One Confusing part of the Rubicon vs. Sahara question.

[Arterius2]

I think another factor to consider is your mechanical skill. If I bought a sport or sahara and wanted to add lockers and a track bar and gearing and what not later I would have had to pay a shop a lot of money in service time aside from parts. If I had mechanical skill and knowledge I would have considered a sport and done my own work. I am what I call a bolt on mechanic - If it requires just some straight up bolts and not too many tools I will do the install.
I have installed a steering dampener, rear bumper and tire carrier, rock sliders, and some lights. I had my dealer do the front bumper/winch and mopar 2" lift.

So even if the parts to bring a sport to a rubicon is only $2000 the cost to have a shop install might cost a few thousand more if your like me and have to pay someone to do it.

We are in the same ballpark haha.

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[Goheels050917]

Ditto. The 5% off road driving I'll do is light trails and/or access roads back to a blind, or trail head. Nothing the Sahara isn't more than capable of handling. LSD in the snow is much more logical for me than lockers, and additional off-road stuff. Plus I save $3K-$5K in the process.

I completely agree with this too. If you don't want those features why pay more for them? If you're going really extreme why not get the Sport (S)? Can't leave that option out, because for some people it's a better choice.

You nailed it. Of the list, only the last two are worth any extra to me. The hood is great, and I'd love it, but not for $5K. The rims/tires are nice, but also not worth several thousand dollars. Especially considering many Rubi owners take them off, and a patient person can get them for $1K.
So yes, you are exactly right. For some people that extra cost is wasteful. I'm one such person, and I know I'm not alone.

Had this been available when I bought mine, I probably would have bought one.

Amen to that. I stopped caring what the Joneses thought a long time ago. I may have a "mall crawler" but I'm happy with it. If the Joneses want to spend extra for bragging rights, good for them. Their money they can do what they want with it. I'm just not spending extra for stuff just to say I have it though.

Are there even any malls open anymore? Around here they all seem to have closed up.
As for the cup holder. You can add that for something like $40. There's a thread here on the forum about it. I did it, and it's great.

OMG, that dash!!!!! You're so right. I hate that dash. I think you can actually order the Rubi with a silver dash though.

 

[ViperJon]

Why spend $5K on options you don't need?

Because I can. And when it comes time to sell I'll get it back proportionally. Pay more up front now and get more at resale then. The Rubi looks alone are worth it to me, never mind the increased off-road functionality.

 

[Chomper]

Because I can. And when it comes time to sell I'll get it back proportionally. Pay more up front now and get more at resale then. The Rubi looks alone are worth it to me, never mind the increased off-road functionality.

That is great for you, but it was meant for the OP as to why someone would get a Sahara instead of a Rubicon.

 

[Lou Bunn]

Jeeps are getting more popular with the general population. The JL has opened that door. I know, we were all set to buy a JK in 2014 for my daughter, but after she drove it and (to be fair - she was 16) she didn't like it as good as she thought she would. We bought a 2014 Civic EX-L with Nav, all the gizmo's and gadgets she liked and it was the perfect car for her to learn on and get years of driving experience. Now, this past Feb, with the new JL and all the cool features it has, she was ready to try it, and we bought it. It's a Sport S with a ton of nice options, premium soft top, V6, 8 speed, Alpine stereo, etc Will she go off road? Yeah, maybe at the beach or some farm paths. We aren't planning on rock crawling or mud bogging! It's a fun vehicle, it puts a smile on your face when you drive. My mother in law, who's pretty much old school and you buy for practicality, stated she loved it and always wanted one herself. My point is, there is a lot more than pushing a Jeep to it's capabilities, it's cool to drive and ride in. Damn sure cheaper than a Corvette or 911 and for me (when I get to drive it) a whole lot more fun. Now, price no object like I won a lottery, would I buy a Rubi? I don't think I would, I'd probably get another Sport S and be happy.

 

[Snayte]

Jeeps are getting more popular with the general population. The JL has opened that door. I know, we were all set to buy a JK in 2014 for my daughter, but after she drove it and (to be fair - she was 16) she didn't like it as good as she thought she would. We bought a 2014 Civic EX-L with Nav, all the gizmo's and gadgets she liked and it was the perfect car for her to learn on and get years of driving experience. Now, this past Feb, with the new JL and all the cool features it has, she was ready to try it, and we bought it. It's a Sport S with a ton of nice options, premium soft top, V6, 8 speed, Alpine stereo, etc Will she go off road? Yeah, maybe at the beach or some farm paths. We aren't planning on rock crawling or mud bogging! It's a fun vehicle, it puts a smile on your face when you drive. My mother in law, who's pretty much old school and you buy for practicality, stated she loved it and always wanted one herself. My point is, there is a lot more than pushing a Jeep to it's capabilities, it's cool to drive and ride in. Damn sure cheaper than a Corvette or 911 and for me (when I get to drive it) a whole lot more fun. Now, price no object like I won a lottery, would I buy a Rubi? I don't think I would, I'd probably get another Sport S and be happy.

If I won the lottery I would still get a Sahara and pay to get the body color fenders replaced with black ones.

 

[timn1984]

We already have 23 pages on this very issue but hey, why not start another dead horse thread! LOL

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...se-to-buy-anything-other-than-a-rubicon.2628/

We don't want to be Threadbare now do we???? Saharas ROCK!!!!

 

[srt20]

LMAO at all the people justifying their own jeeps to others.

WGAS what anyone buys for for whatever reasons. Whether you need to buy a Rubicon because you need to feel more manly, or you use the lockers and swaybar disconnect everytime you drive it, so what. Who's business is it other then your own?

Same for any other model. You buy it to go to the mall, or you get your leather seats covered in mud every weekend, who gives a rat's ass why you bought what you did.

 

[ThirtyOne]

LMAO at all the people justifying their own jeeps to others.

WGAS what anyone buys for for whatever reasons. Whether you need to buy a Rubicon because you need to feel more manly, or you use the lockers and swaybar disconnect everytime you drive it, so what. Who's business is it other then your own?

Same for any other model. You buy it to go to the mall, or you get your leather seats covered in mud every weekend, who gives a rat's ass why you bought what you did.

The responses to these threads can usually be summed up as "I bought X so you should too."

 

[Shooting or Jeeping]

The responses to these threads can usually be summed up as "I bought X so you should too."

Summed up as “internet therapy”. If you justify it in writing on a website- it magically becomes ironclad reasoning.

But that’s why there are different vehicles for different people. The rubicon model has only been around 12 years, so the prior 60+ were just dudes stuck in random places going “man, if only they made a Jeep that could get me off this cleanly paved road”. . .

 

[BillG]

There’s also good natured teasing in the Jeep community between models, modifications, colors, etc. There always has been. Sometimes in text it’s hard to tell who’s being an ahole, and who’s saying welcome to the family. Not to mention that many are first time owners and aren’t expecting the teasing.
Buy what you want, but expect teasing no matter what.

 

[Flopsy]

Ha, my wife is looking into a jeep jl wrangler (thanks to the chick bikini color). She's debating between the sahara and the rubicon loaded. For us after the invoice discounts, its a $1800 difference between the rubi and sahara. So price doesn't even really make a big difference here in my opinion.

She's really interested in that selec-trac since we get some snow here in MD, but she will want at least 35's on that eventually anyways (she already brought that up) so just thinking of the gears/axle's and such.. I already have my 2014 jk rubi which is used on some rock crawling so got that part covered. She may take it off road, but I don't think it would be any serious crawling since we have my current jk.

Tough decisions lol

 

[SecondTJ]

The rubicon model has only been around 12 years

"Rubicon trim has only been around for 17 model years"

Fixed that for you

 

[8flat]

Ha, my wife is looking into a jeep jl wrangler (thanks to the chick bikini color). She's debating between the sahara and the rubicon loaded. For us after the invoice discounts, its a $1800 difference between the rubi and sahara. So price doesn't even really make a big difference here in my opinion.

She's really interested in that selec-trac since we get some snow here in MD, but she will want at least 35's on that eventually anyways (she already brought that up) so just thinking of the gears/axle's and such.. I already have my 2014 jk rubi which is used on some rock crawling so got that part covered. She may take it off road, but I don't think it would be any serious crawling since we have my current jk.

Tough decisions lol

The selectrac TC with Auto4WD almost made me skip the rubi and order the sahara instead. Auto4WD is soooo nice on intermittent snowy/bare highways. Oh well.

Those lucky bastards in Kuwait can get a rubi with selectrac though...haha....what the hell?

 

[8flat]

Yes.. 4.10 ratio, 44 axles, lockers and 4Auto

That's pretty wild. I really wanted a rubi with auto4WD for my wife driving on spotting snow/bare highways. Oh well.