When talking about the Wrangler, you must make use of terms like off-roading, breakeven angle, water wading capacity, locking differentials, independent sway bar etc. But an average Wrangler buyer may or may not even be scrapping the surface of the off-road credentials that come with a Rubicon-badged Wrangler because an average owner won’t be going for Overlanding, rock crawling, mud bogging or desert running on an everyday basis. So, is the Wrangler only a one-dimensional product made and forced to do one and only one thing alone? Or is there more to it than what meets the eye?
The one you see in the pictures here is the 2024 Jeep Wrangler with improvements on the inside and out. But what are these changes and have these changes made the Wrangler more liveable in everyday conditions? We think so.
This update doesn’t change the overall styling of the Wrangler which has remained identical over the past many decades. And it has become sort of an icon where one look is all it takes for anyone to recognise it as a “Jeep”, young or old alike. In fact, this iconic style has also inspired many other off-roaders. The characteristic seven-slat grille upfront is now flanked by LED headlamps housed in the symbolic circular unit. Everything about the Wrangler Rubicon is big, in a true American fashion.
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With Rubicon comes prominent badging on the clamshell-bonnet letting the world know that this is not a run-off-the-mill version you’ve got. And the upright glass (which is again iconic) is now made of toughened Corning Gorilla glass – yes just like your smartphone, but here it will be fighting a much tougher battle. It rides on 17-inch wheels wrapped up in knobby off-road terrain tyres here on the Rubicon. If you want more road-friendly ones, the Unlimited offers a more subtle rubber and wheels that are an inch bigger.
There are no noticeable changes at the back where you get a split tailgate with a separate glass opening, squared taillamps and a full-size spare wheel mounted at the back. Of course, all the doors and roof can be removed if you are handy with tools and that transforms (quite literally) the Wrangler into a showstopper. That’s before you choose to put money down on accessories that Jeep is offering officially. All Wranglers have an insane amount of personalisation potential – be it aesthetic or off-road focused.
While the cabin hasn’t undergone a drastic change, it now receives a new and bigger touchscreen. This 12.3-inch touchscreen is modern and comes with the newer user interface of Jeep’s U-connect software. And it integrates a lot of vehicle controls – like all modern screens usually do. But the rest of the centre console still houses its old-school buttons for the simplest functions. And there are a lot of buttons – over 35 of them along with three circular dials, two knobs, and a toggle switch.
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Speaking of the screen itself, it appears much more in line with the dashboard now compared to the squarish screen offered previously. It fits snugly on the upright dashboard between the horizontal layers and has a crisp touch response with a lot of information on offer. However, it can be slightly more user-friendly than it is right now as you have to search the menu for the simplest of functions.
The seats are large and comfortable, and they also get electric adjustments up front with a heating function. Even the steering is heated, both being hamstrung in a tropical country like ours. Sure, it might come in handy when scaling the Himalayas, but otherwise is futile when stuck in traffic in the concrete jungles of Mumbai or Bangalore. That said, almost everything inside is waterproof in case you plan on submerging the Wrangler when river crossing.
As for the comfort on offer, the second row doesn’t seem fitting for a car this size. The non-reclining backrest is pretty upright with inadequate seat base length, making for an uncomfortable seating position. It might be good enough for some quick off-road terrain exploration, but far from being a pleasant place to take a nap even while on an intercity travel. And there would always be a disagreement about who would be sitting in the rather uncomfortable middle seat, which otherwise doubles up as an armrest with integrated cupholders for the other two passengers.
Part of the update is the front-facing camera which is quite useful when off-roading – and also parking. Apart from that, Jeep has also improved the creature comforts for the Wrangler this time around by reducing the cabin noise using various insulation techniques, and an uprated 8-speaker Alpine sound system. For the driver assist hardware, the Wrangler offers emergency braking, adaptive cruise control and lane keep assist, all part of the ADAS system, and yes, all of them can be switched off. The SUV also offers 6 airbags as standard.
Although on the surface, it might seem that the updates with the Wrangler aren’t skin deep. During the Media Drive a few months back, the Wrangler was experienced on the beaten path, where it was meant to excel, courtesy of all its off-road hardware and thoroughbred credentials. But now after spending a few days in the city driving for some shoots and commutes, it’s safe to say the new Wrangler is much more road-friendly compared to the previous iteration.
While the engine doesn’t feel a lot different it does feel more refined. I still wish the Pentastar diesel was offered here in India, but the 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine from FCA’s Global Medium Engine (GME) family isn’t a bad choice. It has a torquey nature despite having only 400 Nm of twisting force on tap. Although the cubic capacity might be the same as the Mahindra’s mStallion engine, the power output is almost 268 bhp which is hardly felt at the lower revs before the turbo is spooled up. With no noise at low revs, once the engine is in the powerband, the growl from the engine is akin to the supercharger’s whine. On full-bore acceleration, the docile bovine nature is transformed into a toro furioso after vanquishing the matador in the Spanish bullring. The engine is surprisingly rev-happy and this over two-tonne car manages to hit triple-digit speed effortlessly, in a manner which is not expected from an off-roader of this size.
What’s also not expected is how well the Wrangler handles. You might find the steering could do with some weight and more connect especially to make it more apt for a large SUV. But once you get a hang of it, manoeuvring the towering Wrangler amidst the smaller pseudo-SUVs is effortless. Another improvement made is the ride quality. When we drove the previous Wrangler Rubicon, its knobby mud tyres felt terrible when driven on paved roads causing terrible headaches after prolonged exposure with its constant juddering. But now in the 2024 Wrangler, this snag has been resolved to a great extent. It can’t escape its ladder-on-frame nature though, combined with the added suspension travel. But on the upside, you don’t feel those knobby tyres on the roads as much now, while the odd irregularities, crater-sized potholes, and any other imperfections are soaked in nicely. Having said that, there’s still plenty of road noise filtering inside the cabin despite the added efforts to make the cabin feel more quiet and polished.
On the flip side, the Jeep Wrangler is a true definition of a gas guzzler. This is understandable when hauling a 4x4 of its demeanour, but expect a fuel mileage to be around 5-6kmpl when daily driving in the city, which would easily burn a hole even in very deep pockets.
With this update, the Wrangler might have become ever so gentler and much more road-friendly than before. But if you truly want a luxury full-size premium SUV that can take you places but also feel like it's worth the money there are a few better options. The Wrangler (now costs between Rs 80-85 lakh on-the-road Mumbai before the accessorization) is still pretty good but it’s more of a lifestyle SUV. It’s large and ungainly in tight city space, and despite that, the space at the back isn’t comfortable for spending long hours in. Despite all the improvements, features and driver-assist hardware, we wish the road manners could be improved further still like many other luxury road-going SUVs manage to do otherwise.
However, once out on the streets, it will grab attention unlike anything else on the road, and the Wrangler is also a ‘lot of car’ for that price. Also, it can go to places where none of the other luxury SUVs can manage in their wishful dreams. The 2024 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon is not for everyone, but those who can buy one will then never have an excuse to reach somewhere be it on the other side of a mountain/desert/river/forest or simply on the other end of the city.
