(dramatic music)
- We're here in St. George, Utah
for the launch event for the refresh for 2024 Jeep Wrangler.
We'll just take a quick look at some of the things
that are new on the outside.
We've got a new grill design with more of a blackout look.
Also more openings between the traditional seven slot grill.
One reason for that is this.
On Rubicon models,
there is now a available factory installed
Warn winch with an 8,000-pound capacity.
Coming around to the side, the wheels on this Rubicon model
are one of 10 new designs for 2024
and trail drivers will be happy with this change.
One thing that's missing,
no longer a wire antenna on the front fender.
It's now been integrated into the windshield,
so that's one less thing to catch on a tree branch
when you're driving on off-road trails.
But it's actually inside the Wrangler
where we have one of the biggest upgrades for 2024
and it's right in the center of the dash.
Standard on all 2024 Wranglers is a 12.3 inch touchscreen
running the Uconnect 5 infotainment system.
Jeep says the Uconnect 5 system is five times more powerful
than the previous Uconnect 4 system,
and it comes with a lot of features too
like over the air updates,
wireless Apple CarPlay and Android auto functionality,
and the ability to program up to five user profiles.
One of the coolest new features of the Uconnect 5 system
is the Trails Offroad Adventure Guides setting.
There are trail maps
loaded right into the infotainment system
with difficulty ratings and other information,
and you can subscribe to a service
that offers over 3,000 trail maps.
Here's something you couldn't do in a previous Wrangler.
12-way power seats are now available
and they can be paired with the Uconnect 5 systems
user profiles, and they're also fortified
to handle the Wrangler's water forting capability.
(dramatic music)
All right, now we are doing
what the Wrangler was built to do
and that is doing some off-road driving
in some seriously rocky, dusty trails.
If you hear a very low rumble,
that is because we are in a Rubicon 392,
so we have 470 horsepower.
More than enough to handle the trails we are driving on.
And then some, actually, we have a lot more power
than we need and we have it in four low.
That's why you hear the engine kind of revving high.
We're in kind of a sandy flat spot now,
but we'll be getting to some serious obstacles again soon.
So one of the things that's nice about the 2024 update
is this 12.3 inch infotainment screen now
gives us a bigger front camera view,
which is very handy when we have the nose pointed at the sky
and we don't know what off-road trail is in front of us.
And Jeep's Off-Road Pages are very handy as well.
We've got a full schematic of the drive train,
which shows us whether the front and rear axles are locked.
We've got a pitch and roll gauge that shows us
what percentage off of zero VR.
None of this stuff is really new for 2024,
but having it viewable on a much bigger screen
is really nice.
And again, the steering that makes it feel
a little bit nervous on the highway sometimes
is really beneficial when you're inching up a rocky,
craggy off-road trail
and you need to make very minute inputs
to get your wheels pointed in exactly the right direction.
Like when you're looking at a spotter
who's guiding you up the trail,
it's nice to have very responsive steering
that allows you to dial in very
slight amounts of steering change.
Even the general layout of the Wrangler
is really conducive to off-road driving.
The flat dash and the flat windscreen,
it just kind of aids in forward visibility
and you can see the fenders and the hood really well.
It helps you kind of position the vehicle
as you're traversing serious rocks or other obstacles
driving off road.
Alright, now let's see how it does on road.
(upbeat music)
Here we are driving on the highway in a Rubicon V6 model.
And not that I was expecting anything different,
but the fundamental driving experience of the Wrangler
hasn't really changed for 2024.
Steering is still a little bit nervous on the highway.
You kind of have to put lots of little corrections in.
You hear the noise of the Rubicon tires
and the ride is a little on the bumpy side as well,
but that's not news
to anybody who's driven a Wrangler before.
And for a lot of Wrangler shoppers,
that's kind of part of the charm of the car.
But what is really nice is this new 12.3 inch
infotainment screen.
They did a very nice job of integrating it
into the dashboard, so it looks very natural.
We've done some driving already
with the retractable sunroof pulled back,
and they designed it so that it does not wash out
even if you're driving in really bright sunlight
with the top pulled back, even the doors off.
So the infotainment screen does really well
in bright light driving conditions
and the response times are pretty quick.
You can pull up things, there's a nice menu
along the side where you can just jump back to things.
So stuff you want doesn't get buried.
It's a pretty nice straightforward layout.
And yeah, just having a bigger screen
to look at anything that's on the infotainment display.
Be it nav system if that is so equipped,
whatever you're listening to on the radio.
And the really cool Trails Offroad feature
for when you're driving off-road.
This is a relatively minor upgrade,
but it still shows that Jeep engineers
are thinking about how these vehicles are used.
We've got two depressions on the top of the dashboard.
If we were to pull back these rubber liners,
there are attachment points there
where you can screw in accessories
such as a smartphone holder
or a wide variety of accessory holders.
Just plug it right into the dashboard.
So we also drove a couple of 4xe models
including a Rubicon 4xe and a high altitude model.
That has less aggressive tires,
so it was a tiny bit quieter.
And the 4xe system is carried over unchanged,
but it's still a very versatile system.
It allows for about 21 miles of pure electric driving,
which is pretty helpful in off-road situations
as we discovered when we took a 2023 model
to a recent Jeep Jamboree event.
And with that 4xe is a new available feature for 2024,
the Power Box.
This is simply a household outlet box
that plugs into the charging port
on the side of the Wrangler.
Lets you power a wide variety of electrical devices.
We charge the smartphone with it,
but it can do a lot more than that.
High altitude models and above
get a little bit quieter for 2024.
There's a premium cabin package that adds things
like acoustic front glass, thicker carpet,
and other sound deadening measures
for a slightly quieter ride on the highway.
But again, no Wrangler
is what you call a quiet machine.
There's always an elevated road noise,
wind noise from the tops,
and the tires are usually contributing
a fair amount of tire roar as well.
But again, for 2024, they get a little bit quieter.
So the Wrangler's previously available diesel engine
was phased out,
but the rest of the powertrain lineup
carries over unchanged for 2024.
You've got the 3.6 liter V6,
a turbocharged 2.0 liter four cylinder,
the wild Rubicon 392 HEMI V8,
and the Wrangler 4xe plug-in hybrid.
And there's an important addition
to the 4xe lineup for 2024.
That's an entry-level Sport S model
that starts at around $50,000
and shaves almost $5,000 off the price of entry
to the plug-in hybrid Wrangler.
Now the Wrangler's cabin
didn't magically grow larger for 2024.
It's still a little bit tight in here for tall guys like me,
and there are little ergonomic quirks
that take a little getting used to
like the fabric door retainer straps
that usually rub against my leg in the driver's footwell,
and you're up against the windshield
and the dashboard's very flat.
Again, that's part of the Wrangler's charm
for a lot of its fans.
And there's one important upgrade for 2024
that we hope we never have to test.
That's the curtain side airbags
in both the front and rear seats.
Another one of the upgrades for 2024
is a Dana 44 full float rear axle.
This has enabled Jeep to upgrade the towing capacity
to 5,000 pounds up from 3,500 pounds.
So right now we have got a Airstream trailer
that we're pulling behind us, and it's doing just fine.
All of the enhancements and new features for 2024
don't change the fundamental personality
or driving characteristics of the Wrangler.
They just make it a little more capable,
a little more up-to-date, and a little more competitive
against its main rival, the Ford Bronco.
To read my full review, check out cars.com.
(upbeat music)