So we have a 2020 JL Unlimited Rubicon rental in Maui

629 miles in 8 days. And considering the low speed limits around here that is a lot of hours on the road.

Overall I have no complaints about the vehicle. It was plenty comfortable on the road. We didn’t take it down anything more than a fire road. The 4 doors are handy for changing clothes in the beach parking lot.

The engine is very different from my LJ. It’s almost more like my LBZ diesel. It rattles a little like a diesel, but overall has very good power. MUCH faster than the 4.0L. I’m not sure how well it would crawl up slow terrain. I assume the additional electric engine would fix that possible issue.

Here is my attempt to Launch to 60 (7ish sec)


Hit 70 in about 9 seconds
 
That thing sounds like a hunk of shit and the dash/display is just depressing, the whole thing is depressing, just another modern car that happens to be shaped like a Wrangler. I like the looks of the JL over the JK, they certainly corrected some aesthetics, but overall these things all make me want to try even harder to preserve my TJ as long as humanly possible.
I've owned a TJ, JK, and JL (well, a JT which is close enough) and the recent Wrangler are ... fine. They're better than the JK in just about every conceivable way, especially when compared to the shitfest that was the 3.8L powered 2007-2011 models. Underpowered, terrible feeling monuments to everything that was wrong at Daimler Chrysler at the time. Totally, absolutely, overwhelmingly depressing.

Frankly though, when you factor in the cost of the new JLs and JTs - that's fucking depressing. I paid over $50k for my JTR and sold it for $49ish two years later and I thought I was borderline crazy. There was a thread on here though with a dealer trying to hawk a 392 JLR for over $80k (!!) with a $5k (!!!!) markup that actually disturbed me.
 
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629 miles in 8 days. And considering the low speed limits around here that is a lot of hours on the road.

Overall I have no complaints about the vehicle. It was plenty comfortable on the road. We didn’t take it down anything more than a fire road. The 4 doors are handy for changing clothes in the beach parking lot.

The engine is very different from my LJ. It’s almost more like my LBZ diesel. It rattles a little like a diesel, but overall has very good power. MUCH faster than the 4.0L. I’m not sure how well it would crawl up slow terrain. I assume the additional electric engine would fix that possible issue.

Here is my attempt to Launch to 60 (7ish sec)
View attachment 247694

Hit 70 in about 9 seconds
Wow where the hell did you drive to 629 miles in Maui :cool: You lucky to get a Jeep, we were there in Feb and paid $230 for a full-size for a week. I am going back next week and paying $850 for a week:mad:
 
Wow where the hell did you drive to 629 miles in Maui :cool: You lucky to get a Jeep, we were there in Feb and paid $230 for a full-size for a week. I am going back next week and paying $850 for a week:mad:
Our Jeep was about $750 for the 8 days we had it. I hear that rental car prices are crazy right now.

How did we drive 629 miles?

We were staying on the NW side (Kaanapali) at the Aston Mahana. The room was nothing special but had a full kitchen and bedroom and the building is located literally 40' from the water.
IMG_9382.jpg


Day 1 - Arrive and get to the hotel, pick up the Jeep etc

Day 2 - Drive to Wailea for the sunrise snorkel at Molokini (kaikanani.com)
Nice tour, we were the only boat at the snorkeling spot (there were about 3 dive boats much further out)

Day 3 - Drive the entire NW end of the island. The road on the north side past the blow hole is narrow (one way and many tight corners), but 100% paved. We drove it without any problems. I did have to wait about 3 minutes while another tourist learned to back up 100' in a straight line. This route may be "black listed" on your rental contract. So this is at your own risk.

Day 4 - We took the local catamaran tour from Lahaina to Lanai (Island). This tour left early and got back in the afternoon, it was a nice place to snorkel and seemed to have more species of fish compared to Molokini. They put the mainsail up, but there is apparently very little wind on any of the early morning sails. https://sailtrilogy.com/

Day 5 - Drive to Haleakala for the Sunrise (This requires reservations and you need to leave EARLY in the morning). We left the room at 3:30 and should have probably left a little sooner. It was F-ing COLD at the top of the volcano at 5:00 AM. Take a coat and pants. After the sunrise, we drove back to Wailea to swim on the beach.

Reservations are released 2 days prior and are gone in minutes. Took us 3 days to get the ticket
https://www.nps.gov/hale/planyourvisit/sunrise-and-sunset.htm
Day 6 - The Road to Hana. We left the hotel about 7 AM and once again, we should have left earlier. If you want to see the "best" black sand beach (Waiʻānapanapa) it requires reservations. We didn't stop everywhere along the way and made it to The Pools at 'Ohe'o at 3:15 PM. The Pools were only open for viewing (no swimming) and we really wanted to see the Waimoku Falls. The park closes the parking lot gate at 5:00 PM and they say you will get a fine if you are late. The hike is 1.8 Miles one way and we hit the trailhead at 3:30 PM. We pushed pretty hard to get down and back by 5 PM.

After Waimoku falls we continued around the SE corner of the island. Once again, this is probably "Black Listed" by the rental car. The road is actually easier than the North Side, but there is maybe 10 miles of mixed dirt/asphalt/potholes. We had no problems in the Jeep and you are probably fine in most normal cars. We DID run into a guy heading the opposite direction in his rental car. He had a flat tire and there was no spare in the car. He was waiting for a tow truck and said he was fine. I bet that cost him hundreds of dollars. IF you want to drive this check for a spare ;)

SO, if we had stopped anywhere else (like Waiamapanapa) we would not have had enough time. I suggest you get to Mile 0 by 7 AM at the latest if you want to see most of the sites.

Waiʻānapanapa Reservations : https://www.gowaianapanapa.com/

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/hawaii/maui/waimoku-falls-via-pipiwai-trail?u=i
Day 7 - CHILL. We drove back to Polo Beach in Wailea to play in the ocean. Our room had beach chairs and an umbrella, so that was pretty cool.

Day 8 - Drive the Rental one way back to OGG and fly home.
 
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Oh, we also really like this Digital Tour Guide. We have used it for the last couple of years in:
Yellowstone
Yosemite
Glacier National Park
Grand Tetons
Banff and Jasper
Arches and Canyonlands
Oahu
Volcanos National Park

https://gypsyguide.com/
The Maui one has 5 tours for $9.99
 
We are going to Maui at the end of the month and the rental was 1500 for a Tahoe 9 days. I just looked again the other day and prices are now above 3k for the same vehicle 😬
 
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We are going to Maui at the end of the month and the rental was 1500 for a Tahoe 9 days. I just looked again the other day and prices are now above 3k for the same vehicle 😬
I looked into renting a P/U from U-Haul it was $19.95 / day plus milage. After I convinced the wife that saving $500.00 to just drive a new P/U shed said what the hell lets do it. Then when I went back to book it they no longer are offering multi-day rentals on daily.

We were there in Feb and got a killer deal thru Costco $230.00 for 7 days, no any more
 
We are going to Maui at the end of the month and the rental was 1500 for a Tahoe 9 days. I just looked again the other day and prices are now above 3k for the same vehicle 😬

I am confused how are you getting the TJ to Maui?
 
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