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Why Rubicon instead of Sport S when upgrading tires?

BillG

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Think of a Jeep like you would a pocket knife. To some people, a simple single blade folder works. Others feel the need for a Swiss Army knife or leatherman tool with all the blades. They’ll all cut, but some make easier work out of the task.
My Rubi has blades I may never need, but it’s reassuring to know that they are there.
Buy whatever you like and can afford without struggling. Choose what fits your life best.
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Wanderingwheelz

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Whooo... s vs. x vs Sahara vs rubicon vs Moab vs hard rock vs build from the ground up with crank windows vs Willy’s. This debate has been beaten and beaten and beaten well beyond death on many many many forums.
Buy what you can afford. Buy what makes you happy. Do whatever makes you happy with it. If someone doesn’t agree with what ever made you happy or whatever you could afford or whatever you wanted to do with it ask yourself when the last time was that they helped you make a payment.
Exactly. Very well said.

A Sport was all I needed. If you need a Rubicon, by all means go that route. They’re both really nice vehicles and will serve their owners well for whatever their intended use is.

I have 4 neighbors that have Rubicon’s to drive to the grocery store twice a week. So perhaps I live on an island where those are the only Rubicon owners who do not reach the full potential of their chosen Wrangler. If you said “rear lockers” to these people they’d picture the back of their kids assigned location in the hallway at school.

I take back what I said that upset a couple of dudes.
 

JeepJL18

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I will not be participating in this forum as of 8/31/2018. It's been a fun ride, but it's time to move on. Take care. - Dustin
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It's like I've said before. Give me a base Sport, $10,000 cash, and a month and I'll show you a Wrangler that will smoke a Rubicon on any trail in America and ride better on the highway too.

The reason people buy the Rubicon is because it is more capable than the others with a factory warranty to go along with it. It's all about that warranty. The same thing goes on in the car world. I know many guys who bought the V6 base model Mustangs and Challengers and added modifications to outrun all the V8 cars, but you're giving up your warranty to do so. It all depends on what you're looking for. Do you want maximum performance for the dollar? Or do you want the comfort of knowing there's a warranty in place?
I dig this answer. Well done sir.
 

JeepJL18

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I will not be participating in this forum as of 8/31/2018. It's been a fun ride, but it's time to move on. Take care. - Dustin
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Lite bright makes videos to get views. Those views get money. They need content. May as well switch parts. Every part switched is a new video. So not an example of something “normal” rubicon owners are doing.



vid
@Kevin8086 Is this true? @JeepSmash has you all figured out!
 

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ThirtyOne

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Why are people paying an extra $10K for the Rubicon when they are turning right around and replacing the wheels, tires, suspenstion, gears, etc.? It's not a snarky rhetorical question...even though it sounds that was when I read it. I'm new to the Jeep concept and I'm wanting to know how to plan the right Jeep purchase for the right build. I don't know enough about the Wrangler to understand what benefits are left on the Rubicon after upgrading basically everything beneath the frame. Does it not make more sense to buy the cheaper model if you are planning a build anyway?
The short answer is that even if you add lift, tires, wheels, and gears there is still a lot more that is functional on the Rubicon. Lockers, electronic swaybar disconnect, 4:1 transfer case, rock rails, bigger brakes. You can take 37 inch tires without re-gearing if you want to. Plus you get a cool hood, higher fenders, and stickers. And additional available options such as LED lights, leather, steel bumper, and infotainment.

Does that make it worth it to you? Only you can answer that. It didn't to me but that doesn't mean it's not a great package.

Most people who get a Rubicon don't regret it.

Also I would recommend pricing out both using realistic pricing (such as 5% below invoice). For my build the difference was about $4,000.
 

Covet

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The short answer is that even if you add lift, tires, wheels, and gears there is still a lot more that is functional on the Rubicon. Lockers, electronic swaybar disconnect, 4:1 transfer case, rock rails, bigger brakes. You can take 37 inch tires without re-gearing if you want to. Plus you get a cool hood, higher fenders, and stickers. And additional available options such as LED lights, leather, steel bumper, and infotainment.

Does that make it worth it to you? Only you can answer that. It didn't to me but that doesn't mean it's not a great package.

Most people who get a Rubicon don't regret it.

Also I would recommend pricing out both using realistic pricing (such as 5% below invoice). For my build the difference was about $4,000.
Some very wise person on this very forum said that “no one needs a Wrangler” “it’s all about want”. - general housekeeping, sorry I do not remember who that wise-person was and if i did not ‘like’ that post like 12 times then I am an @$$hole and apologize because I have quoted it outside of this forum 101 times. I have had multiple vehicles that I wanted, very few that I have needed, this Wrangler is one of the wants. I got the color, trim, etc. that I wanted = it makes me happy. I will never say that my Rubi’s 3rd leg is longer than x, y, or z’s because it’s a Rubi. A stock 1984 wrangler is capable of $hit that would likely put me in an cardiac unit. Any of them under the right driver and conditions could make most of us want to find Jesus. I like factory warranties, in the past i have spent tons of cash on building somethings, this time i wanted a daily driver that i could tint the windows, do a few cosmetic upgrades on and not have to build anything. Will a 10k+ tricked out sport out-do my Rubi? Probably. am i ok with that? Yep, I’m old and like to open my garage and see something that makes me smile. I feel that everyone else should do/spend on what makes them smile as well. Hell, one of my neighbors just bought a brand new 340 BMW station wagon, dropped it to the ground, put an exhaust, rims, chipped it and has a few of those +5 hp stickers on it. Not really my taste anymore, but he smiles every time he opens his garage. $hit makes me smile because he’s happy too. :)
 

JeepJL18

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Good morning gentleman. Just want to say no hard feelings for/from my comments. Sometimes things get taken too far I guess.

Anyway, after getting a unnecessary comment from a moderator yesterday, I have decided to remove myself from this site. (Evidently once you sign up, you cannot delete).

I wish you all the best with your rigs,

Dustin
 

Kevin8086

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@Kevin8086 Is this true? @JeepSmash has you all figured out!
We go do things to have fun. We would be doing the same thing with our jeep even if YouTube wasn’t around. The channel is very new and we only started posting more because people started watching. There is nothing I’d do differently. We’d still inspect the jeep and find damage. The only difference is that we’re sharing this with the world instead of just between us. We’d still mod the jeep. We’d still beat the crap out of it and I like the rubicon for all the extras you get. axles, higher fenders, interior design,sway bar disconnect, front and rear lockers. Etc etc. can you build something better? Sure but I’d rather be out on the trails from day 1 vs sitting in the garage working on the jeep and waiting for parts. I’d rather be enjoying it every day. I love people that build their jeeps and I love the outcome but in the end for me it’s about being out in the mountains or snow or desert every chance I get and not in my garage wrenching on it until I break something.
 

American Jeeper

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I have had two JKUR, one JKUS, and now a JLUR. The Sport is plenty capable but lockers, tires, and the sway bar disco make a big difference off road. Axles and gearing make a difference on or off road if you want to run bigger tires. Once you start replacing axles and you will quickly surpass the price of a Rubi. The high clearance fenders and other little things the Rubi has now may make even more of a difference now. In my JK days, the lack of autostart and auto headlights on my Sport were annoying after having had them in a Rubicon previously.

That said, I see plenty of Sports on the trails going through a lot of the same obstacles Rubicons do. I push my Jeeps (and myself), but would rather have and not need than need and not have. More people move from Sport to Rubi than vice versa, and maybe it is more income but maybe it’s lessons learned. I recommend everyone go on some type of off-road trip prior to making the decision on which Jeep to buy, because you may get bitten by the wheeling bug at some point and end up trading up down the line.
 

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Surfin Honu

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I found some other threads breaking down the math after posting. People are making some compelling arguments just based on the math.
Hi jeff72034.

I find myself in a similar position deciding between these two. I too am admittedly a Jeep noob. Any chance you can share the posts you refer to above? I'd love to see real numbers from people with actual experience instead of me trying to run numbers that may not be realistic.

Cheers and thanks!
 

ThirtyOne

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I have had two JKUR, one JKUS, and now a JLUR. The Sport is plenty capable but lockers, tires, and the sway bar disco make a big difference off road. Axles and gearing make a difference on or off road if you want to run bigger tires. Once you start replacing axles and you will quickly surpass the price of a Rubi. The high clearance fenders and other little things the Rubi has now may make even more of a difference now. In my JK days, the lack of autostart and auto headlights on my Sport were annoying after having had them in a Rubicon previously.

That said, I see plenty of Sports on the trails going through a lot of the same obstacles Rubicons do. I push my Jeeps (and myself), but would rather have and not need than need and not have. More people move from Sport to Rubi than vice versa, and maybe it is more income but maybe it’s lessons learned. I recommend everyone go on some type of off-road trip prior to making the decision on which Jeep to buy, because you may get bitten by the wheeling bug at some point and end up trading up down the line.
What’s so bad about trading down the line? I give people the opposite advice. Get the Sport and as soon as you run into something it can’t handle stock or with a mod then go straight to the dealer and get a Rubi. Most people will never push so hard to need a Rubi but if they do they can just trade up.
 

American Jeeper

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The argument for buying a Sport over a Rubicon is typically a financial one. Put another way, if Jeep offered Rubicons at the same price as Sports, there would be few people that would buy the latter. If one is buying to save money, buying a Sport then getting a Rubicon soon after would likely result more money spent than if a person just were to buy a Rubicon in the first place, especially after mods to a Sport. At that point, it may be better to keep modding the Sport but there are so many variables here. Talking about “need” vs. want is open to debate as well.
 

SteadyC

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Financial was the primary decision for me. I wanted the cheapest monthly payment possible, with the option to upgrade things with cash, and not pay interest on 20K of upgrades over 5 to 7 years. I also paid roughly $30K for a Sport, with AC, limited slip rear, and a few other things.

Secondly, with those upgrades I am doing, I get the choices of products and thus I get a custom Jeep that I built. That was more important to me than a stock Jeep with all the bells and whistles. The Rubi rocks, don’t get me wrong, I just wanted to make different choices for a custom Jeep. Such as wheels and tires, which I already did, giving the Jeep a better look, IMHO.

Thirdly, my Jeep will be on road 95% of the time, so Rubi was not necessary for me. However, I have added the items necessary to take me through the trails I plan to do, I.e. not rock crawling. I added a custom bumper and winch. I can add front lockers for $950, not counting the compressor, which I am already adding anyway. That, as an example, makes more sense to me, as I now will have a compressor for airing up tires, running tools, and locking the axle, for roughly 1,500 vs. the included lockers with the Rubi. Just more flexibility with how you put things together, rather than locked (pun not intended) into how FCU puts your Jeep together.

But, it’s exactly as others have said, if the OP wants the bells and whistles as FCU designed them, and heavy off-roading is his plan, Rubi might make sense if the monthly payment is acceptable. Nobody can go wrong with a Rubi!!

If however, the OP is like me, and wants to design things a bit different, will be doing low to medium off-roading wants a smaller monthly payment, and likes to upgrade things that make sense to him (like me), get the Sport, plan and prioritize your upgrades and have fun doing them.

I absolutely love my custom bumper, winch, light bar, inner vented fenders, wheels and tires, dual exhaust, rock rails, and more. That all give my Jeep a custom look, while giving me the off-road capabilities I expect to need. Which are absolutely and knowingly less than Rubi’s capabilities. I’m quite happy knowing I’m upgraded above a stock Sport, but under a stock Rubi, with the gap narrowing with each upgrade.
 
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American Jeeper

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Whatever way works best for you is the way to do it. Some people jump in and then figure out later they want/need something else, and I think it is helpful to share experiences in case they can help someone else. Some people also want things now rather than waiting later. No judgements, but how many people buy bumpers, winches, and other Jeep parts on credit cards and end up paying more interest than they would on a auto loan? On a trade, mods may not get you money back if the dealer doesn’t like the build or it is too customized.
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