BORN TO BE WILD

Make no mistake, the 2024 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon is ready to rock and roll right out of the showroom floor.Despite receiving many modern creature comforts meant to make the daily commute easier, it’s still tough as nails, and is one of the most extreme off-road capable vehicles right out of the dealership without any modifications or upgrades needed.

For 2024, the iconic Jeep, with its 80+ year legacy, now sports many modern comfort and convenience touches. Up front, it has a more commanding signature seven-slot Jeep grille, a new infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, bigger 285/70R17 BF Goodrich KO2 aggressive all-terrain tires (33-inchers for those who prefer traditional ‘English’ measurement) upgraded off-road features, 8-way electronically power operated seats with water-proof electronics (a first for the Jeep Wrangler) and enhanced safety features to tame the wild beast for daily driving duties. No wonder Jeep has sold over five million units through five modern generations and its earlier predecessors which were military vehicles for the United States Army. To this day, the Jeep is produced solely in America.

Of course, the Jeep Wrangler has the oily bits to ensure its off-road conquering heritage remains unquestioned. It has the new 4:1 Rock-Trac HD Full Time 4WD System, Dana M220 Wide Full Floating Rear Axle, Dana M210 Wide Heavy Duty Tube Front Axle, E-Locker Front and Rear Axle, 4.10 Rear Axle Ratio, Front Disconnecting Stabilizer Bar to improve articulation off-road, a suspension that seems able to confidently conquer corners as well as boulders, stylish yet functional fender flares, rock sliders (step rails are an option), underbelly armor, an integrated front facing camera meant for rock-crawling through tight and tricky terrain and tow-hooks to make recovery easier. And with the Jeep’s off-road abilities, you will want to keep pushing it through to more challenging terrain. Best invest in a winch and some really meaty tires if you really want to go hardcore.

As with any beast of burden, the Jeep’s heart is a truly mighty one. While small in stature at 2.0 liters of displacement, the turbocharged, direct-injected 4-cylinder mill pumps out a punchy 268 American ponies at 5,250rpm coupled with 400 Newton-Meters of torque at 3,000rpm driving all four wheels via ZF’s ubiquitous 8-speed transmission. It also keeps the nose light, allowing for better balance on the road and off the beaten path. On or off road, the engine is revvy, responsive and has a broad power band.

With front and rear e-diff lockers and a heavy duty Rock-Trac 4×4 transfer case, the drivetrain is more than capable to harness the power and put it efficiently down the ground and get you and the Jeep out of tricky and sticky conditions. The supplied Dana front and rear axles make sure you brake rocks first before the driveline goes bust.

As with any modern vehicle, there’s a slew of safety equipment including multi-stage front airbags, traction / stability control, roll-over mitigation, rear cross-traffic alert, blind-spot monitoring, hill-start assist and ABS brakes with emergency brake assist.

Inside, the infotainment has an Alpine surround sound system with the aforementioned Apple CarPlay and Android Auto plus a 12.3 inch LCD display. The driver gets a 7-inch LCD display in between the tach and speedometer. The 8-way power seats came late as Jeep had to engineer water-resistant electronics. Many hardcore Jeep owners remove the doors to prevent it from floating away when they need to traverse rivers on a proper trail. Gorilla glass helps chassis rigidity when you pop the removable roof off and doesn’t break easily when a thick branch whacks it off-road.

So, how is to drive? Impressive actually. I took it to some rough bits and it felt like the Jeep was jeering at me for bringing it to such a laughable ‘trail’ as the suspension didn’t even break a sweat. The ride is firm but more than compliant through the harsh stuff and very confident on the highway. The brakes offer surprisingly good feel and modulation, something I never expect in an American truck. The steering however takes quite a bit of getting used to.

There’s a huge amount of play at dead-center and when you suddenly feel the steering effort kick-in, the Jeep almost swerves as the steering input finally relays the intent from the driver. You learn to steer very carefully with the Jeep. Get the hang of it and it’s fun to hustle the Jeep, green-laning on the fast lane.

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For hardcore off-roaders, you’ll be pleased to know that the Jeep has an impressive 43.9 degree approach angle for the 4-door on its 285/70R17 tires, a breakover angle of 22.6 degrees, a departure angle of 37 degrees, with a 274mm ground clearance. And with all the flooding we’ve had recently, it’s timely to note that the Jeep has a very impressive 860mm flood fording depth traversing it at crawling speed. Go from 33-inch wheels and tires to the available factory optional 35-inches (in the US at least) and the off-road related values improve further. All this means of course that the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon is properly trail rated by the Nevada Automotive Test Center off-road testing, which evaluates and separates the rock crawlers from the mall crawlers.

At P5.79M, it’s pretty pricey and appeals to a very limited but very fanatical segment that loves the brand, what it stands for and what it can do, which is to go hard on the trails. Is that you?