---
title: "Behind the Wheel of the Jeep Trailcat Wrangler Concept"
description: "Jeep's wild new concept packs Hellcat power into a Wrangler box. And we drove it."
date: "2016-03-22"
modified: "2016-03-22"
authors:
  - name: "Chris Cantle"
    job_title: "West Coast Editor"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/chris-cantle"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/new-cars/2667/behind-the-wheel-of-the-jeep-trailcat-wrangler-concept"
categories:
  - "Car Reviews"
  - "Jeep Reviews"
  - "Jeep Wrangler"
tags:
  - "concept car"
  - "concepts"
  - "Hellcat"
  - "Jeep"
  - "Off-Road"
  - "test drive"
  - "Trailcat"
  - "Wrangler"
---

# Behind the Wheel of the Jeep Trailcat Wrangler Concept

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/archive-images/first-drive-jeep-hellcat-hero.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

*Each spring, Jeep's finest fans gather in Moab, Utah, for the Easter Safari. Atmosphere? Somewhere between an off-road jamboree and a cult meeting. And you'll find Jeep's own engineers there, too, ladling out Kool Aid in the form of original concept vehicles; the star of this year's Easter Safari is the [wild Wrangler-based Trailcat](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/2520/jeep-wrangler-trailcat-has-hellcat-engine-viper-seats-manual-gearbox>). Our West Coast editor, Chris Cantle, was in Utah covering the event when Jeep threw him the keys. Thirty minutes. Go drive.*

Before anything else, there’s a loud whine. The fuel pump. A mechanical insect’s whir that's out of place in the stillness of Moab. And then ignition. Seven-hundred-something horsepower's worth of combustion, supercharger whine, and lunatic wonder. A shouted expletive in this red rock cathedral, or maybe a reverberating hallelujah. The Jeep Trailcat speaks our language.

![first-drive-jeep-hellcat-art-1.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/first-drive-jeep-hellcat-art-1.jpg>)
**Jeep**

To be clear: This is a concept vehicle. An off-road-ready, well-realized (frighteningly viable) idea made tangible. Something that’ll trundle over precipitous ledges and gaps with ease; that can creep on low gears and 39” tires, or roost a whole beach of sand into the sky on a lark. Its windshield is cut-down and rakish. Taught proportions and big fender flares make it a looker. In the driver’s seat, strapped in by four-point belts, you don’t feel dashing so much as combative. Inside the Trailcat, you’re ready to make a meal out of everything around you.

![first-drive-jeep-hellcat-gal-1.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/first-drive-jeep-hellcat-gal-1.jpg>)
*Jeep*

![first-drive-jeep-hellcat-gal-2.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/first-drive-jeep-hellcat-gal-2.jpg>)
*Jeep*

![first-drive-jeep-hellcat-gal-3.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/first-drive-jeep-hellcat-gal-3.jpg>)
*Jeep*

![first-drive-jeep-hellcat-gal-4.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/first-drive-jeep-hellcat-gal-4.jpg>)
*Jeep*

![first-drive-jeep-hellcat-gal-5.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/first-drive-jeep-hellcat-gal-5.jpg>)
*Jeep*

![first-drive-jeep-hellcat-gal-8.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/first-drive-jeep-hellcat-gal-8.jpg>)
*Jeep*

![first-drive-jeep-hellcat-gal-7.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/first-drive-jeep-hellcat-gal-7.jpg>)
*Jeep*

Out on the Utah slickrock, a photographer waits at a ledge. Just feet ahead, the Jeep’s invisible, hidden by a long, bright green hood that’s been bored and sculpted to accommodate and aspirate a massive 6.2-liter V8 and blower. Gentle feathering of the clutch puts those monster tires on the lip; gentle feathering of the brake lowers them over the edge. The rort and rumble alone sends pebbles airborne like dust. It takes leaning out over the tube-frame door to grasp the transition into space, meaty coil-overs make it feel like nothing. The photographer’s bold, getting so close.

![first-drive-jeep-hellcat-art-3.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/first-drive-jeep-hellcat-art-3.jpg>)
**Jeep**

Slickrock, then a dusty trail. It’s too easy. Because the Trailcat is a pussycat at low speeds. *Easy on the throttle. Not too heavy on the clutch.* Familiar, languorous shifts through the six-speed gearbox, it’s a delight with the threat of fear. Really, though, the Trailcat begs for miles of wet beach, or the steep leeward side of a dune. Or a wildass jump off a town hall staircase. It begs for trouble, to be cracked wide open. To strain that massive fuel pump so hard it glows. A half-hour with the Trailcat isn’t enough. A week wouldn’t be either. Because a Jeep this mean? What a concept.

## Author
Honorary laboratory rat Chris Cantle represents *The Drive* from his home state of California. He is a keen motorcyclist, experimenter in fringe motorsports and an NSAID enthusiast. He cut his teeth with *Cycle World* and *Road & Track* as a writer, photographer and video producer before making Time Inc. his home.

### Author social links  
[Instagram](<https://instagram.com/chriscantle>)  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/chriscantle>)