They probably could hear the laughter up on the next floor. I, Dom Testa, the king of leather seats and valet parking, had just told Spike that I was going to be driving…..a Jeep Wrangler. Here’s the scoop…
After the laughter subsided, however, a look of jealousy washed over my producer, because HE’S the off-roader in our group. He’s the Jeep owner who goes out of his way to run over curbs and drive up creek beds. Yet here I was, behind the wheel of the all-new Rubicon series from Jeep, loving life.
Okay, so I’m not the target market for this indestructible machine. But a lot of you are, and so allow me to give it a thumbs-up review for you.
Start with the 3.8 liter V6, which replaces the 4.0 from earlier models. The 205-hp does the job, as long as you don’t mind keeping the rpm’s in the upper range. There’s also the added length (yeah, it’s long), which might concern some experienced trekkers, but the trade-off is that this thing rides better when you have to play normal and drive on pavement.
Not a lot of interior bells and whistles on the test model I drove. I deftly handled the shocked stares when I had to manually lock the doors at Cherry Creek, but that’s okay. It appealed to my rugged side. Yes, I said it. I’m sure I have a rugged side somewhere. Probably in the basement somewhere, with my sleeping bag.
Exterior looks? Okay, a lot of folks might ask “When did you get the Hummer?” Uh, stop it right there. You’ll be happy to hear, however, that it has most (if not all) of the Jeep features you love: Fold-down windshield, removable doors, exposed hinges. Studly.
Oh, and the three-piece removable hardtop is cool. Sorority girls will be hanging out of it in LoDo as soon as the temperature gets back up to 30.
So I’ll give it that thumbs-up, because for a week I was no longer Mr. Mercedes/Mr. Jaguar. No, I was Mr. Jeep.
I even drove over a curb, just for Spike.