The Wrangler Unlimited comes with a 2.8 litre 4 cylinder common rail diesel motor. It puts out a good 197 bhp @3600 rpm with a healthy torque figure of 460 Nm which comes between 1600 – 2600 rpm. Start the jeep and the engine settles down to idle with normal diesel clatter. Although the Wrangler weighs 2 tonnes, it is by no means a slouch. It is pretty quick and goes from 0 to 100 kph in just over 10 seconds. The engine is mated to a 5 speed automatic gearbox which is quite sluggish at times. Drive with a light foot and the tranny hunts for gears. On the other hand, stomp the accelerator hard and this mammoth just leaps forward. I easily managed a 160 kph on the speedo and it did manage to surprise quite a few other cars on the road with the way it would take off. You can also drive it in manual mode. In D mode, tap the gear stick to the right to upshift or to the left for a downshift. As soon as you tap the lever in D, a gear indicator comes up on the multi info display in the instrument cluster. Ride quality is bumpy on uneven roads thanks to the live axle setup but is decent on smooth tarmac but nowhere near the other soft roaders or luxury SUVs. The test jeep was shod with 245/75 R17 Good Year Wrangler off road tyres. Braking is also impressive with ABS all around. The Wrangler also comes with Electronic Stability Control.
It is when you go offroad is when the Wrangler comes into its own because that is where its real playground is. Switch the little gear lever to 4L and all the on road negatives turn into positives immediately. What felt slugglish on road feels perfect now and the Wrangler can tackle any obstacle without breaking a sweat. There is good wheel articulation as well and it will stop at nothing making short work of anything you throw at it. Taking climbs or declines were made to look easy even for a novice off roader like me. I did not try extreme offroading though, as that should always be done when you have a backup vehicle at hand. I didn’t want be stuck between a rock and hard place you see.
Most of the SUVs that are sold in India are never taken offroad. They generally see only city traffic and their owners are generally chauffeured around. Very rarely are they seen in their natural environment. The Jeep Wrangler is another animal altogether. It has got character that is unmatched by the rest of SUV band wagon. Sure it feels basic but at the same time has most of the creature comforts too. And go anywhere it can, and how. There is only one problem and that is the price. At Rs. 71.5 lakhs it’s way more than what was expected and that puts the Wrangler in luxury SUV space. But if you are a hardcore Jeeper and can afford to buy one, there is nothing that comes even close to the legend that the Wrangler is. After all ‘It’s a Jeep Thing’.
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