Skid plates scraping, big tires clawing, the red Wrangler scrambled over the legendary Rubicon Trail. It crested a rocky ridge and rolled into a clearing. The driver cut the engine, and the four occupants got out to admire a view of California's Sierra Nevada Mountains.

This was a classic Jeep moment: a Wrangler, its soft top folded away and its cabin exposed to the sun, going where precious few vehicles dare. Except this was a 2007 Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited, and when its foursome got out, four doors slammed.

It was the sound of a new Jeep era. As the first Wrangler with four doors--Jeep, in fact, calls it America's only four-door convertible--the Wrangler Unlimited takes a brand known for conquering inaccessible terrain into territory even it hasn't yet explored.

The four-door Unlimited makes its debut as part of the first redesigned Wrangler in a decade. The '07 lineup reprises the traditional two-door, four-passenger Wrangler, and adds the longer, five-passenger Wrangler Unlimited. Jeep introduced an Unlimited model for 2004, but it had just two doors and seated four.

Both '07 Wrangler models have fresh-but-familiar styling. The engine, frame, body, seats, and dashboard are new. Available for the first time are such features as side airbags, a navigation system, power windows and locks--amenities sure to surprise those who think of Wrangler as simple, retro, and raw-boned. More heresy: there's even a two-wheel drive version.

It's all part of a remake of a vehicle whose significance to the Jeep brand cannot be overstated.

Jeep's Halo
Jeep generates about 20 percent of Chrysler Group ( Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep) sales. Jeep-brand sales increased 12 percent in 2005, to 476,532 vehicles, the highest total since 2000. Soldiering along at about 78,000 units annually, Wrangler isn't the top-selling Jeep. That would be the Grand Cherokee, at more than 200,000 per year.

But Wrangler's meaning goes beyond its sales volume. Jeep says Wrangler is one of the most recognized automotive designs in the world. It's the symbol of the Jeep brand, and traces its lineage right back to the Willys that helped win World War II.

"There isn't another vehicle in the showroom that better embodies the spirit of Jeep," John Plecha, Jeep marketing director, told reporters at the Wrangler's coming-out party on the Rubicon Trail in mid-August.

Wrangler's rough and ready reputation is all the more important to Jeep now that it's branching out into light-duty SUVs ill-suited to severe off-road use. The car-based Compass and Patriot wagons are aimed at people attracted by Jeep's rugged off-road reputation but put off by the compromises in comfort, cost, and fuel economy that go with it. With gas prices hurting Jeep sales--they were off 11.7 percent in the first seven months of 2006--Jeep needs these new buyers. Indeed, says Plecha, "We're going to grow this brand on the back of a vehicle that can go anywhere, do anything."

Of course, growing the Wrangler line is itself a goal. Expanding the appeal of a slice of history is no easy task, however. Along with the Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Corvette, Wrangler is one of America's automotive icons. These proud nameplates generate remarkable passion from legions of loyal owners. Any redesign must modernize without weakening the vehicle's heritage appeal. Jeep says owners surveyed about what would become the '07 Wrangler usually answered, "change a lot of things, but don't change anything."
 
New Features, Same Fantasy
Jim Issner, Wrangler chief engineer, said the challenge was to make Wrangler more refined on the road and even more formidable on the trail, without diluting its unique character. Most of the resulting updates are common to the regular-length Wrangler and the Unlimited. Both come in base-level X trim, upscale Sahara form, and in wilderness-ready Rubicon guise. Both are available with a folding softtop or removable hardtop. Some in-common highlights of the redesign include:

Size: Compared to the 1997-2006 Wranglers, the '07 models are a very obvious 5.5-inches wider and some 300-pounds heavier. The regular-length Wrangler grows 2.0 inches in wheelbase--the distance between the front and rear axles--and is 5.1-inches longer overall. Unlimited is longer than the 2006 Unlimited by a substantial 12.6 inches in wheelbase and 6.4 inches overall.

"It's grown because our customers asked for more interior room for passengers and cargo, and larger wheels too," said Steve Ferrerio, Jeep's advanced production design director. "The vehicle had to grow."

Engine: Wrangler's only '07 engine is the overhead-valve 3.8-liter V6 borrowed from the Dodge Caravan minivan and mounted longitudinally. It has 202 horsepower and 237 pound-feet of torque. It replaces a 147- horsepower four-cylinder and a 4.0-liter inline-six, which had 190 hp and 235 lb-ft of torque. Jeep says the new engine is more fuel-efficient than the inline-six, though EPA estimates of 17 mpg city/19 mpg highway with manual transmission and 16/19 mpg with automatic are a wash with 2006's 16/20 mpg for both transmissions. More significant, Issner said, is that the V6 provides needed front collision crush space not possible with the longer inline-six.

Safety: First-time features include four-wheel antilock disc brakes, which are standard on all models. Also new is an antiskid system with rollover sensors; it's standard, too. Optional are seat-mounted front side airbags designed to protect the head and torso. The fuel tank is relocated from behind the rear axle to in front of it for better isolation in a crash.

Off-road: In a world where only 15 percent of SUV owners ever go off road, Jeep says 60 percent of Wrangler owners do; for Rubicon models, its 80 percent. Those percentages are the industry's highest, says Kevin Metz, Wrangler brand manager. (Next highest, he says, is the Hummer H3, at 30 percent.) There could be no backsliding here.

Wrangler's new frame is stiffer and fully boxed for strength. The axles are beefed up, and Jeep says ground clearance and approach and departure angles are improved. Throttle control is now electronic and features a separate off-road calibration. Standard on Rubicons and optional on other 4WD models is a button that disengages the front antisway bar, improving off-road wheel travel by 28 percent. Locking front and rear differentials are standard on Rubicons, and a rear locker is optional for the first time on the 4WD X and Sahara models. All Wranglers incorporate into their antiskid system Jeep's Brake Lock Differentials, which act as off-road traction control. Rubicons have specially designed 32-inch diameter off-road tires. 

Comfort: The wider body yields more hip and shoulder room--as much as 5.1 inches in front. There's more front and rear leg room, and the seats are recontoured. Ride quality benefits from the longer wheelbases, stability in turns improves from a 3.5-inch wider track, and the stiffer frame allows softer suspension calibrations for bump absorption. More sound deadening and subtly-rounded exterior surfaces reduce cabin wind, road, and engine noise levels by a claimed 20 percent.

Convenience: In addition to power windows and locks, 2007 Wranglers are available with remote keyless entry, a navigation system, a 368-watt, seven speaker audio system, a 20-gigabyte hard drive that can hold music or picture files, and satellite radio. A driver-seat height adjuster is optional on the X model, standard on Sahara and Rubicon. There's also more storage space, including a 32-percent-larger locking glovebox and a shallow covered bin beneath the cargo floor. The rear seatbacks fold forward without removing the headrests, and Unlimited's rear seats are split 60/40. The soft top again features a fold-back front portion to create a sunroof effect, while the hardtop is a new modular design with removable panels over the front seats to create an open-air feel.

New Turf
"I've always wanted one," is a common sentiment among Wrangler buyers, Jeep says. Regular-length models will continue to appeal to a broad audience, from single 25-35-year-old men and women to "active" 50-year-old men, Jeep says. With no antecedents and no direct competitors, Unlimited takes the nameplate onto uncharted turf. Jeep is confident that its combination of drop-top novelty and cabin room will retain existing Wrangler owners and attract new ones.

"Absolutely. Without a doubt," Jeep spokesman Colin McBean said. "It's going to attract new buyers who have always wanted a Wrangler but felt they needed the space for children or to haul stuff, and it's going to keep current owners who need these same things."

The Unlimited is longer than the regular-length Wrangler by 20.6 inches in both wheelbase and body length. Besides room for three across in the back seat, it has two inches more rear leg room. With the rear-seat folded, it has 86.7 cubic feet of cargo volume, more than the Hummer H3, Toyota FJ Cruiser, and Nissan Xterra.

To the list of precedents broken by Unlimited, add the availability of two-wheel drive on the X and Sahara versions. Every previous Wrangler, and virtually every small Jeep starting with the original military models, has come only with 4WD. Jeep's last small 2WD model was the 1960s postal delivery version. About 25 percent of Jeep's other models are ordered with 2WD; that percentage is expected to be lower for Unlimited.

Plecha said the 2WD Unlimited is aimed primarily at Sun Belt buyers. "It's not shorting the customer in terms of experience," he said. "But they don't have to pay for what they don't need. Part of the [Wrangler] experience is open air as much as four-wheel drive."

What share of new Wrangler sales will be Unlimiteds of any stripe is difficult to pin down. Plecha said the two-door Unlimited accounted for about 33 percent of Wrangler sales, and while Jeep won't officially discuss projections for the new Unlimited, one company source suggests the four-door could snare as much as 50 percent of the Wrangler market.

"With the Unlimited, we address the two major rejection reasons, the space and the utility," Wrangler brand manager Metz said. "When we showed it at Camp Jeep and some other owner events, I can't tell you the number of Wrangler owners, guys with kids, families, who came up to me and said, 'you just saved me. Now I can buy another one.