What is a Wrangler? The Wrangler is an SUV built in the Toledo, Ohio assembly plant and sold worldwide by Jeep. Wrangler is a vehicle that’s designed specifically for off roading. The 2 door Wrangler is a compact SUV, while the 4 door Wrangler is a midsize SUV. The Wrangler’s midsize 4 door models sit between the compact and full size SUVs and offers comfort, style and performance.
What is a Jeep Rubicon? The Rubicon name means having the ability to go off road with confidence. Rubicon refers to the gesture of Caesar, who decided to go for it, and not look back, but also to the Rubicon Trail in Northern California that can only be crossed by a handful of vehicles across the entire off road industry. Jeep’s that are Trail Rated can go over the extreme rocky trail that starts in California and ends in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
This week Jeep sent me a 2024 Wrangler 4 Door 4XE SUV to test drive and review. The base window sticker price for this Rubicon X model is $61,395. The options on the test SUV are: the exterior paint for $595, the customer preferred package for $8,950, the all weather floor mats for $170, the Sky One Touch power folding top for $3,995 and the factory installed Warn Winch assembly for $1,995. The manufactures suggested retail price (MSRP), including the $1,895 destination and delivery fee, is: $78,995.
After adding in the state and local sales tax, plus the DMV and dealers fees, the out the door and in your garage total purchase price came to: $88,869. Whew! At near $89 Grand this Jeep Rubicon X 4XE edition has every off road and power option; shy of the 392 Hemi engine. The standard and optional equipment list on the window sticker is over 75 lines long! This Wrangler Rubicon X 4XE SUV is at the top of the charts in Jeeps.
Power for this 4XE model starts with a 2.0 liter inline 4 cylinder dual over head cam (DOHC) direct injected (DI), turbo PHEV eco-friendly gas engine, with a plug-in hybrid electronic drive train, 2 electric motors and a 17-kWh battery pack that combined, make 375 horsepower (HP) and 470 lb-ft of torque. This engine is bolted to an 8 speed automatic transmission, routed into a 4.1 Rock-Trac heavy duty full time all wheel drive (AWD) traction control system, going into a Dana 44 front axle and a Dana M220 wide full floating rear axle assembly with 4:10 gears. Both axles have Tru-Loc center diffs with electronic off-road plus modes. This Rubicon X can drive over any obstacles at will.
This Jeep is a 4XE plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), and can go 21 miles on a full charge. The Level 1 charging cable will fully charge the battery in 12 hours, and a level 2 charger can charge the Wrangler 4xe battery in about 2 hours. This driveline gets 20 MPG driving on the gas engine and 40 MPGe on combined gas and electric driving. The greenhouse gas rating is a 6 and the smog rating is a 7; both out of 10. These are great numbers for any vehicle, let alone one that can go up and over the Rubicon trail.
Besides being an off road King, this Jeep has a long list of comfort and safety items too; such as, Napa leather covered heated power seats, a heated steering wheel, blind spot and cross path detection, remote start, remote entry, push button start, automatic high beam control, rear parking sensors, side rear window defrosters, an integrated off road camera, all weather floor mats, an Alpine premium audio system with 8 speakers, Apple CarPlay, Sirius XM HD radio, Android Auto, and an 8,000 lb rated front bumper Warn Winch.
An interesting option on this Jeep is the One Touch power top. A 4 door Wrangler with a power top takes around 10 to 12 seconds to open, or close, meaning it takes about the same amount of time to go up as it does to go down. In the old days it took two guys two hours, with a bag full of tools, plus a 6 pack and a pizza, to see the sun in a Jeep. Now it takes less than 12 seconds, and then you driving around town in a Wrangler convertible.
Call, click or visit your local Jeep dealer for a test drive, and a Bottom Line price review, on the 2024 Wrangler 4 door Rubicon X 4XE SUV. Remember that the base price for a new Wrangler starts at only $31,995. Jeep – Go Anywhere, Do Anything – Since 1941.
Be smart, stay safe, and just breathe. Remember, You Are What You Drive, and maybe, just for those reasons alone, you should Drive one, Buy one, Today. Have a great day, drive safely, and enjoy the ride, as the future looks nice and bright – Tony the Car Guy.
This Bottom Line new vehicle review is a Nut & Bolt and Dollars & Sense editorial provided by Tony Leopardo. Tony the Car Guy is an automotive writer, editor and publisher in the San Francisco Bay Area. If you have a question, or comment for Tony, send it to [email protected] and visit AutoWire.Net at www.autowire.net
