We all know that Jeeps are great off-road, but Autoblog's Adam Morath takes the 2015 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited X Edition for a spin on some city streets to see if the Wrangler can serve as a daily commuter vehicle. The X Edition of the 4-door Unlimited Wrangler is a special version to commemorate the 2015 Aspen X-Games.
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ADAM MORATH: Hi, I'm Adam Morath from Autoblog. Now undoubtedly, one of the coolest things about this job is that you're in and out of so many different vehicles. But I'll be honest, there are times where if you're in very similar vehicles, they can start to run together a little bit. That's why I love getting into a car like this that just snaps you right out of it, because it's so unique and so different from anything else on the market.
Of course, I'm talking about the Jeep Wrangler. I am in a 2015 Jeep Wrangler unlimited. This is the X, Edition, which stands for X Games. Jeep is a big title sponsor of the 2015 Aspen X Games, and you can see that all over this vehicle.
You have white glossy accent plastic in the interior, mountain graphics throughout the interior and exterior of the vehicle, a not obviously to the winter sports and skiing that you would do out in Aspen. And then in keeping it with that mountainous theme, you have an Alpine nine stereo speaker system.
I'll be honest though that some of it feels a little bit overdone to me. For instance, there's a power bulge in the hood. And credit to Jeep, the vents are actually functional. But this is not the trim I would go for just personally. It's one of those vehicles that people are always wondering, you know, I really like the look of it.
I like all the capability. But could I live with a Wrangler? It's the same sort of question you'll get from people who are looking at a sports car. Could I actually live with this as my daily driver? And I have to say Jeep has come a long way.
Wrangler, in particular, has come a long way in terms of driving comfort. Of course, don't expect Lexus quiet. You can probably hear, it's a bit noisy in the cabin. It's a bit of a bumpy ride.
There are things about this vehicle that I could see being annoying in your day to day life. Like for instance, the door. It's essentially an external hinge on the door, but it doesn't stay open for you. So if you're on any sort of a tilt, the door will come back in on you.
You have to prop it open with your leg. I mean, it's little things like that. And that's sort of the story of the Wrangler. The things that make it kind of cool also make it the sort of car that you might not want to live with every day. You also hear it's kind of a cliche, but people say, oh, it just wants to go fast for like a sports car.
The Wrangler does not want to go fast. I mean, it is happiest at a crawl. And it does have a 3.6 liter V6 engine in the Wrangler Unlimited. It's got enough power. I mean, you're not going to have any trouble getting up to highway speeds, or staying at speed. But you just have to push it a little bit more, and just give it a little bit more throttle input than you might be used to if you're jumping in from a different sort of vehicle.
Of course what makes a Wrangler a Wrangler is it's road capability. And this model has it in spades. It's trail rated, which means you could take this thing off road on some of the toughest trails in the country. And because it's the Wrangler Unlimited, you've got two extra doors.
So four door Wrangler, a lot of space in the backseat. Or if you fold the seats down, you've got tons of cargo room. The unlimited X Edition comes in at $37,000, that's $10,000 more than a base Wrangler unlimited.
Of course, you can get the standard Wrangler, the two-door model, for much cheaper than that as well. I think for a lot of people, there's going to be no other substitute for a Wrangler. Maybe there's that Toyota FJ Cruiser.
You can go more upmarket with a Land Rover and still get a lot of capability, or a Range Rover. But really, a Wrangler, it's an American icon. It's fairly affordable, and it has stayed true to its off road heritage. For Autoblog, I'm Adam Morath.
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