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Buy a 19 JLR V6 or wait for the '20 Turbo?

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Hudson

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You realize that this is not true, right? You can use lower octane in the 2.0, lots of posts here about that. There is a performance advantage to 91 octane but for highway driving, little to no mpg difference. I use 91 only, but many use 87 or 89.
I did know you could run lower octane, but had read several post that saw a 2-4 mpg hit with lower octane (and a few complaints of power being slightly down). I love the flexibility of being able to choose, so another feather in the 2.0 hat. My spreadsheet assumptions assumed a price difference for premium, and the difference was pretty small (like $350 a year), so a feather in the 3.6 camp.

For me, given the smaller gas tank of the 2 dr, it's more about not needing to gas up frequently rather than the impact of the extra gas costs. If I get better range and more power, all the better to use premium.

I only run ethanol free fuel in my vintage Porsches, and I can tell the difference in MPG and performance, but the cost is not cheap - like $.60 a gallon difference.
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I’m renting a JLUS for the past few days, and 2.0 is just terrific. 23-25 mpg with a light foot, plenty of torque, it is making an excellent case for itself. Definitely need to wait to test the 2020 turbo after this experience. I am guessing the 2dr can deliver even better MPGs and acceleration.
 

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Should one be concerned about long term reliability or maintenance of the turbo 4 cyl. due to the direct injection? I’m interested in the 4 also, but wondered about this.
 

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I could easily exist with a Sport but where a Rubicon would come in handy is about 3 weeks out of the year, when we are potentially prone for some heavy snowfall. Pic attached of our last snow. My RAM was able to exit my property but only in 4wd low for a few sections. The hill to my neighborhood claimed many cars, including several GCs that were unable to make it up the hill. My RAM, and various neighbors that had Rubicons, FJs and other beasts, made good work of the hill. The trick seemed to be the ability to lock a differential or transfer case to push through heavy stuff at slow speed. Snowfall locked in our neighborhood to the point where we had to get a posse of tractor owners to help with the plowing, given that many neighbors were older, and lived down long driveways that were not passable without a plow. I ended up buying a Kubota L2501, in part to address the snow impact but mostly because - who doesn't want to play with a tractor?

Back to the original question - I can safely say I am on the fence with the various responses. My attempts to rent a JK demonstrated that the Jeep was suitable as a daily driver for my 23 mile each way commute (non-freeway). I would guess that the 2.0 non BSG turbo will be closer to 22-24 mpg, and the 3.6 will be closer to 18-20 mpg (that was my experience in the JK rental in Los Angeles, where I saw as much as 22 and little as 16, with a 6 speed auto and V6).

I'm looking at two Rubicons this weekend, both with 3.6 8 spds, and if a great deal can be had I could go that direction, otherwise I am tempted to hold tight a month or two and test the new turbo.

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If you are buying a Rubicon for the snow, you are looking at the wrong vehicle, a Sahara with Selec-Trac and LSD has better snow performance than a Rubicon.

I bought my Sahara for the very reason that I’m an avid snowboarder and I hit the slopes almost every weekend during the winter here up north.
 

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If you are buying a Rubicon for the snow, you are looking at the wrong vehicle, a Sahara with Selec-Trac and LSD has better snow performance than a Rubicon.

I bought my Sahara for the very reason that I’m an avid snowboarder and I hit the slopes almost every weekend during the winter here up north.
Well I would take issue with that...

37" with bead locks and 2 PSI in a Rubi will out do any Sahra in deep snow… transfer case and software magic has limitations...

Unless you are talking driving on the road with 1-2" of snow... but that is not wrangler forte', that subura territory...

In 4H or 4L I have floated 2"- 6 feet with never a concern about my transfer case.... In fact I would say consistent pull from all 4 wheels makes it easier.. but that is my experience and preference, each of us have their own...

For me.. less computers and less variables the better..

For you and yours.. maybe another fit is better..

just my 2 cents.. (not worth anything).. :)

TC
 
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We just took delivery of a 20 JLR with the 2.0 turbo. We test drove a 19 my wife loved it. We tried to find one built the way we wanted and none could be found. So we ordered one. It was too late in the year to order a 19 (July 21), so we ordered a 20. We took delivery last Friday, 8/16. The 20 is just as quick if not quicker than the 19 we test drove. To tell the truth, it's quicker than my 18 Silverado with a 5.3. This is going to be my wife's family driver and a weekend toy for mild to intermediate off road fun. We've had several Jeeps over the years, but not recently. We have been missing getting out in the back county, so she decided she wanted another one.

So far, I would say don't hesitate to get a 20 2.0 turbo. It's lots of fun.
 

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If you are buying a Rubicon for the snow, you are looking at the wrong vehicle, a Sahara with Selec-Trac and LSD has better snow performance than a Rubicon.
I don’t agree. Selec-trac doesn’t make a real difference as engaging 4WD is really easy. It’s just convenience. JKs never had issues in snow without it. LSD doesn’t engage when in 4WD and doesn’t make a big difference anyways. The KO2s blow away the Sahara ATs for winter driving. Not to mention lockers on the Rubi will help significantly in deep snow which OP mentioned he’d be in.
 

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I don’t agree. Selec-trac doesn’t make a real difference as engaging 4WD is really easy. It’s just convenience. JKs never had issues in snow without it. LSD doesn’t engage when in 4WD and doesn’t make a big difference anyways. The KO2s blow away the Sahara ATs for winter driving. Not to mention lockers on the Rubi will help significantly in deep snow which OP mentioned he’d be in.
You can’t be more wrong.
LSD actually is always engaged at all times .
And it’s a hassle to switch between 2H and 4H if you are driving on patchy snowy roads even if it gets fairly deep at certain places. I drove a ram 1500 without 4A in Lake Tahoe during a snowstorm for a snowboarding trip, it was a pain to switch between 2H and 4H during the trip, and sometimes I just felt it was dangerous driving in 2H but staying in 4H when on certain highways is causing too much binding on my drivetrain. I seriously wished I had Selec-Trac during at the time.
 
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You can’t be more wrong.
LSD actually is always engaged at all times .
And it’s a hassle to switch between 2H and 4H if you are driving on patchy snowy roads even if it gets fairly deep at certain places. I drove a ram 1500 without 4A in Lake Tahoe during a snowstorm for a snowboarding trip, it was a pain to switch between 2H and 4H during the trip, and sometimes I just felt it was dangerous driving in 2H but staying in 4H when on certain highways is causing too much binding on my drivetrain. I seriously wished I had Selec-Trac during at the time.
Again, that’s convenience. Don’t confuse convenience with capability. Holding your hand onto the shifter and shifting into 4WD takes two second at most. That’s not a hassle. Plenty of JKs and JLs do just fine in snow without it. If you felt it was a pain switching out of 2H your bigger concern should be slowing down more then anything.
 

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Again, that’s convenience. Don’t confuse convenience with capability. Holding your hand onto the shifter and shifting into 4WD takes two second at most. That’s not a hassle. Plenty of JKs and JLs do just fine in snow without it. If you felt it was a pain switching out of 2H your bigger concern should be slowing down more then anything.
Selec-Trac+ LSD is designed for snow driving. The system catches and reacts to wheel slippage in the time frame of milliseconds, applies power to front and rear wheels in a seamless fashion, way faster than you or anyone can react to. It is not the same as switching between 2H and 4H, there is a massive thread on this and explains the differences clearly. LSD is just there all the time when you need it, (also happens in that fraction of time before you can even react to it) it’s not a rock crawling beast, but it does what it’s designed to do, pretty well.

We live in an age of automation.
Continence IS capability, automatic windows, automatic transmission etc, luckily now we have electric lockers and disconnects so we don’t have to stop and get out our vehicles to engage manual locking hubs every time we need it. We also have GPS that automatically marks our location so we don’t have to fumble through a stack of maps all the time. Could we have survived without any of that? Sure! At what point do we start to move forward in society and say all that was fun but good riddance! All of this ties into why we purchase them and how we use them.
I probably could have drove slower, or drove with one hand on the shifter and had to worry about shifting the entire time, but definitely wouldn’t have enjoyed that drive and given me the peace of mind as much as otherwise. Again, this just shows a system that is LESS CAPABLE so I have to do more to compensate for its shortcomings.
With that said, Rubicon is an extremely capable vehicle and with the sort of stuff I do with my Jeep now I would gladly have bought it without hesitations, however snow driving is not one of them. Hopefully I didn’t step on too much egos of Rubicon owners as they are known to have a little too much of those around here.

Again, this is just my opinion and I understand others have different driving styles, and why they would have different standards and want different things. Saying “because I can do it so you should do it too” is a weak argument. I can surf 10ft waves and ride double blacks but I don’t expect everyone else to do the same, and telling them to “just do it” doesn’t help. Same could be applied to literally everything and why we choose to buy one thing over another, we could stand here and argue why one would buy automatic windows or locks for all that matters but at the end of the day it’s about what works for you.
 
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Again, this just shows a system that is LESS CAPABLE so I have to do more to compensate for its shortcomings.
With that said, Rubicon is an extremely capable vehicle and with the sort of stuff I do with my Jeep now I would gladly have bought it without hesitations, however snow driving is not one of them. Hopefully I didn’t step on too much egos of Rubicon owners here as they are known to have a little too much of those around here.
Suggesting Select-trac makes it more capable in snow is dis-ingenuous. It’s more convenient and easier, but that doesn’t have anything to do with capability. Put any decent driver behind the part time 4WD shifter and there’s basically no difference between the two. That small difference does not make up for the much better tires on the Rubicon or lockers. I don’t understand why auto 4WD guys make it seem like shifting into and out of 4HI to be some grand chore when it’s not.

I don’t own a Rubicon and never have. I own a Sport and I’m certain it’ll do any snow driving a Sahara could no question. When two vehicles both have 4WD either full or part time the real difference between the two is tires, lockers, LSD and traction control.
 

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I had Select-Trac in a Cherokee. The ability to come off a snowy slippery side street onto pavement, take a left up a hill and punch it without any 4wd bind was really sweet.

Once on a sheer ice driveway it wouldn’t get me up an incline. Used the part time 4wd mode to lockup the transfer case and I was on my way. Then back into full time 4wd mode as I turned onto pavement. Kind of a neat setup that I certainly enjoyed in the winter.
 

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Suggesting Select-trac makes it more capable in snow is dis-ingenuous. It’s more convenient and easier, but that doesn’t have anything to do with capability. Put any decent driver behind the part time 4WD shifter and there’s basically no difference between the two. That small difference does not make up for the much better tires on the Rubicon or lockers. I don’t understand why auto 4WD guys make it seem like shifting into and out of 4HI to be some grand chore when it’s not.

I don’t own a Rubicon and never have. I own a Sport and I’m certain it’ll do any snow driving a Sahara could no question. When two vehicles both have 4WD either full or part time the real difference between the two is tires, lockers, LSD and traction control.
Sigh, I’ll say it again
Selec-Trac+ LSD is designed for snow driving. The system catches and reacts to wheel slippage in the time frame of milliseconds, applies power to front and rear wheels in a seamless fashion, way faster than you or anyone can react to. It is not the same as switching between 2H and 4H, there is a massive thread on this and explains the differences clearly. LSD is just there all the time when you need it, (also happens in that fraction of time before you can even react to it) it’s not a rock crawling beast, but it does what it’s designed to do, pretty well.
 

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Sigh, I’ll say it again
Selec-Trac+ LSD is designed for snow driving. The system catches and reacts to wheel slippage in the time frame of milliseconds, applies power to front and rear wheels in a seamless fashion, way faster than you or anyone can react to. It is not the same as switching between 2H and 4H, there is a massive thread on this and explains the differences clearly. LSD is just there all the time when you need it, (also happens in that fraction of time before you can even react to it) it’s not a rock crawling beast, but it does what it’s designed to do, pretty well.
I understand what Selec-trac and LSD were designed for. My point has been you completely overblow how much of a difference they make. Selec-trac is a nice convenience to have but it's just a convenience. The OP mentioned being in deep snow so having full time 4WD is irrelevant as he'd be staying in 4WD in the deep stuff. Lockers would be far more important for him. What's funny too is in plenty of situations where Selec-Trac would go into 4HI/LSD is engaged the KO2s on a Rubi would keep rolling just fine in 2WD since they're a much better tire. Traction control which is standard on all Wranglers makes LSD practically mute and performs much better than LSD. 99% of JL owners bought LSD for the D44, not its performance.

There's no slippery conditions a Sahara can do that a Rubicon can't do just fine. Comparatively there absolutely is deep snow a Sahara won't be able to handle or struggle in that a Rubicon will plow through simply because of the tires, ground clearance and lockers.
 
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I’m in agreement with Strommen95. My personal situation is deep snow, for about 3 miles, with some of that up or down a 8-10% grade, and the rest flat. I use 4wd low to crawl out into the road, switching to 4wd high until I descend a twisty road 1000 feet, then the roads are plowed and 2wd is all I need. On the reverse commute home, the hill is the gnarly part. I need good tires and 4wd high and in some days, 4wd low to creep up the hill.

If I was regularly going up to the slopes, the Sahara plus LSD might be more helpful.
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