In ages past, the Jeep Wrangler was a the icon of light weight offroaders. It wasn’t fast or flashy, it had no luxury features; it was just a shoddy inline 6 and some wheels. It came standard as a 4×4, which even modern trucks don’t do, and was easy to work on. Most importantly, it was cheap. Or at least cheaper than a modern Wrangler. What used to be a car so cheap the U.S. Postal Service drove them is now a hulking luxury SUV, more at home in the suburbs than any dirt trail it is rated for.

There are a lot of arguments about where this trend started, be it with the TJ, the JK, or the YJ generations. Some “purists” will claim that anything that isn’t a Willis isn’t a real Jeep. The introduction of the 4-door “unlimited” Wranglers is probably where this particular branch diverges. With the current generation of Wrangler – the JL – this new evolution came into its own. Once meant for delivering mail to remote Alaskan homesteads, the Wrangler became more accustomed to delivering its owner to the shopping mall, and the JL became the platform to make full use of this.

This is the Jeep Wrangler Sahara 4xe. Gone are the days of the manual tuna-can Jeep. This beast has multi-zone climate control, an automatically retracting roof (real jeep owners know this is heretical), heated seats, and a 10 inch subwoofer. Its interior seems more appropriate for a Grand Cherokee with big HD screens and Android Auto. Even the transfer case has some power features, with a 4-auto mode, which gives the car rear biased AWD. Before you complain that real Wranglers need to be 4x4s, you can put it into 4 high with just a flick of your wrist. 4 low too if your willing to give it some elbow grease. I don’t know why you need elbow grease, its electronically actuated.

This one isn’t just a normal Sahara, its the 4xe. The first ever electric Wrangler. Except its not electric, its a plug in hybrid. And its not even very good a it. Jeep denotes this with blue accents across the exterior of the car, an option reserved only for Rubicon trims in the petrol cars. Its a subtle identifier, but its something. Keeps the car looking lively, helps it stand out in the Whole Foods parking lot.

In terms of driving, I’ve been less than impressed. The Wrangler Sahara feels like a rolling identity crisis; it can’t decide if it’s a posh SUV or a rugged 4×4. Its got the over the top gadgets you’d expect of a luxury car, but all the knobs have this rugged, high grip aesthetic that you’d expect to see more on a Ryobi jobsite microwave than an SUV. You get heated leather seats, but your smashed right up against the windshield in what feels like a steel box with port holes for windows. Electronically actuated 4wd but you have to yank a clunky lever to turn it on. Its a plug in hybrid with a turbocharged motor, but the suspension feels like, well that actually feels like it should be on a jeep. Its soft and bouncy in all the right ways you’d want in a wrangler. You go to take a turn and it just swings to the outside.

In terms of a driving test, there’s not much to do. Its a luxury SUV, you drive it on the road and see how it does that. Its got plenty of space, so it lives up to the utility requirement. And it’s fast for a wrangler. 320hp is not nothing, and the brakes bite quick. The regenerative braking is a bit intrusive compared to other EVs. There’s no offroad test though. This is a Sahara, its never going to leave asphalt. Definitely not because I couldn’t find a trail to take it on (I’ve driven KL Cherokees down trails, the Sahara package and an electric motor will not stop me). They did get rid of the speed wobble though, so at least it’s finally safe for the highway.

As a long time Jeep owner, this thing has done some serious damage to my trust in the brand. It has had at least 2 major recalls that I know of, both of which involved a major risk of the battery exploding. Not that it does much, half of the time the engine goes into oil cycle mode and runs the car as a mild hybrid, locking you out of driving in full electric, tanking the already poor fuel economy. And the speakers have started to rattle. And it leaks in heavy rain. I’ll cut it some slack there since it is a soft top, but it costs nearly $70,000, it gets a little less acceptable for that price.

This car is barely 2 years old.

People joke about the Wrangler being cultural appropriation of blue collar life, but it’s not that. Its not not that either. Its some wierd third thing.