The Sacramento Bee's view

Wrangler’s place is off road

When I was a young lad, I loved to play the Parker Bros. board game, Monopoly. One time, my friends and I decided to take the game off the family room table and play outside under the shade of a tree. What a fiasco that was! … The wind sent paper money, game pieces and hotels into neighborhood yards for a quarter-mile around.

Which, of course, brings us to the 2004 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited.

No, I did not omit five paragraphs from this review. It makes perfect sense.

Monopoly was meant to be played in the calm, windless climate inside a home … not outdoors. Similarly, a Jeep Wrangler – even this new, supposedly paved-road-friendly Unlimited version that Chrysler Group rolled out to kick off calendar 2004 – is meant to be driven in the unpaved wild, where mud, rocks and grass bow down before it.

Let’s face it: A Jeep Wrangler is a niche vehicle – not necessarily my niche.

If your idea of fun is getting up at 4 o’clock on a Saturday morning, steering off the pavement high in the Sierra Nevada and watching the sun rise from a solid-rock summit that you reached after a stomach-churning climb up a barely visible mountain trail, you’re going to adore the Wrangler.

But if you like to cruise the interstate in silky-smooth style while picking up every note on Disc 4 of your new Beethoven anthology CD in a stone-silent cabin, you’re not going to have any love for the Wrangler.

That’s going to be true even in this Wrangler – called a 2004 1/2 model by the automaker but strictly a 2004 on the window sticker – which Chrysler said it built for motorists who have long wanted better paved-road manners in a Jeep.

The Unlimited is 15 inches longer than a standard Wrangler, with the emphasis on more room in the back of the vehicle – 2 inches of additional legroom in the two rear seats and 13 inches more in the cargo area behind those seats.

Jeep builders said they finally got the message from buyers who wanted to carry more belongings with them in a Wrangler; the increased cargo room grants that wish. Jeep engineers also contend that the longer wheelbase in the Unlimited – 103 inches – provides a quieter, smoother ride than the usual Wrangler with its 93-inch wheelbase.

Agreed. But the Unlimited is still a less-than-relaxing highway traveler. Noise easily penetrated the soft-top cabin of the tester, with accelerating 18-wheelers making me jump out of my skin numerous times. Road bumps were felt from backside to bicuspids.

The longer wheelbase does translate into a hefty 3,500 pounds of towing capacity, a significant bump up from the 2,000-pound max on a standard Wrangler.

The Unlimited’s 190-horsepower, in-line 6 engine did dance admirably in Sacramento rush-hour traffic. Performance was robust enough to enable the Wrangler Unlimited to hold its own among the last-second lane-changers and hard-dr iving tailgaters.

But urban dwellers who envision the Unlimited as a citified version of the old Wrangler should be forewarned. Spoiled suburban commuters might be shocked to learn that, on the tester, windows had to be rolled up and down by hand and door locks were opened by a turn of a key and not the press of a button on a key fob.

Off the road, it’s all good. The Wrangler Unlimited likes to play in the dirt and takes to it with gusto. The tested Wrangler rolled over grass, gravel and dusty trails with little complaint, and body lean on uneven, solid-rock surfaces was gentle enough to enable driver and passengers to munch sandwiches and take swigs from water bottles.

Rear-seat passengers were particularly complimentary of the nice range of vision from their seats – not a given in even high-priced off-roaders.

Control of the four-wheel-drive Unlimited was never in question on off-road excursions. Steering was responsive and firm; none of that ushy feeling that you sometimes get in sand or mud.

With the bigger cargo area on the Wrangler Unlimited, you can pack up for an extended stay in the wilderness. Great idea.

That’s where the Unlimited performs best – truly in its element. Why hurry back to the city when you’re driving a vehicle born to be wild?

2004 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited at a glance

Vehicle type: Four-seat, two-door, four-wheel-drive, special-purpose, sport-utility vehicle.

Base price: $24,385 (as tested, $25,815).

Engine: 4-liter in-line 6 with 190 horsepower at 4,600 revolutions per minute and 235 foot-pounds of torque at 3,200 rpm.

EPA fuel economy: 16 miles per gallon city; 19 mpg highway.

Transmission: Four-speed automatic with overdrive.

Steering: Power-assisted recirculating ball.

Brakes: Power-assisted four-wheel discs.

Suspension: Live axle with leading arms on front; live axle with trailing arms on rear (track bars, coil springs, stabilizer bars and low-pressure gas-charged shock absorbers front and rear).

Cargo volume: 28.5 cubic feet.

Fuel tank: 19 gallons.

Curb weight: 3,721 pounds.