Since the inception of the Jeep some 60 years ago, they have always been known for their rugged styling and brute force off-road capabilities. This is to be expected from a company that started making it’s living off building army vehicles prior to going mainstream with the original S.U.V. Back in the day the Jeep brand built strong suspension vehicles with ample power without many of the non-necessity creature comfort items. This has changed. Most Jeeps today are loaded with the majority of creature comforts to make them at least tolerable on your cross-city adventure.

The new Wrangler Rubicon sticks with this. Outside its still a brute off-roading machine with a short wheelbase and typical jeep lines and looks. Inside there are some nice comfort items such as decent AC/Heating, CD player and fairly comfy seats. As far as the materials are concerned the majority of the parts are plastic and cheap metal to help with the weatherproof interior. The doors are removable as is the top although not easily. The soft-top is a knuckle-buster at best and should be removed only when you have plenty of time and don’t plan on putting it back up for awhile. The 07 versions will have an optional hardtop, which should be a pretty popular feature. The height of the doors are still extremely high and require a high step to get up in, again typical of jeeps from way back when. The interior noise on the highway is definitely something you will want to consider if you’re buying it as an every day driver. Even at fairly low speeds the 31” tires made it almost impossible to make a cell-phone call due to the extremely loud noises.

Performance of the Rubicon is good. The inline-6 puts out good horsepower and the torque starts at very low rpm’s, which is great for off-roading and pulling. The Rubicon I drove came equipped with a 4 speed automatic. This automatic coupled to the motor just fine and made it a fairly decent city driver. You can get it with a manual transmission and the true off-road enthusiast is definitely going to opt for this for obvious reasons.

The wrangler Rubicon comes in a few different trim levels but most noticeably would be the limited. The limited ads almost an additional foot to the overall length creating a more balanced, smoother riding vehicle with increased cargo and passenger room. In any of the trim levels what you get is an impressive 4X4 that you could, with decreased comfort, use as an every day driver. In any case you will still have one of the funnest vehicles around to drive that handles well enough on the road. They say only a Jeep owner knows the feeling of owning a Jeep. I don’t own one right now but I have in the past and I couldn’t agree more!