Sponsored

Ordering 2020 JLU: Love the Willys but worried about resale

emptyminded42

Well-Known Member
First Name
Mark
Joined
Oct 7, 2019
Threads
0
Messages
304
Reaction score
366
Location
Cleveland, OH
Vehicle(s)
Hellayella JLU Sport S 6MT, Forester XT
Occupation
Engineer
I am skeptical that resale of a Rubicon, especially a diesel, will come out ahead even though they're quite desirable secondhand - the price of entry is pretty steep. If it's a low mile vacation house vehicle, I'd get the most basic trim/optioned model that meets your needs. Low miles will help later, but ultimately it's going to be based on trim and model year and options regardless of vehicle depreciate far faster than the basic price of the vehicle.

I think a Sport S or Willys will be a good fit or maybe even a Sahara if you want creature comforts/options. I love my basic JLU Sport S - only options I miss are the 7" Uconnect for CarPlay and the Cold Weather package. But it's still an overall great vehicle and fun to drive.

The 2.0 vs. V6 is all about what you prefer to drive and what your perceptions of long term reliability are. The overall fuel costs are more or less the same - the increased mileage of the 2.0 is offset by the increased costs of premium fuel that is recommended (though not required, I personally would not force the engine to run on regular but that's up to you).
Sponsored

 

Capricorn

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2018
Threads
29
Messages
885
Reaction score
661
Location
Las Vegas, NV
Vehicle(s)
2024 JL Willys XR V6
Occupation
Network Architect & Engineer
The rubi comes with 4:10’s at least with the 3.6 and 2.0. Are you talking about the 3.0 ED? Edit just looked up the ED JLUR and son of a gun it come with 3:73’s why not 4:10’s? I get that Diesel’s have more torque and it’s at a lower RPM but it still would be great to have 4:10’s with in a rubi:idea:
Yep, that is the reason I got the Willys instead of Rubicon because they both have 3.73.
I guess because the red line on ED is 4.5K rpm.
But diesel with manual transmission would be so awesome.
 
OP
OP
hammick

hammick

Active Member
Joined
May 25, 2020
Threads
6
Messages
41
Reaction score
27
Location
Red Lodge, Montana
Vehicle(s)
2015 Wrangler 2dr JK Sport S
Yep, that is the reason I got the Willys instead of Rubicon because they both have 3.73.
I guess because the red line on ED is 4.5K rpm.
But diesel with manual transmission would be so awesome.
Yep. The Willys diesel also gets the Dana 210 front axle. I don't imagine I would ever use the disconnect on the Rubicon and probably wouldn't use the lockers either. The rear LSD on the Willys would be plenty for me. If not, I could add a True-Track to the front.
 

SolarWizard

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2019
Threads
10
Messages
560
Reaction score
634
Location
San Diego
Vehicle(s)
Nacho3lJT
Occupation
Owner @ Solar Co
If you’re buying for low miles the best thing you could do is buy a used one and keep it for a couple decades. Why sell a 5 year old car with 20k on it
 

Pig-Pen

Well-Known Member
First Name
Steve
Joined
May 29, 2018
Threads
80
Messages
3,876
Reaction score
5,977
Location
Eastvale, CA
Vehicle(s)
2018 JLU
Occupation
jabroni
Clubs
 
didnt have time to read through the whole thread...

willys are super popular here. they look cool no doubt. i think selling a used one, (here anyways), would be fairly easy.

if you dont need the extras the rubicon offers, you'll save on gas and probably insurance as well. not to mention the $3k+ difference and whatever your area's sales tax (if you have any, here its almost 10%!).

i wouldnt worry too much about resale value on any jeep really. all the models are popular with various people. the only one i think would maybe take a little longer to sell would be a manual trans. sooo many people want auto these days. but its not like you'll be waiting forever either. its a wrangler!
 

Sponsored

RastaPasta

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2019
Threads
8
Messages
147
Reaction score
173
Location
Northern CO
Vehicle(s)
2020 JLUR
My advice is buy what you like! Sure there's a cost difference between the Rubicon and Willys, but the Rubicon will also hold resale a bit stronger as well, so you'd make some of that difference back. I debated about getting a Rubicon or Moab, and I'm so so happy that I went with the Rubicon. I know I would have had those "I wish I would've..." feelings if I didn't.
 

Jeepdude101

Well-Known Member
First Name
Isaac
Joined
Oct 28, 2019
Threads
3
Messages
441
Reaction score
1,817
Location
Arlington Texas
Vehicle(s)
18 JLUR black
Occupation
Construction field worker
Vehicle Showcase
1
Yep, that is the reason I got the Willys instead of Rubicon because they both have 3.73.
I guess because the red line on ED is 4.5K rpm.
But diesel with manual transmission would be so awesome.
Yep manual transmission’s make everything better:involve:
 

JCJeepWillys

Active Member
First Name
Juan
Joined
Jun 1, 2020
Threads
3
Messages
36
Reaction score
148
Location
FL
Vehicle(s)
Wrangler JL Willys
Congrats. That’s a sweet rig. What motor did you go with?
6 cylinder and drives very good, milage is not that great, about 16 in the city but I still love the way it drives, the sound and the power.
 

Sponsored

Steve92004

Active Member
First Name
Steve
Joined
May 30, 2020
Threads
3
Messages
33
Reaction score
78
Location
Borrego Springs CA
Vehicle(s)
2020 JLU, 2017 JKU, 2004 TJ
My dealer brought me two punk'n JLUs, ac sport and willy's
I took the sport, I couldn't get past the black grill on the willy's
 

Capricorn

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2018
Threads
29
Messages
885
Reaction score
661
Location
Las Vegas, NV
Vehicle(s)
2024 JL Willys XR V6
Occupation
Network Architect & Engineer
My dealer brought me two punk'n JLUs, ac sport and willy's
I took the sport, I couldn't get past the black grill on the willy's
The iconic black grill is the best part of the Willys IMO.
 

Notorious

Well-Known Member
First Name
Kevin
Joined
Feb 11, 2020
Threads
4
Messages
2,215
Reaction score
4,589
Location
North Texas
Vehicle(s)
2000 TJ Sahara
My dealer brought me two punk'n JLUs, ac sport and willy's
I took the sport, I couldn't get past the black grill on the willy's
The iconic black grill is the best part of the Willys IMO.
The black grill of the Will-iss is just the tip of the Wrangler and some don’t want just the tip of the Will-iss to be black.
 

Notorious

Well-Known Member
First Name
Kevin
Joined
Feb 11, 2020
Threads
4
Messages
2,215
Reaction score
4,589
Location
North Texas
Vehicle(s)
2000 TJ Sahara
SEE!!!!!!!!!! THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I MEAN!!!!!!
Now Ken, if I wanted to be dirty, I wouldn’t have bothered with the pronunciation.

If it makes you feel better, Jeeps are a lot like ice cream: most people who enjoy them are very, very fat.

Some people enjoy dipping the tip of their ice cream in chocolate, some don’t.
 

scotte9

New Member
First Name
Scott
Joined
Jul 23, 2020
Threads
0
Messages
2
Reaction score
3
Location
Texas
Vehicle(s)
2014 Dodge Durango Citadel, 2019 Mercedes C43 AMG, 2021 JLU High Altitude
Sold our JK and am going to order a 2021. We love the look of the Willys Unlimited in Sting Gray. We like it better than the Rubicon in Sting Gray. However I'm worried that five years down the road the Willys will have little more book value than a JLU Sport S.

To order the Rubicon with the same equipment as the Willys is $3,884.61 more. Of course it comes with the lockers, disconnect, 4.10, etc. Stuff that I don't need. However I believe in five years the Rubicon has a good chance of being worth close to 6k more in trade value than the Willys.

My hunch is based on using KBB values for a 2017 JKU Willys W vs a JKU Rubicon. I priced both with the standard options with 20k miles in excellent condition. Trade value of the Rubicon is $5,789 more than the Willys W. The Willys W trade value is only $1,155 more than a JLU Sport S.

So my concern is if it ain't a Rubicon it won't hold it's value like a Rubicon no matter how good or expensive the special edition package is. It will always be valued similar to a Sport S.

Maybe if I hold out and order a Willys diesel it will hold it's value better. The 3/4 diesel trucks certainly do. The Willys diesel would be $118 less than a Rubicon 2.0 and would give me the Dana 210 up front and 3.73 gears.

BTW this is for a vacation place and it will have low miles when it's time to sell or trade. If it was a daily driver I'd get what I like best and not worry about it.

Thanks for any advice.
Based on your numbers the difference is only about $1900 spread out over 5 years. Personally I’d go with the cheaper option for a vacation home. Obviously as others have stated a used one would make the most sense but I’m in a similar situation where the one we’d like is extremely hard to find so we’re going to just order one. Good luck
Sponsored

 
 



Top