Jeep Wrangler review

Ready? The entry-level Jeep Wrangler is the Sahara and it costs £61,125. You were expecting something less punchy, weren’t you? Ever since the Jimny kicked the bucket the 4x4 has been lacking a proper, cheap as chips mechanical mountain goat but the Wrangler - we’re afraid to say - isn’t it. Never was.

For your money you get 18in alloys, rock rails, LED headlights, tinted windows, a heated steering wheel, heated and powered front seats finished in a combination of leather and vinyl that Jeep insists will withstand everything from muddy boots to children, plus the 12.3in touchscreen, seven-inch digital driver display, rearview camera, parking sensors and more active safety systems than you can shake a flat cap at. Good luck using lane keep assist on a hillside, mind.

The top-spec Rubicon is another two grand extra at £63,125, and this is where stuff like locking diffs, a detachable front sway bar and an Off Road Plus mode (for when you’re really off-roadin’) come into play. The alloys become 17-inchers but they’re fitted with chunky, 32in BF Goodrich 255/75 R17C mud terrain tyres. Visual tweaks include black wheelarch flares and roof, plus nappa leather inserts on the seats.

Which one should I go for?

Given the negligible difference in price, that really depends on how you’ll use it. Nine times out of 10 the Sahara is all the Wrangler you’ll ever need. But if you’re battling across remote tundra with Tom Cruise in the passenger seat on a mission to save the world, go for the Rubicon. The fate of the world is in your hands.

Jeep’s people say the Wrangler is easier to live with than ever before. And they may have a point: there are clever touches like vents behind the huge, air-scooping front wheel arches, which bleed air from the wheel well and also help cool the engine bay. Hinges and mounting points have been moved to improve visibility too.

But, perhaps most importantly, it’s easier than ever to get to one of the best bits of Wrangler ownership. Namely, pulling half of it apart.

Do explain…

The windscreen, roof, and doors are easier to manipulate than ever before, and easier to remove entirely. It’s the kind of thing you never knew you always wanted, a reintroduction to nature after a lifetime spent cocooned inside hermetically sealed cabins.

Or, to get down from our soapboxes, it’s just bloody cool to whizz along without any doors on. And, if you’re of a particularly outdoorsy inclination, you can fold the windscreen down or remove it entirely.

Oh, and let’s not forget that you can lose the roof and the whole rear-window assembly as well, and drive around in about two-thirds of a car for as long as you feel like it.

Of course, you need somewhere to put everything you’ve taken off, like a garage, and you’re at the mercy of the elements until it’s all back on, but that’s appealing in its own Ranulph Fiennes-y way. Jeep’s got three different roofs for the Wrangler, however, so, if you’d like to taste the breeze without deconstructing a decent proportion of your car, you can do that too.

But traditionalist Jeepers aren’t having any of that: the ‘one true experience’ is to drive somewhere impossibly remote, set up camp, pull all the panels off and set off for a day of dust inhalation. Don’t forget to wave at Jim Ratcliffe as he trundles by in his Grenadier.