Jeep Wrangler 2024 | First Drive Review | Now The Best 4x4?

The Jeep Wrangler is the off-road bad boy in the Jeep India lineup. It’s not the flagship because that right is reserved for the Jeep Grand Cherokee, but it’s still very much a star and an aspiration for many. That said, it's not for everybody. If you do need a 4x4 to drive around your estate or have enough extra cash to splurge on a second or third lifestyle indulgence then it may be for you, for the rest of us it’s honestly purely eye candy. Its only real rival is the Land Rover Defender.  

Looks

For 2024 the changes to the Wrangler formula are very subtle. There is a new grill design that now makes the slats part of the grill’s steel gray colour and also lets more air into the engine bay. The windshield is now made of Gorilla Glass and features an inbuilt antenna for the radio. There is a new alloy design and that’s about it in terms of looks. 

The Wrangler still looks as imposing as ever on the road but it will still take a second glance to distinguish it from its Indian lookalike: the Mahindra Thar. And if that’s something you worry about then you can always add/subtract from the Wrangler to achieve a radical look by removing the doors and the roof! Jeep assures us that the complete Mopar accessory catalogue will be at the disposal of customers. 

Interiors

The subtle theme continues on the interiors but the changes are more significant. There is a new dashboard design with more premium finishes and materials than the outgoing model. Paired with a new 12.3-inch uConnect 5 touchscreen these changes really uplift the cabin experience of the Wrangler, which was one of its pain areas before. While it’s not quite luxury class now, it’s a lot better than before while still retaining its ruggedness. And you can still hose down the interiors with most of the controls being sealed for water ingress. 

The Wrangler still remains capable of carrying four passengers in relative comfort. There is plenty of knee and legroom but the rear seats are not the most supportive, lacking underthigh support because of a short seat base. And fitting three adults in here will also be a slight compromise but not impossible. 

Considering that we spent our time exclusively in the completely open Rubicon we can’t really comment on anything else like sound insulation, door pockets/storage or practicality or even the effectiveness of the air conditioning. 

Tech

New for 2024 are also 12-way powered front seats wrapped in nappa leather and the power switches and mechanisms have also been sealed for water wading. The seats are also heated but not cooled. Another update is to the 552-watt 9-speaker Alpine sound system which has been equipped with a 7-array mic system that helps with clear hands-free calling as well as active noise cancellation. But again with a lack of doors and roof on our car we’ll have to leave those impressions for the road test as well. 

Other updates include a leather-wrapped (and heated) steering wheel and gear shift knob, 60:40 split rear folding seats, 7-inch full colour multi-info display in the instrument cluster, dual zone climate control, Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, heated steering wheel and a rear auxiliary power outlet. 

Safety

Here is another area where the Wrangler sees an improvement. The highlight being 6 airbags as standard, which also work even when the roof and doors are removed. There’s also electronic stability control (ESC), Hill Start Assist (HSA), Electronic Roll Mitigation (ERM) and hill descent control. There are also front and rear cameras and park assist as well. Another new addition is ADAS with full-speed forward collision warning, adaptive cruise control with stop and go and advanced brake assist. 

Variants 

As before the Wrangler will be available in two variants: the Unlimited, and the more off-road focused and capable Rubicon. The Rubicon gets better off-road hardware with a different 4x4 drive system, front and rear locking differentials and an electronic sway bar disengage. There’s also a heavier-duty differential, different suspension, four pre-wired auxiliary switches and an off-road plus mode. Visually it gets high clearance front fenders, vented front hood rock rails and Mud-Terrain tyres. All this is standard with the possibility of accessorising even more from the Mopar accessory catalogue.  

Road Driving Impressions

The Wrangler is exclusively available with a 2-litre turbocharged petrol motor in India. This makes a very healthy 270 PS and 400 Nm. This is more than adequate performance for anything that you want to throw at the Wrangler where tarmac is concerned. The engine is refined and effortless. And when you do go off-road, the smooth power delivery and 400 Nm of torque is more than capable of taking on anything you can imagine challenging it with. The Wrangler is also solely available with an 8-speed automatic transmission.

During this experience we drove the Wrangler Rubicon over predominantly off-road terrain with a course designed to showcase its incredible capabilities. Our road experience was quite limited. Still the initial impression was that the Wrangler feels a little more plush and planted on-road as compared to the outgoing car which was quite uncomfortable and bouncy both in the city and on the highway when we tested the car back in 2021. That being said, the 2021 Rubicon test car was equipped with updated off-road focused suspension and a lift kit so it wasn’t quite stock.

There is a bit of firmness to the ride quality that is felt mostly in the second row, my impression from behind the wheel is that it is a little more refined and composed than its predecessor was.

Surprisingly, for a hot day, the completely open car was quite an acceptable experience. The roof-net accessory helped when stationary in the sunny hours of the day. It was never too hot as long as you had a scarf, sunglasses and plenty of sunscreen at hand, it's as fun an experience as it looks. 

Off-Road Impressions

The Wrangler Rubicon is equipped to take on the worst conditions with a low-ratio transfer case, locking front and rear differentials, and an electronically disconnecting front sway bar as well. New for 2024 is a new stronger Dana rear differential with a higher towing capacity rated for over 2 tonnes.  

All this functions as amazingly and thoroughly well as it sounds. The Wrangler happily crawls up steep slopes, clambers over uneven terrain and gets out of tight spots without breaking a sweat. As it should. And it’s easy to operate and manage all this with simple controls and buttons on the dash. Even the 4x4 high to 2x4 is shiftable on the fly which is very convenient. It still does demand some input from the inexperienced driver and some knowledge of what system needs to be brought into play at what time. It doesn’t have an ‘Auto’ mode like its rival, the Land Rover Defender, which is happy to take all the guesswork out of the experience. Does it make it the best off-roader 4x4 SUV money can buy? Arguably ‘yes’ in terms of pure capabilities. But at an estimated price of over Rs 70 lakh, we can’t only look at situation-specific capabilities in a sea of daily drivable luxury SUVs.

Verdict

So the 2024 Jeep Wrangler takes a few small changes and juices out a big impact. The interiors are more upmarket now and easily more liveable. The added safety with ADAS is a big boost too, considering the outgoing models' poor 1-star rating from Euro NCAP. And it’s just as capable if not more capable than before. But the Wrangler still is a car for a very select group of people with a very particular need or taste. The Defender is still a little more palatable for a larger selection of customers. 

For a first drive it hit a really sweet spot and definitely is worth a good long look if you are in the market for a more than capable off-roader. That said, to answer the question of it being the best 4x4 I think we need to get it and the Defender out together for a proper mud battle this monsoon to settle it.