The Wrangler is the only vehicle in this fleet whose shape is a functional argument rather than a styling one. The doors come off, the roof comes off, the windscreen folds, and the reason the sides are flat and the corners are square is so that none of that is difficult. Four doors means it is a usable car the rest of the time — five seats, a square boot, and a back row adults fit in.
In Los Angeles it earns its keep twice. On the coast road with the top open it is the best-feeling car here for the money, and on a fire road above Malibu or the sand at the end of a beach track it goes where nothing else in the fleet will. Solid axles and a proper low range are not decoration.
Honest hook: it is loud on the freeway and it is not the car for a long motorway day. Everything it gives up, it gives up on purpose.
- Roof panels out in two minutes — the best open-air car here for the money
- Genuinely capable on a fire road or a beach access track
- Four doors, five seats, a square boot
- Pale sage green over black wheels and a black hard top · $199 a day