We delude ourselves a little each day, creating harmless conceits about how slim we are, how smart we are, how thin, how generous, how tall and how rugged. Human nature.
This brings me to Fiat Chrysler’s Jeep brand. It plays off – and preys on — the typical male fantasy of toughness. Most men, even when their bodies have suffered a furniture accident – chest crashing into drawers – imagine themselves 18, even in the face of sagging evidence.
The alternative facts are more appealing. We imagine ourselves vibrant and brave, possessing all-night stamina. This fantasy sells Jeeps.
Meanwhile, my straw polling of women finds that many associate Jeeps with a kind of heroic masculinity that transfers to the men driving them. Jeep’s iconic and authentic history casts a halo over anyone behind the wheel.
As the 1941 Scientific American story “Meet the Jeep” described things, the U.S. Army’s new “midget combat car” was “the homeliest and most useful item in the Army’s rolling stock.” That image has stuck for three-quarters of a century. Today, Jeep is wrapped in this idea of “a clawing, climbing hellion,” capable of “reaching good places to shoot from.”
Alas, Jeep’s authenticity is embedded in a broader fantasy. Jeeps then and now have always been capable, but they are also crude and rough and like any tool, potentially dangerous in the wrong hands.
The reality of the most authentic of Jeeps is that the two-door Wrangler and the four-door Wrangler Unlimited look AND feel the part of an all-purpose truck capable of storming Normandy’s beaches in the summer of 1944. Yes, the 2016 Wrangler Unlimited 75th Anniversary Edition I just finished with has quite a nice interior and good seats, but it’s tall and tippy, with big knobby tires that make a lot of noise and gearing designed for the Rubicon Trail, not the Seat to Sky Highway.
And yes, the roof and doors come off, which is terrifically cool and even fun at Zuma Beach. But I counted six latches that hold the roof in place around a magnificently robust roll cage that will save your life if you tip. But each of those latches looked finicky; there is no joy in stripping off the roof and doors. Nonetheless, the Wrangler Unlimited looks amazing.
It will do amazing things when there’s no pavement, too. For starters, FCA’s ubiquitous 3.6-litre Pentastar V-6 engine delivers 285 horsepower/260 lb.-ft. of torque, tied to gearing that takes full advantage of available low-end torque. You can chug up and down almost anything with this powerplant.
Axle ratios? Pick 3.21, 3.73 or 4.10 depending on model. You can also tow a field gun up to 1,588 or 3,500 pounds.
If the axle ratios bore you, don’t bother reading the rest of this paragraph dealing with approach angle (42.2 degrees), breakover angle (25.8 degrees) and departure angle (32.3 degrees). Tough stuff.
The Command-Trac part-time, two-speed transfer case makes this rig capable of climbing/descending almost anything (2.72:1 low-range gear ratio) and if you’re truly serious, the optional Trac-Lok limited-slip rear differential dials up the torque and grip needed for tackling sand, mud or snow. Stability control and such are also standard.
But honestly, the whole package is kind of primitive, undeniably unsophisticated in an age of fancy Land Rovers with dial-up capabilities and such. Which is why Jeep is readying a new-generation of Wranglers and a lot of them will be built in China. They’ll be capable but not so trying in the day-to-day, on paved roads and high-speed highways.
Jeep will never change the look, even for the reinvented Wrangler due going forward. And I do love those classic round headlamps, the seven-slot grille, the massive wheel flares, removable doors, exposed hinges, the fold-down windshield, removable top and half doors that are brand icons.
But we live in a soft world filled with delusional men and fantasizing women. They are mostly spoiled and do not wish to suffer at the altar of authenticity. The trial of living day-to-day with a Wrangler will end with the next-generation model.
So if you truly are tough, get this generation of Wrangler before the world changes forever.
2016 JEEP WRANGLER UNLIMITED 75TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
Base price: $39,695. As tested: $53,440.
Engine: 3.6-litre V-6 (285 horsepower/260 lb.-ft. of torque).
Drive: part-time four-wheel drive.
Transmission: six-speed automatic.
Fuel economy (litres/100 km): 15.0 city/11.0 hwy using regular fuel.
Comparables: Lots of other 4x4s, from the Ford Explorer to Land Rover’s Discovery, but nothing from a mainstream automaker has this sort of part-time, shift-into-off-road-mode four-wheel-drive mechanical system. So I’d argue there is nothing quite comparable.
