some of the technology features on these uh later JKs so you do have steering wheel controls with audio and tune adjustments on the back of the steering wheel this Uconnect system some people dislike the system and I understand it it does some kind of fun stuff like does that classic 2000 thing to load in your disc there but I love this Uconnect system it's very easy to use you've got shortcuts as buttons on both sides of the unit it does have bluetooth connectivity and in my experience they last a really long time and are just dead simple to use later ones also have stuff like USB ports if you get a more luxury oriented model like this one you also get heated seats so you do get some luxuries automatic climate control the later interiors are a lot nicer than the early ones now one thing worth noting which is a little confusing is if you're shopping for one of these and you see the interior a lot of people immediately assume oh it's got the pentastar v6 but there was one year only this is kind of a nasty little thing that that people get caught up with for 2011 you got the new interior but the old engine so 2011 was a transition year definitely something worth noting if you want to get that newer v6 number five towing capability or maybe I should say lack thereof now when you look at the Wrangler you'd assume it'd be a pretty good tow vehicle body on frame solid axles it just looks tough and meaty however they don't tow a lot nor do they tow very well so the most you can tow legally with a JK Wrangler is 3,500 pounds the two doors were rated at about 2,000 if properly equipped now we've probably put 10 to 15,000 towing miles on JKs and they just don't have a lot of stability and they also don't have a lot of um longevity up hills before they start to kind of degrade power due to heat concerns at least from our experience so um if you're gonna if you're gonna tow definitely keep it to the absolute minimum if you want to tow a little more something like a 4Runner is probably going to be a better option number four what to pay well like any other used car pricing is going to vary greatly across the board based on condition miles that kind of thing but here's a general rule of thumb JK Wranglers even 10-15 years later really hold their value now the older JKs with the 3.8s are typically worth less on the low end depending on your state too because it varies regionally 10k to about 15k for a 3.8 and then when you step up to the 3.6 well prices can be anywhere from 17 all the way up to 30k or even higher i've seen them as high as 40 on the used market if it's a special edition maybe with a nice set of mods and low miles so pricing is hugely dependent based on not only age and miles but also whether or not it's an early JK late JK and what kind of trim you're looking at number three fuel economy well an early four-door auto JK was rated at 17 mpg combined and then when they went to the pentastar a four-door auto is going to be rated at 18 mpg combined but the second you lift them change the bumpers roof rack you know the usual JK stuff your fuel economy is going to take quite a bit you know you're going to be looking probably at mid-teens all around which is about right for the the style of jeep and um it is it is to be expected they're also not particularly fast especially when you get them heavy like this AEV jeep they make good power over like 4,000 rpm but you really got to wring them out to to make progress up interstate 70 you know at 9,000 feet above sea level so they're not they're not sports cars manual transmission helps a little bit the five-speed auto versus the four-speed definitely helps quite a bit but they're they're not sports cars number two which version is right for you there were so many different trims available on JK Rubicon now the three primary ones are going to be sport sahara and Rubicon sport is going to be your most affordable sahara is going to be your kind of luxury on-road oriented jeep and Rubicon of course is the most off-road worthy now the most valuable are certainly the Rubicons because they come with a four-to-one transfer case four ten gears true locking differentials front and back the disconnectable sway bar so that's the one that the off-roaders really really kind of gravitate to now quite honestly you know if i if i'm just looking for a fun casual jeep to take off road on the weekends i would get like a sport trim maybe uh maybe a sahara and change out the tires a little bit but you really don't need a Rubicon for 99 of things that you're going to be doing off-road so you really have to ask yourself like unless you're going to the craziest places of Moab the Rubicon is worth it but if you want to save a lot of money then a sport or sahara will probably do you just fine and one more thing worth noting about trims jeep did all sorts of weird wacky bizarre special edition trims across the JK lineup some of them were pretty cool and gave you genuine hardware like the Rubicon Recon at the end of the line other ones were kind of in my opinion silly like there was a dragon edition which had this huge dragon decal across the side so if people are asking stupid money for some special call of duty edition um don't buy it it was it was marketing then and it's still marketing now number one stock versus modified now this is a debate that has been raging for years and years and years and of course now that every JK is a used vehicle you're going to see all sorts and types up for sale online and at your local dealerships now i mean one benefit of buying stock is there's a much higher chance it's never been used off-road you also know that well hopefully the parts are oem quality because it hasn't been messed with then of course you can build it out yourself with all the mods you want and make it your own buying one modified a lot of the times you're buying someone else's baby that's probably you know been changed from factory specifications in good and bad ways now not all mods are equal right there are sub manufacturers that build really high quality lift kits like what this jeep has which has an AEV setup on it and there's other you know kits that are much lower quality now a jeep like this is a little special because this was actually sent out to AEV which is a high quality manufacturer of jeep components to be built into this current configuration and something like this will hold a higher premium over a standard JK but for the most part a lot of folks think that their lift kits and larger tires will really increase the value of their jeep when they go to sell it that typically isn't the case so you know if you're if you're looking at one that's been modified with the standard lift on 34s and then a stock one and the guy thinks that the one on 34s is worth 10k more i would be very hesitant to pay that guys i'd love to know what you think of the JK Wrangler am i right in saying this is my favorite generation and as always it's been Tommy behind the camera Ian and we'll see you in another future buyer's guide thanks for watching now at the beginning of this video i said something rather controversial to all my jeep friends out there that the JK is my favorite generation of Wrangler the reason that's controversial because most folks will point to at least the hardcore folks will point to the TJ because that was the last jeep that had the legendary four liter inline six it was small it was really lightweight two-door only although they did do an extended wheelbase so they're driving up some logs here buddy but what i like a lot more about the JK is that its breadth of use cases far exceeds what the YJ or TJ ever did so um you know the the extra width of the JK the um uh the quality of the ride the quality of the steering the quality of the interior all make this a more daily drivable vehicle that's not such a penalty box on the road and um you know let's be honest off-road i think they're realistically just as good keep in mind most TJs aren't the Rubicons Rubicon TJs are pretty hard to find now and pretty expensive and those are amazing but a standard TJ any JK will a sport JK will outwheel a base model TJ any day of the week because you've got traction control and and um some modern tech to help out there uh so look i do i love them they're my favorite and i even like them compared to the new JL because they're not quite as refined so they don't take it quite to the extreme but you get a lot more refinement than the old ones but you don't get quite as much crazy tech as some of the new ones right like there's no auto start stop in here there's no big huge screens um there's a lot of buttons and switches uh physical and i just like that i really do so that's why this is my favorite generation of Wrangler