I live in NC and have a stock Sahara. Drive 3.5 hours roughly once a month to drive at Fort Fisher below Wilmington. Have done medium mountain trails, prefer the beach. Daily driver, has been great on the highways with leather seats and loaded.
Just bought a 2018 JL Sahara 2 weeks ago. Just did a 410 mile trip to Florida. Very stable at 75 mph and got 22mpg. The v6 8 speed automatic handled it with ease.