New Jeep goes beyond capable
Wrangler Rubicon is an immeasurably tough SUV that lives up to its predecessors
Danger is everywhere. It’s in the rocks, the trees and the cliffs. The danger is just not in flipping this open-top 2018 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, tossing us down an incline that could kill us, but also in the possibility of severing a vital artery of this Jeep on some sharp outcrop.
The name of the Rubicon Trail, a 35-kilometre scar in the earth just west of Lake Tahoe, is deceptive. Some sections are not trail at all, just lonely and narrow gaps of boulders. Heck, goats and horses would refuse to walk among these ruins of rock. In some sections, the Rubicon is like trying to transverse Mars; it’s unpredictable, unreliable, unknown. Established, more or less, in the early 1950s, the Rubicon Trail earned its status when a group of friends believed their Jeeps might be able to cross the tortuous path of granite.
The trail is not maintained and changes from day to day, season to season.
Many who attempt the Rubicon fail, their vehicles simply unable to withstand the constant abuse and punishment the trail inflicts on just about everything a vehicle needs to keep moving. It’s not for the weak — driver or vehicle.
Yet those who first made it proved that with the right vehicle and equipment, and an abundance of caution, patience and perseverance, the trail could be conquered.
Today, the most off-road version of Jeep Wrangler is banging and scraping away on factory rock rails, steel frame, protector plates, bumpers, body cladding and differential, a little like those first trailblazers. Except we have air conditioning for the hot afternoon sun, and heated steering wheel and seats for the cool mornings of the two-day trip. We also have satellite radio, LED headlamps, an electronically disconnecting front sway bar, differentials in the front and rear that lock with the push of button, burly 33-inch BF Goodrich KO2 all-terrain tires, and automatic transmissions.
All that makes it sound like conquering the Rubicon in a $50,000 Rubicon would be a breeze. Not quite.
The Jeep Wrangler has always been a capable off-roader. Even its look, highlighted by the seven gap grille, round headlamps and open top, has stayed consistent.
Countless times on the Trail, mostly when uttering “there’s no way we’re going to get through this,” the Rubicon kept moving forward, upward and over all obstacles in its way. “I can’t believe we just did that,” became a familiar response.
Two new engines join the familiar 3.6-litre Pentastar V6, which was upgraded to 285 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque. A new, turbocharged 2.0-L, directinjection in-line four, paired with an eight-speed TorqueFlite automatic, gets 270 horsepower and 295 lb-ft of torque. Yes, that’s more torque than the V6 and it feels perfectly suited to the Rubicon. A 3.0-L EcoDiesel V6 with 260 hp and 442 lb-ft of torque is coming in 2019.
Inside, the interior has been sharply refined with better materials and fit.
Starting at $34,945 for the base Sport and going up to $49,745 for the Unlimited Rubicon, the Wrangler can, of course, be had with two or four doors, with dozens of different door, colour, windshield and top combinations.
The Rubicon has taken all that was good about previous models and made the 2018 better.