2013 Wrangler Rubicon a trail-chewing king
Off-roading is something many look down upon — many say it is for those with big gussied-up rigs and knobby tires. Truth be told, I was in that camp until an extraordinary off-road experience changed my mind. Wheeling, as its practitioners know it, takes both skill and endurance. As a part of the 10th anniversary of the introduction of the first Wrangler Rubicon, Jeep is at it again. The latest version, which was revealed at the Los Angeles Auto Show, takes a basic Wrangler and does to it what many of the company’s traditional customers do — beef it up to take its off-road ability to the next level.
Along with the Dana 44 front and rear axles with locking differentials, the 2013 Wrangler Rubicon earns a rock-crawling transfer case ratio of 4:1 and a remote sway bar disconnect system. To minimize damage, it also gets a 13-millimetre increase in the ride height, steel bumpers in lieu of the plastic ones on the mortal Wrangler — the front bumper features removable end caps and it is winch-ready — along a full slate of skid plates and rub rails that protect the rocker panels. Throw on a set of LT265/70R17 BF Goodrich KM2 tires and there is very little that will stop the Wrangler Rubicon’s forward progress.
In a former life, I taught off-roading basics. At that time, the norm was to drive a trail that most cars could negotiate, but with a couple of tougher obstacles thrown in for good measure. So, when the chance to drive the mother of all off-road trails in the mother of all off-road vehicles arrived, how could I refuse? After all, California’s Rubicon Trail, the majority of which, somewhat ironically, follows Wentworth Springs Road, is the toughest off-road trail to be found in North America — the Wrangler that bears its name is just as tough.
What sets this trail apart from most is that there is no rest between obstacles — they just keep coming one after the next. Indeed, the access road to the trailhead is tougher than many so-called trails I have driven. The thing about the Rubicon Trail is that it involves coaxing a four-wheeled mule over, around and between boulders that resemble small houses. That’s the easy part. The tough part is learning where to place the wheel(s) so that when climbing over a rock one does not rip the guts out of the un- derside of the vehicle.
So, how difficult is the Rubicon Trail? Well, in many places, it was easier to drive a given section than it was to walk it. In all, it took 14 hours to negotiate 20 kilometres of torturous trail. That represents an average speed of less than 1.5 km/h.
One particularly difficult section of the trail involved driving toward two enormous boulders that towered over the Wrangler Rubicon and making a 90-left between the two while inching over a boulder that was waiting to wipe out the transfer case if the wheel placement was not millimetreperfect — spinning the wheels at this juncture would have seen the Jeep slip off the rock and leave the driver (me) hapless and high-centered. This is where I learned the value of the Rubicon’s differential lockers — pushing a dash-mounted button engaged or disengaged the front and rear lockers as they were needed along the trail. I found it beneficial to keep the rear axle locked most of the time and just engage the front locker in particularly gnarly sections — locking the front axle makes it difficult to steer with the precision the trail calls for along almost every single inch of the way.
Reaching the overnight camp required negotiating a long downhill section called Little Sluice — it was a very difficult section littered with boulders. They proved to be the easy part. It was getting dark and the door mirrors touched the trees that formed giant gateposts all the way down the wet and slippery descent. Reaching camp, we parked, took a well-earned rest and prepared to conquer Cadillac Hill in the morning. This is, arguably, the most difficult section of the Rubicon Trail.
Cadillac Hill features a series of switchbacks, exposed tree roots, off-camber climbs and yet more boulders. It winds its way up to Observation Point — a flat plateau that gives a breathtaking view of the Rubicon Trail and surrounding area. From Observation Point, we took the gravel road back to Lake Tahoe and a well deserved shower — wheeling makes for a surprisingly vigorous workout.
I have done some mighty daft things over the past 25 years in this business. Tackling the Rubicon Trail is, without question, the daftest of all. It also proved to be the most fun I have had testing a new vehicle — the adrenalin rush proved to be every bit as intense as driving a Porsche flat out around a challenging racetrack. The sense of accomplishment that comes with climbing the likes of Cadillac Hill without destroying my ride gave me a high that is not soon going to be beaten.
The proof of the Rubicon’s offroad ability is found in the fact that a dozen pre-production vehicles navigated the entire trail without casualty. Indeed, the Rubicon’s new steel bumpers and side rub rails kept nature at bay and the rocker panels in one piece.
Yes, there were a few scrapes on the skid plates, but that was it. Truly remarkable, given the extreme severity of the test.