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Two more doors make small Jeep a better Wrangler(Chicago Tribune (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) CHICAGO _ What took so long? For years folks have had a love affair with the Jeep Wrangler. It was cute and cuddly in a crude sort of way, and it was rugged enough to climb up hills, over boulders and logs and through streams. The motto "Only in a Jeep" could just as well have been "Anywhere in a Jeep." Trouble was it was small, bordering on cramped. Getting in and out was a chore. Finding room to put stuff was a challenge. Stowage capacity meant holding it on your lap. Small lap? Leave the item home. Youth didn't mind. Wrangler stood out in the crowd. You could take off the doors, remove the roof and fold down the windshield. Try that in a Chevy, Ford or Toyota! Trouble is that youth who like to go door-less tend to buy used, while adults who prefer doors tend to buy new. Used makes dealers, not Jeep, money. Jeep hinted better things were coming when it offered two Wrangler versions for 2004{, a regular-length and a 15-inch stretch called Unlimited. Each had a little more leg and cargo room but still just two doors. It did, however, set the stage for solving the size problem with arrival of the 2007, stretched by 20.6 inches in length and more than 5 inches in width. And that made way, for the first time, for four doors so folks can get in and out of the back without proficiency in acrobatics. Where to put the stuff? Behind the back seat, where there's cargo room to hold whatever you need to take along_on- or off-road. Unlimited is now the designation for the four-door Wrangler, where the spacious cargo hold includes even a small, under-floor compartment. Ample room for gear or groceries, something at a premium in the two-door. The redesigned 2007 Wrangler comes with both door choices and two- or four-wheel-drive in three trim versions_X, Sahara and Rubicon. We tested the 2007 Unlimited 4x4 Rubicon. Though all new, there's no doubt it's a Jeep and a Wrangler with its traditional seven-slotted grille and exposed hinges on the doors and tailgate with huge buttons to push to open. And you can remove the top and all four doors as well as fold down the windshield. The added length and width mean Wrangler delivers what older folks have been asking for: ample wiggle room upfront and storage space in back. But keep in mind that this isn't a limo; the name is Unlimited, not Totally Unlimited. Don't expect to stretch your legs in back like you can in a Chrysler 300 sedan. Better room, but reserve the rear seat for smaller, more slender, lighter weight and shorter limbed friends and relatives. And those of the shorter limbs may have a hard time climbing in without running boards, a $395 option that addresses high step-in height. You'll also be reminded that this is a Jeep and not a sedan when driving. Expect a little spring, bordering on bounce, in the ride. The suspension is meant to be forgiving and cushion you off-road. Sometimes that means a little more up-and-down movement on road The standard 17-inch radial tires are giants meant for better grip and grab off-road than on. Those oversized tires are another good reason to pony up for running boards. Though the Unlimited stands high for off-roading and good down-the-road view, the center of gravity hasn't been raised to the point of wobble. Still, with those off-road tires, it's wise to back off the accelerator when taking sharp turns and corners. To ensure safety, stability control with rollover control, traction control and four-wheel anti-lock brakes are standard. And shifting into 4WD is as easy as grabbing the transfer case lever. There's a low setting for when the snow gets very deep or the hill very steep. For 2007, the 2.5-liter, 147-horsepower 4-cylinder and 4-liter, 190-h.p. inline 6 engines are gone. Only a 3.8-liter, 202-h.p. V-6 with a 6-speed manual or 4-speed automatic is offered. Jeep said the 4 was dropped because so few people ordered it. And while the 3.8 liter is more potent than the 4 liter, it delivers 3 m.p.g. better city and 1 m.p.g. gallon better highway mileage. Unlimited is spirited. The V-6 reacts quickly to pedal input. But even though it offers better mileage than it had, the rating is still only 16 m.p.g. in the city and 19 m.p.g. on the highway, numbers more closely associated with mid- to full-size SUVs, not compacts. The seats are well cushioned and very supportive on- or off-road. They are finished in a new fabric called Yes Essentials that makes them not only soft and smooth, but also stain and odor resistant. Nice touch in a machine that can venture off-road. However, no heated seats in a Wrangler. Seems bun warmers don't fit the rugged image. There are a few other amenities you can't get in Wrangler, such as power seats and mirrors or side-curtain air bags, in part to keep the cost down, in part to keep that image. The removable hardtop ($695) ruled out the curtains. The 4x4 Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon tested starts at $28,235, or about $2,000 more than the two-door. Standard equipment includes air conditioning AM/FM stereo with in-dash CD player, tilt steering, 12-volt power outlet and fog lamps. Strange, but though you can't get power seats or mirrors, you can get an optional navigation system, maybe to help you find your way off-road. You can get power windows and locks with remote keyless entry and alarm in an $800 option package. The test vehicle came with manual windows and locks. Yup, had to use the key upfront and a button in back. The aggravation of going door to door to lock makes the $800 option worthwhile, as does not having to roll up the windows. A four-door was overdue, but most welcome, as shown in November, the first full month the Unlimited was on sale, when Wrangler sales skyrocketed 95 percent from a year earlier. Thank the two extra doors. At the end of November, Jeep was holding 62,000 sold orders for Wrangler, most of the four-door. Reportedly it's running about 20 days between arriving at the store and parking in a customer driveway. Through November Jeep sold 71,648 Wranglers, the bulk 2006 models. The outlook for 2007 with the Unlimited tops 100,000 by a wide margin. Better late than never. ___ 2007 JEEP WRANGLER UNLIMITED RUBICON 4X4 Wheelbase: 116 inches Length: 173.4 inches Engine: 3.8-liter, 205-hp V-6 Transmission: 4-speed automatic Fuel economy: 16 mpg city/19 mpg highway Price as tested: $30,790 (Add $660 for freight) The sticker: $28,235 Base $825 4-speed automatic $695 Three-piece, removable hardtop with rear wiper/defroster and tinted rear window $490 Side air bags upfront $350 AM/FM stereo with six-disc in-dash CD player/MP3 player $195 Sirius satellite radio with one-year free service Pluses: Finally two more doors. Wrangler with more room for people and their possessions though still rugged enough to go off-road. Minuses: Low mileage. Back seat a little snug. Rides and handles a little ruggedly on the road. ___ Q: Grandma gave us her 1996 Buick Century, which has a little more than 20,000 miles on it. The car will be perfect for my 17-year-old son and soon my 15-year-old daughter. But I have concerns with the driver's side air bag. Fortunately, it was never deployed, but is there any test to ensure it would work in a collision? _M.P., Palatine, Ill. A: The extreme "test" of running into something. General Motors safety spokesman Alan Adler assures there should be no reason for concern because age doesn't render the system inoperable. There's an air-bag warning light in the dash. As long as the light isn't staying on to indicate a problem, you should have no worry, he said. If the light does stay on, bring the car to a dealer for service. Q: I read your article on the plug-in vehicles General Motors plans to market, and I couldn't help but wonder why there was no mention of the plug-in electric made by Tesla. I read about the car recently, and it seems that they have come up with a viable solution. Is this a hoax or are the major automakers too stubborn to realize that a solution may exist? _D.S., Chicago, Ill. A: What the Tesla sports car and Saturn Vue SUV plug-ins have in common is that neither are in showrooms. Lots of wonderful things have been said of the Tesla, but it's still a prototype. And the Vue plug-in hasn't been built yet. When produced, the sporty Tesla promises zero- to 60-mph times of four seconds, a top speed of 130 mph, seating for two and a starting price of around $100,000. So Tesla wasn't noted because at $100,000 it isn't meant for the mass market like the Vue plug-in, which should start at well below $30,000. Plug-ins mean the vehicles operate in battery mode only as electric cars so gas never has to be burned, but after a limited range in electric the car has to be plugged into a socket to recharge the batteries. GM is talking about 40 to 50 miles from the lithium-ion battery pack before the need for a six-hour recharge; the Tesla lithium ion battery pack promises about 250 miles before three hours on the juice. Q: Regarding your review of the Lexus LS460L and the cool box for soda cans in the back seat: I have a cool box, too, but it cost only $5 at (Midwestern hardware chain) Menards. It works as long as I remember to freeze the ice pack. And it holds six cans, not four. _R.B., Crestview, Fla. A: If only Menards built cars. Q: As for the self-parking LS460L, if I need to be in a car and not park it, I'll ask my wife to drive. And if the cool box is in the back seat, how does the driver get to it? I can see morons reaching for/into it while driving, swerving, hitting barriers, then blaming the "car that pulled in front of me and cut me off." _M.D., Monee, Ill. A: Simple solution. Tell your wife to pull over, let the car park itself, then reach to get you a can of soda out of the cool box. Q: I'd buy a hydrogen car for $40,000 when the fuel is available. In the early 1970s, the oil minister of Saudi Arabia complained that Westerners were taking advantage of his country. I wish to prevent this injustice from continuing. _M.W., Wheaton, Ill. A: You are a very noble soul, with a lot of money to spend. You'll be a very old noble soul by the time hydrogen is readily available to fuel cars. Q: In response to your "Last of the Ford Taurus," perhaps you should follow up on why Japanese carmakers are making inroads in the U.S. Unions have pushed labor costs way up and quality down. No wonder Ford had to drop Taurus. Ford and General Motors are headed for bankruptcy if they don't drop U.S. manufacturing. _D.P., Schaumburg, Ill. A: Japanese vehicles are making inroads in the U.S. because people are falling over each other to buy one. And from what we've seen, most union workers are very concerned with quality because their jobs depend on it. Closing U.S. plants means having no vehicles to sell, eliminating all U.S. jobs, yet still having to pay the workers. Don't know how that would make Ford and GM anything but ancient history. ___ (Write to Jim Mateja, Chicago Tribune, 616 Atrium Drive, Vernon Hills, IL 60061-1523, or send e-mail, including name and hometown, to [email protected].) ___ (c) 2006, Chicago Tribune. Visit the Chicago Tribune on the Internet at http://www.chicagotribune.com/ Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. Copyright 2006 Chicago Tribune |