I have spent lots of time on this forum because of my '10 TE that I wish I had kept. But I wanted to buy my dream Jeep, so last September I did. Bought a $59K MSRP '20 JL Unlimited Rubicon. I have owned 8 Jeeps... a '91 Grand Wagoneer that was awesome, 2 TJs that were great, 3 XJ Cherokees also great, a '12 JK Unlimited Rubicon that I had to sell when my business took a downturn... but it was great, and lastly, the '20 JL Unlimited Rubicon. The previous 7 Jeeps were all very reliable, least miles was on the '12 JK at 70k. The others were driven all into the 150k+miles.
The JL was perfect for the 9000 miles I owned it... the driver interfaces/tech/climate control (short of the defroster) are light years ahead of the 4Runner, the LED headlights, fogs, tail lights, etc were incredibly bright. Alpine stereo and 8.4" UConnect sounded great. All of the phone things worked as they should. The leather was real on the seats, steering wheel, shift knobs, and it felt good. The heated steering wheel was nice. It had auto headlights and remote start that would work with the FOB from my apartment all the way to the parking garage. And the phone could start it too. It was fast off the line with the 4.11 gears and 8sp auto transmission. Mine steered straight, no excessive play in the steering, drove nicely all the way up to 95mph, never wobbled, never leaked, engine valve train held up, doors didn't come apart, welds looked pretty, body seams weren't cracking... all of those things I read about the forum never happened. Off-road, it was a beast. For a Jeep, and especially the JL, it seemed I had won the lottery.
However, the whole time I owned it I was thinking, I miss the my old 4Runner and that the Jeep really wasn't making me as happy as it did. I missed the precision of the 4Runner on the highway. I missed the one-touch windows, the roll down rear window, the extra room, the comfort and quiet, and most of all, not worrying that all of those things I read on the forum would happen to mine eventually. I also worried that the dealership, who doesn't even know the correct amount of oil to put in a JL 3.6 until I proved it to them on their own system, would not be able to fix things that would break. Or if they could, they would have to wait forever to get parts. Apparently, because so many people do have problems, spare parts are in short supply and often take weeks to acquire.
So rather than stressing about it and lamenting the fact I stupidly sold my Trail, I traded the Jeep for a '20 ORP. I would've bought a Pro but I wasted that extra money on buying and trading the Jeep. Regardless, I'm now all about getting it back to the same as my old Trail. Yes there are things I really miss on the Rubi... not the JL forum, but I like the familiarity and confidence I have with the 4R. And since I don't mod nor do I rock crawl, the 4R will do about 95% of what the Rubi will do and the 4R is much better in snow and slick stuff.
