In addition to the Mercedes-Benz Big G, the other two most off-road SUV in the world have launched a PHEV plug-in hybrid – the Jeep Wrangler 4Xe and the Land Rover Defender P400e.
Many loyal fans said it was difficult to accept how plug-in hybrids could go off-road and how to deal with the worst places such as Tibet. So can PHEV hardcore off-road be bought? Just the above two models I have test driven, the following to talk to you:
First of all, let's talk about the actual use of big G, guards, and even wranglers, do you think they really went to Tibet?
Surrounding colleagues, friends or neighbors, but they are almost impossible to drive a Wrangler to run a long distance (the reason is known to anyone who has driven). While the new generation of Defenders is already comfortable, their use case is urban commuting. The same is the hardcore Mercedes-Benz Big G, the use of the same scene is the city, more than the Wrangler high-end occasions.
If it's all urban mobility, why not PHEV?
I admit that the Mercedes-Benz Big G has a unique charm (with the exception of the G350), the most unique of which is the mechanical texture and sound enjoyment brought by the V8 engine. But the Wrangler's 2.0T sound isn't that good, and the Land Rover Defender's 3.0T high-spindle isn't very good either.
That being the case, simply let it be silently and purely electrified. Not only the sound, but also the city mobility for this type of hardcore SUV, the motor is better to open. There is also PHEV that will save a lot of oil.
The owner of the old Wrangler knows that it is a tool car for half a day such as throttle response, and the current Wrangler has become more comfortable and better opened after changing the 2.0T+8AT gearbox. But in any case, it can't be compared to the fully charged Wrangler 4xe.
Unlike the general PHEV model power castration practice, the Wrangler 4xe still retains that pair of alphas. Romeo 2.0T twin-scroll turbocharged engine with ZF ZF8AT transmission. Together with the dual motor hybrid (133 kW and 303 Nm of motors), the combined output is 276 kW (375 hp) and 637 N m.
Similarly, the Land Rover Defender 110 P400e has a combined power of 297kW and 640Nm, accelerating 5.6 seconds from 100 km/h, faster than the fuel version. The Defender 110 P400e NEDC has a pure electric range of 53 km and can be charged to 80% in just 30 minutes in DC fast charge mode.
Therefore, in the urban transportation, the PHEV Wrangler and the Defender under the pure electricity or rich electric hybrid, the others are faster than the fuel version of the power response, and the transportation is smoother. Even if it is in a state of power loss, it is not much inferior to the fuel version.
Urban transportation is no problem, but I believe everyone cares about the off-road ability of PHEV. Although buying these cars does not necessarily mean off-road, off-road ability is everyone's dream, and everyone buys a car for their dreams.
Just Wrangler 4xe and Land Rover Defender 110 P400e I both drove past off-road, but I can't give an accurate answer, how much difference is their off-road capability and fuel version? Because we have tried very difficult off-road fields, but they are not difficult at all, we can only tell you that the off-road ability of PHEV is also bottomless.
Jeep believes that the Wrangler 4xe is the same as the fuel version, and Land Rover also believes that their Defender 110 P400e is not inferior to the fuel version. The 110 and Land Rover Defender 90 have a maximum ground clearance of 291 mm and wading depths of up to 900 mm, leading their class in approach/longitudinal pass/go angles.
But I can talk about some of the advantages of THE PHEV off-road.
When climbing steep hills or climbing rocks with tires, the control of the throttle is very important. You need to decisively get the power of the front wheels, too little power to climb, too much power tires to slip or appear in some dangerous state. However, how to control the throttle opening in a short period of time is very technical.
But PEV thanks to the help of the motor, the torque of the motor is very strong. Therefore, in many difficult off-road sections, the motor is easier to pass with more fuel, and it is more comfortable and easy to control.
On the other hand, it may be rare to encounter, our test drive Wrangler 4xe is at an altitude of 4400 meters above sea level in the Kangding Mountains, the electric motor has an absolute advantage over the internal combustion engine. We know that due to the lack of oxygen, the output power of the internal combustion engine will be discounted (turbocharging is better than natural suction), but the electric motor is completely unaffected.
One trick is that you can use the mode of maintaining power to travel, and then make full use of the battery to drive the motor to go off-road after you get to the off-road field. At this time, even the fuel version is not so strong.
On the bad side, the PHEV model will be heavier. Our test drive of the Wrangler 4xe four-door Sahara car weighs up to 2311kg, while the same fuel version only takes 1991kg. I could feel that the plug-in hybrid was less light than the fuel version, and the suspension filtering was worse, affecting the comfort of the rear.
Taken together, both the Jeep Wrangler 4Xe and the Land Rover Defender P400e perform well in practice. But back to the above sentence, buying this kind of hardcore SUV is for dreams, depending on how far PHEVs are from your dreams.