Jeep Wrangler JL Faces Off Against Colorado ZR2

A street-spec Wrangler and an off-road ready Colorado square up on the trail — this is gonna be interesting.

Off-Road.com just released a great comparison video between a street-spec Jeep JL Wrangler and a new Chevrolet Colorado ZR2. Despite the fact that it’s a Wrangler Sahara — “the mall crawler-iest of Wranglers,” as video host Stephen Elmer so eloquently puts it — both vehicles sticker at around $44,000.

The video is subtitled “SUV vs. Truck.” It feels odd calling the Wrangler a SUV, but it really is the original sport utility vehicle, even though the rest of the segment has strayed far from its roots. The Sahara model, lacking the all-terrain tires, locking diffs, and disconnecting sway bars of the more off-road oriented trim levels, got stuck in the very first hole it encountered. Elmer blames that entirely on the tires, though. He goes on to point out that, with 10″ of ground clearance, he had no qualms about gleefully bombing over the biggest ruts he could fine, confident in the JL’s abilities.

He was also impressed with the approach, breakover, and departure angles of the JL, at 41.8 degrees, 21 degrees, and 36.1 degrees, respectively. Simply put, there was nothing out there that could hang up the mighty Wrangler. It was also noticeably more maneuverable than the Chevrolet. Some better tires would have made it unstoppable. Despite the fact that the Sahara has no skid plates, they weren’t necessary.

So how did the ZR2 compare? The ZR2 has 8.9 inches of ground clearance, which got the ZR2 hung up on the rear differential. The approach, breakover, and departure angles are also noticeably poorer than the Jeep Wrangler JL which means that it’s more likely to get hung up, especially in the rear. When it comes to the transfer case, the low gear wasn’t as well-suited to crawling as the Jeep’s SelectTrac box.

All in all, the Jeep Wrangler JL is the real deal, giving up almost nothing to the most off-road ready Colorado available. It’s a suitable replacement to the JK, and certainly deserving of that trademark seven-slot Jeep grille.

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Cameron Vanderhorst

Cam VanDerHorst has been a contributor to Internet Brands' Auto Group sites for over three years, with his byline appearing on Ford Truck Enthusiasts, Corvette Forum, JK Forum, and Harley-Davidson Forums, among others. In that time, he's also contributed to Autoweek, The Drive, and Scale Auto Magazine.
He bought his first car at age 14 -- a 1978 Ford Mustang II -- and since then he’s amassed an impressive and diverse collection of cars, trucks, and motorcycles, including a 1996 Ford Mustang SVT Mystic Cobra (#683) and a classic air-cooled Porsche 911.
In addition to writing about cars and wrenching on them in his spare time, he enjoys playing music (drums and ukulele), building model cars, and tending to his chickens.
You can follow Cam, his cars, his bikes, and his chickens at @camvanderhorst on Instagram.