2008 4x4 Of The Year Contestants

Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon

The Jeep name is built entirely upon the shoulders of one iconic vehicle. A true Jeep has a removable top or no top whatsoever, a rugged go-anywhere attitude, and offers its occupants 60+ years of fun and adventure. With the new four-door Wrangler, it can now offer that adventure to more occupants, with more gear, more comfortably. What can we tell you about the new four-door Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon JK? It's a lot like the winning two-door Jeep Wrangler from last year, but a little bit longer. It still has the great selectable lockers and solid axles that we feel make it one of the last true off-road 4x4s on the market, and like the two-door, it is available with either a hard or soft top, manual or automatic transmission, and a front sway bar that can be disconnected with the flip of a switch. Unfortunately the four-door Wrangler also has the same 3.8L V-6 as the two-door, which isn't bad in the short version, but less than great in the long one.

Let's get the lashings over with; Jeep, your four-door Wrangler needs a bigger engine. How about a V-8? Do you not remember that they once put a 304 V-8 in a CJ-5 with a 90-inch wheelbase?! Please give us a 50-state legal diesel. We promise you'll sell even more Wranglers, especially if it has V-8 performance with V-6 economy.

The soft top is amazingly quiet compared to the TJs, YJs, and CJs of years gone by, and nothing beats driving a JK with just half-doors or no doors at all. The NV241 OR transfer case with 4:1 low range is still one of the best in the market (the H3 case is right there with it), but at least the Wrangler still has a lever to engage four-wheel drive. The interior is simple with only what you would need for a true top-down adventure, and the backseat is spacious enough. Techno-geeks will love the new MyGig 20 gigabyte hard drive stereo system. This in-dash unit has GPS, a satellite radio receiver, a USB and inline jack for downloading data like music and maps, and the basic AM/FM radio and CD and DVD player all surrounding a 6 1/2-inch LCD screen.

Off road the Wrangler is hard to beat. It has gearing, lockers, visibility, and the most aggressive tires in the trial, and wherever big horsepower wasn't required, it did awesome. Rocks? Owned. Trails? Walked them, often without lockers or the sway bar disconnected. Hillclimb? Yawn. High-speed desert running and sand? Well...all in all this is still the 4x4 that most judges would ask for when all-around four-wheeling, but the question is will its prowess outweigh its powerlessness?

Likes
* Solid axles, off-road tires
* Locking differentials
* Room like a minivan

Dislikes
* Engine like a minivan
* Too spartan for some people
* Too soft and plasticy for some others

Verdict
The iconic adventure vehicle matures