The most remarkable thing about the Recon is its power. 670 horsepower is the headliner here, backed by a 0–60 mph time of 3.6 seconds. Jeep pairs that with 620 lb-ft of torque from a pair of electric motors—one front and one rear—each rated at 250 kilowatts and giving the Recon full-time four-wheel drive (4WD).
In our testing, we found that Sport mode was necessary to unlock the full grunt of this powertrain, but once engaged you could chirp the tires while already cruising down the freeway.
Jeep says it tuned the throttle pedal to deliver all that torque in a controlled, precise way rather than an on/off rush, and it shows: even with 670 horsepower on tap, the Recon is easy to meter out smoothly at low speeds and while picking through obstacles.
Despite being marketed as a rugged, go-anywhere machine, it's the Recon's outright refinement that we found among its most notable and impressive features. While it isn't silent on the freeway, it's a vast, vast improvement over the Jeep Wrangler and gives the Recon a genuinely upscale, refined feel. This is a remarkably smooth and quiet vehicle, especially given its boxy shape.
There is one real flaw, and it isn't about rough pavement—it's the way the Recon handles its considerable mass (over 6,000 pounds!) over curvy or even slightly undulating roads. There's a slightly unsettling feel to how the body moves about, as though the suspension tuning needs another month or two in the lab. It was by no means a deal-breaker, and the Recon was otherwise very well composed, whether cruising the freeway or on the aggressively rugged trails we took it on for additional testing.
Underneath sit a short-long-arm front suspension and an integral-link rear, plus a 100-kWh, 400-volt battery pack wrapped in high-strength steel underbody skid plates.
Off-road, the hardware is legitimate. The Moab rides on standard 33-inch tires for 9.1 inches of ground clearance, with a 33.8-degree approach angle, a 33.1-degree departure angle and a 23.3-degree breakover angle.
Jeep's Selec-Terrain drive mode system adds a Moab-exclusive Rock mode to Auto, Sport, Snow and Sand. Jeep's low-speed Selec-Speed Control holds a set crawl speed on steep grades, and Rock mode's two-pedal calibration includes a hill-hold that lets you move from brake to throttle without rolling backward. All of this added up to formidable off-road prowess during our testing, as we took it over rock fields and up and down inclines steep enough to make a Wrangler proud. The Jeep genes run deep on this Recon.