Rubicon Ready

You'd think it would have been a completely unequal contest, what with the Willys being a 45-horse fifty-year-old veteran and the Wrangler boasting a 174-horse 2.8-litre diesel (that's the same output of the old Wrangler's 4.0-litre straight six petrol engine) and over 300 lb ft of torque. But when it came to some serious off-roading the veteran showed it still had the edge - even to the extent of having to haul the Wrangler out of trouble after it got hung up on a big rock!In fairness to the Wrangler it was the long-wheelbase version that would naturally be prone to bellying out over humps that the short-wheelbase Willys would simply trundle over. Having said that, the Willys also got wedged on some rocks at the foot of the same descent, but being lighter than the Wrangler it took little more than a bit of shouting and shoving to set it free.

We knew the Wrangler would have a problem negotiating the same piece of tortuous terrain, so with Wayne spotting the way we eased it ever so carefully into the difficult section on what looked to be a passable route - only to have the heavy rear end slide inexorably into a rut, making it inevitable that the car would belly out. We'd taken the cars to the Langdale Quest off-road site near Scarborough. There's not much really extreme terrain there, so we had to look long and hard to find sections that would test either the Willys or the Wrangler and - apart from that one rocky hump at the foot of a long, really steep descent - both cars impressed with their ability to cope with anything we threw them at. Our verdict? The Wrangler is a great off-roader, it's more refined than its predecessor but there's still a lot of that true-Jeep feel in the way it drives. As an off-roader, though, we have to pick the veteran - because the Wrangler with its traction controls and comfortable springing made it all feel so easy. The Willys, on the other hand, with its cart springs, weaker brakes and lack of interior comforts, ensured that its occupants were that much more involved with the off-road action!