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The Recon is the long-awaited fixed-roof, removable-door Jeep with independent suspensions and battery power—going up against heavy competition!
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0:00
Hi there. This is Dave from Stall Power
0:02
and Motel, and I'm here to talk to you
0:04
about how Jeep thought that they would
0:07
deal with the threat from the uh Ford
0:09
Bronco and later the Volkswagen Scout,
0:13
which is to say the Jeep Recon, an
0:17
independent suspension off-road focused
0:19
vehicle, which I might add is
0:21
considerably larger than the Wrangler
0:23
being on the STLA or Stella large
0:27
platform. So, it should be smaller than
0:30
the Charger, smaller than the Wagon ERS
0:33
probably, but maybe uh but much bigger
0:36
than the Wrangler, especially inside.
0:38
And I suspect largely to maintain the uh
0:42
vintage style look, it has a front
0:45
trunk, although it doesn't have a whole
0:47
lot of usable space in there. It's about
0:49
a year over a year late to production
0:52
and it appears as though they spent that
0:54
time fixing the bugs which plagued the
0:56
Dodge Charger Daytona and to a lesser
0:59
degree the Wagon Ear S. It has a
1:02
ridiculous amount of power at 650
1:04
horsepower and 620 lb feet of torque.
1:08
That is much more than the Jeep Wrangler
1:10
392. And the Jeep Wrangler 392 has much
1:14
more power than the Ford Bronco Raptor.
1:17
So, it is quite a powerful vehicle. It
1:20
is more powerful than the base Rivian
1:22
R1S, but not as powerful as the top
1:25
model, which is over 1,000 horsepower
1:27
and also costs over $100,000.
1:30
So, 0 to 60 is ludicrously fast by any
1:35
Wrangler standards. It goes 0 to 60 in
1:38
3.6 seconds. That's 2 seconds off the
1:42
Wagon Era S, 3 seconds off the Charger
1:45
Daytona.
1:47
very very good for something that's also
1:49
a rock crawler. But of course, if you're
1:51
a dedicated off-roader, you're going to
1:52
be interested in the fact that that
1:54
torque comes right away. No need to rev
1:57
the engine. You've got your 620 lb feet
1:59
of torque from the start. As for battery
2:01
life, you have a range of 250 mi, which
2:05
can be enough to go off-roading all day
2:07
because then you're going slowly and not
2:08
using a huge amount of battery. And in
2:11
fact, Jeep took the concept out to the
2:12
Rubicon Trail. And the trip from the
2:14
town to the Rubicon Trail, through the
2:17
trail and back again was one charge.
2:21
That's handy because there aren't a
2:22
whole lot of charging stations on the
2:24
Rubicon Trail or on most trails. But
2:27
again, the uh power will last longer if
2:31
you're going more slowly. Now, unique
2:33
among batterypowered vehicles, the uh
2:36
Jeep Recon has removable doors,
2:39
removable rear glass, and removable rear
2:44
quarter glass. It has a fixed roof
2:46
because uh that really really does help
2:49
to reduce the weight and it helps with
2:51
the safety. And it's got a terrain
2:54
management system with four modes or if
2:56
you get the Moab edition, five modes.
2:59
Now, of course, there's a couple of
3:01
elephants in the room, and one of them
3:02
is the independent suspension.
3:05
And a few years ago, it would have been
3:07
sacrileged to think of a, you know, an
3:10
off-road vehicle with an independent
3:11
suspension, despite the success of the
3:13
Humvey. Keeping in mind that according
3:15
to Bob Shaves, one of Jeep's advanced
3:18
engineers back in the day, the original
3:20
Wrangler was tested with an independent
3:23
suspension and it ridiculously
3:25
outperformed the solid axles that they
3:28
eventually went with partly because they
3:30
thought customers would not tolerate the
3:32
cost of an independent suspension, which
3:35
turned out to be untrue because Ford
3:38
sells Broncos and Volkswagen will
3:40
presumably sell Scouts. The Recon uh was
3:43
designed with off-roading in mind,
3:45
although it is probably not the best
3:47
off-roader you can buy. Uh the
3:49
independent suspension is a short long
3:51
arm up front with large diameter half
3:54
shafts and special CV joints all around.
3:57
The battery pack, which is 100 kilowatt
3:59
hours and 400 volts, is protected by
4:02
high strength steel. Uh, every Recon has
4:06
an electronic locking differential to
4:09
distribute the uh, power evenly to both
4:12
wheels. And a low-speed cruise control
4:16
is helpful for going up or down steep
4:19
inclines so that all that you have to do
4:20
is steer and you can lock in a speed
4:23
that you're comfortable with. The
4:25
traction systems are automatic, sport,
4:27
snow, and sand. And the Moab edition has
4:30
a rock setting as well, which modifies
4:33
pedal response to help with uneven
4:35
terrain and enable
4:37
two pedal driving. There is also a hill
4:40
holder, just like with a manual
4:41
transmission, where if you let off the
4:43
brake and you go to the throttle, you
4:46
don't have to do it like instantly or
4:49
else the vehicle will move, the brake
4:51
will hold the vehicle in place for a
4:52
moment. The Recon Moab, which is similar
4:56
in uh spirit to the Wrangler Rubicon and
4:59
now the Wrangler Rubicon Moab, uh comes
5:01
with a 15 to1 final gear ratio and 33in
5:05
tires uh to make a 9.1 in ground
5:09
clearance, which is good in general, but
5:11
not great for off-road vehicles. Uh, if
5:13
you compare to the Wrangler Sport
5:15
four-door, and I might add, the Wrangler
5:18
twodoor is a lot more off-road capable
5:20
than the Wrangler four-door by the
5:21
dimensions, but I'm using four-door
5:24
dimensions because the Recon is a
5:26
four-door, and the four-door Wrangler is
5:28
actually more popular than the twodoor.
5:30
Grand clearance for the Wrangler Sport
5:32
is 9.7 in, and for the Rubicon, it's
5:35
10.8 in. The Recon Moab, again, 9.1 in.
5:40
And here's one thing to be aware of.
5:43
When you hear the weight of the Recon,
5:45
which I haven't yet, you might think
5:47
it's a lot, but keep in mind that the
5:48
compact Jeep Wrangler weighs in at 4280
5:52
lb for the sport model. And the Rubicon,
5:55
which is better protected, comes in at
5:56
4623 lb. 4,623
6:00
lb for what is technically a compact
6:03
SUV. But generally speaking, because
6:06
it's so big compared to the Wrangler, it
6:08
is hard to compare the Rubicon, the
6:11
Recon to the Wrangler, the Recon will
6:14
not do as well without a lot of effort.
6:16
Now, the Recon does have some clever
6:19
ideas for people actually go off-road,
6:22
including a modular accessory rail on
6:25
top of the dashboard, which you can
6:26
mount cameras to or hold gear safely.
6:30
Jeep, of course, recommends keeping
6:31
rubber duckies up there to give out to
6:33
other people.
6:34
Uh there's a center console which has
6:37
two tiers and a pass through feature and
6:40
you can buy a wireless charger option
6:43
for the top half and run a power cable
6:46
down to the bottom half to charge your
6:48
iPad which has all your trail maps if
6:51
you don't want to rely on the built-in
6:52
TomTom off-road navigation. Door panels
6:56
are modular and they have removable
6:57
elastic straps and interchangeable cargo
6:59
solutions. Uh the front trunk can hold 3
7:02
cubic feet of stuff and the rear cargo
7:06
space is relatively small except when
7:08
compared to the Wrangler. It has let's
7:10
see 65.9 cubic feet of space. Uh if we
7:14
want to do other comparisons, we find
7:17
that the Recon Moab has a better
7:20
breakover angle than the uh base Ford
7:24
Bronco. Not as good as the Raptor, which
7:27
is 31° almost 31°.
7:30
One thing to keep in mind here when
7:32
you're comparing it to the Bronco and to
7:34
the Rivian is price and size. But right
7:38
now, we know more about price. So, the
7:41
Recon is $65,000 for the base model.
7:45
That is a good $15,000 less than the
7:49
Bronco Raptor. And the Recon also of
7:52
course will save you a lot of money
7:54
because the Raptor requires premium fuel
7:57
and gets a whole 15 miles per gallon.
8:00
Whoopee.
8:01
So 15 miles per gallon. That adds up
8:03
with premium gas uh pretty quickly. And
8:06
it's already a more expensive vehicle
8:08
than the Recon is. The base Bronco is
8:11
about $40,000
8:13
and it gets, let's see, the mileage is
8:15
not great on any of these because an
8:17
off-road vehicle will have lousy
8:19
mileage. Generally speaking, if it can
8:20
also go on-road because you have to have
8:23
the safety for the on-road drivers and
8:25
you have to have the capability for the
8:27
off-road, it's very easy to do one or
8:29
the other. So, the best gas mileage you
8:32
can get out of a Bronco is 19 city, 21
8:35
highway. That's as good as it gets. And
8:37
is 1516. The Rivian starts at $77,000
8:42
and goes up to 107,000.
8:45
All right, so enough with comparisons.
8:47
The Recon will be made in Tuca, Mexico
8:51
in 2026
8:53
and imported first to the United States
8:56
and Canada and then around the world. Uh
8:58
creature comforts include a standard
9:01
premium Alpine audio system. You
9:04
remember Alpine has worked with Chrysler
9:05
for years and years and decades. Uh with
9:08
speakers under the seats because then
9:10
you can take the doors off. Uh, the
9:13
dashboard has a 12-in diagonal driver
9:16
cluster and a 14.5 in center screen in
9:20
the middle. And that has integrated HVAC
9:23
controls, which a lot of people won't
9:25
like, including me. Uh, it does have
9:27
cameras all around if you order them, I
9:29
suspect. Uh, and it has a trails
9:32
off-road map app. It has a trails
9:35
off-road app for your phone, which
9:37
provides a guide to US and Canada trails
9:40
with pitch and roll mapping. Now,
9:42
dynamic range mapping on the TomTom can
9:44
recommend the best charger for you to go
9:46
to. It can it comes with a dual pane
9:49
sunroof, but a large single pane power
9:52
sunroof is optional. Also comes with LED
9:55
headlights and tail lights. So, that's a
9:57
Jeep Recon. We'll be learning a lot more
9:59
about it, and there's some more details
10:01
on my site, motel.com, and on the new
10:04
site, stellpower.com.
10:06
And I'll also suggest that you take a
10:08
look at the uh Jeep Wagon Ear and other
10:12
great go anywhere vehicles book by me,
10:15
David Zatz. So look for it wherever fine
10:18
books are sold. You might have to order
10:20
it. Take care.
10:22
Happy trails.
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