the jeep wrangler is a legend
it's also an unlikely enduring hit in the US market
that's because it is a fully off-road capable vehicle it can do what really
just a few models on the market can do
it's also a big sales success its second only among jeeps to the grand cherokee
jeep done a good job of keeping it attractive to regular users families etc
but unfortunately hasn't been redesigned since 2007 and probably won't be again
until 2017 and the market goes on what i'm going to do as a regular fan myself
is give some humble suggestions to jeep on what they should keep and what they
should get rid of in the next redesign the next generation styling is going to
have to stick more or less to this which has been around for decades
it's boxy its rugged part of the way it looks is functional
you see how close the wheels out of the bumpers that is for off-roading purposes
you get a really steep approach and departure angle from that that cannot
change
ask for some of the accents on the outside things like the hood latches
here
external external hinges on the hood and the doors
those can stick around and they should because it says wrangler and it makes it
look authentic
speaking of the doors most people agree the outside handles here kinda cheap
plastic
some people also think the doors are cheap because they're very light
some would say flimsy but that's intentional the door is supposed to be
light because it is removable the doors can come off you can replace them with
half doors
so it does help to keep them light likewise the only door check is a canvas
web here
you know just easier to deal with could they make the power locks quieter than
this
yes they could should they I say no
it's part of the character of the vehicle if the wrangler and the next
generation retains its shape as it is i suspect the layout will be similar
inside one thing jeep does have to do is increase the quality of the Interior for
a long time they got away with you know small changes here and there
her and said well you know it's an off-road vehicle what do you expect made
sense but since then the market has changed and also Jeep has introduced the
Cherokee which starts thirty two hundred dollars cheaper than this one but has a
nicer interior especially things like a hard plastic surround the wrangler they
need to go be replaced by something softer
one more thing that I appreciate in the current Wrangler is the manual shift the
actual mechanical linkage to the part-time four-wheel drive system again
matches the character of the vehicle but i do think that cheap should consider
perhaps as an option a full-time system even if it as locking center diff
locking dips front back whatever it is it would allow the more casual driver to
just drive not have to think about it and not know that they really have to
engage and disengage the system in low traction situations which i think some
people still don't know
hey full-time system works for land rover it can work for the ranking
off-road vehicles need full size spare tires the problem is they're very large
they take up too much space on the inside
or if you put them under the chassis they ruin your departure angle so it is
on the back here and having on the back requires a swing gate like this which is
no one's favorite type of access to the back of an SUV
unfortunately it also is kind of obstructive to rear view you've got the
tire here
the center brake light here and there's a housing for the wiper motor
generally speaking the rear view is not great chief wants to broaden the appeal
of this thing they're gonna have to find some other way
I think they can do it one more thing I even though the squared off shape of the
vehicle makes the cargo area the volume actually not that bad
same thing applies here as in the inside because its body on frame and a ride so
high for the size of vehicle on the outside you might expect more on the
inside there's one thing that i absolutely love about the Wrangler the
Jeep should never change
every Wrangler is a convertible it is arguably the most open air vehicle on
the market
you can put your entire family in it there's really nothing else like this
especially if you get the half doors that really opened it up so they have to
hold on to that of course
now you might have noticed some convertible Rangers in the past because
of a soft-top you might not have known that this is also a convertible because
it had a removable hardtop
it's not actually that hard to remove it was just eight bolts and a couple strong
enough guys to lift it and take it off
there's a bit of a problem with the hardtop though when you take it off
you gotta put it somewhere what I do it differently if I were cheap know if you
want the type that you can just leave on there and fold get the soft top version
this works okay for me
there really is nothing else in the world like a Wrangler the Jeep has a
pretty tough job ahead of itself to redesign this thing for its next
generation of all manufacturers are going for better efficiency higher
quality and better crash tests and this definitely needs those but they're
trying to also preserve its capability and its legend
that's a tough job I've made a few humble suggestions maybe they'll listen