Had the opportunity last week to get my backside into a
Chrysler Jeep Wrangler for a day, thanks to the nice folk at Hi-Class Auto
out at Chonburi. It was a most interesting experience and as I have never
been one for much “off-roading”, it was something new as well. (I did
a Rally Section in the Oz Championship Mazda 4WD once, but that was
something rather different to this test.)
Wrangler is the great great great grandson of the
legendary Jeep of WWII, which was the subject of an Autotrivia quiz a few
weeks back, and Chrysler have managed to maintain the visual connecting
line with its forebears. However, the progeny have grown in size! I was
actually quite taken aback by the bulk of the Wrangler. Almost 4 metres in
overall length and standing 1.7 metres wide and a staggering 1.8 metres
tall, this is no miniscule Jeep. The ground clearance is also a whopping
254 mm, so it certainly was made to leap small buildings in a single
bound. With its size and stance, it looks more like a mini Hummer, though
I’m sure Chrysler wouldn’t like me mentioning the upstart!
The
model as tested was the Sahara option, which comes with a bigger clutch
(in manual form), alternator and battery. It also came with a factory hard
top, which I would have taken off if it hadn’t required some tools and
another person to lift it off with me. However, the hard top fitted well,
and wind noise was surprisingly low, for something with all the
aerodynamics of a house brick! It also had the 4 litre straight six engine
which was mated to a 3 speed auto transmission.
Hopping into the Wrangler, in my business duds and
shirt, I felt totally at sea. As I drove off, looking down on the baht
busses, it wallowed and undulated with all the grace of a drunken baby
hippo. The suspension was incredibly soft! By the time I got home I was
totally perplexed - surely Chrysler couldn’t have got it that wrong?
Changing into my Wrangler (tm) jeans and fawn Jeep (tm)
shirt that I got at the Bangkok International Motor Show (thank you Mr.
Chrysler) Wrangler Jeep and I then attacked some of the goat tracks,
affectionately called “roads”, near my home. All of a sudden it was
obvious that Chrysler had actually got it right! That soft suspension that
had me feeling “at sea” in Pattaya was exactly what was needed round
the bush tracks at the back of Bang Saray. No question. The ability to
soak up the terrain was sensational.
Now Wrangler has 2WD and 4WD at the touch of a lever,
with low and high ranges too. Honestly, I never found an area that I had
to select 4WD. Mud, slush, dirt roads - the Wrangler felt totally at home,
with its 225/75 Goodyear Wrangler (tm) tyres biting solidly into the mushy
bits left after our monsoon rains a couple of weeks ago.
The power from the 4 litre engine was more than
adequate to propel the vehicle at swift cruising speeds and the 222 ft/lbs
of torque would have been enough to tow City Hall down Pattaya North Road.
The pointy end of the Wrangler package felt totally unburstable.
Inside the cabin area it is a mixture of functional
practicality and some sops to present day motoring. Begin with a massive
roll-over cage which looked as if it would give protection in the event of
hurling the whole shooting match off the Bangkok flyover. It is massive.
The entire cab area can be hosed out after a good day bush bashing, while
the creature comforts included air conditioning good enough to freeze the
balls off a brass monkey. (For those who are perplexed by this allegory, a
“Brass Monkey” was a device that held cannon balls, and when it was
very cold, the little pips that held the balls in place would contract,
allowing the balls to fall off. So there, don’t say you didn’t learn
anything from an Automania column!)
However, the overall impression is one of a Spartan
interior, and I particularly missed an arm rest on the door. Perhaps it is
a sign of laziness, but I even used to fit arm rests in my race sedans!
Wrangler is also not the vehicle to carry the family
and large gobs of luggage, unless you use a trailer. There was a small
lockable area at the rear of the vehicle, which took a brief case and a
large camera bag, and that was about all.
But the important thing when evaluating the Wrangler
was to remember where it is positioned in the marketplace. Wrangler is not
a city car that you can use up country. Quite the reverse. Wrangler is an
off-roader you can use in the city. It is a fun vehicle, a toy for use at
weekends, a vehicle to go exploring, transport to building sites or to be
used where your everyday motoring is in the rough stuff. At 1.65 million
it ain’t cheap, but it will go where many of the Japanese 4WD’s,
complete with chromium plated gaudiness, will not go. Wrangler is a
“serious fun” vehicle for those with a yen (and not a Japanese Yen
either) for adventure. After I got into the jeans and T-shirt, Wrangler
made just so much more sense - and it was just so much more fun too.
Jeep Wrangler is available from Hi-Class Auto,
Chonburi, tel. (038) 780 616-20.
