Probably, no one in this world can skip Jeep to talk about off-road. Jeep has been born for off-road from the day of its birth. It has laid the foundation of contemporary off-road vehicles, and now it has become synonymous with top performance off-road vehicles.
Everyone says that Jeep is strong, so where is it strong? For an off-road vehicle, is there a set of standards for measurement? The answer to this question is yes and only.
The real Jeeper should have heard of Jeep Trail Rated, which is a very professional off-road capability rating system. It was officially introduced to the market in 2003 and aims to assess the level of off-road capability that all Jeep four-wheel drive models should achieve. In layman’s terms, there are five factors that determine off-road performance, including traction, passability, tracking, maneuverability, and wading ability. Below we will expand on this one by one.
The Five Factors of Off-Road Performance
1. Traction
If a car doesn’t have enough power, what about off-roading? Obviously, power is the foundation of an off-road vehicle, while Jeep pays more attention to the adjustment of grip and four-wheel drive system under the condition of emphasizing the power itself. For a long time, Jeep models have provided a variety of four-wheel drive systems to ensure that the vehicle can have sufficient forward and reverse power in road conditions including ice, snow, sand, mud, etc.
2. Passability
To ensure good passability, an off-road vehicle must first have a reasonable ground clearance, and the ground clearance is also a sign of our daily evaluation of whether an off-road vehicle or SUV is good. Obviously, Jeep is very good in this field. The right to say, in addition, when evaluating this performance, Trail Rated will also consider the combination of approach angle, departure angle and longitudinal passing angle to judge the off-road ability of the model.
3. Tracking
The tracking performance of the vehicle off-road is more particular than that of driving on the road. Because the road conditions are more complex and cumbersome, the ups and downs will be more than daily driving, so the vehicle often encounters the situation that the wheels are off the ground . Performance, what is important is whether the vehicle can touch the ground . By referring to the slope driving index, you can clearly measure the suspension travel of the vehicle and the flexibility of each link of the chassis. Trail Rated is very professional in this regard.
4. Mobility
The mobility of the test off-road vehicle is mainly reflected in the design. Why do you say this? Is the length, width, height and wheelbase of a car reasonable? Is the bigger the better? All of these indirectly affect whether the mobility of off-road vehicles is flexible enough. Through a more optimized vehicle design, Jeep’s models have done a good job in terms of steering ability and ability to get out of trouble.
5. Water wading ability
This is probably another high-frequency vocabulary for off-road vehicles besides ground clearance. In fact, the wading ability is related to the height of the engine air intake , but not only to meet this condition, Trail Rated will also evaluate the circuit design / body sealing / vehicle technology, etc., to ensure the wading ability There will be no additional breakdown issues with the vehicle.
All Jeep 4WD models that pass this test will be marked with a Trail Rated badge to prove that this model has excellent 4WD performance and can pass through the most severe terrain.
Currently, the highest Trail Rated score is 10, and the Wrangler is the only ultimate 4WD model that meets this rating. In addition, the Grand Cherokee has reached level 8, and all Jeep models on sale are above level 4 of this rating. It is reported that it is difficult for models of the same level or price to reach the level of Jeep models under the same standard test, which is why we call Jeep the strongest off-road vehicle brand.
The text and pictures are from the original manuscript of Auto Life.
