1998 Jeep Wrangler, No Reserve on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2018 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Alaska Cannonball | At the edge of the Arctic Ocean

Our man Jonathon Ramsey is driving a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon on a 14-week, 14,000-mile journey across North America. Check out his first, second, third, and fourth installments. TUKTOYAKTUK, Alaska – The picture above merely hints at the magic turn the Rubicon Alaska Cannonball took after Port Orford, Oregon. The three dramatis personae are Shelby, on the right, an Inuit and Tuktoyaktuk local with a supernova smile, sitting on the hood of her 2014 Wrangler; Jason, a top Canuck who rode his BMW up from the Lake Louise area, takes the middle; I'm on the left, wearing an Inuit parka lent me by Shelby's father, John Steen. The parka, full of snow goose down and lined with wolverine fur, is the nicest piece of winter gear I've ever put on. Any kind of winter gear. Ever. We're effectively in John Steen's back yard, the sun setting on the Arctic Ocean behind us, pingos – earth-covered mounds of ice that Tuk is known for – in the background. I took this picture at the beginning of a long night of laughs, learnin', beer, whale, Northern Lights, extraordinary kindness, more laughs, followed by a long sleep in a man cave garage. But let's pick up right after Oregon. I drove to Seattle to regroup after the Trans-America Trail and visit a Jeep dealer for an oil change, tire rotation and balance, and a thorough inspection. For reasons neither Jeep nor I could understand, the dealer wouldn't do anything more than change the oil. The Jeep rep couldn't make the dealer budge. The punchline: as I left the service department, the service writer I dealt with turned to his colleague and said, "Another happy customer." My head exploded. And then I made an appointment at a Jeep dealer in Fairbanks, Alaska to complete the work. Google said Fairbanks lies 2,145 miles from Seattle. I wanted to be in Fairbanks in three days, so I hit I-5 north determined to chalk up 715 miles. Instead of taking the Alaska-Canada Highway (the AlCan), I turned left at Prince George to take the Cassiar Mountain route, and clocked about 830 miles before pulling into a rest stop in New Hazelton. That first day would be the only one on schedule. I don't know how Canada has managed to keep this a secret, but the western provinces are shockingly gorgeous. One of Canada's tricks: California's 163,707 square miles host 39.5 million people; Canada's 3.855 million square miles house 35.2 million people.

FCA US put on probation, Stellantis to pay $300M for emission scheme

DETROIT — FCA US, formerly known as Chrysler Group, was placed on probation for three years Monday and ordered to pay roughly $300 million for deceiving regulators about diesel emission systems on 101,000 Jeep Grand Cherokees and Ram 1500 trucks. The sentence was part of an earlier agreement. FCA in June pleaded guilty to conspiracy in federal court in Detroit. Engineers were accused of using software tricks and taking other steps to meet U.S. emission standards while marketing the vehicles as “clean EcoDiesel.” The vehicles were diesel Jeep Grand Cherokees and Ram 1500 trucks from the 2014, 2015 and 2016 model years. FCA now is part of Stellantis. “Stopping violations of environmental laws and the defrauding of consumers is paramount to the protection of clean air and human health," the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said. Separately, three FCA employees face charges in the investigation. In 2017, Volkswagen was ordered to pay a $2.8 billion criminal penalty for cheating on U.S. diesel emissions tests. The company also paid $1.5 billion in a civil case brought by the government and said it would spend $11 billion to buy back cars and offer other compensation. Government/Legal Green Jeep RAM Emissions Truck SUV Diesel Vehicles ecodiesel

FCA to test Jeep car-sharing and other pilots

Fiat Chrysler plans to launch a trio of pilot programs in Boston aimed at boosting sales of its Jeep cash cow and other brands, according to media reports. The programs, which involve car-sharing and subscription services, are expected to roll out starting this month. Bloomberg reported earlier this month that Jeep is launching two small pilot programs in Boston — one in which owners can rent out their Jeeps through peer-to-peer car-sharing startup Turo, the other a three-month subscription service in partnership with Avis Budget Group in which owners can swap their Jeeps for other vehicles, like a Ram 1500 pickup or a Dodge Challenger. There's also a third program in the works, according to Motor Authority. It's called "Car Borrowing" and it's also a partnership with Avis. According to the report, it'll allow Jeep owners in Boston starting next month to purchase six "Jeep Coins," each good for a one-day rental of most Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram vehicles, valid for a year. Participants will be able to pick up the borrowed vehicles or have them delivered. The former two programs will reportedly be limited to the first 100 owners who register for each. Jeep brand manager Tim Kuniskis says the programs will help develop new prospective customers and help generate customer feedback to see whether the programs are right for the brand and could be offered at the dealerships at the point of sale. Avis would supply the inventory in the subscription pilot, and participants would be able to swap models up to six times in three months, two with delivery and the remainder by picking them up. It wasn't clear what services would be offered with the program. In a blog post, Turo CEO Andre Haddad said the "Jeep Freedom Experience" program was aimed at introducing Jeep enthusiasts to new models of mobility and was a natural fit, since Jeep models "have long been among the most popular vehicles for guests on Turo," and the Wrangler and Cherokee rank tops in the company's recent study ranking vehicles based on their potential return by sharing them on the platform. "As Turo hosts, Jeep buyers can get help covering their payments, offset the cost of ownership entirely, or even turn a profit," Haddad wrote.