However, hardcore Jeep fans might still raise their eyebrows at the thought of tackling the trail in this particular Jeep. On paper, this 274PS (270bhp) 2.0-litre is more than a match for the traditional 3.6-litre V6 engine only available in a handful of global markets, but in the UK it’s expected to power two-thirds of all-new Wranglers leaving showrooms.
So can such a relatively small engine cope with the challenges and harsh, boulder-littered reality of the Rubicon, especially when matched to an eight-speed automatic gearbox? Throughout two days of crawling at slower-than-walking pace, we get our answer time and time again. In fact, as we follow our lead guide in another Wrangler, following his carefully chosen line through the sharp-edged rocks all around, it never puts a tyre wrong or out of place.
The scenario gets repeated so many times during the course of our day that it almost becomes comedic. We drive along the trail, slow up as we get to a particularly tough section, the dust settles and my co-driver and I simultaneously swear at what lies ahead in the windscreen. Despite knowing the Wrangler’s prodigious talents, we sit there, momentarily stunned as we both wonder how on earth the route ahead can be traversed. It’s not that we struggle to see a route, it’s that we’re faced with a vista ahead that looks hard enough to cover on foot, let alone attempt to drive up.
Yet we follow the instructions given by the guide, engage low range enabling the Wrangler to creep ahead. The tyres slip on the dusty slick rocks, before finding some purchase and then steadily and inexorably they push the Jeep over the obstacle ahead for it to continue on. There’s barely any time to register its achievements either, as yet another challenge lies just past the next bend in the trail.