Jeep Wrangler keen to tame urban and outdoor jungles

Recently we were offered a Jeep Wrangler to drive. A little bit out of the norm, myself and our digital motoring guru, Charl Bosch, shared the driving duties as he had never driven one before. And neither could I remember how long ago it was that I had driven one.

As I stood there looking at our two-door Wrangler test car, I couldn’t help but think nothing had changed for 2021, and I was half right.

This is the updated, latest, JL Wrangler money can buy in South Africa, but the reason that it looks so familiar is that it has been here for around two years already. This said, it’s the first drive we have had in one in quite some time, and it’s worth telling you all about it.

The Jeep Wrangler comes in three trim levels, Sport, Sahara and Rubicon – all available in two- or four-door configuration, and it was the mid-spec, two-door Sahara we got to experience.

So, let’s start with the good stuff before we get to the not so good stuff. And the good stuff in my books centres around what Jeep has been known for since 1941; going places that many others can only dream of going.

The Jeep Wrangler Sahara comes fitted with the Command-Trac 4×4 system that offers the new Selec-Trac full-time two-speed transfer case, shift on the fly convenience, 2.72:1 low range for rock crawling, and neutral for flat towing.

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Now I have never professed to being an off-road fundi, so when your Wrangler wears a “Trail Rated” badge, thankfully you don’t have to take my word for anything. This Jeep has been put through some heavy duty tests that cover the following areas: traction, water fording, manoeuvrability, articulation and ground clearance.

Powering this trendy go-anywhere machine is a 3.6-litre, naturally aspirated, V6 Pentastar petrol engine. It makes 209 kW of power and 347 Nm of torque, and you better like what it offers because you don’t get any other choices in the powerplant department.

Would I have wanted a nice fuel efficient and torquey turbodiesel? Damn straight, but I thought the Pentastar did an okay job in the absence of choice.

You are never going to expect lightning-fast performance from a Jeep Wrangler. And this was a sentiment shared by Charl and the eight-speed automatic transmission that preferred to cruise along rather than chase through the gears in a charge towards the horizon.

Spending time inside the Jeep Wrangler is a mixed emotion affair. There is more than enough going in terms of luxury, from heated front seats, keyless go and entry, lockable storage, to the latest generation of the Uconnect infotaiment system and Alpine sound system.

But at anything approaching highway speeds, the iconic detachable roof and doors, allow enough wind noise in to almost keep you better entertained than the sound system on offer.

Being a two-door is also always going to mean that some form of versatility and space is lost, and with a sticker price of R839 900, the Sahara is somewhat expensive.

However as Charl put it, this is likely to be of little concern to most buyers as there is a something of a feel-good factor about the Jeep Wrangler despite its shortcomings.