Rubicon or Sport? - 2012 Jeep Wrangler Long-Term Road Test

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Rubicon or Sport? - 2012 Jeep Wrangler Long-Term Road Test

Read daily updates on our long-term road test of the 2012 Jeep Wrangler and follow along as our editors live with this car for a year.

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ricksrubicon

Lockers front and rear--1200-1500 bucks. T/case upgrade 2500 and up, gearing. If you can buy reliable beefy gearing for 50 bucks tell me where. They cost me 250. D44 axle rear axle 400. front d44 axle 700-1000, you want beefier, skys the limit. no lift kit on my 2010 stock Rubicon, don't need it. Its high enough for mudding. How much so far? Like 6-7K? That's the cost of parts only and if you install them yourself. If anybody else does it. 80-125 per hour for mechanic. That $8000 spent yet? I'd say yes and then some. By the way, while you are installing all these upgrades to your stock Jeep ay goodbye to your warranty and possibly your insurance coverage if you damage your ride rock crawling. the bank may not like you making payments on a vehicle that you are altering and can REPO it. That's boilerplate in any finance package. Your warranty is null and void when you start replacing stock parts with after marker ones unless they are approved by the manufacturer. And AEV is the only improved aftermarket for jeep that doesn't destroy your warranty. If you use AEV; triple your costs. If you buy a Jeep and you want to use it for what its intended for. buy the one that won't get you in trouble. The Rubicon. Case Closed.

jpr4life

Case closed? You lost all credibility when you mentioned your "2010 stock rubicon"

Great article Dan, definitely worth a read. I bought a 2012 sport and have done tons of mods on a budget....Dont regret the purchase at all. But the 3.73 upgrade was definitely worth the 50 bucks

The ball joints are [non-permissible content removed] though lol

ah7771

I bought a Sahara. Got a great deal on it and wasn't sure how much I'd like offroading. In the year since I've bought it I really like offroading and have needed to do several upgrades to the Jeep. At end of day, I think I would have been better off with Rubicon and recommend you get a Rubicon if you want to do any kind of serious offroading.

First, a rear locker is a must. I didn't realize that until it was almost too late. Also, when going out with the Jeep club in my area there were some things I simply could not do until I got the locker. Heck..I didn't even know what a locker was when I bought my Jeep. Sure you can add one, and I did. While I would have lifted my Rubicon anyway and gotten bigger tires, I still think it's better to pay the +$8k on a Rubicon then spending $5k+ yourself to add lockers, sway disconnects, skid plats, etc. yourself because when you sell the vehicle, people will pay more for a Rubicon than a Sport/Sahara regardless...just my thoughts.

Still, love my Sahara and it does well with 4.88's, rear locker, manual disconnects but sure would love that front locker as well and the confidence of having Dana 44 in front. To add those would make my Sahara way more expensive than a comparable Rubicon.

ludaclif

Great Article, very unbiased - offered many view point besides his own opinion.

Ricksrubicon however doesn't seem so open minded. Maybe a little ignorant? To explain: the 50$ dollar gearing meant a 50$ difference off the factory line, not a replacement or upgrade, rather a different factory package. AEV is the only aftermarket? Where does Mopar fit into this then? Sure they're all expensive, but we're talking about Jeeps here. You know, JEEP Just Empty Every Pocket, if you're not on board with that: enjoy your mall crawler and the occasional sidewalk curb ( meant with sarcasm )

Also, who cares what the bank or the dealer thinks about your Jeep, this isn't some leased sedan we're talking about. We're talking about Jeep Wranglers here after all.

The Rubicons are awesome! I would never argue against that, but maybe someone wants more out of their Jeep than what comes off the factory line. If a "Jeeper" is buying a wrangler with the intent to upgrade everything that makes it a Rubicon then a Sport might just be the right answer in that case. If you're satisfied with the stock Rubicon, that's great too! This article seemed to celebrate Jeeps but Rick wants to say he's the only one who is right.

IMO, personally, I bought a Sahara, I wanted at least a 2011 ( for the interior upgrades among other things, I want me and my passengers to be comfortable - luxurious is possible ) but couldn't afford a 2011+ Rubicon on budget, I could have gone with a -~2009 Rubicon. However, in the time I own this wrangler I'd like to replace a lot of things. I just bought the new Teraflex Dual Rate sway bar which seems pretty cool. In the future I'll have a lift/ lockers/ etc. This all would be much harder to afford if I were paying for the Rubicon price up front.

As far as resale, again, Jeep's aren't some Honda Sedan, the modifications DO increase the resell value ( as I've experienced it ), maybe not the trade in value but they will charge you for it if you buy a modified Jeep from a dealer. ( I didn't buy a modified Jeep BTW, Jeeps are built not bought! )

Whether its a street mod or a monster mod, they're all great!

phil900

I was in the middle of choosing between a 2016 rubicon and sport JK but after reading this article it was clear to me that going sport was a way better option. 1. the warranty is not an issue and if you modify your jeep your warranty is intact, they have to prove that the modification was the reason for the failure (this is standard warranty law, if you disagree you don't know how warranty law in the US works as well as the precedents that have been set, many dealers will try to sham you on this point). 2. in every upgrade, you can get an aftermarket component that is better and cheaper as long as you can do the work yourself. If you can't, you should learn if you want to go serious off road.

Now my only quandary is do I wait for the 2017 wrangler redesign?