The Jeep Wrangler: An Iconic Vehicle with Its Fair Share of Limitations

The Jeep Wrangler is an icon that has been keeping on living, thanks to continual updates that have made it more and more civilized over the years. We purchased this particular model to test its performance in The Daily Grind, and we were eager to see how well it would handle various road conditions.

One of the biggest reasons why Jeep sells a lot of Wranglers is its styling, which is nothing short of unique. With numerous options available, you can get your Wrangler in various configurations, such as two-door or four-door models, unlimited top styles, and even a four-door convertible. The latter option allows for quick open-air fun with the hard top, where you simply pop off the front two panels. While dealing with all these different tops can be fussy and time-consuming, it's worth it for the freedom to enjoy the great outdoors.

However, despite its iconic status, the Wrangler is not without its limitations. One of its well-known features is its excellent off-road capability, which includes superior ground clearance and axle articulation. However, our tested Sahara model struggled on Rock Hill, with traction only being "so-so." In fact, if you want top-of-the-line Rubicon models with more advanced off-road equipment or many owners who extensively modify their Wranglers from the factory, you'll find that this particular Wrangler finally gets a modern engine – a 3.6L V6 – which provides excellent power and better fuel economy.

Despite its impressive capabilities, the Wrangler is not exactly known for its comfort on paved roads. The biggest problem with driving the Wrangler is its steering, which is vague and slow. When you turn the wheel, there's hardly any feedback, making it difficult to gauge your turns or navigate tight corners. Additionally, the standard stability control system helps keep the Wrangler secure but fails to address the low handling limits that make it feel unconfident in emergency situations.

Moreover, when driving on wet or dry pavement, stopping distances are quite long, which is a significant drawback for this vehicle. This, combined with its ride quality, makes it less than ideal as a comfortable Highway Cruiser. The Wrangler's constant jolts and bounces make the ride feel more like a rough terrain excursion than a smooth drive on the highway.

While the Wrangler does have some features that are common in everyday cars, such as heated seats, power mirrors, and automatic climate control, these comforts come at a premium price. In fact, our tested model came with an astonishing $366,000 price tag, which is certainly not what one would call a cheap weekend toy.

When it comes to the interior, you'll find that this particular Wrangler has undergone significant updates. The nicest features include heated seats, power mirrors, and automatic climate control – all standard equipment in everyday cars. However, the dashboard has seen some "neat touches" such as cool metal vents and Allen bolts, which are reminiscent of Jeep's off-road heritage. Nevertheless, the interior is designed to be partly taken apart and assembled again, with visible bodycolor metal on doors and floors around seats.

One interesting observation about this Wrangler model is that it has an unusual wire loom running into the doors. This system seems incomplete at times, which may lead to some minor technical issues during assembly or maintenance. The control layout can also be a bit confusing, especially with power window switches located in the middle of the dashboard.

In terms of overall design and user experience, this particular Wrangler model has made significant strides towards meeting everyday expectations but falls short in areas where it counts the most – comfort, performance, and reliability.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthe Jeep Wrangler is an icon that keeps living on continual updates have made it more and more civilized over the years we bought this one to test to find out how well it does in The Daily Grind first the good news Jeep sells a lot of Wranglers and a big reason for that has to be the styling nothing else looks like this you can get your Wrangler a lot of different ways you can get a two-door or you can get a four-door unlimited like the one that we have here you want a four-door convertible this is basically the only game in town you can fold back the soft top you can even take the doors off or you can get a hard top dealing with all these various tops is fussy and time consuming however if you want just some quick open air fun with the hard top you can just pop off the front two panels Wranglers are well well known for their off-road capability they have excellent ground clearance and Axle articulation however traction on our Rock Hill with our tested Sahara model was only so so you can get a top ofline Rubicon model with more off-road equipment or many owners extensively modify their Wranglers far from what came from the factory the Wrangler finally gets a modern engine a 3.6 L V6 it's a big Improvement provides good power and better fuel economy and now the bad news most people when they buy their Wrangler they Envision that they're going to be driving off-road all the time but Wranglers spend most of their time on the road and really the wrangler's lousy to drive the biggest problem is the steering it's vague and slow not much happens when you turn the wheel you also get quite a bit of body roll in the corners standard stability control ultimately keeps the Wrangler secure the problem is handling limits are very low the Wrangler does not feel confident in emergency situations it doesn't help that stopping distances are long on either wet or dry pavement it probably doesn't come as a surprise that the Wrangler is not the most comfortable Highway Cruiser the ride is constantly busy it's jiggly there's lots of little bounces that come through what is surprising is that road noise is actually well isolated but that's pretty much masked by the wind noise which gets really bad it speeds over 40 miles an hour after all you're basically pushing a brick through the air despite the upright styling driver visibility has got some problems some of the roof pillars are pretty thick The View out of the back window well it's partly blocked by the spare tire the center brake light the wiper motor all these things get in the way when you're trying to see what's behind you inside this is the nicest Wrangler ever you can get heated seats power mirrors automatic climate control these are features that are common in everyday cars they're downright deck it in a Wrangler there's also some neat touches inside like the Jeep graphic on the windshield these cool metal Vents and these Allen bolts on the dashboard but keep in mind this interior is meant to get wet and partly be taken apart you can see bodyc color metal on the doors and on the floors around the seats there's also a wire loom that runs into the doors it all doesn't look quite finished controls are mostly simple but they aren't all where you'd expect them to be especially these power window switches on the middle of the dashboard the front seats aren't all that comfortable they're flat and the cushioning gives uneven support it's not easy getting an out of the Jeep it's quite a climb up even with the running boards and the doors they're pretty small once you're in the back you'll find there's enough room for adults but the seat is pretty small it's not that comfortable this might be the best Wrangler yet the problem is that's not really enough sure it still has the cool image and off-road credit but there's a whole bunch of limitations that make this a really crummy daily driver and at over $366,000 for our Wrangler it's no cheap weekend toythe Jeep Wrangler is an icon that keeps living on continual updates have made it more and more civilized over the years we bought this one to test to find out how well it does in The Daily Grind first the good news Jeep sells a lot of Wranglers and a big reason for that has to be the styling nothing else looks like this you can get your Wrangler a lot of different ways you can get a two-door or you can get a four-door unlimited like the one that we have here you want a four-door convertible this is basically the only game in town you can fold back the soft top you can even take the doors off or you can get a hard top dealing with all these various tops is fussy and time consuming however if you want just some quick open air fun with the hard top you can just pop off the front two panels Wranglers are well well known for their off-road capability they have excellent ground clearance and Axle articulation however traction on our Rock Hill with our tested Sahara model was only so so you can get a top ofline Rubicon model with more off-road equipment or many owners extensively modify their Wranglers far from what came from the factory the Wrangler finally gets a modern engine a 3.6 L V6 it's a big Improvement provides good power and better fuel economy and now the bad news most people when they buy their Wrangler they Envision that they're going to be driving off-road all the time but Wranglers spend most of their time on the road and really the wrangler's lousy to drive the biggest problem is the steering it's vague and slow not much happens when you turn the wheel you also get quite a bit of body roll in the corners standard stability control ultimately keeps the Wrangler secure the problem is handling limits are very low the Wrangler does not feel confident in emergency situations it doesn't help that stopping distances are long on either wet or dry pavement it probably doesn't come as a surprise that the Wrangler is not the most comfortable Highway Cruiser the ride is constantly busy it's jiggly there's lots of little bounces that come through what is surprising is that road noise is actually well isolated but that's pretty much masked by the wind noise which gets really bad it speeds over 40 miles an hour after all you're basically pushing a brick through the air despite the upright styling driver visibility has got some problems some of the roof pillars are pretty thick The View out of the back window well it's partly blocked by the spare tire the center brake light the wiper motor all these things get in the way when you're trying to see what's behind you inside this is the nicest Wrangler ever you can get heated seats power mirrors automatic climate control these are features that are common in everyday cars they're downright deck it in a Wrangler there's also some neat touches inside like the Jeep graphic on the windshield these cool metal Vents and these Allen bolts on the dashboard but keep in mind this interior is meant to get wet and partly be taken apart you can see bodyc color metal on the doors and on the floors around the seats there's also a wire loom that runs into the doors it all doesn't look quite finished controls are mostly simple but they aren't all where you'd expect them to be especially these power window switches on the middle of the dashboard the front seats aren't all that comfortable they're flat and the cushioning gives uneven support it's not easy getting an out of the Jeep it's quite a climb up even with the running boards and the doors they're pretty small once you're in the back you'll find there's enough room for adults but the seat is pretty small it's not that comfortable this might be the best Wrangler yet the problem is that's not really enough sure it still has the cool image and off-road credit but there's a whole bunch of limitations that make this a really crummy daily driver and at over $366,000 for our Wrangler it's no cheap weekend toy\n"