I spoke to a guy yesterday who was with the reporters, etc on the Rubicon trail a couple of weeks ago with the JK's. He said the JK engine peformed well on the trail and that the bumpers did fine also. He also said on the highway it "did not perform well". Gutless and sluggish where his opinions. He drove both 2 door and 4 door models. He had an opportunity to discuss this with the Jeep engineers that were there. The engineers told him there was a real space problem for a larger engine. Federal rules apparently now require a "crumple space" for accidents. He felt that there would not be a larger engine soon.

I hope he is wrong.
__________________

This is my major hesitation about buying a new Wrangler. 203hp from a 3.78L V6 is pretty horrible. I am looking at a 2Dr Sahara and with a few options I am about 26K. This is a hard decision when the other vehicle I am considering is a Ford Explorer Sport Trac where I can get a 300hp V8 4x4 for the same price and arguably a more practical package for my needs not to mention a mill where there are a plethera of performance parts available where power can be added at will. Had Jeep gone with a 260hp V6 or a tourque ladden deisel this would be a no brainer. I suppose I will reserve final judgement for after a test drive.

I test drove the 6-speed Sahara Unlimited 3 weeks ago. Around town the low-end torque was adequate, but it didn't want to rev-up quickly that's for sure. I think the 6 speed is perfectly matched to maximize the limited power of this V6.
By comparison I drive a 4.7L magnum V8 now with 235hp and 300ft/lb of torque in an automatic that tops out at 40mph in 1st gear (so this is not equipped with crawler gears). The 4.7 blows it away even though there is only 20hp and 50ft/lb difference on paper.
The sad 3.8L V6 doesn't even get better mileage than the 4.0L it replaces.
These are the 2 reasons I wnet home with my $32,000 check tucked safely in my pocket.
What if they built the perfectly suited vehicle and put a horrible engine in it, would you buy it?

----------------
What? Just because I say it like it is, and you don't care for it, doesn't make me evil.
or wrong.

J-
I test drove the auto & I'm not thrilled with the engine either --hopefully the 6spd is a lot better. On the MPGs, the 3.8L may get better real world mileage, since the EPA changed their MPG rating test to be more "real world". So ignore comparisons with the old (06) vs. new (07) numbers. Either way, IF it's better, it will probably only be by a couple real world MPG... I'd take 13mpg if I could get 300 ft-lbs...
--Mark

I found an article on real world mileage for the 2dr sahara. Mixed driving the guy got 19mpg. Awsume if you ask me. here is the link.
http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2006/11/19/029170.html

My 2007 4dr W/auto gets 16 mpg around town and I just went up sking last weekend and over a 100 mile trip one way I recieved 21mpg going and 25mpg coming back. I was very suprized as this was on 2 lane mountain roads.

So far so good.

----------------
DoDcodan
2007 Wrangler 4 dr