The iconic Jeep Wrangler Rubicon has just been voted Best Off Road Vehicle in Australia for the third consecutive year in Overlander Magazine's Best of the Best 2010 awards. Not just limited to vehicles launched in 2010, the award was up for grabs to any 4WD currently on the market, making the Jeep Wrangler a true winner with its awesome off-road capabilities. "We wanted to nominate the vehicle that can be driven straight out of a showroom into a difficult off-road environment and perform better than any others," said the team at Overlander Magazine. "And since we initiated this award, nothing has managed to topple Jeep's iconic Wrangler Rubicon." This latest award comes on the back of the Wrangler being named the Best and Most Significant 4x4 of the last Decade by influential American magazine Four Wheeler. The magazine named the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon as the two-door Best 4x4 Vehicle of the Decade, and the four-door Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon as the Most Significant 4x4 vehicle.
The Jeep Wrangler Unlimited remains the only true convertible four-door vehicle on the market and even the hard-top version can open up to the fresh air thanks to removable panels in the front and rear sections of the roof. Similarly, the two-door Wrangler is available as both a soft-top and a hard-top with removable panels. Todd Groves, Divisional Manager, Chrysler Group at Sime Darby Automobiles NZ, says the Jeep Wrangler continues to go from strength-to-strength and remains one of the most popular models in the line-up. "There isn't another vehicle in the marketplace that compares with the Jeep Wrangler ," says Mr Groves. "It's a testament to the design and popularity of the Wrangler that it delivers a such a unique blend of freedom, adventure and capability in a vehicle that just seems to suit the lifestyle of New Zealanders so well. "And when you see the awards that the Wrangler continue to draw year-in, year-out, it's not hard to see why our products are so popular.
"As summer approaches and brings with it the appeal of open-top driving, we expect demand for the Jeep Wrangler to build even further." The Wrangler can trace its history back almost 70 years to the birth of the very first Jeep, designed in 1941 to enable the US and Allied armies traverse the battlefields of World War Two like no other vehicle. Seven decades later, the Wrangler still fulfils its original intentions, albeit in a far more peaceful role. The latest Wrangle is available in 2-door and 4-door variants, powered by either a 3.8-litre V6 petrol engine or torquey 2.8-litre diesel, both matched to smooth automatic transmissions. All Wrangler models come with very capable four-wheel-drive systems that enable this Jeep to go explore off-road trails. But the top-of-the-range Rubicon is even more capable, featuring the off-road-designed ultra-low ratio Rock Trac transfer case, locking front and rear Dana 44 axles, an electronic sway bar disconnect, improved suspension and tougher tyres to enable this model to conquer the most demanding terrain.
And like every vehicle in the Jeep line-up, all Wrangler models feature and advanced Electronic Stability Control programme that makes them safer to drive on tar sealed roads. The Jeep Wrangler range is priced from $47,990. * The views and information in this press release are solely from the company listed in the release. If you have any questions please contact the company directly.Now locally Jeep has done the same for the two-door Wrangler and four-door Wrangler Unlimited, the luxury Overland model joins the Sport and Rubicon grades. Jeep says the Overland package represents a saving of more than $7000 if all of the options were added to a Sport or Rubicon. The retail price for the Wrangler Unlimited Overland is $64,990, versus $62,990 for the trail ready Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon or $58,990 for the Wrangler Unlimited Sport. All three variants are powered by the 3.6-Litre Pentastar V6 engine with a five-speed automatic transmission. The engine delivers 209kW and 347Nm of torque, with 90% of the maximum torque available between 1,800 and 6,350 rpm.
Fuel consumption for the combined cycle is 11.7L/100km. A 2.8-Litre four-cylinder diesel engine is solely available for the Wrangler Unlimited Sport. Externally the top-of the line Wrangler Unlimited Overland is distinguished by unique 18 inch alloy wheels (with a cute little Willy’s MB graphic etched onto the wheel face) and the plastic body flares (wheel arches) and removable roof panels are painted in the same colour as the body, rather than being left in matte black. Getting in and out of the vehicle is made easier by the standard fitting of tubular side steps and these are also very useful when removing the twin rooftop panels above the driver and front passenger seat. The rear roof panel and tailgate can also be removed and replaced with the Sunrider soft top should an owner want the full-convertible effect during the warmer months of the year. While some people might unkindly call it the fridge effect, I quite liked the overall monotone look of the vehicle, especially with the darker privacy tint on the rear doors, rear cabin glass, and the tailgate glass.
In this age of aerodynamics, its nice to have a vehicle that celebrates it’s boxy design cues, and doesn’t apologise for doing so. Unlike the equally boxy, (and iconic) Land Rover Defender, which will cease production in December 2015, theres still plenty of life left in the Wrangler Unlimited thanks to its more modern design in terms of engineering and engines, yet its still highly capable off road too. The Overland specification for the Wrangler Unlimited includes automatic headlamps, fog lamps, a reversing camera, climate controlled air-conditioning, leather upholstery with seat heaters for the driver and passenger, as well as a chrome leather wrapped shift knob, and bright interior accents. Further equipment includes an Alpine audio system and media centre 731N navigation system with 16.5cm touch screen, GPS navigation, 40GB hard drive (4,250 song capacity), voice command with bluetooth, hands-free calling, and audio sync, plus six speakers and an audio jack. So whats it like on and off road?
On road it feels a bit truck-like in it’s ride, steering and handling, and this is no bad thing. The Wrangler Unlimited is not a hot hatch and shouldn’t be driven in such fashion. There is more than enough get up and go from the Pentastar V6 to keep other with other motorists at the traffic light grand prix and on the motorway, but a heavy right foot will cost at the pump. Our best fuel consumption figure was just under 13L/100km and our worst was more than 15l/100km! Parking the beast in tight spaces in a parking building is certainly made easier with the reversing camera, and it is also very useful when driving off-road, as it allows you to see obstacles from the cabin that normally a experienced off-roader would get out and have a look at before backing up. One thing to be mindful of is the steering lock of the Wrangler, the turning circle is compromised by the all wheel drive system, so often we found ourselves executing the old fashioned three-point turn when exiting a car park.
Backing into a space, rather than driving into a space is recommended. Really hard-core off-roaders will opt for the less luxuriously appointed Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon as this comes from the factory trail ready with a Rock-Trac 4.0:1 low-gear ratio transfer case, Tru-Lok front and rear locking differentials, a front sway bar disconnect system, heavy-duty side and underbody rock rails, and steel plated off-road skid plates. The Unlimited Overland uses different system to the Rubicon which is called Command-Trac. It also has shift-on-the-fly transfer case to engage high or low range all-wheel-drive, but for the majority of our test run, we left the vehicle in rear-drive mode. We were mindful that while the Overland is still a very capable off-road machine, it is not as well equipped for bush bashing as the Renegade, so we didn’t go looking for some testing bush tracks. Instead for the photo shoot shoot we decided to head to the beach as many owners will do and selected low range four-wheel-drive to crawl along a rocky shoreline at low tide.