In the early 1980s, the Jeep CJ-8 Scrambler was so cool, even Ronald Reagan owned one. A lengthened CJ-7 with a pickup bed just large enough to be usable, the Scrambler ended its six-model-year run in 1986, just as the more conventional Comanche was entering the market.
Jeep’s found itself without a pickup variant since the Comanche’s exit in 1992 — a grievous omission for hard-core Jeep aficionados — and no amount of four-door Wrangler Unlimited is going to satisfy the crowd until something with seven slots sprouts a bed.
Well, the reveal of the Wrangler-based pickup remains just over a year away, but a new report tells us what to expect. Based on the next-generation Wrangler arriving late this year, the pickup variant sports a longer wheelbase and a familiar name: Scrambler.
Satisfied?
According to sources who spoke to Jeep Scrambler Forum (sister site to JL Wrangler Forums), Jeep intends to resurrect the Scrambler name for the new model, which goes on sale in early 2019.
Besides sounding cool and being part of Jeep’s long and storied history, the Scrambler name fits for other reasons. Like before, this Wrangler pickup is a stretched-wheelbase version of its host model. According to information found in FCA’s dealer system computers, the Scrambler (which carried the official “JT” moniker) sits atop a JK Unlimited frame that’s lengthened by 33 inches, bringing its length to 205 inches.
Other images found in the dealer system show the Scrambler sporting upgraded heavy-duty Dana 12-bolt axles and differential. Jeep assumes would-be owners have hauling and towing in mind.
As for powerplants, the 3.0-liter turbodiesel V6 (with engine start-stop) discovered in the regular Wrangler’s options list also appears here, sans other engines. This means both Wrangler and Scrambler come with the torque-rich EcoDiesel motor. As for other Scrambler powertrains, it doesn’t look like the dealer system has all the categories filled out. It lists neither the Pentastar V6 or Hurricane four, nor any transmissions. A work in progress, it seems.
The system does list three top options, and yes, they’ll be removable. Expect the availability of a black three-piece hard top, a body-color three-piece hard top, and a black three-piece black Sunrider soft top. Finally, the ability to haul a small load of gravel with the wind in your hair!
We’ve seen various renderings of the 2018 Scrambler for some time now, and the two-door version always looked the most fetching. Well, steel yourself for bad news. According to a source who spoke to Jalopnik, it looks like this pickup’s a four-door-only proposition. Ahead of the bed, the Scrambler is pure next-gen Wrangler Unlimited, the source said.
[Image: © JLWranglerForums]
Should it not read—In the early 1980s, the Jeep CJ-8 Scrambler was so cool, despite Ronald Reagan having owned one?
No
Perhaps your opinion is colored by not having been alive then, but Reagan’s opponents for the office were Carter and Mondale.
Reagan was astonishingly cool by comparison.
I was a teenager then, and while I found Reagan’s polices to be reprehensible, the yet unnamed Malaise Era had me thinking America’s best days were behind it. Enter the larger than life “great communicator”. He made Americans feel good to be American again. It did not take too long for things like stagflation, carter, hostages, and failed military operations, gas shortages, etc. to fall quickly into the rear view mirror. As a middle aged adult I still find his policies to be quite the opposite to my world view but in the 80s, Reagan was just what this country needed. Contrast his view to that of Carter, who wore a sweater and told the country to get used to doing/using less. Americans are brainwashed from an early age to think that more is always better. Carter’s view was in direct contrast. No wonder he was so poorly received.
A 69 year old with dementia is “cool” in what universe ?
Wonder if all the people who yelled about “the bed’s so short it’s worthless!” regarding trucklets like the Ridgeline will say the same thing here?
This one, given the soft top option, literally cries out for a midgate, a la Avalanche. Absent that, you’re stuck cutting available length for both interior and bed too short to be truly useful. Can’t sleep in the car, can’t fit a camper in the bed…..
Anyone who puts a camper on a pickup deserves to be drawn and quartered in the town square. Just get an SUV already
And where will I sleep, cook and take a dump in a SUV? Though I think you mean a canopy and I certainly carry things in my pickup with a canopy that I would not put in the back of my SUV or that I couldn’t put in it, and since it is Seattle some of those things would be nice to keep dry.
To be honest I’ve not been a big fan of Canopies, my last truck came with one and it was taken off shortly after purchasing it and only went back on once. However they type of canopy does make a difference. With my current truck I fully intended to remove the canopy this spring and likely leave it off except for rare ocassions. However I find the Gem Top Workmaster unit with a built in tool box on the driver’s side, an top hinged opening window on the passenger side and the double swinging doors on the back very convenient. So it has stayed and another pickup sans canopy joined the fleet last week. So it was the little 1/2 ton that got to haul 1.2 tons of gravel while the big 250 sat at home.
Canopies are handy and can easily be removed. The separation between cargo and passenger area is a huge advantage if you carry malodorous cargo, loose fill like soil/aggregate and/or objects that leak volatilizes like power saws, dirt bikes and quads.
I had a Safari van for 2 years and yes, it did all the things a pickup did but it stank like garbage for weeks after a trip to the dump or had the persistent odour of wet Labrador retriever. It was no fun carrying my kid’s dirt bikes on a hot summer day.
I’m not aware of a single SUV that can fit even a lowly popup, much less a Bigfoot for a season of skibumming….
@Stuki – a “midgate” would be a decent idea. If they add 33 inches to the wheelbase how big a box will it have? I’m guessing at least 5 1/2 feet. A midgate would probably yield 8 feet of floor space.
Stuki I think a midgate would be just the thing here.
Probably not. Because without a bed, the Wrangler is still cool. Without a bed, the Ridgeline is just a Pilot/Odyssey, which are generally not very cool.
They should. Also, Ridgeline’s bed is enormous.
It has skinny chassis rails and coil springs. The payload and towing capacity won’t be worth a damn.
New face looks dumb. Shoulda kept it the way it was.
—phila_DLJ
Too bad there’s no regular cab or extended cab variants on just the 205 inch length Unlimited frame.
The diesel coupled to a 6spd manual in one of these would be one awesome truck, certainly lust-worthy to me.
No reg cab options in the entire midsize pickup class, right?
At this point the only hope for a small reg cab manual pickup is the ranger.
I highly doubt that Ford would offer a regular cab Ranger. CAFE footprint rules penalize regular cab small pickups and add to the fact that in reality, almost no one wants one other than Orkin and city based parts deliver companies.
Vulpine and a few others on this site make noise, but that isn’t enough to sway Ford or any other pickup maker.
Which is why I had to buy a regular cab F-150; too tired of waiting for a regular cab mid-sizer.
Considering I want extended cab, I’m absolutely fine with having no regular cab available.
The “CAFE/footprint” thing could be easily solved with a 7 foot bed or “RCLB”. With a more useful bed, who’d complain?
Toyota for example has far too many CAFE “credits” it p!sses away for RCSB midsize pickups to be an issue for them.
Except there’s very little profit with regular cab midsizers. Clearly automakers and dealer would rather steer buyers/cheapskates into multi-cabs.
It’s far better to take away the “choice”, before they special-order it. Then there’s those pesky Fleet Buyers.
Orkin and the long list of other “bottom feeders” would jump all over a “regular cab” midsizer with a 7′ bed. Don’t kid yourself.
The regular cab midsize pickup was too great a “value”, especially the “crank window”, vinyl/rubber everywhere “strippers”. A tremendous value actually. They were the price of a dreaded Corolla or Focus for the love of god.
No way was it just “industry” snatching these babies up, despite dealers/automakers drastically reducing their availability.
Colorado is available with a single cab, stripper version with a petrol engine. The length is the same as it has a longer (and more useful) traybed.
Jeep is premium brand, not gunna happen.
@Guitar man – globally yes, USA or Canada no.
The version made in Thailand is ony available with an (FCA) diesel.
The picture here clearly shows a single cab :
http://www.chevrolet.com/colorado-mid-size-truck
Do you really thing this thing is designed to do any work?
No but I could certainly see a recreational user wanting a longer bed and not necessarily needing the full rear cab space.
I’ve hauled gravel with the wind in my hair many times in the original pickup version of a SUV a Scout Cabtop. Additionally Chrysler made that a possibility in the past with the short lived Dakota Convertible.
I much prefer the cab design of the ’05 Gladiator concept. I don’t need nor want four full doors. I do want the extended cab and actually prefer the step-side box design of the Gladiator over this Scrambler.
I don’t understand how the transfer case knob, of all things, could have acquired so much visible wear in so few miles. Quite puzzling.
I don’t want one.
I don’t want to bash it, because I feel like I shouldn’t, But I don’t want one.
Jeeps get awful fuel economy, they are as reliable as a chinese hoverscooter, and are highly impractical.
i OWN one anyway because “DUDE THEY CAN OFFROAD YO”
But its everything I don’t want in a truck, and its long enough now to put offroad cred as a real question mark.
we’ll wait and see. Maybe I’ll change my opinion, or maybe I won’t, I just don’t imagine seeing a lot of these all over the place.
Breakover angles is a thing. It will suck as a truck and as a Jeep, but they will sell I predict.
Somehow current JKUs and things like Tacomas excel offroad, in spite of long wheelbases. Is it now worse than a JKU? Yes (due to rear overhang mostly), but will still absolutely shame any factory vehicle short of that same JKU or 4Runner.
Makes sense. At least in the beginning, a certain number of buyers will fall all over themselves to get one. And it’ll be expensive. So it’s a good way to push Wrangler ATPs (and margins) up.
I have zero desire for one, but lots of people will feel differently.
@dal20402 – I tend to agree. Jeep Wranglers are overpriced for what you get and the Scrambler will be no different.
If this thing is successful – and I’m guessing it will be – it will be a reminder of just how badly GM missed an opportunity with Hummer.
I mean they DID make an H2 and H3 “SUT” with a really short bed, but that was in the depths of the recession and higher gas prices. I agree though, GM is missing out on this BOF/offroad SUV resurgence.
“the 3.0-liter turbodiesel V6 (with engine start-stop)”
Stop/start on the VM 3.0L? That sounds terrible.
Stopping and starting any diesel repeatedly is a recipe for annoyance and stares from fellow motorists and your own passengers.
Saw/herd it a lot in Paris a few years ago, so it’s been done before I suppose. But also runs contrary to everything I’ve known in the past about people preferring to idle diesels rather than constant shutting off and restarting.
Works decently on hybrid transit buses, but that’s a pretty different application.
Has to have it though for CARB certification.
I like it. Looks good and love that it comes with a diesel. Won’t be a good fit for me, but I’m glad this option is on the market.
I’m not interested, because of the excessive length. But if others want to buy one, I’m all for it.
No regular cab = no interest.
I have no use for a pickup. No use for a crewcab. No use for an offroader. No affection for Jeep.
But I like this.
I recall a kid in high school getting a new Jeep w/pickup bed in the late 70s but I’m pretty sure it was called a “Golden Eagle”…
I think golden eagle was a trim package that could be applied to a CJ or Scrambler.