Pinnacle: The 2019 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara 4X4

The 2019 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara.

At the very moment when the automotive industry is bracing for a future in which vehicles are autonomous and possibly anonymous, computer-driven bubbles in which we amuse ourselves while being whisked from point A to point B, the truest example of a basic you-drive-it motorized vehicle has now been perfected.  And it's the one that has the strongest brand identity in the history of the motor vehicle.  One word, no explanation needed:

Jeep.

Since 1940, when it was designed to get our troops anywhere they needed to go, Jeep has been a constant.  And part of that has been constant improvement. 

New Car Review: 2013 Jeep Wrangler Sahara

Times change.

Vehicles change.

People change.

35 years ago I came thisclose to buying a Jeep Wrangler.  It was known then as the Jeep CJ.  There was the CJ5 (6-cylinder) and CJ7 (V8).  As useful as it could have been (I was living in Reno, Nevada and considering the purchase during an especially snowy winter), the CJ7 was noisy, crude, thirsty and expensive.  The CJ5 was the first two and only a little less of the second two.

I bought a Toyota Corolla SR5 Liftback instead.  It was the right move at the time.

But after five days at the wheel of the Jeep Wrangler Sahara 4X4 (Chrysler needed it back two days early for an event, but I'm sure they'll find some way of making it up to me...may I suggest a long-term test of a Wrangler Sahara Unlimited?), the once unthinkable is making a lot of sense to me.  Is it me or is it the Jeep?

New Car Review: 2012 Jeep Wrangler




The 2012 Jeep Wrangler.

Regular TireKicker readers know of my fondness for purposeful, iconic design. Well, right up there with the Porsche 911 (but one heck of a lot less expensive) is the Jeep Wrangler.

Remarkably, I've never owned one. This, despite spending 16 years of my life in the High Sierras and 27 in the Desert Southwest. Came close once, in Reno in 1978. But the CJ (as it was then known) was crude, thirsty and expensive. I bought a Toyota Corolla instead.

Now, though, the Jeep Wrangler appears to be in a sweet spot...having acquired comfort, practicality and everyday usefulness (well, some of those things, anyway) without sacrificing its rugged go-anywhere capabilities.