The new JL Rubicon, the ultimate mall crawler?!?

[Tunesoul]

How do you honestly plan on using your new Wrangler Jl Rubicon?

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[BillyHW]

I'm going to start light until I get some experience and depreciation makes trail damage less painful to accept. Once it's out of warranty after 5 years I will probably then get the lift and 35s and try some harder stuff.

 

[smuddy]

I'm going to start light until I get some experience and depreciation makes trail damage less painful to accept. Once it's out of warranty after 5 years I will probably then get the lift and 35s and try some harder stuff.

I basically did this on my 14 JKUR. I waited until the stocker 32s needed replacing then I put on 35s with a lift and didn't really do any real offroading until then. Once I did and realized how much I loved it, my new JLUR will be getting bigger within a week...trail damage be darned!

 

[JHJLUR]

We’ll do light to moderate off-roading with ours, certainly not beyond or to the limit of its capabilities and pretty much anything we do could be done in a Sport or Sahara.... but.... I like to have the best available just Incase, and even more importantly, I don’t heavily my jeeps so the fact that I can get what I want stock out of the box is a huge selling feature.

 

[johnnyp26]

I had my brand new 2015 Rubi Hard Rock in the woods and over 3 feet of water within 90 days of buying it. In Florida most of our trails are covered in brush and really tight, which was painful the first few times to see my anvil pain just wrecked that quickly. This time I'm going to ceramic coat it before taking it off road to hopefully cut down a bit on the paint damage. It will be lifted on 40's within 2 weeks of delivery and in the woods shortly thereafter.

 

[AZCrawl]

I had my brand new 2015 Rubi Hard Rock in the woods and over 3 feet of water within 90 days of buying it. In Florida most of our trails are covered in brush and really tight, which was painful the first few times to see my anvil pain just wrecked that quickly. This time I'm going to ceramic coat it before taking it off road to hopefully cut down a bit on the paint damage. It will be lifted on 40's within 2 weeks of delivery and in the woods shortly thereafter.

What lift are you going to use to run 40's so soon?

 

[Krondor]

I'm going to go exploring right away. So many trails to see in Colorado.

The rough stuff will wait, but I'll be going to Moab this year with a spectator role expected for KOH next year. (I do plan to explore CA while I'm out there.)

I hope I can find the right trailer. I want to use it to haul stuff from Home Depot or whatever and also as a camping trailer.

 

[johnnyp26]

What lift are you going to use to run 40's so soon?

I honestly don't know yet. I'm holding out for sting gray which I'm hearing is still a month away from being open for order, and then 2 months build time to deliver so I'm figuring there will be quite a few options at that point. I honestly don't think its going to take more than a 3" lift to run 40's with some minor fender trimming on the Rubi. I run 40's on a 3.5" Metalcloak Gamechanger lift now.

 

[SpaceDog]

If you never go to the mall, is it really accurate to call it a 'mall crawler'? I'll be driving it to and from work. Central Indiana weather can be dumb on occasion, so I wanted something that I could drive in anything.

Primarily went with a Wrangler due to it being one of the smallest 4x4s (2-door) as well as its resale value compared to other vehicles I was looking at (Mercedes/BMW AWD sedans). I chose the Rubicon trim because I like the way it looks.

Would have went with a truck but I didn't like any of the current mid-sized truck offerings. Would have loved another Dakota, but doesn't sound like those are ever coming back. So... yea. /ramble

EDIT: I'm sure at one point or another I'll take it off-road, but 99% of its use will be for everyday things.

 

[AZCrawl]

I honestly don't know yet. I'm holding out for sting gray which I'm hearing is still a month away from being open for order, and then 2 months build time to deliver so I'm figuring there will be quite a few options at that point. I honestly don't think its going to take more than a 3" lift to run 40's with some minor fender trimming on the Rubi. I run 40's on a 3.5" Metalcloak Gamechanger lift now.

I am going to run 37's and am figuring on a 3.5 inch lift. I guess we will see. I am waiting for the Evo coilovers to come out. Any word on Metalcloak's development of lifts for the JL?

Also, did you truss and put c gussets in to run 40's on your JK? Stock axles?

 

[The_Phew]

There are huge segments of the population that could end up with a Wrangler by 'default' that don't necessarily ever plan to go rock crawling. For instance, me. I'm looking for:
-Manual transmission
-Towing capacity of at least 3500 lbs for my 5x8 utility trailer
-4wd/AWD for winter

That basically leaves me with some of the midsize pickups and the Wrangler (unless I'm missing something? Technically a Ram 2500, but that's overkill). A 5' bed in a pickup is not so useful to me compared to an enclosed hatch area, and the Wrangler is more fun to drive than the dull Taco.

Once you settle on a Wrangler, the trim levels can similarly be decided by non-off-road factors. The Rubicon has by far the most attractive cloth seats, best OEM tires, shorter gearing for towing, and best-looking wheels/hood/fenders/etc. Sure, you could mod a Sahara or sport with new wheels/tires/gearing/etc, but then you're quickly at Rubicon cost levels, but without the incumbent resale value.

I haven't stepped foot in a mall in years (buy everything online).

 

[Billy]

I mostly need the JLU for fire roads to trail heads. But I have taken my TJ more places than simple fire roads. Camping in the wild (non refugee style), Engineers pass outside of Silverton Colorado, and I plan to run the Rubicon in tandem with my son (he & a bud in my old TJ. Me and a bud in the JLUR with whiskey for emergencies). Mostly though, around town, top off, bikes on back, bombing fire roads at Mach .06, give or take.

 

[mde8965]

I certainly do not NEED a Rubicon. I just WANT a Rubicon. I will rarely have it on anything serious as far as trails. Any trails that I take it on will be mostly dirt trails with some light rocks. But that will be few and far between too. I want a capable vehicle that I’m not afraid to drive through some water. Here in Florida summer storms tend to flood the roads around here.

It will be my daily driver. However if I were to buy a sport or even a Sahara I would want it to have bigger tires. 33‘s are good, 35s are about perfect. And mostly yes that is just about the looks (as well as water passage). So in doing the math and all of that by the time I can put 35’s on a sport (+ lift etc) and then have to live without certain features that I can’t get on a sport that wasn’t going to work. And by the time I build ups a Sahara to have 35 inch tires on it it will cost more than a Rubicon and be less capable (and I don’t like painted fenders). And less tough looking So to speak.

So Rubicon it is. And I refuse to feel the least bit guilty about it.

 

[Tunesoul]

I mostly need the JLU for fire roads to trail heads. But I have taken my TJ more places than simple fire roads. Camping in the wild (non refugee style), Engineers pass outside of Silverton Colorado, and I plan to run the Rubicon in tandem with my son (he & a bud in my old TJ. Me and a bud in the JLUR with whiskey for emergencies). Mostly though, around town, top off, bikes on back, bombing fire roads at Mach .06, give or take.

Now that sounds like a good time!

 

[Krondor]

Hats off to bombing down fire roads. I'm game. lol

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