The rock staircase climbed up from the sand, flanked by chaparral and sagebrush. Because the purple sandstone steepened into practically a 30-degree pitch, the terrain appeared brittle, like the within of a Butterfinger. This was no sweet bar. 

A 2024 Jeep Wrangler Willys skittered on a free rock, the wheels pulled left, the guides shouted, and the motive force arrested its slide. However it was caught. Backing down would’ve been too difficult. Flip the wheel proper up slope, and it might’ve rolled over; flip left and it’d dive 20 toes into the sand, led by the brand new metal bumper and a factory-installed Warn winch.

Good factor for the guides and their restoration Rubicons. Higher factor that Jeep match the out there Warn winch and its 8,000-pound capability on all of the check autos. In what took possibly 5 minutes, the group unspooled the ability winch from the restoration Rubicon, linked it to the tow hook on the motive force’s facet of the stranded Jeep, yanked the nostril, and pulled it right into a course correction. It was so fluid it might’ve felt staged, if not for the mortification of the motive force. 

With dozens of drivers, and talent ranges starting from skilled to noobs, the $3,495 Rubicon accent proved value it on a couple of event. This space of deep sand, slick sandstone, and improbably cartoonish rock formations is in style terrain for Wranglers, and serves because the proving grounds for a lot of Jeep’s validations. 

Sand Hole State Park, in southwestern Utah, may very well be a form of Moab-lite, temptingly easy if you understand the place to go however deceptively difficult total. It was simply the place to check the redesigned 2024 Jeep Wrangler that has some easy updates that make an enormous distinction. 

2024 Jeep Wrangler: New seven slot grille

Jeep hasn’t strayed too removed from what makes this icon of automotive icons so iconic. Ten wheel designs, ten physique colour decisions, two-door and four-door choices, 4 completely different convertible rooftops solely knock on Pandora’s Field of Wrangler customization. The key change to the outside is a shorter seven slot grille with completely different colour trim rings to indicate the grades. It’s stouter, however the grille bars have extra texture that allows extra engine cooling misplaced because of the shorter slots. All of that is in service of becoming the out there Warn winch, and in Rubicon X fashions, a metal bumper. 

Lurking behind that grille is one in all 4 engine choices, unchanged from final yr aside from the discontinuation of the turbodiesel. The bottom 285-hp 3.6-liter V-6 comes with a 6-speed guide with lengthy throws and gappy gear spacing, however most patrons will go for the $2,500 8-speed automated that feels extra at residence within the trendy Wrangler. 

The two.0-liter turbo-4 is stronger. It makes 270 hp and 295 lb-ft, the latter of which peaks at 3,000 rpm, a lot prior to the V-6 and its 260 lb-ft at 4,800 rpm. It’s a quieter, faster, higher every day driver, and definitely worth the $2,500 upcharge over the V-6 with the 8-speed. 

Extra Wrangler patrons are opting to pair that turbo-4 with a motor-generator in addition to a traction motor built-in into the 8-speed automated within the 4xe plug-in hybrid mannequin. Jeep mentioned the Wrangler 4xe accounted for 38% of gross sales within the first quarter of 2023, and it’s anticipating that quantity to extend to 50% by subsequent yr. That’s essential for a model experimenting with an electrical Wrangler and struggling to fulfill CAFE necessities. 

It’s not only a numbers recreation. Fed by a 17.3-kwh battery pack, the 100-kw traction motor companions with the turbo-4 to generate 375 hp and 470 lb-ft. Not solely is it extra highly effective than the turbodiesel, it’s one of the best every day driver, fast and lightweight off the road, quiet and clean with its transitions. With 22 miles of all-electric vary, it’s the mannequin I’d advocate to many Wrangler followers who overlook its off-road capacity in favor of its topless convertibility. It begins at a decrease entry level this yr within the $51,790 Sport S. The 2024 Wrangler prices about $700 extra than final yr’s mannequin, starting from $33,690 for the bottom Sport to $89,390 for the Rubicon 392.  

The 4xe offsets the thirst of the Wrangler Rubicon 392. Its 6.4-liter V-8 makes 470 hp and 470 lb-ft on its strategy to a 0-60 mph of 4.5 seconds, although the top-heavy beast feels extra thrilling than that. Open up the exhaust baffles, and it sounds and strikes prefer it’ll conquer something on-road, off-road, and in between. Jeep tweaks the steering hydraulics within the 392, so not solely does the wheel really feel heftier within the palms, there’s additionally extra suggestions than in different fashions from the in any other case free recirculating ball steering, particularly in comparison with the 4xe. 

2024 Jeep Wrangler: About that full-float rear axle

The most important mechanical distinction for 2024 bolts into the rear, and it’s additionally unique to Rubicon fashions. It upgrades from a Dana 44 axle on different fashions with a Dana 44 HD full-float rear axle typically utilized in industrial trucking functions. Basically, it permits elevated towing capability, extra structural rigidity, and a simplified technique of changing a wheel or axle shaft should you discover actual bother on the path.  

The peerlessly succesful semi-float rear axle on different Wranglers each carries the load of the Jeep and handles the rotational drive of the torque to the rear wheels. The design of the full-float axle splits these duties, so the axle tube bears the load, and the axle shaft transfers torque to the tires. 

“It’s distinctive in the way in which the wheel hub attaches to the axle,” Pete Milosavlevski, chief engineer for the Wrangler, defined. “There’s an additional bearing that enables us to connect the wheel hub on to the axle tube.”

The additional stability allowed Jeep to extend the 2024 Wrangler Rubicon’s towing capability to five,000 kilos, however solely with the two.0-liter turbo-4 or the V-6. Different fashions with the semi-float rear axle stay at a 3,500-pound capability, whereas two-door fashions are rated at 2,000 kilos.

We examined the V-6 with the 8-speed hooked as much as a 4,300-pound Airstream camper on a 96-degree desert day round Sand Hole reservoir. It was effectively balanced and with no trailer sag on the rear axle, the good silver turkey planted on its metal platter. The V-6 strained uphill at 55 mph, with the 8-speed automated maintaining the engine above 5,000 rpm. It wasn’t for lengthy, and it wasn’t that uncommon for such a weight and such an engine. I couldn’t assist however marvel how the discontinued turbodiesel and its 442 lb-ft of torque would carry out, or the 4xe or Rubicon 392. Jeep didn’t get SAE validation for the upper towing determine with these engines, due partially to the burden steadiness with an enormous V-8 up entrance, in addition to the roughly 700 kilos of additional weight because of the 4xe powertrains. 

On milder ascents akin to on-ramps, it held a lot calmer within the 3,000-4,000 rpm vary. In both case, the V-6 didn’t really feel overmatched by the hefty load, it simply required extra endurance. 

Milosavlevski doubted an occasional Wrangler driver like me would discover the elevated rigidity when driving unladen. 

“Behind the wheel you’re not likely going to really feel it until you are trailering,” he mentioned. “It provides you a way of safety and confidence as a result of the construction is doing its job, and the axle shaft is targeted on working the torque to the wheels.”

I wouldn’t have observed with no back-to-back demo of the 2 towing capacities. However getting blasted by a convoy of semis on the only lane freeway frightened me, as regular. After the preliminary wave of air, the Wrangler and its load remained regular and with out sway, so I think about my anxiousness would reduce over time.  

The aluminum alloy turkey was a few half-foot wider on both facet than the Wrangler, so twin facet mirrors for towing would’ve been useful, as would the out there trailer digicam missing on our tester. The brake controller is a Mopar accent that must be put in on the supplier, however Rubicons include the trailer tow bundle with a 7-pin connector and Class II hitch. The max tow bundle prices additional. 

2024 Jeep Wrangler: Normal 12.3-inch touchscreen

The final massive improvement for the 2024 Wrangler is the addition of a normal 12.3-inch touchscreen with wi-fi Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and a number of other out there digicam angles. It stretches horizontally throughout the compass-oriented sprint, which remains to be flanked by round vents and seize bars on the pillars. It’s effectively built-in with traditional Jeep sprint parts, akin to one other seize bar in entrance of the passenger, and conventional laborious dials for fan pace, quantity, and tuning under the touchscreen.

A vertical menu bar retains the toggling easy, and off-road options akin to pitch and roll have a lot brighter, bigger shows. A brand new Trails Offroad app has 62 Jeep trails throughout the nation baked in, and one other 3,000 out there for an annual subscription charge of $39.99. It might additionally file your route and add breadcrumbs, or manner factors, to assist observe the place you went to put it aside or share it with others. You want navigation, nevertheless, which depends on TomTom mapping as a substitute of Google, regardless that Uconnect runs on Google’s working system. 

The big touchscreen is trendy and traditional Jeep on the identical time, with out overwhelming the sprint. The identical may very well be mentioned for the remainder of the updates to the 2024 Jeep Wrangler. They let it do much more Wrangler issues, whereas nonetheless being a traditional. 

That it will probably now tow greater than the Ford Bronco and its 4,500-pound capability is incidental. “Competitors is sweet however all of those enhancements had been within the works anyway,” Milosavlevski responded. “We’re at all times trying to refine and up our recreation as a result of the client wished it.”

A type of enhancements is a factory-installed Warn winch that may save a precarious off-roader the fear of falling down one in all nature’s staircases.

Jeep paid for lodging and airfare for Motor Authority to current this firsthand report.