Jeep Wrangler Review 2024

Few cars of any price can do what the Wrangler can off-road thanks to all manner of mud-plugging hardware. However, if you’re after an everyday SUV rather than a hardcore 4x4, pretty much anything else at the money  - like an Audi Q5 or Volkswagen Tiguan - will serve you better, with more practicality, more quality, more civility, more comfort, more precision and more luxury. Seriously, those after a left-field family car need not apply. Niche, but full of charm and character. Read on for our full review of the Jeep Wrangler. 

The Wrangler story started way back in the 1940s with the arrival of the original Willys Jeep. This was a rugged utility vehicle that took the US military over inhospitable lands in all four corners of the globe, made all the more inhospitable by the fact that they were probably having some sort of skirmish with the natives of the area at the time.

Things have changed since then, but the character and the ethos of Jeep remain. The iconic upright shape remains, and rather than following the crowd of newer SUVs and watering down the ruggedness in pursuit of luxury and sophistication, the Wrangler is still a non-nonsense, rufty-tufty, off-roader. This thing will go places that owners of regular SUVs would fear to even think about, let alone tread.

It also has a few party-pieces up its sleeve that are inherited from its ancestor. Each version has a roof that’s removable in some way (a variety of different options are available on that score, from a folding fabric soft-top to a removable hard-top), and if you really want to open yourself up to the elements, you can also remove the windscreen and the doors.

Try doing that on a Land Rover Defender. You’ve also got a spare wheel bolted onto the side-hinged tailgate. No crummy pot of sealant here.

The two-door model has now been dropped from the UK line-up, but that's no big deal - while it might have looked cool, it was woefully impractical.

There's just a single 2.0 litre turbo petrol engine available now in all Wranglers, which offers decent low-down shove, and it comes attached to an eight-speed automatic transmission as standard. It's a shame that UK buyers can't get the Wrangler with the plug-in hybrid powertrain that's offered in other markets, while many would argue that a diesel engine is still desirable in a rough-and-ready 4x4 like this.

It should be said that the Wrangler's focus on ruggedness means it’s not a civilised car, especially compared to regular SUVs at the same (rather expensive) price point.

The ride is jittery, the handling’s untidy, the cabin is noisy and the interior is more functional than flashy. So, if you’re an average SUV buyer who’s merely looking for a stylish family car, pretty much anything else on the market will suit you better: those looking for a leftfield SUV choice will be biting off way more than they can chew with the Jeep.

That which the Wrangler does, though, it does very well indeed, and it’s no accident that this car has legions of dedicated fans the world over.

The two-door’s practicality is limited to say the least. The two rear seats are (just about) roomy enough for adults, but they’re not awfully comfortable, and you feel very hemmed in by the proximity of bulky parts of the roof to your head.

What’s more, getting into them is a very difficult and ungraceful process due to the tiny aperture that’s made by tipping and sliding the front seats forward. The boot is tiny, offering 192 litres with the seats up, and if you want any more luggage room, the single-piece rear bench means you have to fold both rear seats down and flip them forwards, effectively making your Wrangler into a two-seater. This frees up a sufficient 587 litres of room.

The four-door is much better - which is why it's now the only option if you're looking for a brand new Jeep Wrangler. There are three rear seats instead of only two in the back, and they’re surrounded by a lot more space, allowing adults to travel in some semblance of comfort. The boot is also much larger, so you can take plenty of kit with you on your adventures. Seats up, it can hold 533 litres of cargo and, with them folded down, you have an okay-ish 1044 litres.

The rear bench folds down in two portions, giving you more versatility when you need to carry big loads. While there is a small sloped step in the load floor, your extended load bay is still reasonably level.

On both versions, the side-hinged tailgate makes the space a little bit awkward to get to when you’re in a tight parking space, and you have to flip up the rear window separately.

If you’ve had a Wrangler before, you’ll be impressed by the quality on show in the latest one, because it’s a distinct improvement on what’s gone before.

The interior is designed so you can wipe it clean and hose it out, although there are several nooks and crannies in the floor where mud could be very hard to get at. Most importantly, though, everything feels solid and substantial, giving the impression that this car will last a lifetime. There are stitched leather wrappings for the steering wheel, transmission shifters and door pulls to help inject a bit of classiness.

If you're looking for a Jeep Wrangler with impressive infotainment, you'll need a model from 2024 onwards. A new 12.3-inch touchscreen display housing Jeep's fifth-generation UConnect system is now standard across the range. This is easy to use and fast to respond, providing features such as TomTom navigation, Alexa and wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto.

Older Jeep Wranglers came with an 8.4-inch touchscreen which now looks a little dated. It was functional, though, with sharp graphics and intuitive menu layouts. If you can cope with the small on-screen icons, this smaller system shouldn't be a deal-breaker on a secondhand Jeep Wrangler.

At the time of writing, prices for the Wrangler started at £61,125 for the four-door Sahara, while the Rubicon is £63,125.

Compared like-for-like, prices seem very similar to those of the car’s only real rival, the Land Rover Defender, while other proper hardcore off-roaders are way off on price. The Suzuki Jimny is much less, the Mercedes G-Class is much more. More conventional SUVs like the Volkswagen Touareg are a bit cheaper.

On the used market, the Wrangler doesn't hold on to its value as tenaciously as a Land Rover Defender, but it still performs well enough. There's a small but loyal following for the Wrangler, so reckon on paying from £45,000 for a three-year old five-door model with average miles.

The 272PS 2.0 litre turbo petrol is now the only engine option in the Jeep Wrangler, and it's not a cheap one to keep up with its thirst. Officially you can expect to see up to 27.2mpg from the Wrangler Sahara or 24.8mpg from the Wrangler Rubicon. We'd expect its real-world fuel economy to be even less than this.

With a list price of more than £40,000, you'll be hit by the premium car tax - meaning an annual VED bill of £600. You can expect insurance to be pricey, too, with both models sitting in some of the highest insurance groups.

The Wrangler can go places that SUVs can’t thanks to full-time four-wheel drive, low-range gears, and a selection of other off-roading hardware.

The soft suspension allows a lot of wheel movement, and if you select the ultra-hardcore Rubicon model, you also get disconnecting front sway bars that give the wheels even more freedom of movement.

On the road, meanwhile, it can deal with potholes and speed bumps better than most normal cars, and you won’t think twice about mounting a kerb. However, the Wrangler’s level of off-road excellence inevitably means some compromises in on-road sophistication.

The car jitters and judders the whole time, regardless of whether the surface beneath you is messy or immaculate. Just as unsettling is the way that the body bounces around untidily on undulating roads. 

You can’t criticise the Wrangler too much for its shortage of handling precision, given the sort of car it is. However, you can’t ignore the fact that the steering is very slow and overly light, while the sloppy body control means you’ll find yourself slowing down for bends much more than you would in a more conventional SUV. 

It’s also worth noting that the four-door Wrangler is rather better on both ride and handling than the shorter two-door model.

The engine choice is refreshingly simple with the Wrangler: it's a 2.0 litre turbo petrol and that's your lot.

It delivers reasonably brisk performance in most situations, and its generous low-down muscle not only makes it flexible, but it also helps when you’re wading through the sticky stuff, too.

The engine delivers 272PS and it feels properly strong, and because the urge is delivered from low-down in the rev range, it doesn’t lose out on flexibility, either.

It's mated to an eight-speed automatic gearbox driving all four wheels. It shifts up and down the ratios smoothly and cleanly, although it could react quicker when you ask it for a sudden burst of acceleration. 

The Jeep Wrangler was awarded a pretty terrible one star in official Euro NCAP crash tests in 2018, with experts criticising its lack of safety-assist systems and limited number of air bags.

Things have improved since then. While a Volvo XC90 would no doubt be a safer family SUV, the Wrangler now gets features like Drowsy Driver Alert, Lane Departure Warning and Traffic Sign Information as standard. Jeep says it's also made structural improvements to the Jeep Wrangler from 2024, improving its performance in side-impact crashes.

The Wrangler might well appeal to those who regularly tow, because you’d think it could pull pretty much anything.

However, the two-door Wrangler can only pull a braked trailer of up to just under 1,500kg, and while the four-door does much better at just shy of 2500kg, it’s still nothing special. For context, a Land Rover Discovery will tug a trailer of up to 3500kg.

That said, what the Wrangler can pull, it’ll probably be able to pull it across a muddy field, up a mountain, or across the surface of the moon, such is its off-roading ability.

There are now two Jeep Wrangler models available: Sahara and Rubicon.

The Jeep Wrangler Sahara features 18-inch alloy wheels, a 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system, body colour hard top, LED lamps (front, rear, fog), deep tint sunscreen glass, heated leather-trimmed seats with power adjustment, leather steering wheel, keyless go, reversing camera, front/rear parking sensors, an alarm, lane departure warning, drowsy driver alert and traffic sign information.

The more off-road-centric Jeep Wrangler Rubicon features 17-inch allloy wheels, Nappa seats with leather inserts, heated front seats and steering wheel, an Alpine premium sound system, off-road camera, auxiliary switches, Dana 44 HD full-float rear axle and sway bar disconnection.