Most "reliable" modern Wrangler?

Against my better judgment, I've been tempted by Wranglers for some reason. Any particular Wranglers within the last decade more reliable than the others?

Normal Wranglers from the last decade will have the pentastar V6 (showed up in 2012), which is a pretty reliable unit, or a 2.0 turbo 4.  Any older than that, and you'll get to the 3.7 V6s, which are dogs.  There are 3 different Jeeps in various configurations (JK Wrangler 2 door, JL Wrangler 4 door, and a Gladiator) in my family, all with the pentastar, and all have been relatively worry free.  That being said, they aren't getting beat off of rocks and trees on the regular either.  Admittedly, I have no clue how the Wrangler 392 is holding up.  I have a 2005 Wrangler with a six speed that likes to pop out of 1st gear from time to time, but I'm not sure how far that transmission was carried further.

Any Wrangler that you're buying thats not fresh off the assembly line, you're buying the owner, not the vehicle.  

I bought a beautiful, low mileage, one owner 2013 Wrangler with the Pentastar V6 and automatic from a Jeep dealership early in 2022. It had a full service history. Everything was done at the same dealer that I had bought it from, which was also the dealer that sold it new. Even tires and wiper blades had come from the dealership  

This was the least reliable vehicle that I've ever owned. The transmission would find extra neutrals. The engine would stall for no apparent reason.  The starter wouldn't retract after the engine would start. AM and FM (but not Satellite) would disappear after seven minutes (seriously). Most annoying was that fact that, in spite of never showing signs of leakage, there was a constant smell of gasoline in and around it.  I couldn't park it in the garage. It would even stink up the area around it when it was parked outside. The fuel tank was never wet, and I changed a bunch of emission and evap stuff, to no avail. 
 

It was the first domestic vehicle I had bought in a long time, and it will be the last. Every aspect of this thing was a huge step down in quality from Japanese and European stuff. I traded it in for a huge loss after less than a year and I was happy to be done with it. 
 

This was my third Jeep. I want to love Jeeps, but I'll never buy anything newer than a TJ again. 
 

Buy a 90s YJ with a 4.0 and a 5spd. That straight six is one of the best engines ever made.

Depending on your budget, the new JL and JT platform with the 3.6 and 8-speed seems to be a really nice combo. 

My wife's 4xe has been 100% awesome.

In reply to Olemiss540 :

I'm not following your logic on this one.  Can you expand on that?

I think the TJ was the pinnacle. I also like the YJ for it's simplicity. After the TJ they went to the Tonka look as Chrysler went through multiple ownerships until we got Stellantis. I wouldn't own any of them now.

Only problem with the YJ's are they are all ancient and used up by now. The TJ suffers from frame rust that makes Toyota pickups look robust, so here in the northeast there aren't really many good ones. 

You can get the 4.0 until 2006 IIRC.

In reply to preach :

That is correct.  Then they replaced it with the dog that is the 3.8 V6 when they debuted the JK Wrangler.

I agree with others that a TJ with the inline 6 is peak Wrangler.  Unfortunately that peak was almost 20 years ago.

The wrangler JK(2006-2018) had the 3.8 up until 2011 then the 3.6 pentastar. The Pentastar is great and the 3.8 is a gutless mess. The transmission is the nsg370 which has lovers and haters. They seem to hold up fine to stock power but I've not driven one to comment on shift quality. Overall I think the JK is a great platform for an off rider roader. 

The wrangler JL is 2018 to present. It began life with the 3.6 pentastar and Aisin AL6. Chrysler seems to have this engine figured out, but it is not a powerhouse in this heavy chassis. There is a clutch recall. The factory clutch is awful. 

Good info, thanks everyone!

I had an 2006 LJ with the 4.0 and the god awful 4-speed automatic transmission.  Avoid this combo at all costs.  Shift, buck, delayed shifts, and every other bad thing a transmission can do.  While the 4.0 was fantastic and being an engine, the transmission really held it back.  I got 11mpg around town and the thing had what felt like a 5-gallon tank.  I was at the gast station every other day home from work on a very short commute. 

Another bonus! The brakes were the worst thing I've ever seen in my life.  They didn't have enough clamping force to hold the Jeep on a hill.  I used to have to put on the ebrake when stopped on a hill.  

My boss has a roughly 8-year-old Wrangler XL Rubicon, bought new.  At this point is has probably a bit over 100,000 miles on it and hasn't been his daily driver for 2 years.

It has the Pentastar V6.  Maybe 4 years into his ownership, it developed some kind of rocker arm issue at around 60,000 miles??  It was out of warranty, but Chrysler paid for about half the fix.  He was out of pocket a couple grand on that.

Since then it had some other issue with that engine.  He had his mechanic replace it with a used or remanufactured engine.  This was at maybe 80-90,000 miles.

Not a stellar example.

The 4.0 went down hill around the late 90's into the early 2000's look into piston slop and failure.  Starts as an innocent wrist pin noise or so you think, it's the skirts slapping.  First only when cold then all the time, then chunks of piston in the pan.  Between my SIL and I, four of them now.  Other than that, and the....never mind they are great motors.

The 4.0 went down hill around the late 90's into the early 2000's look into piston slop and failure.  Starts as an innocent wrist pin noise or so you think, it's the skirts slapping.  First only when cold then all the time, then chunks of piston in the pan.  Between my SIL and I, four of them now.  Other than that, and the....never mind they are great motors.

Sorry, that was off topic.  Thanks to all that have useful input, I also would like another Jeep someday.  

I bought a new 2020 Gladiator with the 6 speed manual, 3.6 Pentastar V6. It's a base Sport, so manual windows, door locks, steel wheels, etc. Mostly just less stuff to break. No issues so far. It's got an open recall on the clutch but there are no parts available so who know when that'll be changed. For now it runs and drives fine. No issues, no unexpected problem...yet. YMMV, min averages 20MPG. I don't regret buying it and since I got the base base model it was 20 grand cheaper than the loaded models on the lots.

Same spec/powertrain is available in a Wangler if you don't need a bed.