FIRST-DRIVE REVIEW: 2023 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara -- Topless thrills on any terrain

It’s around 8 p.m. and the nighttime air is whipping against my face, with my hands firmly grasping the roof bar.

The wind, vigorously buffeting around my ears, is a pleasant accompaniment to the twinkling of the stars above. I’m standing on the floor in the back seat as my fellow motoring scribe Ian Magbanua takes us down a quiet winding road in Alabang.

No, it’s not a fancy sports car, nor is it a shoot for a music video. It was just my way of enjoying the fresh air more thoroughly as we took a short drive of the 2023 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sahara, sans its composite roof panels.

Traditional Jeep looks

The latest iteration of the iconic Jeep Wrangler carries on the styling cues that first emerged on the 1940s Willys Jeep.

Things like the exterior door hinges, the manual hood clasps, the round LED headlights, the rectangular LED taillight clusters and the front grill with exactly seven slots remind everyone just what exactly this little sport-utility vehicle (SUV) is.

That’s right, the Wrangler Unlimited Sahara is a proper SUV – its ladder-frame chassis, solid axles and selectable four-wheel drive are things you would never find on garden-variety crossovers that are all the craze nowadays (or even on pick-up-based SUVs on sale today). 

There are even hooks molded out from the frame, just in case you need to lash onto something to excavate yourself or another vehicle.

And just like Wranglers of old, you can turn it into an open-top off-roader by manually removing the composite roof. This is a task best done with friends, as the huge roof weighs around 60 kg.

Spacious, robust cabin

Inside, the Wrangler is all business.

The driving position borders on anachronistic, with the dashboard absolutely upright and filled with hard plastics and rubber to handle the elements. Things like the centrally mounted power-window switches and the lever for the four-wheel-drive system took me back a few decades.

But given its ₱5,290,000 price tag, the Wrangler Unlimited Sahara isn’t wanting for luxuries. You get durable leather upholstery, front and rear air-conditioning, an Alpine surround-sound system that includes speakers in the roof lining and even a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system.

And because this is the five-door Unlimited variant, the back seat had good room for three, although the space for a third row gives way to the much-appreciated roll bar in the cargo area.

Pliant ride

Behind the wheel, you might expect this to be like Jeeps of old – a bone-shattering ride that cares more about wheel articulation than your spinal integrity.

But the latest Wrangler is quite the opposite. The very long spring travel still results in considerable pitch and lean, but the dampers have been tuned to be rather friendly on tarmac.

And the typical jiggling that you get on a ladder-frame vehicle is almost completely eliminated, except for some shimmying that I felt when I sat in the back. A great effort, nonetheless, given the immense off-road prowess of this Jeep.

A long-term test would reveal more about how this iconic off-roader does in a wider variety of terrain.

Good performance

Wranglers of yore used to have enormous straight-6 motors that had enough torque to fell trees, all while guzzling enough fuel and producing enough tailpipe emissions to make trees wither.

But in the 21st century, this little Jeep gets a turbocharged 2.0-liter, twin-cam, 16-valve inline-4 gasoline engine pumping out 271 PS and 400 Nm of torque. This is mated to an 8-speed automatic gearbox.

Although the trees (and the rest of the environment) might be more pleased by the lower emissions, I was pleasantly surprised by the performance it gave around the city. Peak torque comes in at around 3,000 rpm, with not much happening before that.

But once the little 4-cylinder girds its loins, it provides more than adequate acceleration to the redline. You still certainly feel the sheer heft of the Wrangler Unlimited Sahara, which isn’t helped by the rather ponderous steering that is more suited to a high mound than a high street.

And to slow everything down, you get strong brakes that are operated by a spongy pedal. Expect considerable nosediving under hard braking because of the long-travel springs.

Again, a long-term test would be needed to find out things like fuel economy and cruising speed.

Unmatched capability

The Wrangler Unlimited Sahara is certainly one of a kind in the world of premium SUVs.

Although you can buy a BMW, Mercedes-Benz or Audi for the same money, you simply will not have the same off-road ability nor the same open-air experience that you can enjoy whether there is pavement or not.

And given that the Wrangler Unlimited Sahara is ₱400,000 less than the top-spec Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon, all while retaining the majority of the features, it represents good value even within the Jeep lineup.

A more comprehensive test would reveal more about the entry-level variant of this iconic nameplate.

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