When you can trace your ancestry back to 1941 you have to assume that a vehicle manufacturer will know what they are doing. The new Wrangler Unlimited is a direct descendant of the original 1941 Willis Jeep.
When you look at it, it is quite easy to understand its heritage. No concessions have been made to modern, sweeping designs to bring the vehicle into the 21st century, in fact wherever I went in the Wrangler people’s jaws dropped and I am not convinced it was with admiration.
I think it is more because they were of an opinion of ‘what the devil is that’ and how could someone design something which, to be quite honest and perhaps a little cruel, really is not the most handsome of designs.
Without doubt the Wrangler is one of those vehicles that makes a statement but does it make a statement in the right frame?
From a design perspective the vehicle has all straight edges. This gives it the aerodynamics of a garage door.
Even the windscreen is an upright straight edge. Venture inside and the dashboard makes another statement - it is a bold slab of plastic containing its instrumentation, more akin to a truck than a car.
The vehicle has retained a military look, with its solid stance; surprisingly enough the amount of interior room was on the generous side.
The front was certainly a very accommodating environment. Rear passengers moaned to me about the lack of headroom, but this is all to do with the systems that are incorporated within the headlining, especially a roll bar and radio speakers. It is possible to remove all the doors and the roof so that you have the ubiquitous safari vehicle.
The rear tailgate was a strange fitment with the bottom half being the door on which is mounted the spare wheel.
Open that and lift the thin glass upper section (you have to do it in that order, the problem is there are no latches on the rear section and with the huge heavy wheel fitted if the vehicle is anything other than level the door automatically closes and it made loading and taking things out extremely awkward).
My vehicle came equipped with a 2.8 litre diesel engine allied to an automatic gearbox, which I like. The engine was lethargic; you don’t buy this type of vehicle for out and out performance and certainly the engine although a willing workhorse did sound somewhat agricultural.
It produces 174 bhp has a 0-60 of 12 seconds, and a top speed of 112 mph, but for me it never seemed to have any get up and go.
The Jeep does have an excellent off road pedigree, and with a choice of two-wheel-drive or four-wheel-drive and high or low range the going would have to be pretty tough to stop you. Regrettable during my time with the Jeep there was no opportunity to explore this aspect.
Jeep claims on the combined cycle you should achieve 29.1 mpg. I think they must have borrowed the rose-tinted glasses.
According to the on-board computer my achievement over 300 miles was 23.5 mpg and that was a combination of town and a 120-mile round trip to Leicestershire on motorways to collect spare parts for my beloved Midget.
The important CO2 figure is 255, which will put the Jeep into the £415 car tax category under the new rules.
On the motorway the Wrangler actually settled down. It was comfortable, but it was susceptible in view of its slab-like design to cross winds and this could make it a tiresome vehicle on a long journey.
There can be no doubt that the Wrangler is directed at a particular niche market and a somewhat small market. Its opposition I am confident is the Land Rover Defender, although it was suggested to me that perhaps a Hummer may also be a contender.
I drove a Defender some years ago and although you may be surprised I actually prefer the current Jeep to the Defender. Both vehicles are rough and ready and agricultural, designed to do a purpose.
They are designed to be almost impossible to break, almost over engineered like our Victorian great-grandfathers designed and built excellent machinery.
The big factor that the Wrangler has going for it and one reason I highly commend it is its low price. The Wrangler 2.8 Sport manual enters in to the arena at £17,995.
The top specification Wrangler Unlimited 2.8 Sahara automatic that was my companion is £23,090 and that really is an awful lot of car for not a lot of money.
I leave you with a thought, which horrified me: the Wrangler has a fuel tank of 79 litres. Currently diesel is priced at £1.18 so if you let the fuel tank get too low and pop along to fill up your new Wrangler be prepared to spend over £93.
That is not a criticism merely an observation on how much it now costs to fill vehicles with big fuel tanks.
By Bob Hickman
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