PuddleJumper
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- Cortlund
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Alright, let me preface this as not a competition to prove a superior trim level. That is mute and pointless as rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. This my comparison of 10,000 miles of ownership of these 2 vehicles. And I hope it may help a few individuals who are stuck on the fence about what is the best fit for them.
So, the vehicles in question. First we have a 22' JT Rubicon in Gobi Tan, she was second hand and came with a SteerSmart Sectorshaft brace kit and Steering Stabilizer. Other than that, Bone stock. Second we have a 23' JT Mojave in Hydro Pearl Blue, factory order and has a steel stubby bumper w/winch, 2 steel full jerry cans in the bed and a 3/4 in daystar lift to keep stock ride height. I daily both vehicles on there stock wheels and tires, so I will be leaving any 37in tire related items out of this. I run them trail only and therefore have minimal miles on them. So I will cover initial experience, daily experience, towing experience and offroad (moderate trail and beach) experience.
So first up, what was it like driving the Rubicon home? Aside from the obvious joy of driving the cool kid trim and getting a banger deal. My aunt and I grinned ear to ear driving the 30 mins home. It was comfortable, handled a bit more bullish than the wrangler sport we traded in. Very commuter SUVish in nature. But a solid 10/10 no complaints, withholding the steering dampener was adjusted too stiff, but that's easily remedied and not a fault of the truck. Now my Mojave I got a few hour drive home as i ordered it Toledo OH and took an AMTRAK to go and get it. Now the differences were immediate. Much stiffer suspension, softer sway bars, and huggy seats. She felt sporty, and as i swung her ass wide and countered leaving the dealer, tires screaming. I realized she was all too inviting for a passionate driver. Maybe its the lack of my disabled aunt or confidence learned in the platform from already having one, but i digress. Highway home was a bit on the miserable side as it was met with heavy rain, a soft top with holes from improper install, and finicky carplay that disconnected at random. Again not the truck's fault. Shitty drivers, careless assembler, and bad iphone cable. All but the first to be remedied. Now onto differences street wise after some seat time.
The Rubicon is sensible and composed, she does her best to take out the harshness of any bumps in the road, and her stiff swaybars instill comfort by hugely mitigating body roll, that is quite present in the Mojave. And with her Freedom top, road noise is minimal, for a Jeep. She wallows like a gentle boat in calm waters and is great commuter especially considering this is a solid front axle brick designed to conquer any obstacle you point it at. In fact its quite comparable to my Aunt's Highlander albeit louder. Now the Mojave, her composure last as long as you drive conservatively, but even then she can't hide the harshness of rail road tracks or speed bumps unless you hit them at illegal speeds. Due to this, Highway driving is confident and inspiring due to the speed you carry, but city streets can feel rough and tiresome as she makes sure your aware of every imperfection in the road. But lets take sensible driving out of this. personally i like to drive on the more "purposeful" side. And that's where I feel the Mojave can really show her true nature as far as asphalt will allow. To most her body roll would be drive you to stay on the slower side. But work up the confidence to keep your foot down and you find she dives and hold corners remarkably well and that body roll makes for an engaging ride. The farther you push her, the more the road feels like a polished rail. I can't say I've even found the limit of how far you can push her, but tbh the street is hardly the place for that. The Rubicon however doesn't seem to invite you like she does in other environments. She already set the bar, as if the street just for to and fro and not for any fun of any type. In fact try and push her, and you get a butt hole puckering scolding as you find her shocks are not quite up for task of managing speed. The sway bar mask falls and the understeer is immediately discoverable like instant karma. Drive her like a sensible person or she'll dump you in the first ditch of her liking. She isn't your plaything.
However, lets ventured off the city streets, boring yellow lines, and restrictive rules. The Rubicon while still sensible, is in a much better mood and telling a story you never want to end. She has just the right answer for every obstacle and does so with grace. You feel lucky and proud to be commandeering such a fantastic machine. She's a lot more forgiving and loose. You never knew, rocks , dirt, and sand could be this fun. As far as my personal favorite feature, that stunning 4:1 T case. The way she lets you sit smug as she crawls and flexes over everything at idle rpm. Even deep sand feels like it can't steal your momentum. A fantastic escapade. How's the Mojave fair in these same environments? Depends on the surface. With Offroad plus she likes to stretch her legs, momentum is the name of the game. And you better play it or your in for a pouting and complaining. The rocks and crawls, while still capable and a mile better than most off the shelf 4x4s. She's still not exactly happy to be there. She'll toss you about enough to make most sick and pushes you to pick up the pace or stop. but when your limited by group pace, you might be in for a grueling hour or so and the extra seat bolstering is the only thing keeping you from looking like an inflatable tube man fighting for his life in a dealership parking lot. While the Rubicon would be rocking you to sleep. But oh the sand and gravel and snow and well any loose surface that you can do with speed. The Mojave floats, like a proper float. Wheels and suspension cycling like hell and you sit atop and finally grasp what it might feel like to drive a dialed setup in the Baja 1000 or Dakar. She almost demands a speed above 40 mph to properly enjoy. Don't get me wrong both are fantastic on just about any surface. But the Mojave shines only when handled a specific way, rather than the Rubicon matching pace to obstacle effortlessly. Oh yes, lockers, tbh not really used. Except slow pull recoveries, its a solid way to hedge your bets when pulling a heavier rig than yourself. other than that, the automated crawl control does quite well managing 99% of what you'll run into.
Towing! Not the Gladiators best field, but more than capable in the right hands. Now I have an Rpod 121 and will be upgrading to a NOBO 19.7 footer. Both trucks have and will do quite well with a quality WDH. Its an underpowered V6 regardless, so not much to praise. But it does the job well enough, towing isn't supposed to be fun. Unless your in a manual straight piped Peterbilt. My only qualms are that the Rubicon despite having a much higher tow capacity, can be quite unnerving with its current shock configuration. I have some 23' red body shocks to swap which will hopefully remedy that problem. The Mojave is surprising quite fine. Granted it won't feel like a Mojave when towing but its suspension package does quite well managing a trailer, especially with the proper WDH. Both are trucks, both do their truck things quite well.
So what's the takeaway? Both are fantastic and i can't recommend either enough. Jeep did a great job of giving you cake and letting you eat it too, so to speak. I'm a more enthusiastic driver and therefore I much prefer to take the guaranteed fun Mojave on a day to day basis. Same with overlanding. But that's just my taste and it shouldn't take away from the Rubicon in the slightest. taking both to OBX every year is a great way to make sure everyone has fun. scenic and sensible people in the tan one, adrenaline junkies in the blue one. Both have a job and both do it very well. I regret neither and would still buy both again.
So, the vehicles in question. First we have a 22' JT Rubicon in Gobi Tan, she was second hand and came with a SteerSmart Sectorshaft brace kit and Steering Stabilizer. Other than that, Bone stock. Second we have a 23' JT Mojave in Hydro Pearl Blue, factory order and has a steel stubby bumper w/winch, 2 steel full jerry cans in the bed and a 3/4 in daystar lift to keep stock ride height. I daily both vehicles on there stock wheels and tires, so I will be leaving any 37in tire related items out of this. I run them trail only and therefore have minimal miles on them. So I will cover initial experience, daily experience, towing experience and offroad (moderate trail and beach) experience.
So first up, what was it like driving the Rubicon home? Aside from the obvious joy of driving the cool kid trim and getting a banger deal. My aunt and I grinned ear to ear driving the 30 mins home. It was comfortable, handled a bit more bullish than the wrangler sport we traded in. Very commuter SUVish in nature. But a solid 10/10 no complaints, withholding the steering dampener was adjusted too stiff, but that's easily remedied and not a fault of the truck. Now my Mojave I got a few hour drive home as i ordered it Toledo OH and took an AMTRAK to go and get it. Now the differences were immediate. Much stiffer suspension, softer sway bars, and huggy seats. She felt sporty, and as i swung her ass wide and countered leaving the dealer, tires screaming. I realized she was all too inviting for a passionate driver. Maybe its the lack of my disabled aunt or confidence learned in the platform from already having one, but i digress. Highway home was a bit on the miserable side as it was met with heavy rain, a soft top with holes from improper install, and finicky carplay that disconnected at random. Again not the truck's fault. Shitty drivers, careless assembler, and bad iphone cable. All but the first to be remedied. Now onto differences street wise after some seat time.
The Rubicon is sensible and composed, she does her best to take out the harshness of any bumps in the road, and her stiff swaybars instill comfort by hugely mitigating body roll, that is quite present in the Mojave. And with her Freedom top, road noise is minimal, for a Jeep. She wallows like a gentle boat in calm waters and is great commuter especially considering this is a solid front axle brick designed to conquer any obstacle you point it at. In fact its quite comparable to my Aunt's Highlander albeit louder. Now the Mojave, her composure last as long as you drive conservatively, but even then she can't hide the harshness of rail road tracks or speed bumps unless you hit them at illegal speeds. Due to this, Highway driving is confident and inspiring due to the speed you carry, but city streets can feel rough and tiresome as she makes sure your aware of every imperfection in the road. But lets take sensible driving out of this. personally i like to drive on the more "purposeful" side. And that's where I feel the Mojave can really show her true nature as far as asphalt will allow. To most her body roll would be drive you to stay on the slower side. But work up the confidence to keep your foot down and you find she dives and hold corners remarkably well and that body roll makes for an engaging ride. The farther you push her, the more the road feels like a polished rail. I can't say I've even found the limit of how far you can push her, but tbh the street is hardly the place for that. The Rubicon however doesn't seem to invite you like she does in other environments. She already set the bar, as if the street just for to and fro and not for any fun of any type. In fact try and push her, and you get a butt hole puckering scolding as you find her shocks are not quite up for task of managing speed. The sway bar mask falls and the understeer is immediately discoverable like instant karma. Drive her like a sensible person or she'll dump you in the first ditch of her liking. She isn't your plaything.
However, lets ventured off the city streets, boring yellow lines, and restrictive rules. The Rubicon while still sensible, is in a much better mood and telling a story you never want to end. She has just the right answer for every obstacle and does so with grace. You feel lucky and proud to be commandeering such a fantastic machine. She's a lot more forgiving and loose. You never knew, rocks , dirt, and sand could be this fun. As far as my personal favorite feature, that stunning 4:1 T case. The way she lets you sit smug as she crawls and flexes over everything at idle rpm. Even deep sand feels like it can't steal your momentum. A fantastic escapade. How's the Mojave fair in these same environments? Depends on the surface. With Offroad plus she likes to stretch her legs, momentum is the name of the game. And you better play it or your in for a pouting and complaining. The rocks and crawls, while still capable and a mile better than most off the shelf 4x4s. She's still not exactly happy to be there. She'll toss you about enough to make most sick and pushes you to pick up the pace or stop. but when your limited by group pace, you might be in for a grueling hour or so and the extra seat bolstering is the only thing keeping you from looking like an inflatable tube man fighting for his life in a dealership parking lot. While the Rubicon would be rocking you to sleep. But oh the sand and gravel and snow and well any loose surface that you can do with speed. The Mojave floats, like a proper float. Wheels and suspension cycling like hell and you sit atop and finally grasp what it might feel like to drive a dialed setup in the Baja 1000 or Dakar. She almost demands a speed above 40 mph to properly enjoy. Don't get me wrong both are fantastic on just about any surface. But the Mojave shines only when handled a specific way, rather than the Rubicon matching pace to obstacle effortlessly. Oh yes, lockers, tbh not really used. Except slow pull recoveries, its a solid way to hedge your bets when pulling a heavier rig than yourself. other than that, the automated crawl control does quite well managing 99% of what you'll run into.
Towing! Not the Gladiators best field, but more than capable in the right hands. Now I have an Rpod 121 and will be upgrading to a NOBO 19.7 footer. Both trucks have and will do quite well with a quality WDH. Its an underpowered V6 regardless, so not much to praise. But it does the job well enough, towing isn't supposed to be fun. Unless your in a manual straight piped Peterbilt. My only qualms are that the Rubicon despite having a much higher tow capacity, can be quite unnerving with its current shock configuration. I have some 23' red body shocks to swap which will hopefully remedy that problem. The Mojave is surprising quite fine. Granted it won't feel like a Mojave when towing but its suspension package does quite well managing a trailer, especially with the proper WDH. Both are trucks, both do their truck things quite well.
So what's the takeaway? Both are fantastic and i can't recommend either enough. Jeep did a great job of giving you cake and letting you eat it too, so to speak. I'm a more enthusiastic driver and therefore I much prefer to take the guaranteed fun Mojave on a day to day basis. Same with overlanding. But that's just my taste and it shouldn't take away from the Rubicon in the slightest. taking both to OBX every year is a great way to make sure everyone has fun. scenic and sensible people in the tan one, adrenaline junkies in the blue one. Both have a job and both do it very well. I regret neither and would still buy both again.
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