Only occasionally, in situations when a wheel or two would rise up off boulders or the like, was it necessary to use the lockers. There's also easy electronic engagement of the differential locks, either both together or the rear alone. Jeep's Rubicon package includes electronic decoupling of the anti-roll bars to allow greater articulation of the live axles, and the bars remained disconnected during the entire trail run. There wasn't much squish in the tires they couldn't simply mold themselves to the contours of the rocks for additional contact patch. While most trail vets run relatively low air pressures in their tires-well below 20 psi-the new Wranglers had their balloons set at more than 35 psi and sometimes rising beyond 40 psi. Our entire trip was run with four-wheel drive engaged in low range, and seeing the tachometer needle pass 3000 rpm was an infrequent event.Īlong the granite shelving where Jeep staged the start of the trek, the Wrangler two-door hardtop was sure-footed and even relatively quiet. On the Rubicon Trail, the engine choice likely makes little difference, at least for rookies like us.
Technobabylon trans manual#
Only the V-6 can be had with a six-speed manual transmission. The V-6, on the other hand, makes its peak 260 lb-ft at 4800 rpm. Like so many modern turbo fours, Jeep's is tuned for low-end torque production and is rated at 295 lb-ft at 3000 rpm. While Jeep now offers a 270-hp turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four augmented with the eTorque electric-motor assist as a $1000 option, all the Wrangler Rubicons we drove were powered by the familiar 285-hp 3.6-liter V-6 backed up by the automatic transmission. "There's not much military left in here," I added. "It's a rock-crawling limousine," I said to my driving companion on this trip, former C/D executive editor Steven Cole Smith, as we hauled our substantial spreads into the cushy leather seats of a red two-door. In fact, many of the Wrangler Rubicons on this trek were priced up near $53,000 before being further laden with dealer-installable Mopar accessories. Add a few options, like the $2000 eight-speed automatic transmission and $1295 steel bumpers, and $50,000 isn't far away. Go for the Wrangler Unlimited four-door, and that price trudges up to $42,940. The most basic Wrangler Sport starts at $29,440, but it takes 10 grand more-$39,440-to get into a Rubicon. Running on 33-inch-tall BFGoodrich Mud-Terrain T/A KM3 tires (a more aggressive off-road tire than the standard BFG All-Terrain KO2s) with electronically locking front and rear differentials in the pumpkins of its beefy Dana 44 solid axles, the Rubicon model sits at the top of the new JL-generation range and makes up, says Jeep, about 28 percent of Wrangler sales. Manageable enough even for us dazzling urbanites of the press corps to handle. The new Wrangler Rubicon, on the other hand, does make conquering much of the Rubicon's nastiest terrain almost easy. This is nothing." Hard-core Jeep folks love bragging about the miseries they've endured and overcome. "With a Go Devil four and a three-speed manual. "I've done this trip in a flat-fender Jeep a bunch of times," Jp Magazine editor Rick Péwé was telling anyone who would dare listen. What's surprising about taking the latest Wrangler Rubicon across the Rubicon is that the Jeep itself was the least impressive part of the trip. That's one mile per hour-about a third of walking speed.
Technobabylon trans full#
It took two full days to cover the trail at an average speed of about 1 mph. And then we slept on cots in tents that night to deflate our egos. Those of us who had never been choppered anyplace before were suitably flattered. So Jeep choppered a couple dozen NAFTA-nation-based journalists, and some quasi-journalists wielding GoPros, from the soft comfort of the Ritz-Carlton at Lake Tahoe to the Rubicon trailhead at Wentworth Springs, put us in two-door Wrangler Rubicons and four-door Wrangler Unlimited Rubicons, and then led them in a closely controlled conga line across the trail. And, of course, it's the origin of the name of the off-road-fortified 2018 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. This rough and rocky 22-mile path across the mountains of the Sierra Nevada in northern California is where Jeeps earn their legitimacy, prove their ability, and gain marketing mojo. Jeep needs the Rubicon Trail in the same way that Porsche needs Le Mans and Ferrari needs Formula 1.
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