The 2024 Jeep Wrangler Overland is intended as less of a gung-ho rock-crawler and more of a city-friendly SUV than its hard-core stablemate, the Rubicon, but it's still very capable off-road.

I tested the four-door Overland Unlimited over seven busy days in order to scrutinise how it’d perform as a daily driver and as a weekend adventure vehicle.

How much does the 2024 Jeep Wrangler Overland cost?

This Jeep Wrangler Overland has a manufacturer suggested retail price of $84,950 (excluding on-road costs). 

What features do you get in the 2024 Jeep Wrangler Overland?

Standard features in the 2024 Jeep Wrangler Overland include an 8.4-inch multimedia touchscreen unit, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a nine-speaker Alpine Premium audio system (with subwoofer), plus heated steering wheel and front seats, black leather trimmed seats, leather-wrapped gear-shifter knob and parking brake handle, and more.

It has 18-inch alloy wheels.

Exterior paint includes Bright White (standard), and optional colours: Black, Sarge Green, Silver Zynith, Anvil, Firecracker Red, Tuscadero, Earl (blue-ish grey), and Hydro Blue (on our test vehicle).

This is a purpose-built off-roader and the Overland’s five-seat cabin is a basic but functional space. 

All dials, knobs and switches are easy to locate and operate while bouncing through rough terrain or climbing the Overland up steep rock steps.

There's leather everywhere – seats, steering wheel, shifter knob – but plenty of durable surfaces.

Storage space isn’t abundant but there are a few small, deep, and textured receptacles – ideal for keeping your phone, keys and cards in the same spot while you bounce around off-road – as well as grab handles, including a big sturdy one in front of the front-seat passenger because if the driver gets adventurous they’ll need it. 

There are also tensioned net pockets on the doors so you can throw stuff in there, but beyond those there aren't a lot of storage options.

There are air vents, two USB-C ports, and a 230V inverter in the centre console.

Rear cargo space is listed as 898 litres; with the rear seat stowed away, there is a claimed 2050 litres of room.

The 2024 Overland has a new 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine – producing 200kW at 5250rpm and 400Nm at 3000-4500rpm – and an eight-speed automatic transmission.

Official fuel consumption is listed as 9.2L/100km on a combined cycle. 

On this test I recorded 12.8L/100km, from pump to pump. 

The Wrangler Overland Unlimited has an 81-litre tank so, going by that fuel figure above, you could reasonably expect a driving range of about 630km from a full tank.

This Jeep has the maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating from testing in 2019.

Standard safety gear includes four airbags (driver and front-seat passenger only), AEB, adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, forward collision warning, rear-view camera, and front and rear parking sensors.

A five-year/unlimited km warranty applies to the Overland.

Servicing is set at 12 month or 12,000km intervals at a total cost of $1995 over five years, with servicing capped at a maximum $399 per appointment.

Lifetime roadside assist is available to Overland owners when they service through Jeep.

What is the 2024 Jeep Wrangler Overland like to drive?

The Wrangler is nowhere near as bad on-road as some may assume – its planted stance on sealed surfaces gives it a definite composure on bitumen – but it’s no sports car in terms of ride and handling.

It tends to float around on the blacktop if not constantly micro-managed and steering has a lightness that can sometimes be a bit off-putting. 

The V6 is a gutsy engine and the eight-speed auto delivers nicely controlled ratio shifts.

Because it’s so blocky, straight up and down, with large wing mirrors and such, the Overland is noisy on sealed surfaces.

The Overland is, as expected, very capable in an off-road environment. I wasn't expecting it to be troubled because it retains all of the traditional Wrangler goodness: it’s a genuine 4WD with a dual-range transfer case, a ladder chassis, solid axles and well-established 4WD heritage.

This Jeep is 4882mm long (with a 3008mm wheelbase), 1894mm wide, 1838mm high. It has a listed kerb weight of 1900kg.

For 4WDing, the Overland's aforementioned light steering has a nice weight to it at lower speeds, giving the driver a solid sense of sustained control through even seriously challenging terrain, but the Overland’s turning circle is a listed 12.44m, so this off-roader can at times feel like a mini-bus to steer through narrow twisty tracks.

However, this is a purpose-built off-roader with a wide wheel track and low centre of gravity, so it feels planted no matter how rough the terrain becomes.

On the gravel track to our off-road testing site, there are numerous steering-wheel-jolting corrugations but overall the Overland – with a coil spring at each corner – absorbed them with little to no fuss.

Our 4WD loop included the aforementioned gravel tracks, light to medium corrugations, undulating mud tracks and mud holes, and some very challenging low-range 4WD sections (in particular, a steep rocky hill), and a few other set-pieces to see if the Overland was able to do everything safely and comfortably. 

Again, the V6 engine comes into its own, delivering smooth even torque when needed, but not ever over-working to achieve that.

It’s refreshing to note that switching to 4WD High or 4WD Low range is still done via a stubby stick to the left of the auto shifter, rather than the push of a button, or the turn of a dial. 

Low-range gearing is very good and the Overland has a well-calibrated off-road traction control that seamlessly launches into action when required, and wasted wheel-spin is kept to an absolute minimum.

This Wrangler has 242mm ground clearance and a standard wading depth of 760mm, and was never troubled on climbing steep rock steps, traversing deep ruts or punching through mudholes.

It’s sure-footed during low-range work but visibility can be an issue: over-bonnet visibility has improved slightly over previous generations but the driver’s view to the front and side is still somewhat compromised, making it at times difficult to visually pick correct wheel-placement, especially when driving steep terrain at sharp angles. It can go hard-core, no worries, but it simply requires a little bit more thought. 

The Overland has approach, departure and breakover angles of 35.8, 31.2 and 20.4 degrees respectively.

With live axles front and rear, the Overland has plenty of wheel travel to keep moving and under control through truly off-grid country.

The only real compromises in the Overland’s 4x4 set-up are its standard Bridgestone Dueler (255/70R18) highway tyres and, even on those, the Overland still walked up and over our toughest off-road challenges.

The Overland has listed towing capacities of 750kg (unbraked) and 2495kg (braked).

Is the 2024 Jeep Wrangler Overland any good?

The 2024 Jeep Wrangler Overland is a nice compromise between a city-going SUV and a hard-core rock-crawling off-road beast.

It costs a lot, it's not very practical for anything other than weekend 4WDing trips, and it lacks some safety tech ... but it's a whole stack of fun.

And that fun factor is more than enough for Jeep fans.