The latest Wrangler has to be good on the road while preserving its prowess off it. Paul Acres reports.

The slower steering doesn’t, however, imbue the Wrangler with easy stability at higher speeds.

In bends it leans heavily on the outside wheels and there’s limited grip at the front leading to inevitable understeer if you attempt to hurry it along.

The suspension dispatches larger holes and bumps in a respectably damped way and, while rebound is not so well controlled, the car doesn’t float too much over crests. Patchier surfaces keep the Wrangler’s chassis busy though. Efforts to shield occupants from engine, wind and tyre noise are hampered a little by the decision to make the Wrangler so easy to disassemble. The diesel engine is particularly audible when it’s being worked hard while on road and wind roar provide a persistent backing-track to any long-distance journey.

The 2.2-litre MultiJet-II turbodiesel makes positive contributions to the Wrangler’s improvements in refinement and driveability. It’s coupled to a new eight-speed automatic gearbox that is well-mannered and smooth.

The cabin is a pleasant-enough place to spend your time. The leather seats are comfortable and supportive and the plastics feel tough and tactile. The controls are sensibly laid out and easy to use too.

Front seat passengers aren’t blessed with acres of space, something that might come as a surprise in a vehicle this size.

The door apertures are relatively small and the sills high and, even when you’ve manoeuvred yourself into the high-set driver’s seat, you’ll discover marginally less legroom than you might expect.

Rear-seat passengers arguably fair better, with head and leg room that’s largely on a par with what you’d find elsewhere. The Wrangler will carry 533 litres of your luggage with the rear seats in place. Folded flat, that increases to 1,044 litres. It is fitted with the company’s fourth generation Uconnect infotainment system. It sports an 8.4in touchscreen mounted in the centre of the dashboard. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto is included but if that’s not your bag you can use the standard factory navigation.

It isn’t particularly responsive. At times you’ll find yourself poking the screen two or three times before anything happens. Thankfully there’s a row of shortcut buttons beneath the screen that help make life a little less painful.

The latest Wrangler retains its reputation as one of the toughest, most capable offroaders on the market, and its image reflects that. However, it’s the great strides that have been made in on-road driveability that impresses the most.

The cabin is more spacious and quality much-improved. It still doesn’t ride or handle with quite the same finesse and polish as many of its rivals but, when you consider what it can do when you’re separated from the nearest Tarmac by miles of almost impassable countryside, it isn’t hard to find a little forgiveness. If you want an SUV with proper off-road credentials but can still serve as everyday family transport, it would be hard to find a better proposition than the Wrangler.