PART 1: EXTERIOR COMPARISON
PART 2: INTERIOR COMPARISON
PART 3: MECHANICAL / SUSPENSION COMPARISON
Welcome back! Part two of my three-part blog is going over the interior differences between the Wrangler JK and the Wrangler JL Body styles!
The new Wrangler JL has undergone quite an overhaul, bringing its technology to the present-day. When opening the door of the new Wrangler JL, your hand will have touched an updated door handle, removing the push-button style handle of the JK. The door handles now have intergrated remote keyless entry available. As you open the door, you will also notice the door doesn't freely swing open, as it is now equipped with a three-point hinge. For those of you with kids, or maybe just family or friends who aren't the most careful, will appreciate this! Now that you have opened the door, the first major interior upgrade you will notice is the dash. The dash has gone through a massive overhaul, intergrating a ton of upgrades that bring the Wrangler up to the present in terms of vehicle technology. The most predominent difference on your dash is the touch screen radio! It doesn't matter if you are looking at a base Wrangler or a Wrangler Sahara, all Wrangler JL's are equipped with either a 5" screen, 7" screen, or with an 8.4" touch screen radio. There are some key differences between the three available UConnect Radios.
UConnect 5: This radio gives you all your basic emenities. You will get AM/FM Radio, backup camera, Bluetooth, and USB/Aux capability. The 5" Uconnect system also comes with available XM radio. Be sure if you want XM radio with a 5" UConnect that you are receiving the correct radio, because it can't be added to a non-XM 5" UConnect system.
UConnect 7: UConnect 7 gives you all the capabilities of the UConnect 5 with XM Radio but gives you the Apple Carplay and Android Auto. Furthermore, if your vehicle comes equipped with heated seats and heated steering wheel options, you will be able to control them from the radio. Also, now you will have the additional convenience of a 3-stage heating element if you option for heated seats versus the high/low 2-stage option in the JK. UConnect 7 gives you the ability to stream NAV from your phone through your Apple Carplay or Android Auto. If you have Apple Carplay, you will be able to utilize Apple Maps, Google Maps, and Waze. If you have Android Auto, you will be able to utilize Google Maps and Waze.
UConnect 8.4: UConnect 8.4 gives you all the capabilities of the UConnect 7, but gives you the additional option of adding in navigation with the 8.4" screen upgrade. With the UConnect 8.4 with NAV, you will get additional conveniences through the Travel Link. Travel link gives you access to Weather alerts and forcasts, fueling stations that you can sort by distance or price, local movie theaters along with current listings and descriptions, sports updates, and more. Furthermore, you will be able to utilize the UConnect App to give you access to a digitial keyfob to open/lock your doors, autostart, cancel autostart, or turn on/off your vehicle's panic alarm. The feature also allows you to push directions to local emenities to you vehicles NAV prior to you even entering your vehicle, give you access to your instrument cluster information such as current mileage, tire pressure, oil life, and more. Speaking of the instrument cluster, that has been updated as well to a digital screen.
Sitting in the driver's seat, aside from the radio updates, you will also notice the instrument cluster has been updated with a more modern computerized digital information display. As you exit the vehicle, you will also take notice there have been updates made to the arm rest. The new Wrangler JL now has an underside door handle grip in the arm rest. This is important if you decide to remove the doors of your Wrangler. You now have a grip point to pick up your door from if you reach your arm through the window.
The dash/rear passenger compartments have been upgraded with some other emenities. Now you have USB, USB-C, and Aux available in the front and rear passenger areas. The rear passenger area has also undergone quite a bit of upgrades including additional leg room and most importantly, rear passenger ventilation. Moving further back, you will also notice an approximate 2 inches of additional trunk space.
Your floors are still equipped with drains, so you will still be able to spray down the floors. Your roofs have updates also. The roofs have gotten lighter and easier to operate. The 3-piece hardtop has move to L-bracket locks all around except for above the visors, which still utilize the same clamp-locks as the JK. The screw in bolts in the roll cage have now been deleted. No need to awkwardly be spinning those things until you get a charlie horse in your arm anymore! I will do a more detailed difference comparison between the tops in a different Blog article.
Stay "tuned" for part three, where I go over the powertrain updates between the Wrangler JK and JL!
- Mopar Mike
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