Back in 1997, Jeep introduced the Jeep Dakar at the Detroit auto show. The Dakar, a "concept car," was essentially a four-door Wrangler. You can read about it here:

http://www.allpar.com/model/jeep/dakar-icon.html

I thought it an excellent idea, and think I was far from alone in this. Nevertheless, Jeep took nearly a decade to bring a four-door Wrangler to market.

Well, it's here now, with the "Unlimited" moniker distinguishing it from the two-door. So I took a base "Wrangler Unlimited X" equipped with four-wheel-drive and a six-speed stick for a spin.

Update: a few days later I drove a Hummer H3 and a second Wrangler Unlimited, this time with the automatic transmission, back to back. The following updated review is based on both test drives.

Styling

Jeep might have recently given us the ungainly Compass, but they know better than to mess with the Wrangler's exterior styling. The dimensions are up quite a bit: even the two door has grown nearly nine inches in length and six inches in width. But it still looks much like the old Wrangler, just a bit squarer and chunkier.

The updated styling actually works best on the four-door, as it has twenty inches of additional length to offset the extra width. (It's still only 184 inches long, about the same length as a Toyota Highlander.) The Dakar concept was rounder and prettier than the new Wrangler Unlimited, but was also much smaller and thus no doubt lacking in interior capacity (which likely explains why it wasn't produced as-is).

Many people will prefer the production Wrangler Unlimited to the Dakar concept on aesthetic grounds, as it looks less cute and more brawny.

And, judging from photos, the new Jeep Wrangler Unlimited looks even better with the top off. It now has power windows, but the top and doors can still be removed (just not quickly or easily) and the windshield can still be folded flat to the hood (ditto). A roll cage remains in place from the B-pillars back for protection in a rollover. I'm not normally a Jeep fan, but must admit that in photos with the top off the new Unlimited looks so rugged and fun that I find myself personally WANTING ONE.

It's October, and summer is long gone from Michigan, so I left the top in place during the test drive. But Jeep has clearly done a lot to make removing the top as practical as possible. The hardtop is divided into three sections, one over the driver, one over the front passenger, and then the rest of the roof. You can remove any one or two of these and leave the rest of the roof in place. Since the front sections are light and relatively small, removing and replacing them on a daily basis appears practical. Removing the much larger rear section would require two people.

If you want to venture out without the top but want some weather protection in case of rain, the two front sections stow behind the rear seat. So you can take them along. If you are caught in the rain without the roof, no need to worry. The roofbar-mounted speakers and other electrical bits are supposedly weather-proof. Even with cloth seats, Jeep claims that the Wrangler still has a "wash-out interior" (just first remove the carpet and drain plugs).

The hardtop is an option. A soft top is standard. (The Wrangler and Wrangler Unlimited can be ordered with one or both tops.) While the sailcloth roof can also be removed entirely, it's clearly more practical to just fold back the front portion. In the Unlimited, this quickly yields a huge 55-by-60-inch opening -- the entire area over the seats.

The Dakar concept had a fixed steel roof, and was thus much less versatile. If Jeep spent the last decade coming up with the nifty roof, this might actually justify the long wait.

I didn't care for the looks so much the second time around--the 16-inch steel wheels standard on the X and the "Red Rock" medium red paint were not a good combo. (The first Wrangler I drove had alloys.) Uplevel trims come with 17- and 18-inch alloys improve the exterior appearance. Then again, hardcore Wrangler fans are probably going to fit aftermarket tires and rims anyway.

Inside you'll find the same hard plastic as in every other recent Chrysler Group product. But it actually makes sense in the all-weather, rugged Jeep. There's nothing fancy about the interior styling, which I suspect is exactly the way purists want it. The door handles could feel a bit more substantial, though.

The Hummer H3 has a far more luxurious interior, especially with the optional black leather. While the Jeep's barebone's interior is clearly that of a Wrangler, the Hummer's instrument panel could have come straight out of a sedan.

Accommodations

The Jeep Wrangler Unlimited's front seats are acceptably comfortable, no more, no less. They can now be raised up to two inches, but even in their lowest position I found it easy to see out of the vehicle. Though the windshield isn't tall and is very upright, it's close enough that you don't get the tunnel vision you do in a Hummer. It's actually possible to adjust the rearview mirror without leaning forward.

There's plenty of legroom in the Jeep's rear seat. And, unlike the H3's, the Wrangler's rear cushion is high enough off the floor to provide good thigh support. But the cushion is very shallow, and the seatback is more upright than it should be for optimal comfort. A reclining rear seat like that in the Compass would be useful.

The rear seat folds easily, with the headrests articulating out of the way so they do not have to first be removed. This expands the amount of cargo room from an already very useful 46 cubic feet to a voluminous 82. This is roughly the same amount of cargo volume offered by a Ford Explorer or Chevy TrailBlazer. A Jeep Grand Cherokee or Commander offers considerably less.

Who knew a Jeep could be so practical?

On the Road

For 2007, the venerable 4.0-liter inline six has been replaced by the 3.8-liter V6 used in Chrysler's top-line minivans. In this application it kicks out 202 horsepower at 5,000 rpm, up 12. Torque output remains about the same at 237 foot-pounds, but the peak is now 800 rpm higher, at 4,000.

The power gain is more than canceled out by a massive 450-pound weight gain (when comparing 4WD versions; rear-drive is now standard on the Unlimited). No suprise here: more size equals more weight, and more weight equals marginal acceleration. At low speeds the 3.8 does well enough, but once over 35 or so it begins to struggle, and acceleration once up to highway speeds is downright slow. Aside from the weight, the Wrangler might just be the least aerodynamic vehicle you can buy.

The gearing of the six-speed manual transmission doesn't help. First is low, but there's a huge gap to second. Even though there are six speeds, it doesn't make much sense to go beyond fourth until about 60 miles-per-hour. At that speed, the engine turns about 2,500 rpm in fourth, 2,000 rpm in fifth, and 1,700 rpm in sixth. There's absolutely no passing power in the top two gears.

Despite the tall gearing, the EPA highway rating is just 19. City is 17.

Like the H3's, the Jeep's engine pairs better with the automatic. Compared to even the 2007 H3, which has more power than the 2006, the Jeep feels stronger off the line and at low speeds, but about the same or even a bit weaker at higher speeds, where both struggle.

My recommendation: a stouter engine (perhaps the new 24-valve 4.0 that performs so well in the 2007 Pacifica, but I suppose the 4.7-liter V8 more likely) and lower, more tightly spaced gear ratios. A glance under the hood reveals two things: plenty of room for another pair of cylinders, and the easiest to reach oil filter I've ever seen. Combine this accessibility with enough ground clearance to easily reach the drain plug, and oil changes out to be extremely quick and easy.

The Jeep Wrangler Unlimited's shifter is the imprecise, ultra-long-throw variety typically found in trucks. While this unit would be ridiculous in a car, I guess it's okay in a truck. The H3's shifter also has long throws, but feels smoother and more precise.

My second Wrangler test drive, which followed a test drive in an H3, left me with a more favorable impression of the Jeep's handling. The new chassis continues to employ live axles front and rear, and my initial impression was that these like to dance and sidestep over patchy pavement. The ride seemed steadier in my second test drive; that I drove on different roads might have been a factor.

In quick transitions the Jeep sometimes feels a bit wobbly, but in steady turns it behaves much better than I expected, with good balance and a reasonable amount of roll. Such a tall vehicle should not be driven very quickly through turns, anyway. The steering (still recirculating ball) is very slow, requiring much more lock than the typical car. Why? Because this is the way serious off-roaders like it. Recirculating ball steering means less kickback. Slow steering assists in the precise navigation of boulder fields and the like.

Ride quality is a bit busy, but without the pitching motions of some earlier Jeeps (the Wrangler Unlimited's long wheelbase no doubt helps here). The ride never turned punishing in either test drive; the suspension generally takes the edges and kicks out of impacts. Improvements to the suspension design permitted softer spring rates for 2007.

I did not venture off the pavement, but have few doubts that the new Wrangler will perform very well there. If Jeep knows how to do one thing, it's build a Wrangler capable of handling the rough stuff.

The major dynamic surprise is the very low amount of road noise, even at highway speeds. I drove an X with relatively unaggressive tires; the hardcore Rubicon is probably noisier. Up to about 50 there's also very little wind noise, and even at highway speeds the wind rush over the unlined hard plastic roof is well within comfortable limits. In other words, the Wrangler can now serve as a passable daily driver.

Contrary to what I remembered from my earlier drives, the Hummer actually had a busier, more annoying ride, with sharper, more violent reactions to uneven road surfaces. In the Hummer's favor, on smoother roads it has the more solid, more refined feel of an upscale vehicle, while the Jeep always has a barebones character.

Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Price Comparisons and Pricing

Before rebates and after adjusting for the 2007's additional features (ABS, stability control, etc.), the Jeep's price is actually a few hundred lower this year.

Compared to the H3, the Jeep is about $3,000 less after adjusting for feature differences. For this money you get a much more upscale vehicle in the Hummer. Think work truck interior vs. near-lux. But the Jeep has a more unique character, and the top comes off.

Prices change frequently, and differences will vary based on feature level. To quickly generate these and other comparisons with the specific features you want, visit my Web site, www.truedelta.com. (It's the only site that provides true "apples-to-apples" price comparisons.)

TrueDelta's page for the Wrangler:

http://www.truedelta.com/models/Wrangler.php

Last Words

I found the new Jeep Wrangler Unlimited a very appealing mix of on-road livability, off-road capability, and outright gotta-have-it coolness. I've never been a Jeep fan--agile compacts are more my thing--yet part of me would really like to have one of the new Unlimiteds. So if you are a Jeep fan, and would actually be able to venture off-road, then the new Wrangler should serve you very well. It retains the capability of past Wranglers, while offering much more day-to-day practicality. In some ways it's more livable than the small Hummer. Above all, it's good to see that, even though Jeep has begun to wander recently, it still knows how to serve its base.

A Note on Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Reliability

I cannot practically cover reliability within the context of this review. However, many people are interested in such information, so I've started collecting my own data. Results, once they are available, will be posted to my site, www.truedelta.com, with updates every three months.

Unlike other sources, TrueDelta will clearly identify what difference it will make if you buy a Wrangler rather than another vehicle by providing "times in the shop" and "days in the shop" stats (among others). You will be able to specify the number of years, annual miles, and types of repairs to include in Jeep Wrangler reliability comparisons.

Before I can report results, I need reliability data on all cars--not just the Wrangler--from people like you. To encourage participation, those who help provide the data will receive free access to the site's reliability information. Non-participants will have to pay an access fee.

For the details, and to sign up, visit www.truedelta.com.

A link to my website and alphabetized links to my other vehicle reviews can be found on my profile page.

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Some of my reviews of related vehicles:
Hummer H3 review
Jeep Compass review
Nissan Xterra review
Toyota FJ Cruiser review
Amount Paid (US$): 30000