Jeep News
Jeep Red Rock Responder Concept: A Wrangler with Serious Junk in the Trunk – News – Car and Driver | Car and Driver Blog — Of Jeep’s 2015 Moab Easter Safari concepts, the modded Jeeps it plans to bring to the annual Easter Jeep Safari off-road party in Moab, this Red Rock Responder concept is the only one that leaves us scratching our heads. Sure, it has presence with those beadlock rims, 37-inch tires, and red paint job, but the thing’s pseudo pickup bed looks more than a little, er, strange.
In this case, the junk isn’t so much in the trunk as it is the trunk. Make no mistake—we think Jeep Wrangler–based pickups are the coolest, but this one’s tall, faired-in bed gives the Responder a butt-heavy look. Oh, and it erases any chance the driver has to—pardon the pun—respond to anything in the rig’s blind spot.
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Style rant out of the way, we should point out that the Responder is intended to be a functional piece. It’s equipped to schlep first responders and other emergency workers to boulder-strewn areas quickly—and to hold their stuff. There are cargo boxes in the rear stocked with an air hose, a high-lift jack, a fire extinguisher, a first-aid kit, tools, a recovery kit, and a roadside-emergency kit. Inside, there are red-and-black leather seats and all-weather floor mats. The Jeep itself is equipped with Dana 60 axles, Fox shocks, a four-inch suspension lift, a Warn winch, LED lighting, Wrangler Rubicon 10th Anniversary Edition front and rear bumpers, high-top fenders, and prototype rock rails. If you dig the bumpers and fender flares, they’re available in Jeep’s accessories catalog, although the Responder’s custom tail isn’t.
One thing this Wrangler-based Responder surely isn’t is fast—it uses the same 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 and five-speed automatic transmission as the regular Wrangler, albeit with a cold-air intake. Those big tires, heavy-duty axles, and the custom bed, however, are bound to drag down response times.
