A Jeep Wrangler with No More Soft Top as We Know it?!

JakeJK

New member
Who knows, I guess I'll have to see it to get a better perspective. The removable top is just as important to me as the removable doors. I love being able to ride around in my jeep and feel like I'm on my Harley. Without that option, I would most likely go to a more traditional route and buy a nice convertible sports car. Maybe the new corvette. Hmmmmm.

Especially when you look at the side by side market. It's like owning a jeep but for off-road only. Plenty to think about.

I'm pretty sure RZRS are street legal if you add a rear view mirror and windshield but I could be wrong

Edit: and blinkers and a windshield wiper
 
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JerseyJK

New member
I'm pretty sure RZRS are street legal if you add a rear view mirror and windshield but I could be wrong

Edit: and blinkers and a windshield wiper

I would think it would need to pass a highway safety crash test amongst other things. I like the Hatfield McCoy trails in West Virginia. You're allowed to ride on the roads around the trails and towns that make up the entire network. Pretty amazing off-roading and sightseeing.
 
throw one of these on the back and keep it below 25mph and just about anything is legal :yup:

$(KGrHqEOKogE5koEk7VdBOm5H2)OO!~~60_35.JPG
 

hbkid22

Member
I may be misreading but the top wont even be changeable? If the factory does not come with a soft top, no big deal as I will buy a soft top but if I cannot put a soft top on aftermarket then no thank you....:eek:
 

Galo

New member
Personally, I like the top and doors off and the windshield down. But then again, I'm old.
Not that I am in the market for a new Jeep, but if the above is true, I'm out. There are plenty of Jeeps out there for me that meet my requirements, - and there will be for a long time.

Good Day and God Bless.

Galo
 

Jk909

New member
If they don't have a removable top and we all stop buying jeeps what are we going to do with all of our money lol.
 

rob_p

Member
I'll hold judgement until we know more maybe they will come up with an innovative solution but a soft top is a key and fundamental feature for me. I want to be more open rather than less, take away the B pillar! Don't add a rear one!
 

Wardell

New member
I think I'll just keep my JKUR.....it sounds like the JL won't be a Wrangler

Honestly, the more I hear about the features they are changing on the JL, the more I'm thinking the same thing. Without a removable roof that can be switched with a convertable soft top, as well as removable doors*, it's just not a Wrangler. Which is not to say it will be a bad Jeep, but it just won't have the same iconic character we have all come to appreciate in the Wrangler's design.

In fact, if the KL didn't already have the name, I'd say the JL should really be called a Cherokee. I might change my mind whenever I finally get to see how the body is styled, but it's key features are just sounding more and more reminiscent of a XJ than a JK, TJ, YJ or any CJ.

* I put a star beside the door comment, because from everything I've heard I was pretty sure they will still be removable. In fact, I thought Eddie posted the link to an article showing how a new hinge patent that is probably for the JL would allow them to be removable but not swing open all the way and let the mirror ding the cowling.
 

Wardell

New member
I'm pretty sure RZRS are street legal if you add a rear view mirror and windshield but I could be wrong

Edit: and blinkers and a windshield wiper

Something that might interest you, up here in the Northwest Territories RZRs and quads are street legal even without all that. You do have to register them as an "off road vehicle," but that only means you can't drive them in certain areas downtown. People here commute on them all the time. Same thing applies to Jeeps that are so heavily modified that they wouldn't be road legal down south.
 

JamesWyatt

Member
The quoted article refers to an Allpar web page that predates the Las Vegas show Wrangler-reveal to dealers by a few days (compare the "last updated" box to the show dates). That Allpar page is a Franken-mix of info spliced from various sources over a long period of time. They got lazy I guess and stopped updating that specific page on Aug 24. The info below IS in other places on their site/forums, though.

The dealers interviewed after SEEING IT didn't say the soft top would stay in its current form, only that there would still be a soft top option. It could be that a soft top panel systems fits that description, though I doubt the substructure will be visible in between the panels (like the B-pillar is now visible between the doors). The half doors remain an option, which means if the soft top is moving to a panel system, then the half door uppers must be stiff panels, too, which will at least kill the buffeting and may allow for a sliding hard window. I'm going to go out on a limb and say there may be stiff panels on the sides but the top will still fold back somehow. It will probably be (as has already been stated) very much like the new Bestop Trektop Pro - after all, Bestop manufacturers the current soft tops for Jeep, so it only makes sense the Pro is telling us something about what's coming on the JL. Regarding the windshield: the report after the Vegas show was the folding windshield stays, but it has been redesigned.

But let's not forget the best bit of information about the JL from the dealers that saw it - it will have a smaller but VERTICAL grill like the TJ. I'm guessing the smaller grill means a more narrow front with swooping quarter panels for better aerodynamics.
 
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crowrb29

New member
I love having a soft top and haven't really missed my hardtop at all since I switched. The way I see it it's just too big a part of the wrangler for them to totally forsake it.
 

Zstairlessone

New member
They can't / won't make a topless Jeep but they will do and will make a 200 convertible??????

If the top doesn't come off my next purchase won't be another Wrangler, but a motorcycle or sports car convertible like a Vette or Camaro.

Sad days indeed
 

crowrb29

New member
FWIW the guy in charge of the best top booth at the Offroad Expo told me they already have production soft tops for the JL
 

MR.Ty

Token East Coast Guy
FWIW the guy in charge of the best top booth at the Offroad Expo told me they already have production soft tops for the JL

I would get your hope up just because of that. It could be similar to the retractable soft tops like the have on the Fiats. Which, if you've never seen it, is basically a sun roof but cloth. :crazyeyes:
 

jeeeep

Hooked
my 2010 could already be a classic with it's removable top and folding windshield!

hmmm let's start the bidding at 100K! :cheesy:

I haven't put a windshield down on a Jeep since my CJ, the current ones are such a PIA to lay down it's not going to be missed.

The top however may be depending on how the "convertible" regulations affect the Jeep brand and ease of removing, swapping and the likes.
 

jeep4me

New member
If only there were a few men writing these rules and regulations not a bunch of bitch boys...

Taking the top off is 80% of the reason I bought my jeep, if it wasn't removable I undoubtedly would've just bought a truck and been done with it.

Exactly. Cant take the top off don't want it.
 
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