Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 4xe: An enticing electrified off-roader!

Jeff Glucker

/comment

Comments

Yes, this one is a hybrid; the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 4xe is one enticing electrified off-road machine. It pairs a four-cylinder turbocharged engine with a battery pack and electric motor to deliver 375 horsepower and 470 lb-ft of torque. And there’s enough battery to see up to 20-25 miles of pure electric driving on a full charge.

And yet it’s still totally a Wrangler… it can go anywhere. Now though, this one can occasionally do with nothing but the wonderful sounds of nature chattering away outside your windows.

[Disclaimer: Jeep tossed me the keys to the Wrangler 4xe and included a full tank of gas and a full battery pack.]

About

Jeff Glucker

Jeff Glucker

Jeff Glucker is the co-founder and Executive Editor of Hooniverse.com. He’s often seen getting passed as he hustles a 1991 Mitsubishi Montero up the 405 Freeway. IG: @HooniverseJeff

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The maximum upload file size: 64 MB. You can upload: image, audio, video. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop files here

4 responses to “Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 4xe: An enticing electrified off-roader!”

  1. Zentropy Avatar
    Zentropy

    Nice use of technology– tapping into all of that torque is bound to feel awesome. The sticker price still brings tears to my eyes, though. No, it’s not the most expensive Wrangler you can buy, but Wranglers in general are already way overpriced, IMO.

    Beautiful vacation photos, by the way!

    Reply
  2. Kernel_Panik Avatar
    Kernel_Panik

    I winced at the price tag initially, but then I thought about the state of the plug-in hybrid market. On one end, you have vehicles using an electric motor to supplement their economy-grade engines, pushing the power from “anemic” to “adequate” in the name of city mileage. On the other end, you have supercars using raw current to throw torque at the problem, where the problem has to do with insufficient velocity. Off the top of my head, there’s not much in between. Maybe some hybrid luxury cars that squeak in just under Corvette money could make the case that their drivetrains are more than the sum of their parts, but I still see that as more of a value proposition than a performance feature.
    Viewed on that spectrum, the 4xe might just be the most accessible “performance” plug-in hybrid on the market right now. The Rubicon certainly fits some broad definition of “performance car”, and the drivetrain is actually being used to make the driving experience better, not just to make the necessary sacrifices to the MPG gods more palatable.

    Reply
  3. salguod Avatar
    salguod

    Wait, it’s a plug in hybrid and your average trip MPG was 18 MPG?

    I had to look up the EPA ratings and the 4xe carries a 49 MPGe combined rating or 20 MPG on gas alone. The 4WD EcoDiesel is 22/29/25 City/Highway/combined, the 4cyl gas is 22/21/24.

    Are the EPA estimates that far off for these or was there something about your trip that made the MPG so bad? Weight is generally not a huge factor in MPG, unless you’re really heavy, but wind resistance is. A roof top box will kill your MPG more than a heavy load.

    Reply
  4. peter scott Avatar
    peter scott

    Good to read the article! Thank you for sharing the great content,
    which is very essential for me to know more about the cars and the engines.
    Here we provide, Get the best used car engines for sale in USA.
    We are offering the used car engines all over the USA.

    Reply