This is a what would you do question. I made a mistake and bought a Sahara instead of a Rubicon. Now it's time to fix that mistake. I can trade in my 08 Sahara with 25K miles in on a new 2010 Rubi and the price difference would be around $10K. Or I could keep the Sahara and use the $10K to build the Sahara into something better than a stock Rubicon.

If I built up the Sahara, I could put in a Dynatrac Pro D44 up front with an ARB, and put a 35 spline ARB kit on the rear. I could do a reasonable lift and even do new bumpers. The main downside to this option is should I ever need to sell the Sahara I would never be able to get my investment out of the vehicle.

On the other hand, a brand new Rubi with a reasonable lift would get me a long way. And I could probably sell it for close to what I bought it for should the need arise.

So what would you do?

 

You would also have a warrenty on the lockers and axle, and a higher gear ratio.

 

You're going to replace a lot of those stock rubi parts.... springs, shocks..... if you go bigger than 35's you'll almost definitely want gears.....

At $10k difference, there's a good chance you'd be able to find a rubi front end somewhere for a decent price, maybe even the set. The transfer case is cool, the electric disconnect is probably a wash.

I'd flip a coin.

 

Between the $$ you would be out from the trade of your Sahara and the additional cost of a Rubicon your better off just upgrading what you have. When I was younger I would keep my vehicles for about a year before getting bored and trading em in. I never made money on a trade...

 

A vehicle is NEVER an investment

 

I thought the same but and shopped the possibility of trading my Sahara for a Rubicon and it was more than 10K to make it happen. Lockers and the sway bar disconnect would be nice but a stock Sahara is more than capable for 95% of the folks out there. You could add the factory disco and throw lockers in the back and your similar to the Rubi set up and still have a bunch of doe in the bank. The 4:1 transfer case is great if your crawling rocks but not so great in sand and mud so it really depends on what your going to be doing with her. I may entertain the though once the Pentastar gets thrown into the mix but I'm holding tight right now.

To the guy who said cars/rigs are not investments - that's pretty spot on. Whatever you buy and drive off the lot takes a hit as soon as the wheels start to turn.....an investment, vehicles are not....

 

Just looking at it, I'd say it was a wash... but the smartest thing you could do is sit down with a tablet and pen and a couple parts catalogs or you're computer and start a list of parts you intend to put on the Sahara vs. the price and any mods you would do to the new Rubi....
and just see witch one costs more....
Remember... if you go with the new Rubi, you will do a few things to it too... so plan accordingly......

Good Luck....

 

I have no advice here...but I am going to still your "saharacon" name for my hood decals

 

touchet... x2

 

I know a guy who rebuild his sahara and named it 'Rubiclone' lo0olz