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2018 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Alaska Cannonball | Into the West

Our man Jonathon Ramsey is driving a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon on a 14-week, 14,000 mile journey across North America. Check out his first and second installments. DOVE CREEK, Colo. – Last week I hopped off the Oklahoma panhandle into Grenville, New Mexico. After a tight right-left on Grenville's Lake Road, the tarmac fell away into immense, scrub-filled valleys rimmed by rock spires and elevated mesas. Pushing into Colorado from the southeast, elevation and high-plains beauty come quickly. It's like driving through the imaginary Arcadias on bottled water labels, or one of those 5,000-piece puzzle sets that grandparents and aunts devote months and bottles of gin to. I'm shacked up in Dove Creek's surprisingly quaint Country Inn because rain. Here are some notes from the road. For lack of time and space, I only mentioned the Jeep Collection in Suwanee, Georgia in passing last week. Once more: if you're a fan of Jeeps and you get to the Atlanta metro area, I highly recommend a visit — and look at the pictures at the bottom of this article. The 2018 Wrangler Rubicon I'm driving now sports Willys icons on the gear shift lever, windshield, and wheels, and when you turn the rig on, a graphic in the dash cluster morphs from a Willys into a JL Wrangler. Jeep insists on carrying the torch of its origins, so I found it edifying to sit in all four of those origins at the Jeep Collection. I can tell you this: the Americans who fought WWII were a lot smaller than we are. What am I driving? The Monroney titles it a 2018 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon 4X4, with a base price of $40,495. It's been plumped with these options: Leather ($1,495), Customer Preferred Package 24R (Cold Weather Group, $895), Trailer Tow HD Electrical Group ($795), LED Lighting ($895), Electronic Infotainment System Group with 8.4-inch Uconnect and Alpine Premium Audio ($1,295), Steel Bumper Group ($1,295), Trail Rail Management System ($195), All-Weather Floor Mats ($130), 8-Speed Automatic Transmission ($2,000), Premium Black Sunrider Soft Top ($595), and 17-inch black wheels with polished lips ($895). Add the $1,195 destination charge, and a customer paying MSRP would need to pony up $52,175 to take it home. Regarding my previous list of aftermarket bits, the Mopar rock rails are so well integrated that I forgot to mention them. They have come in handy. The Mopar grab handles, however, aren't so handy. The hard rubber grips hang from the roof by nylon straps, next to the front windows.

Chrysler axes old V6s, goes all-Pentastar

Old technology has a way of lingering on, particularly at Chrysler headquarters in Auburn Hills. So while the Pentastar V6 has replaced the older engine architecture in just about every application, it still soldiered on in some export markets. But the introduction of a new 3.0-liter Pentastar V6, produced in Michigan and meant only for the Chinese market, has put the final nail in the old engine's coffin.
Fitted into the 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Jeep Wrangler just introduced to China at the Chengdu Motor Show, the downsized six uses the same architecture as the larger 3.6-liter Pentastar V6. But because of its 2,997cc capacity, it can be exported to China without the increased duty the 3.6-liter or even 3.2-liter Pentastar engines would incur. The 3.0-liter V6 develops 230 horsepower at 6,350 rpm and 210 pound-feet at 4,400 rpm.
Admittedly, it's unlikely, but even though the engine was said to be created solely to undercut tax thresholds in China and Europe, the 3.0-liter Pentastar has recently surfaced in rumors of an application here: as the boosted heart of a potential Cherokee SRT with anywhere from 375 to 410 hp.

Excavator in China bashes BMW and Jeep out of the way

This Chinese construction site apparently has a zero tolerance policy towards obstacles getting in the way of work. When blocked by a Jeep and a BMW, the operator of this excavator pushes the two vehicles out of the way like they're toys. The Bimmer gets the brunt of the abuse, with the sedan getting lodged up against a fence. The exact context of this clip isn't entirely known, but The Mirror in Britain speculates the vehicles are illegally parked. But that doesn't explain why the excavator crashes through a gate later in the video. Also, this doesn't appear to be the case of a rogue operator taking out some frustrations, because a man with a walkie-talkie is leading the way and seemingly directing the destruction. Nonetheless, getting permission to knock these cars around was probably the highlight of this driver's day. News Source: The Mirror, AOL On BMW Jeep Crossover Videos Sedan