A Wrangler is not a small SUV, Unlimited or 2-Door. It's not a car. It's not a truck.
A Wrangler is a Wrangler.
A Wrangler has no competition.
Hallelujah! The Wrangler truly has
no competition in the United States:
The 70-Series Land Cruiser would be a competitor, but it isn't sold in the United States.
The Suzuki Jimny would be a competitor, but it's no longer sold in the United States.
The Mercedes-Benz Geländewagen would be a competitor, but it's priced three times higher than the Wrangler in the United States.
I never would have bought my JKUR if it wasn't available with a proper pair of solid axles front and rear. I've built and owned numerous different 4x4s over the years, and I've never been happy with IFS/IRS. Sure, it's okay on the road but to date nobody has built a consumer vehicle with an independent suspension that can perform as well (or be as durable) in the variety of terrain that a solid axle can. I've learned my lesson the hard and expensive way, so from now on my offroad vehicle will ALWAYS be equipped with solid axles front and rear.
Beside the head-toss issue, my Wrangler rides and handles every bit as well as my lifted IFS vehicles ever did. Even the recirculating ball steering box's notorious "mushy steering" has been eliminated by upgrading the track bar, its axle- and frame-side mounts, and adding a sector shaft reinforcing kit. My other two cars are a Morgan Plus 8 and an R53 Mini, both of which are defined by their go-kart handling; yet I am consistently impressed with how well my Jeep rides and drives, how flat it corners, and how precise the steering is despite a 3.5" lift, 35x12.5x17 mud tires, and long-travel solid-axle suspension. And on trails where my independent-sprung vehicles were white-knuckle tippy teeter-tottering rides and blew ball joints and CV axles and diff gears fairly regularly, my JK is absolutely point-and-shoot, never lifting a tire, feeling tippy, or having ever broken anything.
I don't doubt that a properly-engineered independent suspension could work decently off-road in stock form if Jeep applied themselves as well as Ford did with the Raptor, but it'll never have the aftermarket capability that a solid axle does, nor the appeal to (or affordability for) the "average Joe" who wants to bolt on his own suspension upgrades at home in his own garage over a weekend. Jeep already offers a full line of independent suspension crossovers, yet mall-crawlers continue to buy the Wrangler hand-over-fist not because of its on-road comfort but because of its offroad capabilities; wanna-be offroaders are happy to deal with the downsides of the Wrangler in exchange for the REPUTATION of the vehicle. If Jeep emasculates the Wrangler with independent suspension, a fixed hardtop, and non-removable doors, they will kill the vehicle's reputation and it will no longer appeal to either the wanna-be's or the enthusiasts.