Fourwheeler magazine loves the 2.0L. Not saying that is the end all but those guys do wheel and break stuff. Local guy here works for edmunds and he told me he was one of the first people that was in Moab testing them before they were released and he said everyone in his group of 20 or so testers all liked the 2.0L (this was in Moab) best....he did tell me he thought Subaru was the best offroad vehicle and nobody really needs a wrangler.

 

Maybe taking some Subi market share is a plan. I like Subaru's too, as well as Turbo 4's -- Or should I say simple Turbo 4's. Probably a better prediction (than the Turbo 4 being dropped) is a 48V battery delete kit by 2021.

When I see cars getting too cutting edge my instinct is too predict high long term maintenance costs and lower reliability down the road. Good example is BMW's, hardly ever see any over 10 years old on the road -- There just too expensive to maintain.

 

Unfortunately, that battery pack is probably going to work its way into the entire lineup. Remember, Italy controls the company now, so our lifestyle is not important to them. They want big sale numbers across the globe and touting "green" is the trend. At least for now. I did check out the new Toyota 4Runner, I just can't get beyond the looks. At least for now.

 

Speaking of Subaru, my wife has had at least five of them, all the Legacy platform, four as wagons. They are decent vehicles and for the most part they run forever, but they are not for everyone. The last one she owned was a 2013 model, it literally got stuck in an intersection in 10" of heavy slush. The traction system and low profile crappy all season OE radials prevented the car from moving, and she ended up being hit in the quarter panel by a F250 that could not stop, he didn't realize she could not move. Had she known enough to turn the traction control off, she may have been able to blast through.

At any rate, the pickup was barely moving and deflected off the driver quarter panel. Damage from the outside looked fairly minimal, however, extensive damage was done to the vehicle all the way into the cargo well area. The Ford had a bent headlight bezel. I traded that Subaru for a new Grand Cherokee before it was returned from the body shop, took a hell of a beating on it but no longer wanted her driving a tin can. Oddly enough, the largest import used car dealer in my area (whom has a full service business including a body shop) told me about the Subaru bodies experiencing heavy damage in light collisions ten years ago. But I'll assume that's due to the design, collapse to protect occupants.

 

A bit of an update to my possible purchase of a 2019 Rubicon.

Friday I found a dealer 20 miles from me by searching through KBB for dealer costs, it's a new place run out of an unfinished building, never knew it was there. They have a 2019 Rubicon UL with the V6, but with more equipment than I want. The delta is as good as the numbers the local dealer gave me on the 2 door (which had 2K miles on it) ie I obviously can't compare trade numbers without doing math to calculate percentage of discount etc. This UL has 4K miles, the owner's wife was driving it, so they say, but they took off extra money due to the mileage.

The UL Rubicon is at least 3K of the price increase over the 2 door I looked at, the 2020 model is another $1200 configured the same as the 2019. Salesman offered a discount of $4600 off sticker price and gave me high wholesale for my Rubicon. This is tempting, but all that electronic stuff is a bit scary. Upon searching for the best online price for Chrysler Lifetime Warranties, I found them to be unavailable now. The 8 year will have to do, but given all the electronics, I don't dare not have something covering it. Tomorrow I may go look at the Unlimited, so far I've seen only the pictures.

 

According to my experience, that's a good decision
Thanks

 

I contacted the dealer Monday morning, he was busy, got back to me with the information I wanted early afternoon. From there my next step was to contact my financial institution for a certified check and go sign the deal. Salesman notified me that a "gentleman" had taken it for an overnight test drive and would have it back in the evening. This was Monday afternoon, the dealership is closed Sunday, which means he loaned it out on Friday or Saturday, the same time I was talking to him about purchase, and he gave me the trade price and VIN number. No mention of this to me or I would have come in Saturday.

To say the least, I was a bit upset, yes, partially my own fault for not running right in there Friday night, but the courtesy of telling me the vehicle would be on loan all weekend would have been the proper thing on his end. He says he'll contact me the minute it is back since the guys wife might not like it. I said never mind. Glad I didn't waste money on the bank check.

I'm going to see what my options are for ordering a diesel.

 

My uncle used to say, "never say never, you will one day eat those words". Over the years I've eaten many, perhaps one day I'll learn. So... a couple of weeks ago, after recovered from a heart attack caused by a blocked artery (fortunately no damage they tell me), I said it's time to do something. So I went back to the dealer to check on the demo Unlimited, which, it turns out, was still sitting on the lot. Apparently my timing was right, they not only extended the same great deal but enhanced it by tossing in the Mopar trailer hitch and wiring, and installed it N/C.

I've now owned the vehicle for a week and can honestly say, I really like it. There are plusses and minuses over my JK, I loved that one also. Thanks for all of the input and advise, this is one of my first trades whereby I did not feel, at some point, that I made a mistake. Time will tell now.

 

I have been back and forth on the idea of trading too. I still have my 2010 JKUR, manual transmission, mygig and Nav. At year end, I decided to just email a couple dealers about a new JLUR. One actually said they would go to 7% below invoice, similar to the deal a friend fo mine got on his new JLUR. All was going along swimmingly, until they said my current ride was basically worthless to them with the manual transmission and their trade value proved it.

Going from 0 payments to significant payments just isn't in the cards for me. I can't see basically a trade difference of a brand new S model being attractive.

So, mine is still stock and probably will just stay that way for many more miles!

 

That's unusual in my area, used Jeeps bring good trade value and resale for both involved parties. Just maybe the standard shift was a pitfall with your trade, although I know, other than lack of an automatic being deducted from the book value, it did not hurt me.