Am I right in thinking the Wrangler is like an American version of the Defender, a compact, truly utilitarian 4x4 rather than a vehicle built mostly for comfort like most SUVs today or is it less hardcore than the Land Rover? Is it fair to call it the modern day successor to the legendary WWII Jeep?

Even if it is less utility than the original military one, I think that it stayed not too far from the CJ models.
It is less a pure utility like what is the Defender, though.

Defender.