If a vehicle is built continuously for 75 years with updates every decade yet it’s still instantly recognizable as the original, can it be considered retro? That’s certainly a question that applies to the Jeep Wrangler. Today’s Jeep Wrangler has a direct lineage back to the Willys MB/Ford GPW that supported millions of allied troops in World War II and the conflicts that followed. Today’s Wrangler is immediately recognizable and shares many of the attributes of those originals, but is also different in so many ways.
The most obvious difference between those early wartime Jeeps and my test model were the length and the number of doors. While two-door Wranglers with the classic proportions are still available, the introduction of the current generation known as the JK a decade saw the addition of a four-door variant dubbed the Wrangler Unlimited. With a wheelbase 20-inches longer than the two-door, the Unlimited is the first of the line that’s really comfortable for four or even five people.
If there is one enduring characteristic that has defined the Jeep for its entire 75-year history, it is the ability to traverse virtually any kind of terrain imaginable. In the 1940s, that means hustling across muddy battlefields. Today it’s all about recreational off-roading from sand-dunes to boulder-strewn canyons. Like every CJ and Wrangler ever built, today’s model still rides on a pair of live axles that have been pushed out to the far ends of the chassis to maximize the approach and departure angles. In the mid-1990s, the Wrangler finally switched from leaf springs to coils that gave it a vastly improved ride quality without sacrificing any of its off-road ability.
The extended wheelbase of the Unlimited reduces the break-over angle so if you really want the maximum capability, you’ll want the shorter Wrangler. Unlike most SUVs, a surprising proportion of Wrangler owners actually use theirs off the beaten path, but that doesn’t mean everyone does. The Wrangler is a surprisingly strong seller even to customers that just want to exide the wilderness lifestyle without actually living it.
Regardless of length and door count, Wranglers continue to provide owners with a degree of flexibility that is virtually unmatched in the 21st century automotive landscape. Wranglers are available from the factory with either a flexible fabric top or a rigid plastic version. In either case, both the top and doors are removable in a surprising array of configurations. All Wranglers have a full tubular roll-bar system that encloses all the seats and comes wrapped in padding that can be removed for cleaning. Since the roof and doors are removable, Jeep has moved the speakers from their typical locations to an overhead spot attached to the roll bar while the power-window switches are mounted in the center stack near the radio.
This set of wrenches lets you completely remove the top and doors
I haven’t tried out the soft-top but the hard-top comes with a set wrenches in a pouch in the glove compartment that can be used to remove the entire top and the doors. The roof panels can be removed without the tools and stored in the rear. If you want the classic fully-open army Jeep look, you’ll have to leave the rest of the parts in your garage.
In order to aid removability the doors are fairly lightweight. The downside of that is that while Jeep does try to provide good weather sealing on the hardtop, those light doors will require a decent slam to compress the seals and get fully closed. Given the upright seating position and the relatively short fore-aft length of the doors, the ergonomics when pulling the doors closed is less than ideal. It’s a relatively small price to pay if you want what is arguably the most capable factory-built off-roader on the market, but it is something to be aware of if you plan to stay on road with a Wrangler.
roof panels can be removed on the fly without tools and stashed in the cargo area
One of the niceties of CJs and Wranglers over the years has been the utilitarian interior that could often be hosed down after bouncing around sand dunes or canyons or pulling through a bog. If you plan to use a Wrangler for its intended purpose, you’ll probably want to forgo the optional premium leather upholstery that graced my test Sahara model. In this case, either the base sport or the high-end Rubicon with its standard electronic sway-bar disconnect would be the best choice.
All current-generation Wranglers are powered by Chrysler’s sweet 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 paired with either a six-speed manual or five-speed automatic gearbox. Since having only a single driven axle would be anathema to the fundamental nature of the Wrangler, all of them have four-wheel-drive with a low-range capability for better control at low-speeds. The high-end Rubicon models get an upgrade from the standard Command-Trac system to the Rock-Trac version that includes fully lockable differentials at both axles.
I didn’t do any off-roading with the Wrangler beyond some heavily pitted gravel roads but the tall-sidewalled tires and suspension articulation kept the body well under control at speeds that seriously upset most utilities and kill cars. On paved (or at least what sometimes passes for pavement in Michigan) roads, the Wrangler was generally well behaved. The same stretch of I-94 west of Detroit that triggered some pitching on the smaller Renegade had a similar effect on the Wrangler. The low frequency waves in this concrete roadway make the Jeeps feel a bit bouncy, not to a degree that’s likely to trigger motion sickness but definitely noticeable.
The Wrangler is a big, tall vehicle that is one of the least aerodynamically efficient shapes currently available for sale. Thus, while it’s not exactly a gas guzzler, it will use more petrol than most modern crossovers. The EPA rates the Wrangler Unlimited with an automatic transmission at 16 mpg city, 20 mpg highway and 18 mpg combined while I averaged about 19 during mixed driving, mostly on paved roads.
The Wrangler is about as traditional an SUV as you can currently buy new in 2016. In four-door unlimited form, it does have room for five people and some cargo in the back and it will go just about anywhere you can imagine pretty much out of the box. However, if you are looking for something with utility-style ride height, go-anywhere and and more on-road comfort and luxury, you may want to consider the Grand Cherokee instead. Wranglers don’t come cheap either. The base Sport model starts at $27,695, going up to $41,795 for the top Rubicon Hard Rock. Maxed out with options, that Rubicon escalates to over $50,000. As tested my mid-level Sahara review model came to $43,845 with delivery.
Click here for full specifications of the 2016 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited
