The Jeep Wrangler is America’s first, best, and truest sport utility vehicle. Approaching five million units sold, it is the benchmark for off-road vehicles. With a seemingly infinite number of configurations, the Wrangler is also one of America’s most customizable vehicles. We deftly avoided injecting the word “bespoke” in that last sentence. Give us some applause!

Jeep’s Wrangler is an icon and is owned by some of America’s most model-loyal buyers. In an age where front-wheel drive hatchbacks are now boldly and ridiculously referred to as “SUVs” by automakers, the Wrangler is one of the last true sport utility vehicles left.

If you want a real SUV, and if you want unsurpassed off-road capability, look no further than the Jeep Wrangler. Prices start at just $33K. So, there is a Wrangler in your new-SUV budget, it just might not be the $95K Rubicon 392.

The Wrangler delivers on every promise. It is truly exceptional at what it is designed for. However, we caution our readers to be true to themselves. The Wrangler is not a great vehicle for commuting in stop-and-go traffic. It is also not the best vehicle its size you can buy for on-road snow and winter driving. In fact, in these very common roles, it would not even make our list of the 10-best vehicles.

Wrangler fans, read on. We’ve tested the pricy trims and the mid-trims as well. We know the Wrangler inside and out, and we love every minute we spend enjoying one in its natural habitat. We hope you will find our review does this important model justice.

If you love the Wrangler, nothing we say about the Ford Bronco will sound right to you. If you are a Ford Bronco fan, you will feel strongly that the praise we heap upon the Wrangler is just us being old nostalgic Jeep fans who probably were handed a paper bag full of Benjamins to say nice things. You’re only half right!

The new Bronco is the best copy of a Wrangler we could imagine. It has two doors or four, it can be a convertible if you wish, and the doors come off. It has insane off-road capability, and there is even a high-power 392 competitor in the line. Ford has done a great job with the Bronco, and if you like Ford’s (outstanding) turbocharged torque-monster engines, then you will be very happy with the Bronco’s powertrains. These two compete like Camaro and Mustang did. Like the Supra and Z still do. They scratch exactly the same itch equally well, and neither group of owners will ever admit to that.

The Jeep fans have just lost all respect for me. How in the world could any sane reviewer compare a Wrangler to a crossover SUV? Well, the reason we are doing so is that on pavement in insanely bad winter weather, a Subaru SUV (your choice) beats a Wrangler hands-down. The reasons are AWD vs. 4WD and tires.

Four-wheel drive stinks on pavement, on dirt roads, heck even just in your driveway. The simple truth is that four-wheel drive-equipped vehicles don’t like to turn when they are actually operating in 4WD. Locking diffs don’t help you stop, and huge knobby tires with solid tread blocks are the opposite of what works best in snow. What you really want is an all-wheel drive vehicle with a smidge more than standard ground clearance, along with special snow modes and tires rated for severe snow duty. Subaru offers that recipe, and the Wrangler does not.

If you are planning long highway drives to arrive at a kayaking or mountain biking spot down a long dirt trail, the Subaru lineup will do that job better in every meaningful way than the Wrangler. All we are saying is to be true to yourself and buy the best vehicle for the job. Jeep Wranglers have real-world weaknesses as well as adventure-day strengths.

When we tested the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 392 for the first time, we thought, “Wow! Nothing can compare to this vehicle’s combination of power and capability!” Then we tested Land Rover’s Defender with its supercharged V8 engine and thought, “Wow! Nothing can compare to this vehicle’s combination of power and capability!” We are correct in both cases.

The Defender is the one to get if you plan to do 90% of your driving on pavement. The Wrangler 392 is the one to get if you plan to do 50% of your driving off pavement. The Defender actually handles well on pavement. Like a tall muscle car does. The Wrangler Rubicon is best suited to off-road use. Either one is going to scratch your big power craving. Both have a price spitting distance from $100K, in case you wonder why we would compare them.

Bear in mind that the Wrangler is available as both a four-door and two-door model. The cheapest 2024 two-door two-wheel-drive Wrangler with a stick and no options starts at $33,690. The least expensive four-door starts at $37,690. Jeep prices the 2.0-turbo and V6 equally. The Wrangler 4xe starts at $51,970. A fully-loaded Wrangler Rubicon 392 in red with the optional power Sky One Touch convertible top and winch has a sticker price of $95,375. All these prices include Jeep’s $1,795 Destination charge but do not include dealer documentation fees, dealer-added content, or dealer market price adjustments.

While we are discussing price, we should also mention cost. With the Wrangler, they are not the same thing. For a decade, the Wrangler has ranked at the top of the charts for best resale value. It is not uncommon for well-cared-for three-year-old Jeep Wranglers to fetch almost the same price used as a new one. So, the incredible resale value shifts the “price” equation in a way that needs to be recognized. We strongly suspect the Rubicon 392s may appreciate in value. In 20 or 30 years, properly-preserved 392s might even have beaten the rate of inflation as an “investment.”

The table below shows the most common trim levels and how much they will run you.

2024 is not a new generation change for the Jeep Wrangler, so for the most part, it will be very similar to the last couple of model years. However, Jeep is making some meaningful upgrades and is reorganizing its Wrangler trims. The biggest news is that the top-trim V8-powered Rubicon 392 returns for 2024. Here is a punch list of changes from 2023:

• New-for-2024 Wrangler Sport S 4xe model, with a starting price of $51,790, brings a lower entry price point to America’s best-selling PHEV.
• Wrangler Rubicon has an optional factory-installed 8,000-lb.-capacity Warn winch and new Dana 44 HD full-float solid rear axle that allows for tire upsizing by customers and up to 5,000-lb. best-in-class maximum towing.
• New Wrangler Rubicon X offers standard 35-inch tires (4-door models with 2.0- or 3.6-liter automatic powertrain), integrated off-road camera, and steel bumpers.
• Wrangler Willys now has larger 33-inch tires, 10.8 inches of ground clearance, high-clearance fender flares, and rear locking differential for improved traction.
• New-for-2024 Anvil color (Blueish gray).
• The first factory application of Trails Offroad delivers comprehensive off-road trail guides for the 62 Jeep Badge of Honor trails loaded right into the Uconnect 5 system, with an upgradable subscription that unlocks a full catalog of 3,000-plus Trails Offroad trail guides.

The Jeep Wrangler is happiest when off-roading, crawling up a rocky slope, driving along a beach, or helping its owner get to and from a secluded trail. Cruise topless in the Wrangler with the roof and doors stored back home in your garage, and you are a Valkyrie in sport utility vehicle Valhalla.

The powertrains in the Wrangler include a four-cylinder 2.0-liter turbo engine with geared transmission, a plug-in hybrid-electric vehicle (PHEV) version of that engine with about 20 miles of EV range, a V6, and the king of the mountain 6.4-liter freakin’ HEMI V8 that will knock your socks off. None of the Jeep powertrains feel underpowered, and all offer great torque in combination with a long list of two and four-wheel drive options. Here’s a fun fact: The 6.4-liter V8 and the 2.0-liter PHEV both offer the same exact torque rating at 470 lb-ft.

We have spent the most time in the 4xe (that’s the plug-in) and the 392 (the one with the muscle car engine). Both are phenomenal in terms of torque. You simply would never need more. The 4xe is notable in that you can drive it around town all week and never use any gas. We did it. Twice. The 392 is notable because it accelerates like a rocket and actually tips upward to the heavens when you floor it.

Because there are so many Jeep Wrangler trims from which to choose, how it drives will depend on the equipment. The high-trim Rubicon trims make up a quarter of the total sales, according to Jeep. The Rubicon is a hard-core off-roader with knobby tires that come up to your waist. It drives OK in 2WD high on-road in dry conditions. It’s not a handler. It feels like an old-school pickup, in a sense. This is not a vehicle you would want to drive to work every day in city traffic, but it is a fantastic vehicle if you live in a rural area with a lot of dirt roads (which is where we took it). It can do things off-road that very few other vehicles can.

The 4xe is very easy to live with. You simply plug it in when you get home, and it will be fully charged most of the time you use it. Around town, you use the electric motors to move you to and from your destination in silence. If you want full power, you can opt to use a mode that combines the electric motors and the turbocharged engine. It is seamless and, based on our testing, the best powertrain in the mix - unless you want the 392, which has its own distinct personality from the rest of the lineup. Ginger or Mary Ann. Your choice.

Jeep still offers stick-shifted transmissions in the Wrangler line, and you will not find a CVT anywhere near the Wrangler. The Jeep line is also available with four-wheel drive in a variety of flavors. Be ready to learn how to operate the multiple modes, the dual-range transfer case, and the differentials. This is the exact opposite of a point-and-shoot all-wheel drive crossover. And part of why Wrangler fans adore it.

Is safety a big priority for drivers of vehicles with open tops and no doors? Well, we’ll do the analysis anyway. The 2024 Jeep Wrangler has not yet been tested by the Insurance Institute For Highway Safety, but the 2022 was, and it didn’t do so hot. It scored Poor (lowest score given) on a key frontal crash test. It scored Marginal on two other tests. The headlights score either Poor or Marginal depending on the trim. NHTSA’s testing in 2021 scored the Wrangler a ⅘. In a world where almost every SUV earns top safety scores across the board, the Wrangler stands out.

In its 2023 Dependability study, J.D. Power and Associates ranked Jeep mid-pack, falling almost perfectly on the industry average for defects in three-year-old models. That score is better than Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, and Audi.

Consumer Reports’ owner survey results paint a less rosy picture. Better not to even look. So much red…The publication predicts a ⅖ reliability rating for the 2023 model year Wrangler. If you want the most reliable vehicle in this class, it is the Toyota 4Runner, but it’s not nearly as fun.

Let’s begin with “There is no bad Wrangler.” A $33K stick-shifted two-door Sport is a vehicle that will bring much joy to its owner. However, Jeep offers an endless list of upgrades for the Wrangler and then goes so far as to build it ready to accept even more aftermarket stuff like a plow.

Jeep knows its buyers will add on aftermarket gear, so it even offers pre-wired switches on the dash. Rubicon is the way to go if you plan serious off-roading. It’s not practical to try to buy a lesser trim and then build it up to Rubicon levels of capability.

The real question after you’ve picked your number of doors and powertrain is, what type of roof do you want? Jeep offers soft and hard tops that come off. You can also get the Sky One Touch power convertible top. However, if you go that route, you cannot fully remove the roof. Only you can decide, but you should look closely at the roof style before you commit.

The 2.0-liter turbo would be our choice of base engine due to its higher torque than the V6. We love the 392, of course. It’s a barrel of monkeys. Just be ready to look at the fuel economy display and see a planet-warming 13 MPG glaring back at you. If you are more practical, opt for the 4xe plug-in. Our favorite is likely not the one most Wrangler fans would opt for. We’d get a mid-trim (non-Rubicon) 4xe with the Sky One Touch top.

There is one last thing. Jeep now offers a factory-installed winch on the Rubicon. How do you not buy the winch?

Jeep covers the Wrangler with a three-year/36,000-mile limited warranty and a five-year/60,000-mile powertrain warranty. This is tied for the shortest warranty in America. Hyundai, Kia, and Mitsubishi all offer much longer warranties, but they don’t sell an SUV even remotely related to the Wrangler.

• Basic: 3 years / 36k miles
• Powertrain: 5 years / 60k miles
• 4xe Hybrid battery is 8 years/100k miles except in ZEV states where it is 10 years/150k miles
• Jeep offers 60k miles of roadside assistance but bumps that up to 100k miles for the 4xe.

Depending on if you are selling or buying a used Wrangler, it is either blessed or cursed with the highest resale value in America among almost all vehicles. It is not uncommon for slightly used Wranglers to sell at or near the price of a new Wrangler. Obviously, the buying public sees great value in a used Jeep Wrangler. Who are we to question the masses?

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