For years, Jeep has had difficulty building enough Wranglers to satisfy demand, but that hasn’t kept the brand’s marketing and product planning troops from dreaming up new packages to enhance profitability and keep metal moving off the showroom floors. The latest is the Black Bear Edition, new for 2016, and due to become available this fall.
The really hard-core Wranglers are named for California’s Rubicon Trail. But in an apparent quest to expand Jeep awareness to other tricky treks, this package is named for the short but treacherous Black Bear Pass trail, which culminates at Telluride, Colorado. Although it’s not specifically listed on Jeep’s list of top 10 off-road destinations, the starting point is near Ouray, Colorado, number six on the list, an area that includes a number of opportunities to test skills and skidplates.
The Black Bear Pass route, from Red Mountain Pass to Telluride, is less than 10 miles, but its high altitudes (from 11,018 to 12,840), extremely narrow stretches, and a series of precipitous switchbacks descending to Telluride make it a hold-your-breath proposition. Fall off the road here and you’re likely to come down in Denver. Jeep literature refers to the trail as “notorious.”
So how does the Black Bear Edition hone a Wrangler Sport for an assault on the Black Bear Pass Trail? Well, there’s a topographical map of the trail reproduced as a hood decal, though it would be tricky to employ as a reference tool on narrow trails bordered by several hundred feet of drops.
More practical package elements include rock rails—reinforced rocker panels to resist damage from boulders—and a set of Kevlar-reinforced Goodyear Wrangler Silent Armor tires on black-finish 17-inch wheels. Beyond that, though, the Black Bear package is conceived to make you look good as you’re threading your way through the switchbacks.
The interior is distinguished by black cloth seats; a leather-wrapped steering wheel with gray stitching; all-weather floor mats; and grab handles, instrument bezels, vent rings, and door handles in iron gray. Air conditioning and a power convenience group are standard, as is a connectivity group—important for keeping tabs on stock reports when you’re inching along at 12,000 feet.
In addition to the black wheels and map decal, exterior elements include a black grille, a gray bumper appliqué, black taillamp guards, and your choice of a premium Sunrider soft top or a body-color hard top. The package is available for both two- and four-door Wranglers.
Speaking of colors, the Wrangler’s 2016 palette includes two new ones, Hypergreen and Mojave Rhino Sand. The latter may have been inspired by the reported sighting of a rhinoceros in California’s Mojave Desert, a report that is thought to have come in late one night not long after the bars closed in the town of Boron.
If the Black Bear package—pricing to be determined—seems more about appearance than function, do not be deceived: As delivered, the standard Wrangler Sport is more than capable of tackling any of Jeep’s top 10 off-road adventures or any other wilderness expedition that affords a satisfactory element of peril. But it’s the rare buyer who resists adding personalizing elements to his or her Wrangler, and Jeep’s accessory development troops just want to keep expanding the choices.
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