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Sport S vs Rubi - with a lease twist

entropy

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Have you looked into the resale value of jeep wranglers? specially Rubicons? they really don't depreciate much in 3 years. if you want to switch vehicles that fast.

Buying is always better whenever you have:
1) the cash.
2) finance with very low interest rate and invest the cash.

Leasing is only better than buying if you need to take a huge loan and you want to have the vehicle for only 3 years, which imo is a terrible financial decision, but of course we do with our money what we please. In all honesty people who lease often tend to get vehicles that are too expensive for their income, and no matter how much income and financial responsibilities you have, it is always better to buy something you can comfortably afford. If you are worried about money, trying to save for a big payment, or who knows why reasons you are thinking about leasing. How about looking into JK's?

I honestly think the best option for you would be to buy a slightly used JK and build it as you get more into wheeling, or buy a Sport with the no slip rear diff if you truly want a JL and build it up as you go. One you get used to the jeep and get three years of wheeling behind you, then you can go full on and hit the hard trails without worrying so much about taking a beat on a "brand new jeep".
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agpthng

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I know this has been debated ad nauseam - but I wanted to ask the question within a different context.

This is my first jeep - and I plan to lease it, so resale is of no concern to me as I plan to just hand it back in when done. I'm pretty well versed in leasing, so not looking for that debate here.

Having said that, in doing some research, the residual on a Sport S is significantly better (higher) than a Rubicon. What that means is the lease payment on the Sport S is significantly lower. Not only due to the lower purchase price, but due to the higher residual.

As an example, for a fairly loaded truck with a 36 month / 12K mile lease with 5% off invoice sales price - the lease payment would be (without taxes):
- Rubicon: $521
- Sport S: $359

So about 1/3 or $160 less per month.

The above is for a JLUR and a JLUSS - I've come to terms (painfully though) that this first one will have to be a 4 door due to kids and dog.

My use case will probably be light offroading and trails and getting to the ski slopes (I'm in the Bay Area, NorCal).

Given I will take it offroad (probably just not that intense at first) - my plan was to pick up someone's Wrangler take offs - shocks, springs, wheels and tires - and probably leave it at that. And I'd make sure to spec the anti-spin diff.

Options wise I'd prob add:
- V-6
- LED lights
- Anti-spin diff
- Tow group
- Tech group
- Alpine radio
- Leather
- Cold weather (maybe)
- Safety group (unlikely)

So that's my situation - or do I just pony up for the Rubicon?

Couple of side questions while I'm at it:
- Is the perforated leather in the S, the same as the leather in the Rubicon (does it also cover the dash and sides)?
- Other than the lockers and sway bar disco - are there any other differences between the Rubi and Sport S?
- If you just put the Rubi suspension and wheels/tires on the S - do you need to do anything else - gears, fenders, speedo calibration?
- Can you put 35s on an S?

As a side note, for those that may lease - the 2 door has a comparatively low residual (bad), so it would lease at around $25/mth more than the 4 door even though the sales price is $3,500 lower.

Thanks for listening!
We got the JLUSport instead of the Rubicon. I didn't want to pay the price, the main difference we saw is that the gear ratio is higher on the Rubicon where my Sport S is 3.45's. I just put on 285/70/17's and will probably be lifting it as it rubs a little when I make a 90 degree turn.
 

Strommen95

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We got the JLUSport instead of the Rubicon. I didn't want to pay the price, the main difference we saw is that the gear ratio is higher on the Rubicon where my Sport S is 3.45's. I just put on 285/70/17's and will probably be lifting it as it rubs a little when I make a 90 degree turn.
Remove the Euro Fenders and it won’t rub anymore.
 

Jimmy_jak

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It depends on a lot of things. The Wrangler sport with the anti spin rear diff is an extremely capable vehicle
Is this the lsd and larger rear axle option?
 

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Hey Dalema,

I did what you are thinking about doing. I leased a basic 2017 JKU. Luckily, my came with TracLoc rear end. I am retired and couldn't afford to buy outright. The lease allowed me to get into my JKU. The residual is very good on this model, just as you stated. I will probably buy mine when the lease is up or just before, depending on what the better deal is.

Since mine is a daily driver, I still started upgrading with new front steel bumper with winch, roof rack for my roof top tent, a pair of LED driving lights, 4 LED camping lights, front and back, 2.5" Rubicon Express Extreme short arm lift kit, including both adjustable upper and lower control arms and adjustable front track bar, Pro Comp 9"x17" wheels, 33" BFG KO2 tires, I kept the factory rear bumper and converted it to a water tank, hold 8 gal water, installed a 40 GPM behind the passenger side tail light, 20# CO2 tank for airing up and impact tool use. All these upgrade for under $5000. All these can be removed, if needed.

i did all the passes in the Alpine Loop except Black Bear. Doing it in October and then heading to Moab....
 

jlunoir

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I know this has been debated ad nauseam - but I wanted to ask the question within a different context.

This is my first jeep - and I plan to lease it, so resale is of no concern to me as I plan to just hand it back in when done. I'm pretty well versed in leasing, so not looking for that debate here.

Having said that, in doing some research, the residual on a Sport S is significantly better (higher) than a Rubicon. What that means is the lease payment on the Sport S is significantly lower. Not only due to the lower purchase price, but due to the higher residual.

As an example, for a fairly loaded truck with a 36 month / 12K mile lease with 5% off invoice sales price - the lease payment would be (without taxes):
- Rubicon: $521
- Sport S: $359

So about 1/3 or $160 less per month.

The above is for a JLUR and a JLUSS - I've come to terms (painfully though) that this first one will have to be a 4 door due to kids and dog.

My use case will probably be light offroading and trails and getting to the ski slopes (I'm in the Bay Area, NorCal).

Given I will take it offroad (probably just not that intense at first) - my plan was to pick up someone's Wrangler take offs - shocks, springs, wheels and tires - and probably leave it at that. And I'd make sure to spec the anti-spin diff.

Options wise I'd prob add:
- V-6
- LED lights
- Anti-spin diff
- Tow group
- Tech group
- Alpine radio
- Leather
- Cold weather (maybe)
- Safety group (unlikely)

So that's my situation - or do I just pony up for the Rubicon?

Couple of side questions while I'm at it:
- Is the perforated leather in the S, the same as the leather in the Rubicon (does it also cover the dash and sides)?
- Other than the lockers and sway bar disco - are there any other differences between the Rubi and Sport S?
- If you just put the Rubi suspension and wheels/tires on the S - do you need to do anything else - gears, fenders, speedo calibration?
- Can you put 35s on an S?

As a side note, for those that may lease - the 2 door has a comparatively low residual (bad), so it would lease at around $25/mth more than the 4 door even though the sales price is $3,500 lower.

Thanks for listening!

Hey dalema

New Jeep owner here. And actually new to the forum.

I was in the same situation u were in. I too wanted the rubi especially for the diff lockers and sway bar quick disco

I’m also very familiar with leasing and not sure how much I would like off-roading or the Jeep in general

Long story short. I went with the sport s. I actually was able to residualize my lift wheels n tires. (Monthly still cheaper than rubi) Which was more important to me than most of the rubi features. (Went with mopar 2” lift with Fox shocks and 37s) side note: need to replace fenders to fit 37s. All done at dealer. (I know I laid down n paid more than I should) but warranty was a factor for me n this kit will not void it..is what I was told

At the time of purchase. My plan was to either lease return or trade in if my value was decent with all the upgrades I’ve done when the time comes. If I end up upgrading to the rubi..I plan to swap over most of my parts

I went off roading just the other wkend and loved it. It felt easy with the 37s. If I get into any extreme rock crawling..I def want to upgrade to some lockers and gears. But at that point..I should buy the Jeep. Lol

Hope this helps. Thought I’d share

Thanks
 

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The_Phew

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Have you looked into the resale value of jeep wranglers? specially Rubicons? they really don't depreciate much in 3 years. if you want to switch vehicles that fast.
Most 2016 JK Rubicons with ~36k miles seem to be selling for about $30k, and their MSRPs were probably about $45k. So right in line with the ~65% lease residuals that we see for JL Rubicons. Base Sports obviously do much better, which is why they have such astronomical lease residuals.

The glitch in the Matrix seems to be for loaded Sport S models, which as best I can tell depreciate at least as fast (probably faster) than a Rubicon, yet for some reason have lease residuals of like 75% right now (for 2020 models). So if you are thinking of buying a Sport S and might be selling in 3-4 years, leasing could save you thousands.

This business about MRM throws a wrench in things, though. If you have to pay fully for any portion of your Sport S options above a certain max residual value, fuggetaboutit. I understand on a Porsche (where you could double the MSRP with bespoke dodo-feather interiors and whatnot), but first I've heard of it on a Wrangler.
 

entropy

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Most 2016 JK Rubicons with ~36k miles seem to be selling for about $30k, and their MSRPs were probably about $45k. So right in line with the ~65% lease residuals that we see for JL Rubicons. Base Sports obviously do much better, which is why they have such astronomical lease residuals.

The glitch in the Matrix seems to be for loaded Sport S models, which as best I can tell depreciate at least as fast (probably faster) than a Rubicon, yet for some reason have lease residuals of like 75% right now (for 2020 models). So if you are thinking of buying a Sport S and might be selling in 3-4 years, leasing could save you thousands.

This business about MRM throws a wrench in things, though. If you have to pay fully for any portion of your Sport S options above a certain max residual value, fuggetaboutit. I understand on a Porsche (where you could double the MSRP with bespoke dodo-feather interiors and whatnot), but first I've heard of it on a Wrangler.
were the JK's that pricey? when I was looking for a wrangler last year I remember I looked into a lot of used ones and came to the conclusion it was much better for me to buy a brand new JL. Check this one out from car guru, it is $1156 below market, it is a sport base model with manual windows and crappy top. That thing MSRP was around 27k on 2016... and it is selling for basically 25k. Take into consideration if you buy a vehicle you never pay MSRP unless you don't negotiate and get tricked. I paid $31,500 for my 2019 sport S with hard top, headliner, technology group, and no slip differential with AT tires. MSRP 38K. I don't intend to sell it, but if I decide too, I don't think leasing would have saved me "thousands"....

I also had 2018 Wrangler JL sport that I got into an accident in 2019, the vehicle was 1 year old and had 15k miles on it. I received almost MSRP for it. MSRP was 33,200 and I got 32k for it. I did not pay MSRP for that jeep, so I ended up getting more than what I paid.

upload_2019-9-3_12-59-47.png
 
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SecondTJ

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were the JK's that pricey? when I was looking for a wrangler last year I remember I looked into a lot of used ones and came to the conclusion it was much better for me to buy a brand new JL.
Yes JK could push $40k+

When I purchased my new 2017 JKUR it had a MSRP of about $41k, I paid just under $35k.

Looking at the used market, it’s still worth about $35k. Definitely very strong resale. I came to the same conclusion as you, used doesn’t make a lot of sense.
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