2021 Wrangler Rubicon promises 490 horsepower
What’s that? You’d like to have a Wrangler powered by a V8 engine the size of a grand piano? One that can ford nearly three feet of water and accelerate to highway speeds in just 4.5 seconds?
The 2021 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 392 has all those attributes in spades.
Powered by a 6.4L V8 engine, it is good for 470 horsepower and a like amount of torque, all funneled to the ground via the brand’s notable eight-speed automatic transmission that employs lessons learned in the Grand Cherokee Trackhawk. An active dual-mode exhaust is standard.
Jeep’s famous Trail Rated badge remains, thanks to a Selec-trac two-speed transfer case, heavy-duty Dana 44
axles with locking diffs, and an electronic front swaybar disconnect. A variety of drive modes fettle the 392’s power and traction delivery, while an Off-road Plus mode permits locking the rear diff in 4-High. Low-range and a 48:1 crawl ratio mean those who enjoy technical trails will likely be able to rumble along without using the accelerator thanks to the monstrous amount of torque provided by the 6.4L V8.
Engineers also went ahead and upgraded the frame rails while adding cast-iron steering knuckles and beefier upper control arms, presumably in an attempt to prevent this amount of power from twisting everything into a festive candy cane. It rides on a factory two-inch lift and 33-inch tires on 17-inch beadlock-capable wheels over a set of beefed-up brakes.
Those are Fox-branded aluminum monotube shocks at each corner, by the way, and the extra height adds halfa-degree of attack to both the approach and departure angles
compared to a stock Rubicon Unlimited. Oddly, ground clearance is shaved by half-aninch (10.3 vs 10.8 inches) but what exactly the low-hanging fruit is under the V8-equipped Rubicon is unclear.
An engine this big needs to breathe, something which is often hindered by the very stuff into which Jeep owners drive off-road. Wrangler Rubicon 392 introduces a HydroGuide air intake system that deploys a tri-level ducting system with a series of drains, including a one-way drain in the air box that separates water — up to 15 gallons per minute — away from the engine’s incoming air.
This enables a fording depth of 32.5 inches and allegedly even guards against a bow wake washing over the hood. A secondary air path within the hood structure can also feed the engine should the functional hood scoop become restricted by snow, mud, or debris. Jeep says this design permits a top-speed run even with a fully blocked primary air path.
Spotting a Wrangler Rubicon 392 on the trail will be easy, presuming you don’t hear the thing first. Jeep has decided to festoon bronze accents on the exterior, plus the wider stance and steroidal hood are dead giveaways. Your author is particularly enamored with those quad exhaust tips. Its interior will be laden with the type of luxury features found on top-rung Wranglers, such as leather seats and all manner of active safety equipment.
Curb weight is an astonishing 5,103 pounds, an increase of 654 lbs compared to a stock four-door Rubicon equipped with the 3.6L V6 engine and automatic transmission. The next heaviest Wrangler is a diesel-equipped Rubicon, which bends the Earth at 4,862 pounds. A fantastic retro option, half-doors, will surely shed some weight and will likely migrate to other trims of the Wrangler next year.
To say the Jeep Wrangler has a variety of powertrain options would be a severe
understatement. In Canada, it is currently available in no fewer than 16 different trim levels when counting both two- and four-door models, with either the venerable 3.6L V6 or a 2.0L turbo under the hood, the former offered with or without etorque mild hybridization.
Electrified 4xe versions are on the way, not to mention the Ecodiesel. Adding this 6.4L V8 – an engine that swills premium fuel – to the mix thickens the order catalog even further.
It would appear decades of gearheads plunking V8 engines between the front fenders of CJS and Wranglers were onto something after all. Of course, the Wrangler 392 is engineered and built by people at Jeep who know what they’re doing and not just hammered together by some guy in a shed. Its full factory warranty doesn’t hurt, either.
The 2021 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 392 goes on sale in the first quarter of 2021.