2023 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 4xe wears plug-in hybrid off-road crown

The Jeep Wrangler is a non-prohibited off-road machine intended to bypass, fly over, or pass whatever is in front of it, regardless of terrain. A variation of the plug-in hybrid? Same deal.

The 2023 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 4xe has 22 miles of electric range and an EPA rating of 20 mpg total on petrol, so it’s worth plugging in.

You’ve done some off-roading in a Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe with a 4xe powertrain, but what’s it like to be in a Wrangler in the real pavement and go through your daily routine in the winter? Minnesota Having had a snowy week with the plug-in off-roader on the , it’s proof that the 4xe’s efficiency tech doesn’t come at the expense of functionality.

electric mode not possible

A four-door plug-in jeep pulled into my driveway with a fully charged 17.3-kilowatt-hour battery pack. The gauge cluster shows 24 miles of electric mileage, the powertrain is in e-Save mode to save battery charge for electric driving, and later the Jeep can be driven to 270 hp and 295 lb-ft in just a 2.0-liter Turbo 4 I ran it. unique torque.

It was a blizzard with a whiteout. Naturally, I switched his stocky 4-wheel drive selector to his 4Hi (also his 4Lo with a 4.0:1 crawl ratio) and hit the electric mode button to run the Jeep on electric only. The driver information screen showed an error and basically said “You can’t do that, Dave”.

Even though the battery pack was fully charged, Jeep knew it couldn’t run in full electric mode in the current situation without jeopardizing one of the vehicle’s systems.

In 25-degree whiteout conditions, turn on the front defroster, turn on the rear defroster, set the climate control to 70 to keep the rest of the glass warm, and use both heated steering wheels to turn on the climate control system. had to work hard. After standing outside and taking pictures, I turned on the wheel and seat warmers to keep me warm. According to the error displayed to me, the battery pack did not have enough power for all auxiliary systems and propulsion.

When the blizzard subsided, it left about 7 inches of white fluff on the ground, and the plug-in Jeep proved its worth on 33-inch BFGoodrich K02 all-terrain tires. It seemed unstoppable.

The 4xe had no problem driving around town on electric alone, even in 4-wheel drive, as the vehicle systems weren’t set up to explode. I’ve used the Wrangler over the winter weeks to run a full charge multiple times during daily driving shuffling the kids to activities or running errands. The wheeled box appeared to travel an average of about 20 miles before the electricity went off and the gas engine caught fire, with ambient temperatures in the single digits at night and 10 to 20 degrees Celsius during the day. It remained at low ℃.

Over the course of 310 miles of mixed driving, the Wrangler’s plug-in powertrain used the petrol engine for 218 miles, with the 4xe only as a hybrid driving anywhere south of 20 mpg in real-world mileage.

Moderately light foot electric

As in the Grand Cherokee 4xe, when the accelerator is pushed to the floor, the 134 hp and 198 lb-ft of torque electric motor wedged in the eight-speed automatic transmission is hastily mated by the petrol engine, even in the 4xe. increase. Electric only mode. Total system power is 375 hp and torque is 470 lb-ft.

A week in the Wrangler Rubicon 4xe was my first experience with a Jeep plug-in powertrain in cold weather. The transition from electric to hybrid mode is noticeably rougher and more pronounced in cold than warm temperatures than we’ve previously experienced with the Wrangler 4xe. While running on electric power, delivery is smooth and easy to adjust, and in hybrid mode the system engages well, aside from the occasional bumpy 1-2 or 2-3 upshifts in cold weather. But what always seems especially grumpy in chilly weather is the power handoff when the gas engine kicks in from sleep.

plug protection

Most PHEVs place the charging port on either side of the front lower fender by the wheel well or rear quarter panel that mimics a fuel filler neck. The Wrangler follows its own path with a charging port at the base of her A-pillar on the driver’s side. The ports are tucked in and away from anything that could damage them while off-roading.

At 240 volts AC, a full charge is said to take two to three hours, as provided by the solar charger Jeep plans to build new off-road trails. A 120 volt outlet will take about 12-13 hours. These estimates are consistent with my real-world experience.

The Jeep stowed the 17.3 kwh battery pack under the back seat. This means that the Wrangler package is essentially the same as the petrol model. For real change, we’ll have to wait for Jeep to produce an electric Wrangler based on the Magneto concept (Hey Jeep, call us, we want to drive it) .

good but not perfect

Despite the plug-in powertrain, here are the Wrangler’s trademark drawbacks. The steering is still fuzzy, the ride is erratic on broken pavement, and it’s noisy. The final part is what happens when the vehicle is brick shaped and both the roof and the doors come off.

What started out as a $49,490 proposal has gotten even more expensive than last year.The 2023 Jeep Wrangler 4xe is now priced at $56,530, which was down by $200 just a few months ago. Includes a ridiculous destination fee of $1,795. My Rubicon tester was priced at $69,385 and is now $71,975. Expensive, but features don’t come cheap.

For reference, a comparably equipped gas-only 4-door Rubicon costs $63,535, $8,440 less than a comparably equipped 4xe. The Wrangler 4xe is currently eligible for a $7,500 federal tax credit, but that’s a lot of gas. Certainly the price difference is no coincidence.

With a larger battery for 50 miles of electric range and a more powerful electric motor, the Jeep Wrangler 4xe is sure to cement its status as the world’s efficiency king for adventures out the door. But there are no Ford Broncos with plugs, so the Wrangler is his king of off-road plug-in hybrids for now.