New build - JKU Rubicon or Diesel ZR2?

[rkcreative]

Hello all,

I am looking to get my feet wet with some overlanding and mild off road. I am working with a budget of about a 35K ( the less the better) for a vehicle and I'm on the fence between a slightly used JKU Rubicon or a slightly used diesel ZR2 Colorado.

The vehicle would have to double as a daily driver as well. The plan for both would be rooftop tent, recovery gear, communication gear and etc so that I can safely enjoy taking the vehicle into remote areas.

My train of thought is as follows:

JKU Rubicon:
Obviously has an immense off road ability right out of the box and a huge access to affordable aftermarket parts. The thought was to outfit the rig with a 3 inch lift and run some 35s to have that extra clearance. What worries me is reliability and fuel consumption on 35s.

Diesel ZR2:
Tune, Leveling kit to run 33 tire. One thing that sucks is that lack of the aftermarket support ( at least right now). I am also not thrilled with the mounting on the rear shock being more inward on the axle.I live in Midwest so will not be doing hard core crawling, however I don't want to be replacing those pricey DSSV dampers.

I would be delighted to hear opinions from both camps. What can I expect with a used JKU? Thank you in advance for your input.

 

[Ragman]

Since you specified light off road, besides the cool factor, the JKU Rubi seems overkill. I own the Jeep and have driven the Colorado. As a daily driver hands down the ZR2 wins. And if daily driver for mild wheeling why the mods you discuss? Both vehicles can run the Rubicon Trail stock so I would think handling, comfort, payload all in the Colorado’s favor.

I love my Rubicon, don’t take this as anti-Jeep but from day one I have said it is a poor choice if used as daily driver and the vast majority of Wrangler owners would be better served by a minivan or crossover.

Now, about that winch thing and after market support......

 

[toxicity_27]

I had a whole reply typed, then my tablet crashed. I daily a JKU Rubicon on 35s and loathe the interior on the Colorado.

 

[KJOHNSTER]

Both vehicles are very capable, but ultimately I think the Colorado platform will be more flexible. While not totally developed, the aftermarket arena is growing quickly and steadily as the Colorado gains traction. Bison is doing aftermarket parts as is Frontrunner I believe. If I could justify a pick up I'd totally go with the Colorado, though I do agree the interior is bland at best. Good luck and have fun!

 

[chuckoverland]

If you get the colorado make sure its had the airbag recall dealt with.

 

[OnMyWaypoint]

We own a JLUR and a Silverado. We've taken both to explore. The Silverado has the advantage of carrying lots of gear, and maybe to a fault. We have the Deck system which allows us to sleep in the bed very confortably.
Our JLUR is more nimble and capable and quite honestly, more fun, which is why we've chosen it to be our main exploring rig. Also, as others stated, there's so much aftermarket stuff for the Jeep vs our Chevy.
BUT.. If I only had to have one, and it had to be my daily driver, I would have to pick the Chevy. Its utility far out weighs everything else.
That ZR2 you're looking at will do everything you throw at it, I'm pretty sure.

Good luck!

Here's a couple pics...

 

[JCWages]

Go drive them both and see which one puts the biggest smile on your face. Drive the V6 ZR2 also. There is a HUGE difference in acceleration between the two. Fuel range vs. speed. Cost to own is cheaper on the V6 until around 100k miles where the diesel takes over (mileage will vary based on average cost of fuel in your area).

 

[MazeVX]

Owning a jeep jku...
Can't see reliability issues with 35" on a rubicon when brain is used while driving.
I'm using mine with 33" as a daily and it's honestly something that you need to want.
I would have chosen a zr2 or something similar if anything was available here.

It's simply the better allround platform and rides more comfortable. In fact, for overlanding you don't NEED that much of aftermarket, everything you need is already available, so I voted for the zr2 Colorado.

 

[VST]

I own a ZR2 V-6 and love it so far. I just did a trip up to the Georgia Traverse from south FL and kinda wish I had the diesel for the long drive. But other than that the aftermarket is growing very fast. I have mine setup with a CBI bedrack and 23zero tent.

 

[smlobx]

I own a ZR2 V-6 and love it so far. I just did a trip up to the Georgia Traverse from south FL and kinda wish I had the diesel for the long drive. But other than that the aftermarket is growing very fast. I have mine setup with a CBI bedrack and 23zero tent.
View attachment 83560 View attachment 83561 View attachment 83562

Curious why you said that you wished you had the diesel for longer trips...I’m looking at a ZR2 as well.

What kind of mileage did you get on that trip if you remember?

 

[Joey83]

Diesel ZR2 gets my vote.

 

[MazeVX]

Curious why you said that you wished you had the diesel for longer trips...I’m looking at a ZR2 as well.

What kind of mileage did you get on that trip if you remember?

I have made a interesting observation on fuel mileage, most people with petrol engines say to have nearly the double fuel consumption when offroad, with my jku diesel auto transmission my fuel mileage goes up only very little when offroad about 20% I normally have about 25.5mpg and mild offroad im planning with 20mpg.
So I have plenty of fuel reserves.
This is probably the same with the zr2 duramax.

 

[VST]

Curious why you said that you wished you had the diesel for longer trips...I’m looking at a ZR2 as well.

What kind of mileage did you get on that trip if you remember?

I was getting about 15mpg on the highway at about 65-70 mph. I’m sure with the diesel it would probably be around 20+ mpg

 

[Todd & Meg]

The funny thing is you are worried about gas milage on the jk with 35's but you are going to put a RTT on. The RTT will kill your gas milage.

Why does the Jeep need 35's and the Colorado only need 33's?

My view, first background. I lived in south sub of Chicago for 50 years, now live in Mesa, AZ. Owen a JKRU now. Only diesel I've owned was a Jetta. Haven't seen the new Colorado's.

Our Jeep on 33's and no lift will go most places we need to go. That said we will probably go to 35"s the next time we need new rubber. There is no reliability problems going to 35's with good parts from name brands. The problem come in when you got to 37's and up. For me I can drive 15 minutes and hit nice trails that can lead me for 100's of miles with very little pavement. The Jeep makes sense for us. After opening it for 4 years now I still like it. If I didn't offload with is I wouldn't own one. It is my wives daily driver. Our daughter lives in California about 6 hours drive and that drive in the Jeep will ware you out, with the road noise. We do the trip 3-4 time a year and just today talked about renting a car for the next trip.

For you to get to some good orverlanding spots you are driving what 4-5 hours to get somewhere nice? You're looking at 16 hours to Colorado (I've done that trip a lot). I would want something comfortable for long drives. And the diesel all the better. The torque on the diesel is great if you go to the mountains. The Jetta we had was great in the mountains, and would have kept it if we didn't have rodents that would chew on the wires under the car. Had to have it towed a few times because of that.

I would worry about aftermarket parts unless that is the part of overloading that you like, building up your rig. Thats not my thing, I would rather use that money for trips.

I would say diesel Colorado all the way. Even with the weather you're going to have this week, diesels do not like cold like that.

Todd

 

[Kent R]

I am a total Jeep guy! that being said we have several Colorado's in our club and they handle just about everything we throw at them. Where they seem to lag is hard terrain there is some low hanging fruit at the rear shocks. I think if I was only doing moderate overlanding the Colorado would be my pick but since I travel in the Sierras on a regular basis my JKUR works best for me. What ever works best for you. Also the Colorado would be way more comfortable.

 

[smlobx]

I was getting about 15mpg on the highway at about 65-70 mph. I’m sure with the diesel it would probably be around 20+ mpg

Thanks!
I didn't realize that gas mileage would be that low on the highway. I get that with my F-350 with my pop up camper on board.

 

[CR-Venturer]

 

[JCWages]

Thanks!
I didn't realize that gas mileage would be that low on the highway. I get that with my F-350 with my pop up camper on board.

Generally speaking it is not normally that low. Average mpg with a full camping load for me is 17mpg-20mpg depending on how much off-roading I do. If I stick to pavement then a tank will be about 19-22mpg and a fillup will be needed at 300-360 miles. This is loaded up, lifted and on 33s. I tend to drive 10mph over the speed limit which means 70-75mph and sometimes 80mph in California, Nevada, Utah. If I do almost nothing but off-road then I will be between 12-15mpg but I've never done that for more than 100 miles at a time. That is pretty common for V6 ZR2s as well. Now, throw in some really bad weather or a lot of time spinning the wheels slogging through snow or mud and fuel economy will really tank.

The diesel on average is worth about 4mpg over the V6, however, if you compare just long miles on the highway the difference can be as high as 10mpg difference although that is not common and requires lower max speeds. The diesel efficiency drops off quite a bit near 70mph+.

 

[BcYeti2503]

Personally if your picking between those two vehicles I would pick the zr2 and diesel if you can get one. Over the next couple years you will see more and more accessory companies include the zr2 as well as the tacoma and jeep in the same category. The jeep accessory market is flooded mostly due to numbers and the actual need for those accessories. I wouldn't worry about the inboard rear shock mounting as most of the stability in the zr2 is from the front suspension and if you ever have to replace those shocks you can do it with aftermarket suspension components.

 

[Dilldog]

So Im going to give you my anti light duty diesel speech, and for the record Im a diesel technician. Diesel ONLY makes sense if you tow and haul a lot, period. The engines cost more, weight more, and with current after treatment cost more to maintain and are less reliable than a gas engine.
Now I know what youre going to say "Ill just delete and tune it", seriously dont, not only is it illegal but EPA and DOT are starting to crack down on that stuff. Right now its only on the HD side (I personally just saw a truck shut down at a scale for EPA violations, and 2 shops have been shut down around us for deleting and tuning trucks) but its coming for the light duty guys. Not only that but if you delete it a dealership or other legit warranty shop will not be able to work on your junk, its simply not worth it.
Now given those two options I would probably go with the GM. Current production GM stuff has really impressed me, we have 3 that were made in the last 7 years in my family. I dont have much expereince with Fiat Chrysler stuff, but the fact that they made the JK front springs litterally half as tall as the TJ shows me they are heading away from a factory off road capable utility vehicle and heading towards a tough looking pavement pounder. I get it, thats what the market demands, but if that is my only option I would rather have a pickup bed so its easier to carry gear.

Oh and to add: It was an S10 based one but I had a 98 ZR2 for a while. It suffered from the typical GM garbage fit and finish that was common for its era, but the truck took a pounding and just laughed it off. I never rock crawled it but I drove it way too fast down dirt roads and over washboards and through ditches all the time, and yes it saw air time more than once. Only thing that failed on me all the time was the stupid steering idler arm. But anyway in stock form it was a more versatile and capable rig than my 99 TJ was. It got the same fuel millage but had WAY more power and would pull like a bastard. Anyway the point Im trying to make is if the old ZR2s which are commonly regarded as crap were that good, given GMs recent upward trajectory, I can only image how good current ZR2s are. And also to the diesel point, lets face it GM has never been known for awesome light duty diesels, honestly even the Duramax thats in the 2500 and 3500 is not as good as the Powerstroke or Cummins.