Turns out neither the Hardy Boys nor Nancy Drew were needed to figure out the mystery of the bloated horsepower. It just took a revised note from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to provide some engine clarification.
The updated documentation, now listed from the NHTSA, shows FCA's new 2.0L Hurricane Turbo engine with no horsepower rating versus an earlier 368 hp reading.
This original note, called a 2018 Model Year FCA US MPV/Truck VIN Decoder, supplied horsepower information to the NHTSA for all FCA model engines and sent Jeep enthusiasts into a mild frenzy last week when it listed the 2018 Wrangler JL 2.0L engine at 368 horsepower. Some were ready to trade their first born for the vehicle, while others took a different route and simply did not believe that much horsepower could be generated by a mass produced engine.
FCA is listing the 2.0L engine as a turbocharged, gas powered inline 4-cylinder, equipped with a Belt Start Generator Stop/Start system.
If that original rating was true, it would have put the 2.0L Hurricane into rarefied automotive air - making it the second most powerful four cylinder engine on the market, just behind the 375 horsepower 2.0L turbo in the Mercedes-AMG CLA and GLA 45. It would have also out performed 2.0L turbocharged engines in the 362 horsepower Volvo S60 and V60 Polestar, as well as the 350 horsepower Porsche 718 Boxster S and Cayman S.
Still, most industry experts expect the horsepower number for that turbo 2.0L to come in somewhere around the Wrangler JL's 3.6L Pentastar, which pushes out 285 horses. It may even creep up to about 300 horsepower, but real production numbers probably will not emerge until early next year.
According to current FCA documentation, the 2.0L Hurricane turbo in both 2-door and 4-door Wrangler JLs is expected to enter production February 12.
Jeep’s next generation Wrangler is scheduled to debut, sans camouflage, either November 29 or 30 at the Los Angeles Automobile Show.
