2024 Jeep Wrangler

JASON LEWIS: Hey, there. I'm Jason, and we are currently hurtling down the highway behind the wheel of this new 2024 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. Hopefully by now, you guys have seen the Edmunds First Drive video on this Jeep, where Emme Hall showed off all of the modernized and newly refreshed features. In this video, however, I'm going to be scrutinizing this thing with a much more critical eye, and we're going to go and compare it against one of our other most popular vehicles in the Edmunds fleet. So get ready to jump into the comments section for some spirited debate as we go head-to-head with two of the most capable off road SUVs money can buy. Like and subscribe to the Edmunds channel. We have a ton of content. Head over to edmunds.com for reviews, detailed specs on a lot of vehicles. While we're on the road, let's talk about how this thing is on the highway and in real life. It's the best Jeep ever, and that was the goal with the new Wrangler-- tons of refinements. The driver interface is really, really nice. This thing kind of evokes the old heritage of Jeep, yet it's backfilled with tons of just convenience, technology, and luxury features. You still have your seat heaters, steering wheel heater, all of those things. You actually have side curtain airbags-- that's new for Jeep Wrangler-- and an optional power seat. The wind and road noise in this thing-- we've tested the '23, the year before this, and this one, and we couldn't find a difference. Even though one of the things they say is better, more sound dampening in this, we couldn't hear a difference. Given hardtop to hardtop, they are exactly the same in here over the road. And this would be the part of the video where your automotive host type person would spend the next five minutes bagging on the Jeep steering. Well, that's not going to happen in this video, because I wholeheartedly disagree with that play when it comes to this platform. Now, it hasn't classically always been great, but this is the best it's ever been. And I'm honestly saying it's pretty good. The on-center feel is one of the main complaints that people will throw at it, and it's better. It's pretty heavy right in the center here. So they've done a ton of refinement to this thing. Now remember, this is designed to be a robust off-road vehicle, so it's unfair to just throw that it's awful on the road. Now, compared to a vehicle with, say, independent front suspension-- wink, wink, that may be our competitor today-- it's definitely not as good and would not win in that comparison head to head. But it is actually really decent to drive this thing. So the big standout difference really in the 2024 Wrangler refresh is this 12-inch wide screen at the top of the center stack here. Well, I don't want to undercut this. Jeep stuck the landing with this thing. It fits nicely into the dash. It actually is very responsive. It's a really nicely done and well executed bit of upgrade here. But where the pavement ends is where the promise of adventure really begins for this type of vehicle and our special guest competitor, so let's get there. By the numbers, the new Wrangler and Bronco are nearly identical twins. The body height and length are within an inch of each other. The Jeep's wheelbase, four-door to four-door, is 2 inches longer, at 118 compared to the Bronco's 116 inches. And accordingly, the approach and departure angles will favor the Wrangler a little bit. The body of the Bronco is a couple inches wider than the Jeep, due to the legacy of this exaggerated fender on the Wrangler. And Ford makes excellent use of that space, offering a noticeably larger cabin and much more comfortable seating area. The look and feel of these Wrangler doors hasn't changed much in decades, so Ford came out and decided to dunk on the Jeep by creating these frameless window openings on their doors. It's kind of like a half door from the factory. It's really cool. Plus, they mounted the side mirrors up here on the cowl, so if you wanted to pop these doors off, you don't have to add a mirror on afterwards to stay street legal. It's really cool. I like this. But when it comes to more technical and off-road-minded upgrades, well, Jeep flexed right back on the Bronco by offering up things like this WARN winch as a factory option. Plus, you can get a full float rear axle on some Rubicon models, and that is a massive upgrade to the drivetrain-- offers tremendous strength, even bumps the towing capacity to $5,000, which is the highest in class by far. All right, now it's time for the fun stuff, driving in the dirt. This Bronco has independent front suspension. We also call it IFS. So the big controversy when the Bronco reappeared on the scene was the fact that Ford went with the IFS. And yeah, it drives down the road great. Over the highway, round town, it does beat the Wrangler for sure. But there are a few drawbacks to the IFS when it comes to off road. You tend to get less wheel articulation. So if you're going to be doing a lot of bouldering and rock crawling, you might want to reconsider that. Plus, there are a couple of weak spots inherent to the IFS. So the two things that I'm most concerned about when I'm wheeling a vehicle like this with IFS, the tie rod. Now, that's the thing that connects the wheel to the rack and pinion unit in the middle of the vehicle. Now, when you hit a rock with your big old 35-inch tire, that thing can bend. Now, the other thing is the CV or constant velocity axle shafts. There's two of them on the front of this thing. And when you bind your tire up in between some boulders, that is a part that's prone to fail. Normally when we do whoops, there's a timer at the end. We have some fun race to this. Well, today we have a whole other take on this. There's a bottle of water strapped in the passenger seat. Truck with the most left inside at the end wins. Baja mode, best suspension, in drive, carry a steady speed through here, let's go. OK, here we go. All right, first buck is OK. Doing pretty good so far. We were just bragging about an independent front suspension. Oh, it's doing its job. Oh, it's pretty smooth. Just make sure that you keep a steady speed. Oh, man. Yeah, buddy, that did amazingly well. Oh, there's two more at the end, and they're big ones. Oh, goodness gracious. Wow, well there you go. That was kind of cool. I'd like to compare. I can't wait to actually compare against the Jeep. All right, time to hurl through the hoops with the Jeep. Lid is off, we are in drive, no other settings for height. Let's go. Let's see. Try to keep the same speed. Oh, boy, it's a bit of bucking bronco already. Oh, gosh. It's so good again. So weird. But here is where the IFS should shine. Oh, goodness gracious. All right, finding the bump stops. It was going a little fast there, but it's still good, same speed. Oh, pretty good spill. Oh, I was watching the road. OK, trying to maintain the speed. The Jeep is still doing pretty good. Even though I'm hitting the bump stops, it still feels really quite composed. Woo, all right. Let's assess. We have a clear winner here, and that's the Bronco, no surprise. We expected the IFS on this thing to soak up the bumps on that, and it did. Now, the Jeep did better than I expected, certainly surprised me. But it just couldn't hang with the isolation of the front end. Now, to be honest with you, I actually thought there was going to be quite a bit of splashing out of this thing, but the design of these bottles is freakishly good. Anyway, let's get on to the next challenge. On our way to the challenge here. Let's talk about that steering again on the Jeep. Remember at the top of the video when I was saying the Bronco just goes over the road better than the Jeep? Well, that's because the Jeep has, you guessed it, a solid front axle under there with a drag-link-style steering. Now, OK, it suffers a little bit on the highway. But here in the dirt is where this excels. What you get-- a ton of articulation, and a ton of strength. And that's exactly what you want out here. Even the tie rod on this Jeep is noticeably beefier than the toothpicks on that Bronco, and those elements add up to a much better-equipped off road vehicle. Before we go any further, let's do a quick interior dive on these two. Now, a couple of highlights here inside the Bronco. Well, first off, the thing you see the most the dash. What a great layout. This is a home run in my eyes. It's just great. The screen, love it. The aux switches here, this is the perfect location. And the execution here, ah, perfect-- chef's kiss. The interior, let's just talk-- seats that are real seats, a center console that's more than just an armrest in like an airliner. The seats are noticeably more comfortable. So those are the things that I think just really take this thing up several notches. Now, let's take it back down a few notches, the things that I don't like as much. The digital instrument panel here, it's OK. Do I hate it? No, but do I like it? No. So that's kind of my thing with that. The transfer case shifter is buttons here in the center console. I am absolutely not a fan of that, and you guys, I've complained about G.O.A.T. Mode a couple times here. And these handles-- the grab handles down low, I'm not necessarily a fan of that. I like them up here where they seem to be a little more practical-- help me get in and out of the vehicle and stabilize, you know, my body when I'm on an obstacle. And it's missing the grab handle here for the passenger. I think that the passenger might appreciate that. And if you're looking at this grab handle, just like mine over here, it's still too low and in a spot where I don't feel gives you the security or the stability that you'd be looking for if you're getting rocked around on the trail. Overall, between the two, I still think the Bronco has a superior interior. I just like being here more. But let's go check out the new Wrangler. So jumping into the Jeep here, the first thing you notice is that everything is closer to you. It's smaller in here. I can actually touch the windshield in this thing from the driver's seat, where in the Bronco, you'd have to literally come out of your seat to get there. So everything's kind of closed in on you. But some of the things I love-- I love the mixture of analog and digital gauges here. It's just that perfect throwback to the genealogy of the original Jeep. And I love the fact that the grab handles in this thing are all in the perfect spot. And you have an oh shoot handle for your passenger. This right here is the highlight, the 4 high, 4 low. Your transfer case is a gear lever right there-- 2-wheel drive, 4-wheel drive-- positive reinforcement. You know you're there. No push buttons for me. Some of the things that aren't as great in here-- well, the auxiliary switches are down here hidden behind the gear shift, so you kind of have to dodge around or reach around that-- not ideal really. The seat's narrow and firm, so it's just noticeably less comfortable and less room for more bigger-sized people in here. And the center console actually on the newer Jeep is a little bit wider, but still, you're closer to the people you're around in here. So let's talk about the new addition-- this big 12-inch-wide screen. Well, you can see that it's constrained by the size and shape of a Jeep dash. But it's a huge step forward to being more like the Bronco. And that's saying something right there. Is it good? Yeah, I actually really like the thing. It's responsive, it's fast, has a lot of great details into it, and it makes it a nicer place. But I still don't think it's as much interior as you get over there in the Bronco. If you want to see a deeper dive into this screen, go check out that first? Drive video with Emmy. There's tons of coverage in there. A moment ago you heard me talking about articulation and bragging about how good this Jeep should do at it. Well, here we are in the dirt. I have the sway bars disconnected, 4-low suspension, all ready to go. Let's see how it does. Feels pretty good, actually. Oh, we got a little tip. So we're going a little bit past the bump stops on this one, because the Jeep is tipping a little bit. It's not just creeping through, but it feels good. It's doing a good job through here. Let's run the Bronco through, see how it does. All right, time to run the Bronco through here. Let's see how it does. Swaybar's disconnected, lockers on, let's see how we do. [MUSIC PLAYING] So far, well, there's a little bit of tippy-ness there. That's what I kind of expected. But it's doing exceptionally well. Oh, my gosh. Well, that was a bit of a mind scramble. The Bronco just did kind of exceptional through there. I don't know whether I'm disappointed in how the Jeep did or just stoked on how well this Bronco just slithered through those little dips. Hmm, we're learning something here. Quick thought on Trail Turn Assist. I hate it. You may think it's cool, but dragging that back tire just tears up the trails. Don't do it. It's like that idiot over there. Hey you, get off my lawn. Come on now. SPEAKER: OK, Boomer. Ha, ha, ha. [MUSIC PLAYING] So what did we learn today? Not a whole lot, but we had some fun. This is just a mid-cycle refresh. It's not a brand-new Wrangler. The screen inside there does modernize it quite a bit. This thing goes down the highway a whole lot better. The full float axle and winch upgrades are substantial on this thing. But does it change the game? Nah. Could it be that the Bronco was one of the best things to have happened to the Wrangler, causing these changes mid-cycle? I think so. But at the end of today, I think I'm going to be going home in the Bronco. Sorry not sorry. Let's go talk about it in the comments. [MUSIC PLAYING]