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Well, the new 2012 I ordered on June 7th arrived today. Although I told the dealer I was going to pass due to the price jump, he gave me a call to come check it out.
The exterior looks amazing in person. The front end is enormous and the rest of the Jeep has fattened up to match. I dig the wheels now, but the tires still have too much sidewall. The rear bumper looks clean, even with the tow package. One big gripe is the hitch cover. It's chinsy and difficult to remove/reinstall.
Inside, I wasn't too blown away. The steering wheel is nice, but there are too many EVIC buttons and the EVIC is too cramped/complicated for the tiny screen between the gauges. The center stack is rather plain, and the hidden cubby is hard to get into and seems like it would be impossible to use the DC outlet tucked inside. The center knob for controlling the drive modes is not convenient to use (too far back), but it's not something you would be using all he time. The cargo area is decent looking and it's nice to not have to unplug and remove the subwoofer every time you need to fold the seats down.
Now, for the test drive...the 2012 is very smooth in Auto. The suspension is plush and doesn't bounce. Throttle lead-in is smooth and there is noticeably more power everywhere except near redline, where the power really drops away abruptly. Tranny is the same, except for paddle shifters. Also, it doesn't auto-up shift in Track. Track mode makes the suspension rather stiff and bouncy, which is expected. Ran a 0-60, came in at 5 seconds flat on the EVIC. That's at 30-degrees with me, my girlfriend, and the (rather large) sales guy. I've seen 4.1 on my 2010 in similar conditions without passengers. So, acceleration in roughly equal to the WK1 in my eyes. Stability control can be fully defeatable in Track mode.
Conclusion: Not worth the $13,000 price hike. It's a very nice piece of machinery and I would buy one in a heart beat IF I hadn't already owned 2 WK1s, both of which were priced under $50,000 MSRP optioned out completely. I have 1 week to decide on whether I want it, I have confirmed invoice pricing at the price protected amount. I'm just waiting on a trade number. If I'm comfortable with the numbers in the end, I will driving it for good by the end of next week. Otherwise, I'd still be very happy with my 2010.
The exterior looks amazing in person. The front end is enormous and the rest of the Jeep has fattened up to match. I dig the wheels now, but the tires still have too much sidewall. The rear bumper looks clean, even with the tow package. One big gripe is the hitch cover. It's chinsy and difficult to remove/reinstall.
Inside, I wasn't too blown away. The steering wheel is nice, but there are too many EVIC buttons and the EVIC is too cramped/complicated for the tiny screen between the gauges. The center stack is rather plain, and the hidden cubby is hard to get into and seems like it would be impossible to use the DC outlet tucked inside. The center knob for controlling the drive modes is not convenient to use (too far back), but it's not something you would be using all he time. The cargo area is decent looking and it's nice to not have to unplug and remove the subwoofer every time you need to fold the seats down.
Now, for the test drive...the 2012 is very smooth in Auto. The suspension is plush and doesn't bounce. Throttle lead-in is smooth and there is noticeably more power everywhere except near redline, where the power really drops away abruptly. Tranny is the same, except for paddle shifters. Also, it doesn't auto-up shift in Track. Track mode makes the suspension rather stiff and bouncy, which is expected. Ran a 0-60, came in at 5 seconds flat on the EVIC. That's at 30-degrees with me, my girlfriend, and the (rather large) sales guy. I've seen 4.1 on my 2010 in similar conditions without passengers. So, acceleration in roughly equal to the WK1 in my eyes. Stability control can be fully defeatable in Track mode.
Conclusion: Not worth the $13,000 price hike. It's a very nice piece of machinery and I would buy one in a heart beat IF I hadn't already owned 2 WK1s, both of which were priced under $50,000 MSRP optioned out completely. I have 1 week to decide on whether I want it, I have confirmed invoice pricing at the price protected amount. I'm just waiting on a trade number. If I'm comfortable with the numbers in the end, I will driving it for good by the end of next week. Otherwise, I'd still be very happy with my 2010.
