4x4
cargo bay. This is accessed through
a traditional Jeep tailgate featuring
a side-hinged lower half-door
and top-hinged upper glazed area,
leaving a mighty great aperture
for loading large and bulky items.
Basically, the rear end of a Wrangler
is just a huge square box on wheels,
and that shape is put to good use
for creating a usable space for
carrying cargo.
It’s handy for the other kind
of luggage, too. Beneath the rear
¾ oor is a big, hidden stowage
compartment that would be ideal
for ferreting away things like
laptops, tablets and so on.
DRIVING
The Wrangler has received some
absolutely ridiculous criticism from
the mainstream motoring press,
seemingly based on the fact that
they can’t accept that there’s any
difference between a BMW X5 or
Porsche Macan and a something
designed to go off-road. Not that
there’s anything new there – the
Land Rover Defender copped it
non-stop, and the new Suzuki Jimny
has been widely reviewed with a
similar level of ineptitude.
If you expect the Wrangler to
drive like a performance SUV, or in
fact any kind of SUV, you’re going to
be disappointed. It has the high-set
stance of a truck and the cheerfully
wafty body movements of a vehicle
designed to ¾ ex its way oZer roughterrain, and it you know your off-
roaders you’ll love it.
Naturally, its steering isn’t very
sharp and its ride is heavy. It’s
perfectly controllable, though, and
even on heavy-duty live axles it
shudders, not crashes, when you
hit pot holes. Its turning circle is
absolutely brilliant for such a big,
long vehicle, too.We don’t think the 2.0-litre
petrol engine suits its character,
though. There’s a lot of power
there, as we said earlier, and it
comes with a lot of revs, and that’s
not well suited to the Wrangler’s
relaxed steering and chilled-out
body control. You’ll stun a few
people from a standing start when
the lights turn green, but the engine1995cc petrol engine is powerful
enough at 272bhp but needs a lot
of revs to do its best work. It’s
very smooth, but a lazier delivery
would be much better suited
to the Wrangler’s nature