2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited: Saying Good-bye to Death Valley

As I mentioned, my own car is an '06 Civic Si (my commute generally involves walking, so the bulk of my driving is "fun" thus having a stick-shift in Los Angeles isn't as insane for me as it might otherwise be) and we've taken day trips to the desert with it before and it worked out just fine.

There is no way on this green Earth that the Death Valley trip would have been even a quarter as awesome if we'd taken it this time, though. The Wrangler made all the difference in the world. With the 4x4 availability, generally comfortable ride (even over rough roads), pretty good gas mileage (no, really), and convertible top, it's perfect.

Gas Mileage
I thought for sure it was going to be horrifying. A big ol' V6 and 4WD? Please.

As it turns out, though, we did all right. Bouncing around the city and the short trips, we averaged out (according to the Jeep) around 18mpg. The thing about driving in Death Valley, though, there aren't a ton of short trips and most of your driving's going to be 25 minutes plus (Furnace Creek to the Eureka Dunes, by the way, is 100+ miles and about 40 miles of that is rough-going). Again according to the Jeep, we managed just under 21mpg on the second half of our trip where we did the most steady-speed driving.

I think that's pretty good, no?


(Near the mid-way point on Leadfield Road.)

What I like about you!
If you couldn't tell: I really, really like the Wrangler. The first time Caroline drove us to lunch in it, I was a little aloof. "Oh, a Wrangler." Still: I liked it. I have great affection for all things Jeep and I still miss my Grand Cherokee, so I never minded when she got the keys and we "had" to go somewhere. (:

For all its utility and ease of being off-road and just general cool Jeep-ness, I think my favorite thing about the Wrangler is using the side steps to climb into the driver's seat. I know! It's kind of juvenile and silly, but it's so fun. Grab the steering wheel, plant a foot on the side step, and drop on in. It's so...active.

My second favorite thing about the Wrangler is that nav. It's so cool being able to see what sorts of elevation climbs you're doing along with the turn-by-turn directions. That is has an AUX connection is excellent, but I have to tell you: we hardly used our iPods. Instead, Dave tuned Sirius to Classic Vinyl (14) and Classic Rewind (15) for almost the entire trip.

There had to be something...
What didn't I like about the Wrangler? How sloppy it feels on city streets.

It felt a little loose right from the get-go, but I chalk that up to being a first-time Wrangler driver. After 2 days in Death Valley, though, we got back on the highways and around town and it felt like the Wrangler didn't know how to behave.

I don't think it's a fault, though. You've got to use the right tool for the right job and if you ask me: the Wrangler is the wrong tool for commuting and running errands. It wants to be away from traffic jams and sigalerts, take it out where the deer and the antelope play and you'll see what it's made of.


(Dusty from the road to the Dunes.)

Thanks to everyone for listening to me squeak like a little kid about the Wrangler. Thanks to Dave for making the trip! And mega, ginormous thanks to the Editors for letting me drive the Wrangler in the first place! I had a really hard time giving the keys back. (:

I uploaded a handful more photos to my CarSpace photos, if you'd like to see more of them. And! there's some video from our drive on Leadfield Road/Titus Canyon, too. (:

Leadfield Road.