2021 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 4xe Review – For 2021 the Jeep Wrangler now is available as a plug-in hybrid and is known as the Wrangler 4xe. This is my review of the all new Wrangler 4xe in the top-level Rubicon trim.
I’m eric novak and on this review i’m taking a look at the 2021 jeep wrangler 4 by e in the rubicon trim 4 by e that’s right it’s the much heralded long-anticipated plug-in hybrid version of the famous cheap wrangler while the jeep wrangler 4 by e is all new it’s still very much a wrangler and the efforts made by jeep’s marketing team to emphasize this point is
Noteworthy to make sure that the four by e retain all of a wrangler’s capabilities the 400 volt 17 kilowatt hour 96 cell lithium ion battery pack was placed underneath the second row of seats instead of below the passenger cabin where many other phev battery packs are placed the batteries are waterproof and the four by e retains the same clearance capabilities as
A regular wrangler visual cues for a four by e include new electric blue coloring on the front and rear rubicon tow hooks and stands out against the black bumpers the unique blue coloring also traces the rubicon name on the hood jeep badge and the trail rated badge select easter egg design cues also receive the electric blue shade the black hood decal is outlined
In the special color with 4 by e that lets the body color show through inside the wrangler 4 by e rubicon includes unique electric blue stitching on the seats and trim an led battery level monitor is mounted on top of the instrument panel making it easy to check battery state of charge at a glance during charging powering this wrangler 4 by e is a combination
Of a 2 liter 4 cylinder turbocharged engine along with dual electric motors paired to a 17.3 kilowatt hour battery your total combined output for the the two is 375 horsepower and 470 pound-feet of torque that’s actually the same amount of torque as you’re going to get in the wrangler 392 with its v8 engine according to jeep you’re going to go from zero to 60
Miles an hour or 96 kilometers an hour with this wrangler four by e in about six seconds with respect to driving ev only range uh it is posted that this will have an ev range of 34 kilometers which is about 21 miles now of course as with all sort of uh ranges in terms of electrification it can vary uh you know right now the temperature conditions are ideal so
When i turned it on just leaving the driveway at 100 i actually had 43 kilometers estimated of range which would be more like 26 miles so it all depends the wrangler 4 by e hybrid powertrain has three modes of operation known as eselect the driver can select between hybrid electric and e-safe modes via buttons mounted on the instrument panel to the left of
The steering wheel e-save prioritizes propulsion from the 2-liter engine saving the battery charge for later use to help optimize the benefit of the e-select modes the wrangler 4xe driver information display and the uconnect touchscreen feature eco coaching pages the eco coaching pages let owners monitor power flow and see the impact of regenerative braking
Scheduled charging times to take advantage of lower electric rates and view their driving history with a detail of electric and gasoline usage understanding efficiency with plug-in hybrids is always a little bit tricky because you have to combine uh both the efficiency of the battery and the engine and of course the way uh it is standardly represented is in a uh
As a metric that is a combination of both uh the canadian uh variation of this is what’s known as liters e per 100 kilometers and the figure for that with this wrangler 4 by 4.8 liters e per 100 kilometers in the u.s you use something known as mpge and the figure there would be a 49 mpge that whole e part is essentially also taking the the combined estimated
Output of a liter of gas or a gallon of gas converting it to energy in terms of electrical and making some hybrid you know figure for both um bottom line though it may be confusing to understand but it is a metric by which you could compare uh one plug-in hybrid over the other now just like the gas only rubicon this four by e ruby carries the rocktrac 4×4 system
That includes a two-speed transfer case with a 4 1 low range gear ratio full time 4×4 front and rear next generation dana 44 axles trulock electronic front and rear axle lockers it also wears a trail rated badge that signifies all the same 4×4 capabilities that wrangler owners come to expect there is obviously a price premium for the uh 4 by e the plug-in hybrid
System compared to say a regular rubicon with would be say the 3.6 liter engine which is typically standard in canada um the uh this four by e in the rubicon as it is has a starting price of 59 995 dollars that is a increase of six thousand five hundred and eighty dollars over uh the gas rubicon unlimited basics as best we can as as apples to apples uh in the us
That price uh difference is a lot higher surprisingly because the um the four by e starts at 51 695 and that’s an increase of 8975 dollars over a base rubicon now this is um certainly similar to the eco diesel there is that price comparison although um in canada anyway you don’t have to have the uh separate transmission you don’t need the torqueflite transmission
As you do with the ecodiesel it’s your typical eight-speed automatic so you just have that one increase in price this particular unit that i’m driving right now has an all-in price of 74 585 canadian so obviously there’s about 10 or 12 000 in upgrades the most expensive of which uh is the sky touch uh power top which clearly i have open now and enjoying and that’s
About a 4 000 upgrade um i’m i i do enjoy this uh power top i’ve used it i had it also when i reviewed the the wrangler eco diesel um the only thing i find that’s a little bit uh different is if you decide to take you know the roof and the doors off and you try to you know go open um the the frame obviously on the roof has to be there because of the power top
Whereas if you were using a hard top or a soft you’d have a more open it’s a it’s a different look um some people love it some people are not used to it um i’m sort of in between the middle i love the convenience of it but i think i still like the overall aesthetic uh when you’re able to take say the full hard roof a hard roof off and then just look at it that
Way it’s personal choice though i’ve been trying to figure out really who this uh 4 by e is ideally suited for and yes jeep will tell you it is a great vehicle for off-road capabilities and with the 470 pound feet of torque yes that’s obviously so um there is probably some appeal to the fact that you can do so in stealth mode out in the woods because i guess
You don’t want to disturb nature although that’s not really been too much of a problem up until now with wranglers where i really think this is the ideal uh option for is for let’s be honest the majority of wrangler purchasers who do so because the wrangler represents more of a a statement or a lifestyle than it does a need for off-road capabilities i mean
Look in 2020 in canada jeep sold about twenty five thousand twenty six thousand 000 wranglers and i can guarantee you there are not 26 thousand wranglers on weekends going off into the trails this is uh for a lot of people there is something about the whole branding of the wrangler and the jeep and for the most part they’re taking it for daily drives or taking in
For groceries or taking it for kids to work like i’ve been doing in the middle of the week i haven’t really been doing much driving except for basic stuff like getting groceries or taking my kids uh off to work and i’ve i’ve almost never touched the gas i think i don’t think i’ve really touched the gas because of the battery being expelled since i picked this up
At the beginning of the week so in that respect i think this is a great option because if you like the jeep sort of vibe the whole branding of it but you were always a little bit reticent about the rather substantial fuel economy that you were you were getting because again let’s be honest these things were thirsty i think this is really where the sweet spot is
And you’re probably going to sell more of these even with the price increase because that price increase is less than say an eco diesel and you could buy that eco diesel for fuel economy but really that is more about off-roading because that’s where diesels belong so you know that i think that’s really this is going to sell more units to people who just really
Like the jeep look but want to have less gas consumption and they want to be smarter about it and maybe only occasionally take it off-roading overall i found the 2021 jeep wrangler rubicon 4×8 to be a vehicle that’s true to jeep wrangler standards the ability to drive for short periods on ev alone is positive but to my mind this will be most popular with those
Who buy a wrangler for the lifestyle it represents instead of those who regularly go off-roading it’s too bad that cheap is only offering the 4 by e versions of their compass and renegade in europe right now because i think there is a viable opportunity for those models here in north america as well but jeep and its stalantis parrot company have committed to
Electrification long term so i’m hopeful that a full ev wrangler will be here before too long and that is one that i’d really be interested in seeing that’s it for now i hope you enjoyed this review of the 2021 jeeper wrangler rubicon 4xe i’m eric novak thanks for watching there’s plenty of ways for you to keep connected with me so check out some of my social
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Transcribed from video
2021 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 4xe Review By Eric Novak