2017 Jeep Wrangler: Stronger and Uprated, But Still Familiar

By Jason Connor - October 12, 2015

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As an important staple in Americana, any news about a new Jeep Wrangler is sure to raise a few eyebrows for the Jeep faithful. As one of the most iconic American automotive brands, sticking with the Jeep recipe that has worked for decades is critical to the success for any new Wrangler. Recently, the 2017 Wrangler has been spotted with quite the familiar style, but also seen with a few welcome changes underneath. Rest assured, die hard fans, what we are seeing in new spy shots is the stylistic formula that you love with even more modern equipment to be excited about.

With increasing pressure from all manufacturers to improve fuel economy, and with many OEM’s utilizing aluminum for body structure, that may be a prominent option for the new Wrangler. Chrysler’s wonderfully smooth Pentastar V6 will most likely be a carryover engine with the possibility of a VM Motori four-cylinder diesel engine in the mix as well. The plans of adding a ZF eight-speed automatic to the 2017 Wrangler are strong and have been excellent in other Jeep models.

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Photos underneath in the chassis and suspension show where the major changes are in this new Wrangler. The spy photographer snapped a few photos of this prototype, revealing uprated suspension, new solid axles, and a different exhaust design.

A new differential casing affirms the possibility of Dana solid axles for the 2017 Wrangler. This, fitted with a relocated lateral link, is sure to improve driving stability overall for both on and off-road environments.

Overall, keeping the traditional stylistic cues is going to be one of the most important things with any new Jeep. Constantly evolving and improving chassis dynamics along with increased efficiency are the new way. Finding the happy medium of both could show great success with the 2017 Wrangler. With a debut likely at the end of 2016, we are expecting showroom date of mid to late 2017.