Rubicon vs Mojave - Accurate video?

[brianinca]

Seriously, ANY Gladiator can do more rock crawling than 90% of people will ever do (at least, more than once). The Rubicon is overkill for anyone not planning to scare themselves/wives/children/friends. Perfect truck for me, after some tweaking, but fundamentally a niche model for a niche vehicle.

I've had several folks ask about the Mojave, one guy bought an Overland Diesel instead because he HAD to have a Diesel. I think the Mojave is an astounding achievement of engineering, with well considered use of new and existing components to give a well known platform a very different use case. For some reason the reaction is "why didn't you buy one?" vs my truck, these are not my trail riding buddies of course. They know.

I've driven two stock 21 Mojave's on the street, they are the best riding and handling Jeeps I've ever seen. I mean real Jeeps, solid axle. I remember taking a '93 5spd ZJ off the lot and being AMAZED at how well it handled a fast surface street merge corner - like "how'd they DO that?" I have the same reaction to the Mojave, which is 5X better. Tire and shock technology have come a LONG, LONG way.

I'm used to interrogating people for their needs vs wants in technology, but your explanation seems to strongly indicate the Mojave is a much better choice.

Trying to decide between the two. Identical pricing. I don't see us doing much in the way of rock crawling. So leaning toward Mojave.

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[brianinca]

All Gladiators have that skidplate package, and the Mojave shares the rock rails with the Rubicon. The bed skids are unique to the Rubicon, shouldn't be needed with a Mojave.

Does the Rubicon have better and/or more skid plates?

If you go to the Jeep webpage, it makes a point of talking about skid plates on the Rubicon. But doesn't mention it for the Mojave.

 

[Challenger85]

I went Mojave and I live in Colorado. I want to go off road but I’m more of a speed person than slow. We went yesterday and it handled moderate trails just fine with some deep ruts. I can’t really imagine doing a ton more than I did yesterday. Someday we’ll have a Bronco we can take and break doing that.

 

[CerOf]

The ride of the Mojave was slightly better.

My desire for a front locker, 4:1, and sway bar disconnect made me go Rubi.

You can finesse a Rubi over/through things. Mojave requires a bit more speed/wheel speed. This seemed evident in the video.

That really wasnt a hard obstacle. Probably pretty typical on most of the popular trails in CO.

finesse = less breakage

 

[estoys]

I wanted either the Rubicon or Mojave and after doing extensive research, hours of reading forums, demanding answers to the hard questions, Wait for It!

I bought the Rubicon because that was what was on the lot.

In my area the dealerships get 1 or 2 gladiator and 1 or 2 Wranglers at a time so the beggars and choosers thing comes into play. I needed to get rid of a RAM 2500 that was nearly out of warranty but had a trans problem that Ram wanted to fix one part at a time. I bought the Rubicon JT in August and I now have 8000 miles on it. I still think those Mojave shocks and the orange trim look cool but We went to Colorado and Utah for a few weeks in late august and never felt it rode too badly. My wife's daily driver is a 2 door 2017 Rubicon and I was coming off a 3/4 ton truck so our view of ride quality is dubious.

Basically, I think either is a great truck. Though I would have probably gotten more use out of the more reasonable low range in the mojave.

 

[Bonanza]

Honestly I'd wish they re-did that "obstacle" of theirs and try and use the crawl control. While not a locker, there's a coin flip chance it would help that Mohave control the front tire spin.

 

[dcmdon]

My wife's daily driver is a 2 door 2017 Rubicon and I was coming off a 3/4 ton truck so our view of ride quality is dubious.

You win today's self awareness award. Ha.

 

[dcmdon]

Honestly I'd wish they re-did that "obstacle" of theirs and try and use the crawl control. While not a locker, there's a coin flip chance it would help that Mohave control the front tire spin.

Yes, but you know that real off roaders disable all electronic assistants. Ha.

Good point though.

 

[Glad Jeeper]

I really believe either of these Glad's are awesome. It really just boils down to what one would be using it for. If I was rock crawling hands down it would be the Rubi. If 90% of the running is BDR's dessert and city / hwy than the Mojave is the great way to go. It's all personal preference. 2 awesome jeeps. BTW, I choose the Mojave.

 

[FloridaMan655321]

I know I've answered this before, but I ended up with Mojave because I knew that I enjoy driving down trails vs rock crawling. I like the hood on the Rubicon better than the Mojave, but I like how the Mojave rides down the road and is very fun on the trails. I like the seats on the Mojave better, though the Rubicon seats are very nice and would have been fine with those. I suspect if you aren't buying one for a specific reason (trails vs rocks) you'll be happy with either.

Not that it matters much, but it is kind of annoying how the interior of the Mojave is orange except where the locker toggle and manual shift ring is, they clearly took those from the Rubicon parts bin....oh well

 

[Gvsukids]

maybe we need another debate on Willy's vs Rubicon

 

[devnull]

I bought a Rubicon because I liked the color and they had it in stock. If it said Mojave but was still green, I would've bought the Mojave.

Before you tell me to "order it my way", just know that I am an impulse buyer. By the time you order and receive yours I have usually bought and sold. Your patience is impressive, but my type A personality allows for none of that!

 

[rharr]

stab me in the eye with a rusty screw driver, TFL is the worst, don't take any advice from them, they have no idea what the hell they are doing. Started watching the video and found my self yelling at the screen because of these knuckle heads.

if you have to ask what the difference between the 2 models are and don't know which one to get, get a sport S, and build it up as you learn what you need.

 

[NateKY]

An important thing that gets overlooked on this forum, front and rear lockers are way more useful than just rock crawling. I don’t care how fast the Mojave is, but if you find yourself on a slick steep hill covered in mud, you will be stuck walking or winching.

 

[Tuggernuts]

This is a better comparison by someone infinitely more knowledgeable.

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