WHEN you buy a Jeep Wrangler, you aren’t buying a car, you’re buying a way of life. The second you step into the vehicle you start smelling the oceans, searching for mountains and thinking about all the places it can go. All the places you will go.
This Jeep can pretty much go anywhere, except a racetrack, and around a roundabout with a bit of speed behind it. Or at least we highly suggest not taking it around a roundabout too fast.
Granted, they do come stock standard with a roll cage, but this isn’t a feature we are willing to test out. But bracing yourself for the less-than-ideal centre of gravity is about the only thing you need to worry about in this car.
That, and it’s average powerplant. Under the bonnet is a 3.6-litre V6, which gives you 209kW and 345Nm. It is certainly enough to get you going on your next adventure, but it isn’t, as we implied already, going to win any races.
And if you like being at the petrol station a lot, then this is the car for you too. Jeep has claimed 11.7-litres/100km, but we found it to be much higher than that, at around 14.2-litres/100km.
The Wrangler suspension leaves you a bit shaken up too, and the whole design of the vehicle is very industrial. You won’t be gliding across the rocks, but you will get there. You will also feel every bump and crevasse on the road.
But let’s face it, you don’t buy a Wrangler to live the soft life, and we’re not sure you can put a price on the fun you can have in it either. You do have to fight it a bit in some higher wind areas too, which can be extremely exhausting and a bit of a workout on the arms.
The Jeep Wrangler Overland Unlimited is the four-door variation and sits on 18-inch rims, and in this case, our particular variant features the Sky Roof. Think of it as a one touch convertible roof, making it far easier than having to remove a hard covering.
The near vertical windscreen, a little bit of an icon when it comes to Wranglers, can be a bit of a bug magnet but that said, the car feels decidedly more open than a standard Jeep thanks to the open top roof.
It’s fitted with a solid 8.5-inch infotainment system, which comes with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and a beefed up 9-speaker Alpine premium audio setup that includes subwoofers in the back. Heated front seats and steering wheel add to the goodness.
Interior design is durable and lined with leather, including the seats, gear knob, 4WD selector and manual handbrake. Another nice touch is the little Jeep emblems all around the car. They’re literally everywhere, just in case you forget what you’re driving.
The Wrangler has five seats, with ISOFIX and a couple of anchor points for child seats, but you’ll be struggling to fit a rear-facing child seat in the rear seats. There are air vents back there though, along with USB-C and standard USB connections.
Most importantly, that means you can keep the small human’s iPad charged while cruising around with your munchkins. There’s plenty of safety tech too, including extremely sensitive sensors for whether or not your passengers are wearing their seatbelts.
And by extremely sensitive, we mean that putting a handbag or backpack on the seat will actually trigger it into thinking there’s a person in that seat. That aside, there’s blind spot monitoring, and Jeep’s park sense package.
This adds rear parking sensors, an incredibly clear review camera with dynamic parking lines and trailer sway control. Cargo space is monstrous, with plenty of room for a heap of camping gear or a tonne of groceries.
If it’s just the two of you, you can also put the second row seats down and kit it out with a mattress, should you wish to go off road and sleep overnight. You could also open the roof to stare at the stars and the moon (how romantic).
Jeep has done a pretty solid job with the 2021 Wrangler Overland Unlimited. While there are some downsides, it’s a vehicle designed for off roading, and continues the tradition of what the Wrangler is meant to be.
You can also get adventurous with colour selections, with a choice of Sarge Green, Bright White, Black, Billet Silver, Granite Crystal, Sting Grey, Firecracker Red, Snazzberry, and Hydro Blue.
If you are sold on the Jeep lifestyle, pricing starts from $61,450 (drive away) for the Overland Unlimited.
Our test vehicle was supplied by Jeep Australia. To find out more about the 2021 Jeep Wrangler Overland Unlimited Sky Roof, contact your local Jeep dealer.
