Design Wrangler Unlimited

Design Wrangler Unlimited

At 7.6 seconds, the 2012 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon is 3.9 seconds quicker to 60 mph than the SUV it replaces, thanks to its new 285-hp, 3.6-liter V-6 and five-speed automatic.

To put that in perspective: You could run a BMW M3 sedan to 60 mph and then, very immediately thereafter, run the new ute to 60 mph in the same time it would take the old one, with its four-speed auto and 3.8-liter noisemaker, to huff its way to that speed.

The danger is not that the refined interi­or will diminish the Unlimited Rubicon’s off-road prowess. The danger is that the Unlimited Rubicon’s four doors and modern, powerful V-6 will convince some buyers that this has somehow become a modern-driving SUV.  It has not, certainly not with the Rubicon get-up.

Its mudders hum away monotonously, struggle to provide 0.61 g of grip, and are implicated in the Rubicon’s poor 204-foot braking performance from 70 mph. But all Wranglers get the new powertrain for ’12, so stick with the Sahara or Sport versions if your idea of rock crawling is idling up your pea-gravel driveway