2021 Jeep Wrangler

The volume 2021 configuration is the 3.6L Pentastar V6, available with the manual (engine stop-start only) or, on automatic models, with eTorque mild-hybrid assist — output is unchanged at 285 hp either way. 2021 is also the debut year for both the Wrangler 4xe plug-in hybrid and the Rubicon 392 V8 launch edition, widening the lineup's range without moving the base engine's number.

The naturally aspirated Pentastar's 260 lb-ft peaks high at 4,800 rpm, leaving the volume drivetrain well behind the turbo, diesel, PHEV and V8 options newly available (or newly widened) for 2021.

Edmunds' instrumented test of a 2021 four-door Wrangler Sahara with the V6 automatic is the most direct figure available for the volume configuration; a 4,300+ lb solid-axle SUV on all-terrain tires isn't quick regardless of trim.

The Pentastar remains smooth and lag-free, and 2021's wider availability of eTorque mild-hybrid assist on automatic models slightly softens stop-start engagement and low-rpm response versus the non-assisted engine, but the V6 still has to work hard against the Wrangler's weight and needs revs to make real progress.

The 850RE 8-speed TorqueFlite automatic (standard on the turbo, optional with eTorque on the V6) shifts smoothly and picks sensible gears, though it downshifts often to keep the V6 near its torque peak; the standard D478 6-speed manual is notchy with long throws.

3,500 lbs is the ceiling across every 2021 four-door configuration, including the new 4xe — the 5,000-lb Rubicon rating didn't arrive until the 2024 refresh's Dana 44 HD rear axle, so the 2021 Wrangler tows well below the mid-size SUV field despite its off-road hardware.

Four-wheel drive with a two-speed transfer case and low range is standard on every 2021 Wrangler — there is no 2WD variant — with part-time Command-Trac, full-time Selec-Trac and Rock-Trac systems across the range and Tru-Lok locking differentials on Rubicon.

Segment-benchmark factory off-road hardware carries over unchanged into 2021: front and rear locking differentials, a disconnecting front sway bar, skid plates and up to 12.9 in of clearance with the newly available Xtreme Recon-spec tire/suspension package on 4-door Rubicon.

2021 is the widest single-year powertrain expansion in the nameplate's history: the carryover 3.6L V6 (manual or eTorque automatic), 2.0L turbo I4 and 3.0L EcoDiesel V6 are joined by two brand-new options — the 4xe plug-in hybrid and the 6.4L HEMI V8 Rubicon 392 launch edition — five distinct powertrains in one model year.

A boxy, solid-axle, permanently four-wheel-drive body-on-frame SUV pays for its capability here — 21 MPG combined is toward the bottom of the gas SUV field even against other off-roaders, though eTorque's mild-hybrid assist and stop-start lift it a notch above the manual-transmission and pre-eTorque figures.

eTorque's stop-start and mild electric assist help city driving specifically, the segment where idling and stop-and-go punish a naturally aspirated V6 hardest.

Highway economy is still the Wrangler's weakest relative showing — the aerodynamics of a removable-roof, solid-axle SUV on all-terrain tires cap it well below most mid-size SUVs.

The four-door's large 21.5-gallon tank gives it above-average total range despite the Wrangler being one of the thirstier SUVs in the segment per-gallon.

eTorque's efficiency gain over the non-assisted V6 configurations trims the annual fuel bill somewhat, but it remains above the gas SUV norm — running cost is a clear recurring penalty for choosing a Wrangler regardless of engine.

The volume V6 runs on regular 87-octane with no premium requirement, so the above-average fuel bill is purely a consumption problem rather than a fuel-grade one; the 2.0L turbo recommends (but does not require) premium for best economy/performance, and only the Rubicon 392 V8 needs it outright.

NHTSA never published a combined overall star rating for the JL-generation Wrangler because it never ran the side-impact tests; the only crash results are a 4-star frontal (driver and passenger) and a 3-star rollover. 2021 sits within the 2018-on JL generation and these ratings are unchanged from the surrounding model years.

The 2021 Wrangler carries the JL's original, unmodified front structure — Jeep's attempt to fix the small-overlap tipping problem did not arrive until the 2022 model year (and even then failed to resolve it). In IIHS's driver-side small overlap front test the 4-door tipped onto its passenger side after striking the barrier, downgrading an otherwise structurally sound result to Marginal. It also fails the updated moderate overlap front (Poor, rear-passenger kinematics) and updated side test (Marginal, rear occupant's head struck the soft-top support), while roof strength, head restraints, and the original moderate overlap and side tests are Good. No Top Safety Pick award is possible.

Nothing this item measures is standard on the volume 2021 Wrangler Sport S: forward collision warning with braking and adaptive cruise sit in the optional Advanced Safety Group, blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-path detection are in the separate Safety Group (a prerequisite for the Advanced group), and pedestrian AEB and lane keeping are not offered on any trim at any price. Standard active safety is limited to ESC, electronic roll mitigation, trailer-sway control, hill-start assist and brake traction control.

When ordered, the radar-based Full Speed Forward Collision Warning Plus earns IIHS's top Superior rating for vehicle-to-vehicle front crash prevention, avoiding the collision outright in both the 12 and 25 mph runs. The score is held down by two facts: it is optional equipment the volume trim does not carry unless the buyer adds the Advanced Safety Group, and pedestrian detection is not offered at all, so there is no daytime or nighttime pedestrian capability to grade.

Blind-Spot Monitoring with Rear Cross Path detection is offered across the 2021 range but only inside the optional Safety Group, and it is alert-only — no braking or steering intervention, no trailer-aware coverage, no safe-exit alert. The Wrangler's small door-mounted mirrors and spare-tire-blocked rear view make the omission on the volume trim more costly than in a typical crossover.

The 2021 Wrangler offers no lane departure warning, no lane keep assist and no lane centering on any trim or in any package — a gap that is close to unique in the segment, where rivals like the Bronco and 4Runner include at least a departure warning as standard.

Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop and Go is capable full-speed-range hardware, but for 2021 it is optional — part of the Advanced Safety Group, itself gated behind the Safety Group — rather than standard, and there is no lane centering or highway assist on the platform for it to integrate with.

No hands-free highway driving system is offered on any 2021 Wrangler trim. Stellantis's hands-on Active Driving Assist is not fitted to the Wrangler, and with no lane-centering hardware anywhere in the lineup a hands-free system is not possible on this platform.

Every 2021 Wrangler headlight configuration IIHS tested rated Marginal or Poor. The best available — LED headlights bundled with the Advanced Safety Group's auto high-beam control — is only Marginal; LED without that package is Poor, and halogen reflectors on the volume Sport/Sport S trims are Poor regardless of package, with low-beam visibility inadequate on the straightaway and in curve testing.

Forward and lateral sightlines are among the best of any SUV — a near-vertical windshield, tall commanding seating, a short narrow hood and deep side glass. Rearward vision is the weakness: the sport bars and tailgate-mounted full-size spare block much of it, the door-mounted mirrors are small, ParkSense rear park assist is optional (Safety Group), and no surround-view camera is offered on any trim. The half-door option that later improved the over-the-shoulder view did not arrive until the 2023 model year.

IIHS rates the 4-door Wrangler's LATCH hardware Good+, its top grade, crediting easy-access anchors plus an extra usable position via borrowing, and the boxy body gives tall rear-door openings. Against that, the narrow track makes three seats across a squeeze, the high step-in height makes lifting a child into a seat harder than in a crossover, and the 2-door body offers only two rear positions.

The 2021 Wrangler Unlimited (4-door) seats 5; the 2-door Wrangler seats 4. Volume trim is the 4-door.

Manufacturer-published front headroom for the 4-door Wrangler Unlimited with the standard hardtop.

Manufacturer-published front legroom for the 4-door Wrangler Unlimited.

Manufacturer-published second-row headroom for the 4-door Wrangler Unlimited, generous for the segment thanks to the boxy, upright cabin.

Manufacturer-published second-row legroom for the 4-door Wrangler Unlimited; below the compact/mid-size SUV norm.

The Wrangler Unlimited is a strict two-row SUV; no third-row seating has ever been offered on this generation.

Cargo volume behind the rear seat for the 4-door Wrangler Unlimited; corroborated across multiple independent spec databases.

Maximum cargo volume with the second row folded for the 4-door Wrangler Unlimited.

Removable doors/roof and a drain-plug-equipped, wipeable cabin are practical for outdoor use, but console/door-bin storage is modest and there's no standout onboard-power or giga-console feature.

Front seats are supportive enough for daily use but reviewers describe them as flat and firm on long stints; rear seats are upright and tight on legroom.

Solid front and rear axles combined with an off-road-tuned suspension produce a busy, choppy on-road ride that reviewers consistently criticize, especially with the top off.

Removable doors, roof panels and a fold-down windshield mean more wind, road and hardware noise at highway speed than a conventional unibody SUV, a widely repeated criticism in reviews.

Heated front seats and a heated steering wheel are available (Cold Weather Group, standard-ish on Sahara-level trims), but rear climate vents and remote pre-conditioning are not offered.

Entry 2021 Wrangler Sport 2-door MSRP; four-door Sport starts higher.

The four-door Unlimited Sahara is the volume-selling configuration for the Wrangler lineup, sitting between Sport S and Rubicon.

Wrangler's body-on-frame, solid-axle design and lower reliability marks push 5-year maintenance and repair costs to the high end of the SUV segment.

Wrangler is a perennial resale-value leader in the off-road SUV class thanks to strong demand and brand loyalty.

Standard FCA/Stellantis bumper-to-bumper coverage, at the low end of the mainstream SUV band.

Standard FCA/Stellantis powertrain coverage; well short of the 10-year powertrain warranties offered by Hyundai/Kia rivals in adjacent segments.

Jeep Wave enrolls every new 2021 Wrangler in a modest program: three complimentary oil changes/tire rotations within the first 24 months, plus 24/7 roadside assistance and trip-interruption coverage for the 5-year/60,000-mile powertrain warranty period. It's real value but shorter and thinner than multi-year full-maintenance programs some rivals offer.

$39,770 volume-trim price minus its estimated resale value after 5 years (61% retained, or about $24,260) leaves about $15,510 in depreciation. Add the projected $9,920 in 5-year maintenance and repairs, and owning this vehicle for 5 years costs about $25,430 in total.

Consumer Reports gave the 2021 Wrangler a predicted reliability score of 29/100 (2/5), flagging suspension, power equipment, and in-car electronics as trouble spots — well below the segment average despite decent owner satisfaction.

Jeep ranked near the bottom of both major dependability studies around this period — 31st of 32 brands in Consumer Reports' overall reliability rankings and below the industry average in JD Power's 2021 Vehicle Dependability Study.

The 2021 Wrangler carries a heavy recall load for its generation — 13+ NHTSA campaigns including a large-scale fire-risk recall (electric hydraulic power steering pump wiring, 1M+ 2021-2025 Wranglers/Gladiators), manual-transmission clutch pressure plate overheating/fracture, a rearview-camera display software fault, and improperly welded seat belt pretensioner gas generators.

The 2021 Wrangler's standard 3.6L Pentastar V6 (paired with 6-speed manual or 8-speed automatic) is a mature, well-proven family with a strong reputation for reaching 200,000-300,000+ miles with regular maintenance, though owners report occasional timing-chain, rocker-arm, and cooling-system wear at higher mileage.

The cabin uses tough, water-resistant, easy-to-clean materials suited to its off-road mission, but reviewers consistently note it lacks the soft-touch, upscale feel of rival compact/mid-size SUVs and leans heavily on hard plastics.

Owner reviews cite frequent assembly-quality complaints for this generation — squeaks and rattles, loose dashboard chrome bezels, missing speaker clips and stray hardware — consistent with the removable-top/door body architecture but still a notable fit-and-finish weak point.

Jeep runs a dense, established nationwide Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep/Ram dealer network with wide geographic coverage, and Consumer Reports' 4/5 owner satisfaction score suggests the ownership/service experience is well regarded despite the brand's mechanical reliability shortfalls.

The Wrangler has one of the largest aftermarket ecosystems of any vehicle sold in the US (AEV, Quadratec, Bestop, Fuel Offroad, WeatherTech and dozens more), plus deep OEM/Mopar parts support through NAPA and dealer parts counters, keeping most routine repairs cheap and fast to source.

The volume gas-powered Wrangler Unlimited (Sport/Sahara) ships with a 7-in touchscreen standard; the larger 8.4-in unit is an available upgrade.

Uconnect 4 is a fast, logically laid-out system with real physical knobs for volume/tune, widely praised as one of the better factory infotainment setups of its era even though the Wrangler's screen options trail rivals.

The 2021 Wrangler's Uconnect 4/4C systems support Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, but only via a wired USB connection — wireless projection was not available on the JL until a later model-year update.

Uconnect's voice recognition and available Garmin-based embedded navigation (on the 8.4-in NAV unit) are functional but most owners default to CarPlay/Android Auto navigation instead.

Base audio is adequate; the available 9-speaker Alpine Premium Audio System (overhead soundbar, subwoofer, 552-watt amp) is a genuine step up but is an optional package, not standard.

A 7-in configurable digital gauge display is available (paired with the 8.4-in touchscreen) but the base cluster on lower trims is mostly analog with a small trip-computer screen.

The 2021 JL-generation Uconnect system does not support meaningful whole-vehicle or infotainment feature OTA updates; software updates of that era were largely dealer-applied.

The Uconnect app/SiriusXM Guardian service offers remote start, lock/unlock, vehicle locate and vehicle health reports, but remote start requires the 8.4-in radio and a paid Guardian subscription after the trial period.

Standard USB-A ports front and available rear, plus a 115V household outlet on some trims, but no wireless charging pad and no USB-C in the 2021 model year.

Proximity keyless entry and push-button start are available on mid/upper trims (standard on Sahara), with remote start offered as an add-on service rather than standard hardware.

A rearview camera and front/rear parking sensors are available, but there is no 360-degree surround-view camera offered on the 2021 Wrangler.

No head-up display is offered on the Wrangler in any trim for 2021.

Rear LATCH anchors are present and the 4-door's rear doors open wide, but the tall step-in height, narrow rear legroom (36.8 in) and modest cargo behind the second row make daily car-seat and stroller duty more of a chore than in a typical family SUV.

Forward collision warning, active braking, blind-spot monitoring and adaptive cruise are available, but the 2021 4-door Wrangler's IIHS overall rating was pulled down to Marginal after it tipped onto its side in the small-overlap front test, a meaningful family-safety concern.

Wind noise from the removable doors/roof, a firm/choppy ride, and no rear climate vents or rear entertainment make multi-hour trips with kids noticeably less pleasant than in a conventional family SUV.

Heavier recirculating-ball steering, a wide turning circle for its footprint, body lean in corners and a busy ride make stop-and-go commuting more tiring than in most SUVs.

The volume 3.6L V6 Wrangler Unlimited returns roughly 20 mpg combined (city/highway in the high-teens/mid-20s), among the thirstier vehicles in the compact/mid-size SUV class, driving up real per-mile fuel costs.

The boxy shape and high seating position give good sightlines for placing the vehicle, and a rear camera plus parking sensors help, but a wide ~40+ ft turning circle and tall stance work against tight urban parking.

Max towing on the 4-door gas Wrangler is 3,500 lbs with roughly 1,360 lbs of payload — usable for light trailers and gear but well below dedicated work SUVs/trucks in outright capacity.

The body-on-frame construction, solid axles and decades of fleet/off-road-duty reputation give the Wrangler genuine toughness credentials, even though its cabin materials are more consumer- than fleet-oriented.

Washable rubberized flooring, drain plugs, removable doors/roof and a large aftermarket/upfit accessory ecosystem (racks, winches, rock rails) support light jobsite use, but there's no dedicated cargo bed or onboard power outlet for tools.

Elevated wind/road noise and a firm ride sap highway comfort on long hauls, though adaptive cruise control is available and the roughly 20 mpg combined V6 gives a workable highway range.

The Wrangler remains the segment benchmark for genuine off-road capability: high ground clearance, strong approach/departure/breakover angles, removable doors/roof, and (on Rubicon) locking differentials and a disconnecting sway bar.

Removable doors and roof, fold-flat rear seats, roof rails and a deep Mopar accessory catalog (racks, tie-downs, bed extenders) make it flexible for bulky gear, even though raw cargo volume behind the seats is modest for the segment.

Solid front and rear axles, a high center of gravity, and off-road-focused tuning produce pronounced body lean and cautious cornering limits on pavement, consistently flagged as a weak point versus crossover-based SUVs.

Recirculating-ball steering (retained for off-road durability) is numb and slow to respond on-road, a recurring criticism in period reviews.

Brakes are adequate for the Wrangler's weight and speed envelope with no major fade complaints, but pedal feel and stopping distances are unremarkable versus more road-focused SUVs.

The 3.6L Pentastar V6 paired with the 8-speed automatic is a smooth, well-calibrated combination with no notable tip-in or shift-quality complaints, one of the Wrangler's stronger on-road traits.

The V6 is audible under load but not harsh; overall noise complaints in reviews center more on wind/road noise from the removable body panels than on the powertrain itself.

Curb-to-curb turning diameter for the 4-door Wrangler Unlimited is wide for the segment; sources vary modestly (39.4–41 ft) but consistently place it toward the wide end of the SUV band.

Upright seating and a commanding view out are strengths, and the removable doors/roof add a unique open-air element, but tall step-in height and a wide turning circle are minor ergonomic trade-offs.

Despite its on-road dynamic shortcomings, the Wrangler's open-air top/door removal, character, and unmatched off-road ability make it one of the most genuinely enjoyable and enthusiast-recommended vehicles in its class.

Base 2021 Sport trim is fairly spartan (vinyl seats, smaller touchscreen, steel wheels on the true base) since the Wrangler's price buys off-road hardware rather than creature comforts; mid trims add features but still trail crossover rivals at similar price points.

Buyers pay a real premium for genuine solid-axle off-road capability and open-air versatility that has no like-for-like substitute, but on pure content-per-dollar against mainstream SUVs the Wrangler is a fair-to-middling value, not a bargain.

2021 spans Sport, Sport S, Sahara and Rubicon, each in 2-door and 4-door Unlimited body styles, plus the newly added Rubicon 4xe and Sahara 4xe plug-in hybrids — a wide, well-spaced lineup from work-ready to loaded and electrified.

Wrangler sales rose to 204,610 units in 2021, its best retail year since 2018, comfortably outselling the newly launched Ford Bronco and Bronco Sport combined — clear segment sales leadership.

Jeep is an aspirational, heritage off-road brand with an unusually loyal enthusiast following (Jeep Wave, Jeep Beef culture) that supports both demand and resale.

High demand and constrained 2021 inventory (chip shortage era) meant Wranglers commonly sold at or close to MSRP with thin incentives, offering buyers little negotiating room.

The JL generation launched for 2018, so 2021 is mid-cycle, but the addition of the 4xe plug-in hybrid variant for 2021 counts as meaningful powertrain news keeping the lineup current.

Reviewers consistently praise off-road capability and open-air versatility (KBB Best Resale Value, Off-Road SUV, 2021) but dock the Wrangler for on-road ride, wind noise and below-average reliability marks, so it wins its off-road niche without topping general comparison tests.