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Rubicon or willys ????

CTMopar

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Hi, just my 2 cents. I bought a 21' JLUR and while it looks great it's a terrible daily driver. I suspect that the Willy's would be as well with the MT tires it comes with and the lack of standard creature comforts. If I were to do it again I'd buy a Sahara.. I've had the unfortunate experience of being without my Jeep due to an accident recently and the rental car company gave me a. Saraha. It drives much smoother with much better pickup due to the street tires and less weight over the nose (I regrettably bought a Deisel). Driving on huge MT tires with the Rubicon suspension in suburban or highway traffic is rough. And they stop/brake much worse with those setups as well. Do I sound bitter? :)
I think they are talking about a Willys which has the creature comforts not Willys Sport which does not.
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JoeBanks

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I can only buy one . Looks like with same options about 6,000.00 difference . Not going to be doing much rock crawling .​
Is a Willys a better fit for normal every day driving ? With higher gear ratios I would think the Willys would be able to get better gas mileage . Will be daily driver for the wife .​
I'm leaning towards the Willys .​
Asking for input to help me make a decision between the two models .​
Thanks in advance .​
Between Willys and Rubicon…I’d go with the Rubicon (not much difference in price and Rubicon offers a decent amount of extras)
I personally went with Willys Sport. Quite a bit less than the Rubicon (and Willys) but perfect for my on road/off road usage.
 

ajkitebrder40

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I was debating the same, went with JLUR for a few reasons - the price difference wasn't that great, more like $3k once you factor in the Gupton pricing. Two - aesthetics - I don't like the black grill.

Far as daily driver - I'm coming from a '07 JK Sport and honestly the JL is a much, much better vehicle on-road, no question.
 

ajkitebrder40

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Between Willys and Rubicon…I’d go with the Rubicon (not much difference in price and Rubicon offers a decent amount of extras)
I personally went with Willys Sport. Quite a bit less than the Rubicon (and Willys) but perfect for my on road/off road usage.
Yeah - now I really don't care about A/C, power windows, etc. (and I"m in South Carolina), so......this is actually a better comp because of the rather large differential in money. So........at that point if you are good with losing a few things and saving a considerable amount (if i recall it was around $8k or so 34 to 42 for a JLU) it would really be worth looking at.
 

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Yep.
BTW, the JLU Willys Sport comes with A/C.
 

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I did broken arrow in a rental sahara with 46psi in the tires. Why does the factory overinflate the tires when they put the sticker in the door sill that says 37psi? Rhetorical question.

If I was going to do it over, I would have probably gotten a willys XR, I didnt really enjoy the rubicon trail that much anyway. Too many rocks

You did what ?! That sounds awful lol.
 

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I didn't know that the rubicon doesn't have a LSD in the rear end . That is a deal breaker for winter driving , I live in south dakota ....
Now wondering if I should be comparing a sahara to a Willys.
Your original post made me instantly think of a Sahara, especially if she likes the creature comforts, isn't interested in crazy offroad use, and isn't thinking of 37's and whatnot.
 
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Slaw32

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She likes the look of the Willys , red with black trims . I put all options on it except the forward looking cruise control option . With options it should have a lot of comforts for her . Main concern now is tires . Traction for ice and snow much more important than mud . Hopefully dealer can help . It looks like I have a lot of time to hear from the folks here how the stock Willys tires preform on ice and snow . When it snows here they do a good job of removing most of it , but ice sometimes sticks around a lot longer .
 

Iowa_Wrangler

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Since it's your wife's and a daily driver, go Sahara and if your really concerned about winter driving, get Blizzaks or something like. The difference in driving with dedicated winter tires is mind blowing with or without 4wd.
 

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I went with a Willys Sport JLU. It was my first Jeep. In hindsight, I wish I had done things a little differently since I basically bought it to have a Rubicon suspension which I immediately stripped out, replaced with a MOPAR 2” lift to run 35” tires. This works, however, I ended up enjoying off reading way more than I thought I would and decided I wanted lockers. Adding a locker to the Dana 30 front was going to cost 1500-2000 in parts and labor, probably regearing at the same time. At that point, I went down the road of just buying the Rubi front axle (no brakes, rotors, etc., just axle housing, shafts, etc) with the 4.10 gears and e-locker for about 3K. I would then regear the rear to 4.10, however, prolly worth doing a locker at that point too. Now I am into it for 5K. Starting to make a Rubi with Dana 44s sound appealing to run 37’s….

If your end game is running D60 axles, I would go sport and save the cost on the Rubi since you will just tear out everything. If you are going to be OK running 37s and want the lockers, then Rubi is the way to go, especially with the 2022 deals being offered (10% under MSRP).

The Willys Sport drives great and when I look at some of the trails I drove before adding a lift, tires, compressor, Swayloc, etc., I am amazing at how capable it has been. It is still my daily driver.
 

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Slaw32

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Since it's your wife's and a daily driver, go Sahara and if your really concerned about winter driving, get Blizzaks or something like. The difference in driving with dedicated winter tires is mind blowing with or without 4wd.
I do agree blizzaks are the best for winter traction . I have them on all four corners on my company supplied vehicle . Beside the cost of another set of tires and switching them out , I am concerned about the finish on the factory black wheels holding up changing tires back and forth .
 

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I do agree blizzaks are the best for winter traction . I have them on all four corners on my company supplied vehicle . Beside the cost of another set of tires and switching them out , I am concerned about the finish on the factory black wheels holding up changing tires back and forth .
If you decide to run dedicated snow tires, I’d recommend picking up some used rims on Craigslist or this Marketplace. Tons of people are selling their Willys/Rubicon rims for pretty cheap.
Also, if you’re ordering…your Jeep won’t arrive till after Winter weather is pretty much over.
 

aldo98229

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She likes the look of the Willys , red with black trims . I put all options on it except the forward looking cruise control option . With options it should have a lot of comforts for her . Main concern now is tires . Traction for ice and snow much more important than mud . Hopefully dealer can help . It looks like I have a lot of time to hear from the folks here how the stock Willys tires preform on ice and snow . When it snows here they do a good job of removing most of it , but ice sometimes sticks around a lot longer .
If she likes Willys’s red + black look, you should check out Sahara Altitude. It is a very nice package: comes with standard leather, painted hardtop, and tastefully blacked out trim accents.

When you order the Cold Weather Group and the Selec-Trac, you also get M+S rated Bridgestone Dueler AT tires. It is a comfortable, smooth-riding tire that does surprisingly well in snow.

Jeep Wrangler JL Rubicon or willys ???? 1637949206806

Jeep Wrangler JL Rubicon or willys ???? 1637949548183


This guy does a walk around his 2021 Sahara Altitude
 
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Slaw32

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If you decide to run dedicated snow tires, I’d recommend picking up some used rims on Craigslist or this Marketplace. Tons of people are selling their Willys/Rubicon rims for pretty cheap.
Also, if you’re ordering…your Jeep won’t arrive till after Winter weather is pretty much over.
Yep , but up here in south dakota winter comes back , every year .... She has been driving the tj unlimited for about 18 years . I hope the 2022 is as dependable as the
2004 .
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