Kamis, 06 November 2008

2007 Jeep Wrangler gets more civilized; still rocks the rocks

July 30th, 2007 by admin

That said, the Wrangler Rubicon — two-door or four — is unquestionably the stoutest piece of off-road hardware you can buy off a showroom floor. True, it doesn’t have quite the integrated design and packaging of the Nissan Xterra or Toyota FJ Cruiser; both those vehicles were clean-sheet projects, while the Wrangler has a lot of legacy to cope with. Call it literary tradition, if you like. The Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon is more civilized than ever, but it’s still a noble savage. Cooper would have been proud.

2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited

2007 Jeep Wrangler 2 door
Image credit: www.carbuyersnotebook.com

A recent article in the San Francisco Journal finished up with that paragraph.

Overall, the review is fair. It starts out detailing the pains that make living with previous generations of the Wrangler name somewhat of a trade off.

With this newest model, it’s almost like Jeep took almost all of the rough edges, smoothed them out, then reviewed things and decided to add a smidge of pain back into the package. Just to keep with tradition.

To this end, they seem to have made sure the rear seat is solid, up-right and thoroughly uncomfortable. This is certainly nothing dramatic to any owner, as they’ll be up front, where new, nicer touches abound.

In the end, it’s only the 4,442 lb weight of the Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon (4 door) that startles a bit. WOW! Two and a quarter TONS. That’s only about 300 lbs off the 4WD Commander’s 4783 lbs…and at least THAT Jeep can be optioned with the HEMI engine to handle the bulk.

The Wrangler currently is only offered with the new 3.8 V6 engine, which struggles with the bulk around town and on the highway. offroad, the Dana 44 axles, lockers and very low ratio transfer case combine to make the 2007 Wrangler damn near unstoppable. In the Unlimited, you might be stuck in tight turns, or because of the reduced break-over angle, but this is what body armor is intended for. ;)

…and with about 5 inches MORE width that past models, the 2007 Wrangler is goign to be a whole lot more comfortable on side hills.

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