I went from a Mazda3 too. It was a fun little wagon but you can't beat the JEEP.


kb,

I went with the X since it had everything I wanted minus the dana 44 rear end It was the only JK around with half doors at the time. I also liked the contrast with the silver paint and black flares.

It's my daily driver with a round trip of maybe 16 miles. I gave up a 30MPG around town car for a 15MPG around town brick and never looked back. I love my JEEP.

The extra stuff on the Sahara seemed a little over priced to me they charge you way too much for the side steps for example.

The Rubi if I could find a 2 door around here, would have been over kill for what I would use it for.

 

I have a '08 Sahara Unlimited and it's my daily drive too. I take it to the mountains with me so now I have room for a big dog and my clothes and stuff. I got the Sahara for that reason. My plan was to have two vehicles, my daily drive that was fuel efficient (80 miles per day) and my Jeep which would be heavily modded for fun. But due to cost and NJ's lovely car insurance companies. I had to compromise with the Sahara but to be honest it's still capable and with a few mods (lift, bigger tires, skids and protection) I'll be all set to take that big mud hole in the pines . As far as the daily drive concern, the JKs drive smoother than the TJs, YJs and CJs. I'm on my 4th jeep and have no desire to drive a car to work at any point. My only regret is putting a ton of miles on my Jeep that are highway miles instead of dirt road miles.

 

You can get a loaded X cheaper than a Sahara and the only thing they cant offer you is the painted flares. I love my Sahara but rethink how much I spent on it everyday ( the cost of the vehicle itself, not the price of mods )

 

Are you pretty happy with the RE BB? Think that I could get away with 285/70/17 without the wheel spacers?

 

I like the lift just fine, but i also added adj. trackbars front and rear and quick discos at the same time, so i cant give you a full opinion on just the lift alone. I wanted it to level out the Jeep, it did, but since settling some of the rake has returned. Not bad at all, but i can see it.

I am running the Spidertrax spacers, the tires are 33x12.5-17's. No rubbing anywhere yet, but i havent given it a real world flexing yet.

If i had to guess and error on the side of caution, and assuming you would be using stock rims identical to mine, i would say no, you couldnt get away with that tire size without spacers if you flex your Jeep around. [285/70-17 = 32.7" x 11.2" - 17] It would probably be drivable, but give you shiney spots on the front suspension components/air dam and the tub in the rear when you started twisting it up. There are of course fixes for some of that (limit turning radius, remove air dam)

There are a lot of factors though, so hard to say 100%. Tire size variation from different manufacturers, lift height, different rim widths, different backspacing to name a few.

 

I have a 2007 2 door X soft top and I commute 40 mi into Manhattan everyday

advantages:

Ride height - great in traffic and on pot holes
short wheel base for easy parking and manuvering in traffic
decent gas milage
4wd - for Snow days - Like today

Disadvantages
Soft top potential theft - Granted this in NYC
soft top rear window - tough to keep clean
Soft top clips - keep popping off
a little awkward trying to get crap out of the back seat

i guess what im saying is..
Its a great commuter, I just wish I had a hard top

 

I just picked up an Unlimited Rubicon that I drive into Manhattan about 50% of the time. I'm driving from Ocean County, NJ which gives me a door to door travel time of about 2.5hr.

The ride in the Rubicon is nice. The only complaint I have is the seat isn't the most comfortable thing in the world, but I came from a WJ Overland, so I was spoiled by nice seats.

For the longest time I did the same commute in my 04 TJ Rubicon and it wasn't so bad -- the biggest problem for me was that it was a 5 speed. In stop and go city traffic, the stick is a pain in the ass. My JK is an auto and it doesn't bother me at all.

 

I sold my 01 ford f150 supercrew and went and traded in my 06 mustang GT on my 08 2dr rubicon the same day and I couldn't be happier with my decision! I drive 40 miles a day round trip (90 percent highway) and I'm averaging 19.5 mpg! (by my calculations, overall mileage)
The ride quality is good! I was quite surprised actually by the ride with this being my first Jeep! It's no luxury car, but i didn't expect it to be. It's a Jeep after all! It rides as good as the f150 4x4 I had! I find it to be comfortable and fun to drive and will probably keep it forever! Similar to a poster above I too now find myself thinking I could drive right over that or right through that It's a fun vehicle to be in and I've met some great people in the two short months I've had it! (Jeep owners and people who wish they were Jeep owners) I wanted to get back to one vehicle to put gas in and pay for insurance on and it does everything I want it to. Plus there's that "ultimate fun factor"! I personally have no complaints other than the fact that it could use another 50 horsepower, but I've never owned anythig smaller than a v8 before either so maybe I'm biased Like I said 2 months now and NO regrets!

David

 

That's a beautiful, er... a... rugged lookin' sahara ya got there
What kind of windshield light brackets are those and what diameter lights? They look awesome! You've got a great looking Jeep!

Thanks!
David

 

Than you,

my friends call it my girlie Sahara. *L* ~whatever.

The brackets are Mopar, the a pillar lights are KC Rally 800's - 8" dia.

Thank you for the compliments, i am very happy with it so far.