bruin1md
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About me: Current 2020 TRD Pro 4runner owner-- fully stock w/o any mods. Have had it for almost 2 years and at sea level, the 4.0L V6 is perfectly fine for my needs. But in April I moved back out west, and live at 7K feet above sea level in northern AZ.
Driving around here is also fine, but when I make weekend trips to Phoenix, driving back up here makes it very apparent how underpowered my 4runner is. It's an issue when it comes to passing vehicles on the windy mountain roads. It's doable when I downshift and let it rev out, but it's starting to get old.
We have amazing trails here and I've done some light off roading so far, but nothing crazy. I don't plan on doing crazy rock crawling up in Moab (although I reserve the right to change my mind , and I also want to do some desert running at some point. I'll probably take my rig on trails 2 weekends/month.
Having said all of that, on road comfort is also important to me, especially since I do the drives to Phoenix a lot (3 hours each way) about 2 times a month.
I've been looking at JL's for a while and have driven the eco diesel only in both a Sahara with Goodyear AT tires and a Rubicon with KO2's.
I drove the Sahara first about 3 months ago right after driving a GC Trailhawk in both the V6 and then the V8. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the Sahara drove on road. I took it on a light trail and it actually felt more confident than my TRD pro. I was pretty impressed. I didn't pay too close attention to wind/cabin noise.
At that time I was still crossing shopping with a raptor and even considering a Bronco. Both of those options are out.
Fast forward to 2 weeks ago: I test drove a Rubicon eco diesel. I noticed the wind noise more as i crossed over 65mph, and less ride comfort than the Sahara.
I was also less impressed with the get up and go-- definitely felt the turbo lag and just ok off the line acceleration-- relative to what I was expecting with all that torque.
As far as engines go, I am wary of anything new w/o a track record thanks to Fiat's sh*tty rep.
--Ergo, I'm wary of the eco diesel. It's in its 3rd gen, but it's been like 80% redesigned from what I understand. The second gen had a lot of issues.
--The 2.0 turbo 4 seems to perform pretty well and could be probably be tuned easily to improve performance, and it's been around now for 4 years. Thankfully, Jeep decoupled it from the e torque battery after they had some issues.
--The 3.6 pentastar is tried and true, but they now coupled it with the e torque for off the line improvement and emissions reasons, but it seems to have been around for a bit in the GC and Ram, so it seems to be doing well w/o issues? Issue here is the lack of power at elevation. I drove it in the GC and it feels fine, and will do better than the 5 speed V6 in my 4runner, but not sure it will be enough of an upgrade for my purposes.
So, with all of that said, here is what I'm thinking in terms of 2 options:
1. Getting a Sahara Altitude with all the safety features and LED package, plus the Selec Trac for full time 4wd, but with which engine ? I haven't been able to drive the turbo 4 as of yet and worry it will feel weak if I felt the eco diesel was less than impressive.
I would want to put on 33" Falken AT3's on it but without having to do the Mopar 2" lift, if that's possible, and do an after market steel bumper. We get lots of deer and elk jumping in the road up here. I feel this set up will be more than enough for my off road needs and provide the comfort I want for long drives plus the benefit of full time 4wd when I'm doing the winter drives down to the valley.
2. Go all out and get the Rubicon 392. For a couple of reasons, I can no longer have a fun sports car and I miss the Flat plane crank V8 of my Shelby. The 392 allows this to be a more 'fun' vehicle, at the cost of horrible fuel economy. But it's also going to be perhaps the last chance at a NA V8 in a daily driver for me given the direction the auto industry is going.
The other thing is that the 392 gets the Fox shocks and between that set up and the heavier engine, I've read a review where it actually is the best driving Wrangler on pavement. I won't get the chance to test drive one, so I would have have faith that is the case.
In addition, I won't get it with the 35" tires and likely won't have to do anything to it after market, which is reassuring, given the small selection of good after market places up here where I live.
The 392 has every feature I want, including all the creature comforts and the steel bumper.
FYI, I can get the 392 with a 2.5-3% discount off sticker from an out of state dealership, which I know is unheard of these days.
Any advice would be appreciated. Am I better off saving almost $25k and getting a Sahara altitude and just getting the turbo 4 and tuning it? Will it be the better daily driver and long distance driver than the 392?
OTOH, that turbo 4 will sound God awful from what I read and the the joy of listening to that 6.4 Hemi along with the performance/fun factor is hard to ignore.
thanks
Driving around here is also fine, but when I make weekend trips to Phoenix, driving back up here makes it very apparent how underpowered my 4runner is. It's an issue when it comes to passing vehicles on the windy mountain roads. It's doable when I downshift and let it rev out, but it's starting to get old.
We have amazing trails here and I've done some light off roading so far, but nothing crazy. I don't plan on doing crazy rock crawling up in Moab (although I reserve the right to change my mind , and I also want to do some desert running at some point. I'll probably take my rig on trails 2 weekends/month.
Having said all of that, on road comfort is also important to me, especially since I do the drives to Phoenix a lot (3 hours each way) about 2 times a month.
I've been looking at JL's for a while and have driven the eco diesel only in both a Sahara with Goodyear AT tires and a Rubicon with KO2's.
I drove the Sahara first about 3 months ago right after driving a GC Trailhawk in both the V6 and then the V8. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the Sahara drove on road. I took it on a light trail and it actually felt more confident than my TRD pro. I was pretty impressed. I didn't pay too close attention to wind/cabin noise.
At that time I was still crossing shopping with a raptor and even considering a Bronco. Both of those options are out.
Fast forward to 2 weeks ago: I test drove a Rubicon eco diesel. I noticed the wind noise more as i crossed over 65mph, and less ride comfort than the Sahara.
I was also less impressed with the get up and go-- definitely felt the turbo lag and just ok off the line acceleration-- relative to what I was expecting with all that torque.
As far as engines go, I am wary of anything new w/o a track record thanks to Fiat's sh*tty rep.
--Ergo, I'm wary of the eco diesel. It's in its 3rd gen, but it's been like 80% redesigned from what I understand. The second gen had a lot of issues.
--The 2.0 turbo 4 seems to perform pretty well and could be probably be tuned easily to improve performance, and it's been around now for 4 years. Thankfully, Jeep decoupled it from the e torque battery after they had some issues.
--The 3.6 pentastar is tried and true, but they now coupled it with the e torque for off the line improvement and emissions reasons, but it seems to have been around for a bit in the GC and Ram, so it seems to be doing well w/o issues? Issue here is the lack of power at elevation. I drove it in the GC and it feels fine, and will do better than the 5 speed V6 in my 4runner, but not sure it will be enough of an upgrade for my purposes.
So, with all of that said, here is what I'm thinking in terms of 2 options:
1. Getting a Sahara Altitude with all the safety features and LED package, plus the Selec Trac for full time 4wd, but with which engine ? I haven't been able to drive the turbo 4 as of yet and worry it will feel weak if I felt the eco diesel was less than impressive.
I would want to put on 33" Falken AT3's on it but without having to do the Mopar 2" lift, if that's possible, and do an after market steel bumper. We get lots of deer and elk jumping in the road up here. I feel this set up will be more than enough for my off road needs and provide the comfort I want for long drives plus the benefit of full time 4wd when I'm doing the winter drives down to the valley.
2. Go all out and get the Rubicon 392. For a couple of reasons, I can no longer have a fun sports car and I miss the Flat plane crank V8 of my Shelby. The 392 allows this to be a more 'fun' vehicle, at the cost of horrible fuel economy. But it's also going to be perhaps the last chance at a NA V8 in a daily driver for me given the direction the auto industry is going.
The other thing is that the 392 gets the Fox shocks and between that set up and the heavier engine, I've read a review where it actually is the best driving Wrangler on pavement. I won't get the chance to test drive one, so I would have have faith that is the case.
In addition, I won't get it with the 35" tires and likely won't have to do anything to it after market, which is reassuring, given the small selection of good after market places up here where I live.
The 392 has every feature I want, including all the creature comforts and the steel bumper.
FYI, I can get the 392 with a 2.5-3% discount off sticker from an out of state dealership, which I know is unheard of these days.
Any advice would be appreciated. Am I better off saving almost $25k and getting a Sahara altitude and just getting the turbo 4 and tuning it? Will it be the better daily driver and long distance driver than the 392?
OTOH, that turbo 4 will sound God awful from what I read and the the joy of listening to that 6.4 Hemi along with the performance/fun factor is hard to ignore.
thanks
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