SIR David Attenborough might be better placed to talk about the merits or otherwise of the Wrangler, given that it is the car that time forgot.

If it were an animal this Jeep would undoubtedly be a crocodile, for, like the croc, evolution has completely passed it by.

Whereas subsequent generations of the same car generally improve and have their idiosyncrasies ironed out, often to the point where the latest is unrecognisable from that which came first, it is very easy to trace the origins of this particular species.

Park a Jeep Wrangler next to a 1940s Willy's Jeep and the car's genus is obvious.

Sit in the driver's seat and you can just imagine General Patten sitting in the back planning some grand assault. It is that similar.

After a week in the behemoth, I'm torn as to whether those factors are a good thing or a bad thing.

While trekking to work and back it is definitely the latter, however, get off the beaten track and I begin to lean towards the former.

I'd be being polite if I described the ride as anything other than agricultural on the Tarmac, but off road it really comes into its own.

It's a real conundrum.

What is not in dispute is the car's ability to turn heads. Be it because people are in awe of it, or because they despise it for its sheer girth.

My little boy's best friend pressed his inquisitive nose against the glass, his eyes open wide, for example, while one of my more environmentally conscious friends suggested I was, in part, responsible for the death of at least one polar bear.

Driving down the road, trying to stop bouncing around the cab, sometimes I felt like the King of the Road, at others the biggest plonker this side of John Holmes.

I could see why some people would want to buy one, those who have a leaning towards the ostentatious, a desire to be different.

But equally I couldn't work out why, when there are so many other, more refined, examples out there.

Why would you want a car that you had to pump the accelerator so hard to begin to move from A to B that you end up with one leg more muscularly developed than the other?

I pondered that very question while driving over the North York Moors.

Turning off the main road and on to an unclassified track, I discovered a possible answer.

On the rutted thoroughfare the Jeep comes alive. There can be few other off-roaders which appear so fantastically at home in the dirt.

It is here where you can stop seeking answers to questions such as: Why do the doors open on pieces of string? Or why is there only a porthole-type space to view the world out of the rear window? Or why in a car this size is space to restricted in the rear?

No, here, you can put to one side all of those things and just marvel at the way it clings to a hillside, scales ruts that most cars would fall into and climbs hills like it comes equipped with crampons.

Sadly, though, the chances of seeing a Jeep in the countryside are about as likely as spotting the aforementioned polar bear.

No, the London borough of Chelsea is its most likely destination, a setting where its true potential, and the reason for its birth all those years ago will, unfortunately, remain untapped.

SPECIFICATION

Engine: 2.8 litre diesel
Max power: 161bhp
Max torque: 295lb/ft
Max speed: 112mph
0-60mph: 11.2 secs
Avg fuel consump: 29.1mpg
Equipment: Electric windows; CD radio; air conditioning; cruise control; alloy wheels; manual height adjustment for seat; leather steering wheel; auto gearbox.