2023 Jeep Wrangler

The 2023 volume gas configuration is the 3.6L Pentastar V6 at 285 hp — unchanged from prior JL years and carried into the 2024 refresh; 2023 is a carry-over year for this engine.

The naturally aspirated Pentastar's 260 lb-ft peaks at 4,800 rpm, so the volume powertrain has to be revved to move a 4,167-lb four-door — the weakest point of the standard drivetrain against turbo, diesel and electrified rivals in the same showroom.

No 2023-specific instrumented test of the four-door V6 automatic is published; the JL-generation results bracket it between Car and Driver's 6.8 s on a lighter Sahara and Edmunds' 7.6 s on a four-door Sahara, so ~7.3 s is the defensible midpoint for a 4,167–4,406-lb 2023 four-door.

The Pentastar is smooth and entirely lag-free, but it is a dated, output-limited engine for a 4,200–4,400-lb body-on-frame SUV — adequate rather than eager, needing revs to make progress and growing coarse near its 6,600-rpm limiter.

The 850RE 8-speed TorqueFlite automatic on the volume trim shifts smoothly and chooses gears sensibly, though it downshifts frequently to compensate for the V6's high torque peak; the still-available D478 6-speed manual is notchy with long throws.

3,500 lbs is the ceiling for every 2023 configuration — the 5,000-lb Rubicon rating arrived only with the 2024 refresh's Dana 44 HD full-float rear axle, so 2023 tows well below the SUV field despite its off-road hardware.

Four-wheel drive with a two-speed transfer case and low range is standard on every 2023 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.

The segment benchmark for factory off-road hardware — front and rear locking differentials, a disconnecting front sway bar, skid plates and up to 12.9 in of clearance with the Xtreme Recon package. Rated a notch below 2024, which added the factory Warn winch option, a standard rear locker on Willys and the Rubicon X.

2023 is the broadest powertrain year in the nameplate's history and the last one with a diesel: five distinct engines — 3.6L V6 (with optional eTorque mild hybrid), 2.0L turbo I4, 3.0L EcoDiesel V6, 4xe plug-in hybrid and 6.4L V8 — plus a manual on the V6. Scored above 2024, which lost the EcoDiesel.

A boxy, solid-axle, permanently four-wheel-drive body-on-frame SUV pays for its capability here — 20 MPG combined lands near the bottom of the gas SUV field even against other off-roaders.

No hybrid assist on the volume configuration, no cylinder deactivation and 4,167 lb of curb weight leave city economy poor, though engine stop-start recovers a little over the manual.

Highway economy is the Wrangler's worst relative showing — the aerodynamics of a removable-roof brick on knobby tires cap it at 23 MPG where most SUVs of this size clear 28.

The four-door's large 21.5-gallon tank partly redeems the poor economy, giving mid-pack total range despite the Wrangler being one of the thirstiest SUVs in the segment.

$3,100 a year is well above the gas SUV norm; running cost is the clearest recurring penalty for choosing a Wrangler, and the spread across the 2023 lineup is unusually wide.

The volume V6 runs on regular 87-octane with no premium requirement, so the high fuel bill is purely a consumption problem rather than a fuel-grade one; only the 6.4L V8 392 asks for premium.

NHTSA never published a combined overall star rating for the JL-generation Wrangler because it never ran the side-impact tests; the only crash result is a 4-star frontal, alongside a 3-star rollover. 2023 is a carry-over year within the 2018-on JL generation and the ratings are unchanged from prior years.

2023 is the last year before Jeep's safety revisions, and it fails two of IIHS's three current crash tests: Poor in the updated moderate overlap front on rear-passenger restraints and kinematics (no rear side curtain airbag, lap belt riding up onto the abdomen), Marginal in the updated side test because the rear dummy's head struck the soft-top vertical support, and Marginal in the driver-side small overlap because the vehicle tipped onto its passenger side. Roof strength, head restraints and the original moderate overlap test are Good, but no Top Safety Pick is possible.

Nothing this item measures is standard on the volume 2023 Unlimited Sport S: forward collision warning with braking and adaptive cruise are the $945 Advanced Safety Group, blind-spot and rear cross path are inside the separate Safety Group, and lane keeping and pedestrian AEB cannot be bought at any price. Standard active safety is limited to ESC, electronic roll mitigation, trailer-sway control, hill-start assist and brake traction control. Making FCW and ACC standard on Sport S and above was a 2024 change, not a 2023 one.

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 — genuinely good hardware. Two things hold the score down: it is optional equipment the volume Sport S 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 range for 2023 but is optional on every volume trim — bundled with auto high-beam control and ParkSense rear park assist in the roughly $1,145-$1,295 Safety Group — and it is alert-only, with no braking or steering intervention, no trailer-aware coverage and no safe-exit alert. The Wrangler's small door-mounted mirrors and spare-tire-blocked rear view make the omission more costly here than in a typical crossover.

The 2023 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 the Bronco and 4Runner both include at least a departure warning as standard.

Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop and Go is capable full-speed-range hardware, but for 2023 it is optional on essentially every trim — part of the $945 Advanced Safety Group — rather than standard as it became on Sport S and above for 2024, and there is no lane centering or highway assist on the platform for it to integrate with. Reviewers also fault it for braking too abruptly when a car cuts into the gap.

No hands-free highway driving system is offered on any 2023 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 2023 Wrangler headlight configuration IIHS tested rated Marginal or Poor. The best available — LED projectors with high-beam assist — is only Marginal; LED projectors without high-beam assist are Poor, and the volume Sport/Sport S halogen reflectors are Poor with or without high-beam assist, with low-beam visibility rated inadequate on both sides of a straightaway and in all four curve tests.

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 — and the new-for-2023 half-door option improves the over-the-shoulder view further. 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, and no surround-view camera is offered on any trim.

IIHS rates the 4-door Wrangler's LATCH hardware Good+, its top grade, crediting easy-access anchors plus an extra usable position, 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 volume 4-door Unlimited body seats five and no 2023 Wrangler trim, body or powertrain offers a six- or seven-seat configuration; the 2-door drops to four.

Jeep publishes front headroom separately by roof — 40.8 in under a hardtop, 42.6 in under the soft top. The hardtop figure is the representative reading for the volume 4-door and is the conservative one.

41.2 in is modest for a mid-size SUV and identical on 2-door and 4-door — the JL's front footwell is constrained by the transmission tunnel and front wheel housings rather than by overall length.

The upright boxy body is at its best here — 40.3 in of second-row headroom under a hardtop tops the SUV normalization band outright, and the soft top adds another 1.4 in.

The 4-door's 38.3 in is genuinely competitive for the class and better than the direct rival Bronco 4-door — the extra wheelbase over the 2-door goes almost entirely into the rear seat.

No 2023 Wrangler offers a third row in any body, trim or powertrain — the seating chart is 2/3 for the 4-door and 2/2 for the 2-door, so a buyer needing more than five seats cannot be served at any price.

31.7 cu ft is well down the SUV band — the swing-gate hold is tall but narrow (41.1 in minimum width at the opening) and while the full-size spare hangs outside on the gate rather than eating into it, the space still trails most mid-size crossovers.

Folding the 4-door's rear bench opens 72.4 cu ft — mid-pack for a mid-size SUV — and the removable roof panels let taller loads exceed what the number implies.

Conventional storage is thin — a small glovebox, two front cupholders and a dual-level center armrest bin — but the Wrangler answers with provisions no crossover has: a washout interior with floor drain plugs, water-resistant trim on upper trims, a 115-volt console outlet and 12-volt sockets throughout, and cargo tie-down anchors. Scored below the following year because the dashboard cubbies, AMPS accessory-mount brackets and extra passenger grab bar all arrived with the 2024 interior revision and are absent here.

Front seats are well shaped and livable on long trips, but the volume Sport S is manually adjusted with only 8.1 in of seat travel, the rear bench is flatter and firmer with only a slight recline, and the 12-way power front seats with multiway lumbar and cushion-tilt adjustment that fix the adjustability complaint do not exist for 2023 — Jeep introduced them as new content for 2024.

Solid Dana axles front and rear on five-link coil springs are the price of the off-road hardware: reviewers consistently report a brittle, jittery ride with constant short vertical motions and a shudder over broken pavement. The 4-door's longer wheelbase helps, but this trails almost every independently sprung SUV in the segment.

The loudest cabin in the segment and one of the loudest on sale: a removable roof and doors, near-vertical windshield, boxy body and 32-to-33-inch all-terrain tires make wind and road noise unavoidable, and reviewers call the intrusion pervasive even with the hardtop fitted. 2023 has no equivalent of the premium cabin package (acoustic front glass, thicker carpet, added sound-deadening foam) that Jeep introduced on upper trims for 2024.

For 2023 heated front seats and a heated steering wheel are option-package content on every trim including Sahara — bundled in the Cold Weather Group with remote start — rather than standard anywhere, ventilated seats are not offered at any price, there are no second-row climate controls, and rear comfort content stops at vents. Dual-zone automatic temperature control is available on Sport S and standard on Sahara.

The cheapest way into a 2023 Wrangler is the 2-door Sport at $31,195 before Jeep's $1,795 destination charge. The destination figure is taken off a real 2023 Monroney rather than a press release, and the 4-door Sport base price on the same window sticker matches the published trim table exactly, which is what makes the 2-door figure trustworthy too.

The volume Wrangler is the 4-door Sport S with the 3.6L V6 and the 8-speed automatic — the configuration this vehicle-year's other category scorecards describe — and every line in this build is taken off a real 2023 window sticker rather than estimated. The automatic is the single biggest surprise on the price sheet: bundled with the V6 eTorque it costs $4,250, against $2,000 for the same transmission behind the 2.0L turbo.

Estimates split by basis rather than by model year: CarEdge's owner-cost model puts the Wrangler at $3,505 across five years, while Edmunds' dealer-retail True Cost to Own runs materially higher, so the midpoint is the honest figure for the gas 4-door. RepairPal's $694/yr — a third above the compact-SUV average — argues against the low end, and there is no mechanical reason a 2023 costs less to maintain than the 2024: same JL generation, same 3.6L Pentastar and 850RE transmission.

Resale is the Wrangler's strongest ownership argument by a wide margin, and 61% is the figure Kelley Blue Book projected for this exact model year when it put the 2023 Wrangler in its Best Resale Value Top 10. I've used it in preference to the more optimistic nameplate-wide estimates because those aren't model-year specific and because the observed data now argues against them: three years on, a 2023 Wrangler has already given back 32% of its value, which is not the trajectory of a 68–71% five-year car.

Stellantis' standard Basic Limited Warranty applies to every 2023 Wrangler trim and sits at the floor of the segment band — Hyundai and Kia offer 5 years, and the Ford Bronco matches Jeep at 3.

The 5-year/60,000-mile powertrain term covers engine, transmission and axles on all 2023 Wrangler trims and is the bottom of the segment band, half the 10-year term Hyundai and Kia advertise.

2023 is the best year of this generation for included coverage: Jeep Wave was standard with automatic enrollment and, for cars bought before 17 July 2023, ran 36 months with the first three oil changes and tire rotations included — one more year and one more service than the 2024 cars received. The perks around it are genuinely useful (24/7 roadside for the full 5-year/60,000-mile powertrain period, $1,000 trip-interruption, a no-charge same-day loaner during routine service), but the maintenance itself is only oil changes and rotations, not the full scheduled-service coverage Hyundai includes over the same 36 months, so this lands in the upper half of the middle band rather than the top one.

$44,440 volume-trim price minus its estimated resale value after 5 years (61% retained, or about $27,108) leaves about $17,332 in depreciation. Add the projected $5,000 in 5-year maintenance and repairs, and owning this vehicle for 5 years costs about $22,332 in total.

For once this is not a prediction: J.D. Power's 2026 Vehicle Dependability Study surveys original owners of 2023 model-year vehicles specifically, and it puts Jeep at 267 PP100 against a 204 PP100 industry average — among the five worst brands in the study, measured on this exact model year after three years of ownership. Consumer Reports independently rates the 2023 Wrangler 2 out of 5 for predicted reliability and states it is less reliable than other cars from the same model year, listing eight trouble spots including major transmission, brakes, suspension/steering, and noises/leaks. The one thing 2023 has in its favor over the 2024 refresh year is that it is a carry-over: NHTSA holds 342 complaints against MY2023 versus 680 against MY2024, and 217 of the 2023 filings do not mention the 4xe/hybrid/charging at all versus 408 for 2024. Lower volume on a known-bad baseline is still a failing grade, and the non-hybrid fault pattern is dominated by electrical (95) and steering (50).

Jeep sits in the bottom tier of both major dependability studies and has for several consecutive years, which is a structural drag on any Jeep nameplate rather than a single-model-year artifact. Consumer Reports places the brand last on its most recent report card and says it cannot recommend a single Jeep model — a judgment that includes this car.

NHTSA lists 14 campaigns against the MY2023 Wrangler, but most do not reach the scored configuration: six are 4xe/PHEV-only (22V768 and 23V303 HV-battery fuse fasteners, 22V865 hybrid engine shutdown, 23V787 HV-battery fire with a park-outside advisory, 24V111 hybrid-defroster software, 25V741 HV-battery fire), one is EcoDiesel-only (23V263 high-pressure fuel pump), and two are manual-transmission-only (23V116 clutch pressure plate fire risk, 23V641 rearview camera on manuals). That leaves five on the volume gas automatic: 23V565 (spare tire obstructs the center high-mount brake light — a 2023-only FMVSS 108 noncompliance and a straight build/packaging error), 24V199 driver airbag clockspring, 24V652 instrument-cluster internal short, 24V676 rearview-camera/CHMSL harness short, and 26V363 electric hydraulic power-steering pump wiring overheat, which carries a park-outside fire advisory and covers 2021–2025. That is a materially lighter load than the refresh-year 2024 car (nine reaching the gas trim), which is why this scores above it — but the generation's unresolved 'death wobble' service history sits on top of the recall record and is unusually prominent in this model year: 37 of the 217 non-hybrid MY2023 complaints use the phrase, and 43 cite steering. NHTSA's steering-shimmy investigation (opened September 2019) closed in October 2023 without ordering a recall, leaving the steering-damper Customer Satisfaction Notification as the only remedy.

The scored configuration is the standard 3.6L Pentastar V6 (285 hp / 260 lb-ft) with the eight-speed automatic, and it is the strongest element of this car's reliability case: the Pentastar has been in production since 2011 across the Stellantis range with a documented high-mileage record, the ZF-licensed 8HP eight-speed is one of the most durable modern automatics, and solid axles with a mechanically simple part-time 4WD system present far less failure surface than a complex crossover driveline. Every powertrain recall touching this model year lands on a different engine or transmission — the 4xe's 2.0L hybrid, the 3.0L EcoDiesel's fuel pump, or the six-speed manual's clutch — which is itself evidence for the gas automatic. Known Pentastar weak points (oil filter housing leaks, rocker-arm/roller-follower wear, cooling-system attrition, and CR's engine-minor oil-leak trouble spot) plus 14 stalling reports in the non-hybrid complaint subset keep it out of the top band.

2023 is the last year of the pre-refresh JL cabin, and it grades below the 2024 car for that reason: the top infotainment option is the 8.4-inch Uconnect 4C rather than the 12.3-inch Uconnect 5 that became standard for 2024, and the extra sound insulation, acoustic glass and 12-way power seats arrived with that refresh too. What is here is honestly executed for the mission — reviewers find the switchgear distinct and satisfying to use and the dash and seat materials attractive to the touch, over a deliberately washout-friendly structure with drain plugs and rubberized surfaces. But hard plastics cover the lower dash and doors, and against the Premium price class this vehicle is graded in, that is mid-pack rather than competitive.

The weakest part of the build-quality picture, and there is recall and owner-survey evidence rather than only review anecdote. 23V565 is a 2023-only packaging error serious enough to be a federal noncompliance — the spare tire blocks the center high-mount brake light — and Consumer Reports' owner-reported trouble spots for this year include paint/trim (fading, peeling, cracking) and noises/leaks covering both air and water infiltration, with roof leaks on the retractable tops called out specifically. The removable-door and removable-top architecture is the root cause of the second item and of the pervasive wind and road noise reviewers still name as the Wrangler's defining on-road flaw, without the 2024 refresh's added insulation to blunt it. A body-on-frame vehicle with a demountable body does not seal or settle like a unibody rival, and the 37 death-wobble reports in this model year's complaint record are the chassis end of the same story.

Coverage is a genuine strength — roughly 2,500 US Jeep rooftops give metro and rural reach few rivals match, which matters for a vehicle sold heavily outside major markets and one that, on this complaint record, will visit the service drive more than the segment average. Service satisfaction is the offset: J.D. Power puts Jeep below the mass-market SUV/minivan average, so the network is easy to reach but not well regarded once you are in it.

The Wrangler has arguably the deepest parts ecosystem of any vehicle sold in the US, spanning OEM replacement, a vast off-road aftermarket, and a design that rewards owner servicing — bolt-on body panels, solid axles and accessible mechanicals keep labor hours and specialist dependency low. Measured repair cost lands at ordinary levels despite the fault frequency, and unscheduled shop visits run at the compact-SUV norm rather than above it. This model year rates a shade above the 2024 car because its dominant fault modes are steering, suspension and driveline — precisely the parts the aftermarket supplies cheapest and most abundantly — rather than the Uconnect 5 screen and camera modules that drove 2024's complaints and are dealer-priced regardless.

2023 is the last pre-refresh JL year and the screen shows it: the volume 4-door Sport S ships with the 7.0-inch Uconnect 4 display, and the largest unit offered anywhere in the lineup is 8.4 inches — the 12.3-inch Uconnect 5 screen that became standard across the range arrived only with the 2024 model year.

Uconnect 4 is dated by 2023 but genuinely well executed: menus are logical, response is quick for the hardware, pinch-and-zoom works, and Jeep retains physical climate, volume and 4WD controls below the screen. What holds it out of the top band is that the volume trim's 7.0-inch panel is small by 2023 standards and the graphics and processing lag the Uconnect 5 system rivals were already shipping.

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard on every 2023 trim including the base Sport, which is the right outcome, but both are wired-only — Uconnect 4/4C has no wireless projection at any price. Wireless CarPlay and Android Auto arrived on the Wrangler with Uconnect 5 for 2024.

Functional but bypassed: Uconnect 4's voice recognition is command-list based rather than natural language, and embedded navigation only comes with the 8.4-inch Uconnect 4C NAV head unit — standard on Sahara and up but an extra-cost package on the volume Sport S, so most buyers of the trim scored here use phone projection for maps.

Eight speakers are standard and the nine-speaker Alpine premium system with subwoofer and overhead soundbar (standard on Sahara, packaged below) is competent rather than a class benchmark. An open-air body with a removable roof and doors is acoustically hostile no matter what is fitted, which caps what any system can do here.

No full-digital cluster exists on any 2023 Wrangler at any price — analog gauges flank a TFT window that is 3.5 in and monochrome on Sport and Sport S, stepping up to a 7.0-inch configurable color display on Sahara and Rubicon or via option group below. Mid-band content at best, and the volume trim as scored gets the small monochrome window.

Effectively none for the volume trim. Uconnect 4 predates the Android-based Uconnect 5 platform Jeep built for over-the-air delivery, USB self-updates were withdrawn for 2020-and-later model years, and Stellantis's own support guidance routes 2023 owners to a dealership. Whatever limited over-the-air map refresh exists applies only to 4C NAV cars, and nothing vehicle-level is delivered this way.

The Uconnect app with SiriusXM Guardian covers the core set — remote lock/unlock, vehicle locate, send-to-nav, remote start where the hardware is fitted, plus a 4G LTE Wi-Fi hotspot with the 4C NAV head unit — but it is subscription-gated past the trial, there is no digital key or phone-as-key, and remote start itself is Cold Weather Group or Convenience Group content on the volume trim rather than standard.

Adequate rather than abundant: USB-A and USB-C ports are provided in both rows via the media hub, 12-volt accessory outlets are standard throughout and a 115-volt household outlet is available in the console. The gaps are a factory wireless charging pad, which the 2023 gas Wrangler does not offer, and the absence of the high-output four-outlet power box that is exclusive to 4xe models.

Push-button start is standard across the range and remote keyless entry comes with the volume Sport S package, but proximity passive entry is Sahara-and-up content or an option below, remote start requires the Convenience or Cold Weather Group, there is no phone-as-key, and the side-hinged swing gate with flip-up glass is entirely manual — no power or hands-free liftgate exists on the model.

A ParkView rear camera with dynamic grid lines is standard, but no 360-degree surround-view system is offered at any price — a notable gap against the Ford Bronco, and a costly one given that the sport bars and tailgate-mounted full-size spare are exactly what block the rearward view. ParkSense rear sensors are optional on the volume trim, the forward-facing TrailCam requires the 8.4-inch screen plus the Off-road Pages option, and there is no automated parking.

No head-up display is offered on any 2023 Wrangler trim or in any option package — unsurprising for a vehicle whose windshield folds down, but a total absence of the feature this item measures.

The hardware is genuinely good — IIHS rates the 4-door's LATCH the top Good+ grade with an extra usable position, and 38.3 in of rear legroom beats the direct rival Bronco — but the daily logistics are not: a high step-in with no standard running boards, small doors, a narrow body that makes three across a squeeze, a fixed bench that neither slides nor reclines meaningfully, and only 31.7 cu ft behind it for a stroller.

The weakest family-safety year of this generation. 2023 is the last model year before Jeep's safety revisions: the 4-door rates Poor in the updated IIHS moderate overlap front test and Marginal in small overlap, no headlight configuration rates better than Marginal, and nothing this item measures is standard on the trims families buy — forward collision warning with braking and adaptive cruise are the $945 Advanced Safety Group, blind-spot monitoring is extra, lane departure warning and lane keeping are unavailable at any price, pedestrian AEB is not offered, and there is no rear-occupant alert.

The second row has class-leading headroom and workable legroom with USB ports, but a long day in it means the segment's loudest cabin — with no acoustic-glass package available for 2023 at all — plus a jittery solid-axle ride, no second-row climate controls, no rear entertainment and no rear amenities beyond vents. Luggage space with all five seats occupied is a modest 31.7 cu ft.

The 8-speed automatic and the lag-free Pentastar make low-speed progress easy, but almost everything else about daily use is effortful, and 2023 is worse than the following year because adaptive cruise with stop is a $945 option rather than standard on Sport S: a brittle jittery ride, the loudest cabin in the class, vague steering, a high awkward step-in, and no lane centering to take any load off in traffic.

20 MPG combined and roughly $3,100 a year in fuel put per-mile running costs near the bottom of the SUV field, and consumables are heavy — chunky 32-to-33-inch all-terrain tires and a 21.5-gallon fill. The saving graces are that it takes regular 87-octane and that five-year maintenance lands mid-pack rather than premium.

Better in town than its image suggests: the body is narrow, the hood is short, and the near-vertical windshield with tall commanding seating gives outstanding forward and lateral sightlines, while a 38.8-ft turning circle makes U-turns easy for a 4-door. What costs it is the rear — sport bars and the tailgate-mounted full-size spare block the view, ParkSense sensors are optional on the volume trim, and no surround-view camera is offered at any price.

Light work duty only, and 2023 is capped lower than the following year: every 4-door Wrangler tows 3,500 lbs regardless of engine — the Dana 44 HD full-float rear axle that lifts the Rubicon to 5,000 lbs arrived for 2024 — the 2-door tows 2,000 lbs, there is no bed, cargo behind the second row is 31.7 cu ft, and the naturally aspirated V6's 260 lb-ft peaking high in the rev range is short of torque for pulling.

The hardware is built to be abused — body-on-frame, solid Dana axles front and rear, four skid plates, tow hooks, four-wheel discs, tubular steel rock rails on Rubicon, a long-proven Pentastar V6 and an interior designed to be hosed out. What holds the score back is the ownership record rather than the engineering: the Wrangler carries a below-average reliability history and 2023 drew a heavy volume of electrical complaints.

Unusually strong for an SUV. The interior is designed to be hosed out via factory floor drain plugs, there is an auxiliary switch bank on Rubicon, trailer tow and heavy-duty electrical groups across the range, an available 115-volt outlet, cargo tie-downs, and arguably the largest factory-and-aftermarket upfit ecosystem of any vehicle sold. Scored below the following year because the AMPS accessory-mount dash brackets are 2024 content; the structural limits are no bed, no onboard generator on the gas model and modest enclosed cargo space.

A poor mile-eater by segment standards. Roughly 430 miles of range from the 21.5-gallon tank is adequate, but the noisiest cabin in the class, a brittle ride, vague steering, no lane centering at any price and adaptive cruise only as a $945 option make hours behind the wheel tiring rather than restful.

The segment benchmark by a wide margin: four-wheel drive with low range standard on every trim, Rubicon's Dana 44 axles with front and rear electric lockers and a disconnecting front sway bar, 4:1 crawl gearing, four skid plates, and with the Xtreme Recon package 35-inch tires, 12.9 in of ground clearance, a 47.4-degree approach angle and 33.6 in of water fording — plus removable doors, roof panels and a folding windshield that no rival matches.

Flexible in ways a single number cannot capture: 72.4 cu ft with the bench folded, a hosed-out floor, and removable roof panels or a full soft top that let loads stand taller than any fixed-roof SUV allows, plus a deep factory catalog of racks, hitches and cargo trays. The constraints are a 31.7 cu ft hold with the seats up, a narrow 41.1 in minimum liftgate opening, and a side-hinged swing gate that needs clearance to open.

Solid Dana axles front and rear on a five-link coil setup are the price of the off-road hardware, and on pavement they cost dearly: reviewers report noticeable body lean, a high center of gravity and all-terrain tires that cap cornering grip well short of the class, and advise slowing markedly for curves. Better than the pre-JL Wranglers, still behind every independently sprung SUV in the segment.

Consistently the most criticized single aspect of driving a 2023 Wrangler on-road: the electro-mechanical rack ahead of a solid front axle is light, slow to respond and short on feedback, requiring small constant corrections at highway speed. It is precise enough to place the car and free of the wander older Wranglers suffered, which keeps it out of the bottom band, but numb is the kindest description.

Four-wheel discs are standard on every trim and outright stopping power is adequate — reviewers say it slows quickly with no fade complaint — but the pedal is the problem: long travel and a mushy, two-stage response that is deliberately calibrated for off-road modulation and does not inspire confidence in traffic. Stopping distances are long for an SUV given 4,200-to-4,600 lb curb weights on knobby all-terrain rubber.

The naturally aspirated Pentastar is smooth and completely lag-free, and the 850RE 8-speed TorqueFlite shifts unobtrusively and picks sensible gears — a cleaner calibration than most turbo or hybrid rivals manage. What limits it is that 260 lb-ft peaking high in the rev range in a 4,300-to-4,500-lb body means frequent downshifts, and the standard engine stop-start restart is not seamless.

The Pentastar is inoffensive at cruise but has to be revved to make progress and grows coarse toward redline, and the solid-axle driveline plus 32-to-33-inch all-terrain tires contribute a constant hum that the removable-panel body does little to keep out. 2023 has no acoustic-glass or added-sound-deadening package on any trim to help, which puts it a touch behind the refreshed cars.

38.8 ft is mid-pack for a mid-size SUV and better than the direct rival Bronco 4-door; the 2-door's 32.7 ft is genuinely tight. The relatively quick 14.9:1 steering ratio makes the most of it.

The commanding upright position over a short narrow hood, the near-vertical windshield and the retained physical controls for climate, volume and 4WD are real ergonomic strengths. Against that: the volume Sport S has manually adjusted seats with only 8.1 in of travel and 41.2 in of legroom, leaving tall drivers short, and the high step-in through small doors is awkward without running boards — the 12-way power front seats with lumbar and cushion-tilt adjustment that address the adjustability complaint are 2024 content.

This is the Wrangler's whole argument, and it wins on character rather than pace: the doors, roof panels and windshield all come off, giving an open-air experience nothing else in the segment offers, and enthusiasts recommend it without reservation. Held below the top band only because the fun is atmospheric rather than dynamic — it is slow, loud and clumsy in corners.

2023 is the last pre-refresh year of the JL and the base spec shows it: the standard screen is a 7-inch Uconnect 4, there is no standard automatic emergency braking anywhere in the lineup, and the volume Sport S still ships with manual windows, manual door locks and cloth low-back buckets. That is a real deficit against the 2023 Bronco, which included an 8-inch SYNC 4 display and Ford Co-Pilot360 (AEB, blind-spot monitoring) as standard, and against the 2024 Wrangler that replaced it with a standard 12.3-inch Uconnect 5 and standard side-curtain airbags.

Content-for-price is the Wrangler's weakest commercial argument and 2023 was near peak MSRP: a real 4-door Sport S sticker reads $48,940 while still on cloth seats, manual locks and a 7-inch screen, and the 8-speed automatic alone costs $4,250 behind the V6. What the money buys is hardware capability — solid axles, a part-time transfer case, removable doors and roof, five distinct powertrains — plus the best resale in the US market, not equipment.

2023 is the widest the Wrangler lineup ever got, and almost nothing in any segment matches it: two body styles, twenty-plus catalogued trim and special-edition combinations, five powertrains including the only diesel and the only V8 in the class, a manual gearbox still on the order sheet, and a roof choice running from a soft top to a power Sky One-Touch. The ladder is well spaced from a $32,990 2-door Sport to a Rubicon 392 in the mid-$80,000s.

The Wrangler moved 156,581 units in the US in 2023 and stayed America's best-selling body-on-frame SUV, comfortably ahead of the Ford Bronco even as the Bronco grew fast — and the 4xe was the best-selling plug-in hybrid in the country. The trajectory is what holds this out of the top band: volume fell 14% year over year off the 2022 peak, and the Bronco closed to within about 5,500 units in Q1.

The Wrangler nameplate is one of the most desirable in the industry — direct lineage to the WWII Jeep, an owner culture with its own etiquette, and the resale figures that follow genuine want. It is held below the top band by the parent brand's standing, which was already deteriorating through 2023: a fifth consecutive year of US decline heading toward a sixth, quality rankings near the bottom of the class, and an unusually heavy recall load on this model year.

Scored as buyer benefit, 2023 was the year Wrangler discounting returned but had not yet become the fire sale of 2024: factory Sold Order Select Inventory bonus cash reached $4,000 on tagged units, and by late in the model year aging stock in some markets was transacting around 10% off sticker. The money was real but inconsistent — regional, tied to specific inventory, and thin on the conventional gas V6 relative to the 4xe, which also carried the $7,500 federal PHEV credit that this gas configuration cannot claim.

2023 is the sixth model year of a JL generation launched for 2018, and it is the last year before that generation's mid-cycle refresh — a refresh Jeep unveiled at the New York Auto Show in April 2023, part-way through this car's own selling season. A buyer in the second half of the model year was knowingly choosing a 7-inch Uconnect 4 and no curtain airbags over a car months away with a standard 12.3-inch Uconnect 5 and standard side-curtain airbags, which is the definition of imminent-replacement risk.

The 2023 Wrangler reviews as respected but not recommended: expert scores cluster in the mid-to-high 7s, and the criticisms are the same ones every reviewer raises — wind noise, ride quality, on-road manners, an aging 7-inch infotainment system and awkward cabin access. Its one substantial 2023 accolade is a resale award rather than a driving one, and unlike the refreshed 2024 car (which took Cars.com Best SUV of 2024) it won no class comparison of note; Four Wheeler's 2023 SUV of the Year went to the Wagoneer, not the Wrangler.