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If You See A Jeep Wrangler 4xe With A Missing Odometer, Probably Don’t Buy It

December 23, 2021 in Uncategorized | Permalink


Image: Stellantis

The Jeep Wrangler 4xe plug-in hybrid is a very advanced SUV — as far as Jeeps go, anyway. Despite this, some examples on the road appear to have an issue counting, because they’ve been recalled for odometers that freeze at exactly 13,342 miles and then stop displaying entirely.

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National Highway Traffic Safety Administration campaign #21V949000 warns that as many as 2,903 plug-in hybrid Wranglers — all model year 2021 and all manufactured between September 8, 2020 and September 13, 2021 — could fall victim to the issue. It stems from instrument panel cluster software that may have been preinstalled on newer examples, or updated at a dealer for those built earlier in the run.

Supposedly the digital odometer reaches 13,342 miles (21,473 kilometers) and then the value disappears. “A missing odometer reading could lead to an unintended delay in critical safety-related maintenance, potentially impairing the safe operation of the vehicle and increasing the risk of a crash,” an NHTSA document dated December 14 reads.

It could also lead to an unscrupulous seller trying to rip off a prospective buyer, though the report makes no mention of that. You’d have to be a pretty careless shopper to be unable to verify mileage and blow past that red flag, but anything can happen. I suppose it’s better than if the clock froze at 13,342 miles but kept displaying, at least.

To fix this, Wrangler 4xe owners who have traveled less than 13,342 miles in their vehicles will be contacted for a free instrument panel update in late January. Those Wranglers that have more than 13,342 miles — at which point the odometer likely won’t show at all — will automatically get full cluster replacements. And anyone who has already paid for such service will be reimbursed, as the report notes. The more new software in cars, the more we’re going to keep seeing weird things happen when that software goes awry.

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BMW Said It Will Stop Making Internal Combustion Engines In Munich By 2024

October 22, 2021 in Uncategorized | Permalink


Photo: BMW

BMW said Friday that it would stop making internal combustion engines at its Munich plant by 2024, in another step towards going even more in the direction of electric. This is not an end to new internal combustion engine production for BMW, but it feels like the beginning of the end.

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From Reuters:

The ICE engines currently made in Munich will be produced in BMW’s factories in Austria and the UK in future, production chief Milan Nedeljkovic said, though cars using the engines will still be assembled at the Munich plant.

Still, by 2023 at least half the vehicles produced in Munich would be electrified - either battery electric or plug-in hybrid, the company said.

BMW has set itself a target for at least 50% of new global car sales to be electric by 2030, and CEO Oliver Zipse said at a conference last week the company would be ready with an all-electric offering if any market banned ICEs by then.

BMW’s next big EV offering — in America, at least — is the iX, which is intended to be Tesla Model X competitor and which is really quite good and, at $83,200, is significantly cheaper than the $99,990 Model X. There is also the i4, which seems like a Model 3 competitor, or possibly a Model Y competitor if you want to be generous, and starts at $56,395. The i4 will also be the first all-electric BMW M car.

Europe, meanwhile, still gets the i3, which is no longer offered in the U.S., probably because it is a small electric car that was also very expensive, a particularly bad combination for the American market, even if the i3 was fine for what it was. Of the two all-electric BMWs that are coming to the U.S., the iX seems like it has the best shot, a car for people who live in the Northeast offended by Tesla and Elon Musk’s new-money vibe. I can’t wait, in a couple years, to see a bunch of them in Maine.

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The Wrangler 4xe Just Got Another Price Hike Because It’s Selling Too Well

August 5, 2021 in Uncategorized | Permalink


Photo: Jalopnik / Elizabeth Blackstock

Jeep’s plug-in hybrid Wrangler is pretty good. It’s also selling like proverbial hotcakes. Wanting to capitalize on a sales success, Jeep has announced a second price hike for the 4xe models, up another $1,220 for both the Sahara 4xe and Rubicon 4xe models, which now start at $52,520 and $56,220 respectively. Considering that the 4xe launched with a base price of $49,490 just eight months ago, it’s gaining price creep pretty quickly.

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Across 2021 the 4xe has been among the quickest selling new vehicles on dealer showroom floors, and Jeep has said that it’s the best selling plug-in hybrid in America. That’s right, it moves more units than Toyota’s Prius Prime or Rav4 Prime, according to Jeep. Impressive work, but at least some of that is due to the fact that the federal tax credit and better residual value mean 4xes currently lease for less per month than a standard gas-only Wrangler.

However you look at it, the Wrangler 4xe is an expensive machine if you want to buy one. It’s significantly more expensive than other plug-in hybrid SUVs, but obviously nothing has the off-road chops of a Jeep legend like the Wrangler. Is it worth the money to buy, or are you better off leasing? Well, there have been lease deals this year which see consumers paying as little as $250 per month for the electrified off-road behemoth. If you look at similarly-equipped gas-only Wrangler lease deals, they’re still over $300 per month. By that metric alone, it’s easy to see why the 4xe has been shifting units.

And price is only one consideration, really. When you consider that with the 4xe you’ll be able to run in electric-only mode both on road and off, it becomes an enticing proposition. With a combined fuel economy rating of 49 MPGe to run a full tank, and some 470 lb-ft of combined available torque, the 4xe starts to make a lot more sense.

Jeep probably isn’t wrong to charge an extra $3,030 more for the 4xe than it had initially planned to, but considering how quickly that price is going up, it’s possible that once first-wave 4xe buyers get theirs, that demand will wane and the price hike will bite Jeep in the ass. 

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