Black Diamond vs Rubicon

[Dads_bronze_bronco]

Stock BD SQ vs. Stock Rubicon. 35” vs. 33”. Whether a tire “fits” and it has the proper gearing comes into play as well. In most cases the Jeep is on the low end of the power spectrum. Adding 35” tires without re-gearing will cost some capability, even more so in the rocks. So to come back to “par” add $1k for tires and $1.5k for gears and labor. At that point, Jeep probably still only exceeds the Bronco in the rocks. BD SQ comes geared appropriately out of the box. That’s the question the OP seemed to ponder.

If we’re talking about rocks - Rubicon - $46k 4 door starting price with M/Ts, and as I said add the Mopar 2-1/2” lift and 37’s later, then regear from 4.10s if you feel you need it. (There are a lot of Jeep’s out there on 35’s and 3.73’s)

If we’re talking virtually everywhere else - Black Diamond -$47.5K 4 door starting price.

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[Mattwings]

If we’re talking about rocks - Rubicon - $46k 4 door starting price with M/Ts, and as I said add the Mopar 2-1/2” lift and 37’s later, then regear from 4.10s if you feel you need it. (There are a lot of Jeep’s out there on 35’s and 3.73’s)

If we’re talking virtually everywhere else - Black Diamond -$47.5K 4 door starting price.

35s and 3.73 are terrible from a driveability perspective. The low range is so low in the Rubicon, it probably still does fine on the rocks, but I have been in a JL with 35s and my 1989 Ranger with the 2.3l had better acceleration. I am sure the diesel is better, but that adds another $4k. I think the Bronco stock, head to head is going to compare very favorably off road. On road, not even close. It will be interesting to see if Jeep has to go IFS to maintain market share.

 

[BroncMO]

I haven't done much research on the Rubicon, but was pricing one and see that alot of the features that are on the Badlands were add ons for the Rubicon, (ie front mounted camera). And of course the 35" wheels, larger axle was not available on the Rubicon (that I could see).

If you want the camera on the badlands, gotta add the high package. Difference will be the 360 camera/trail cams on Bronco v. front/rear on Rubicon. The feature is not available on the BD.

 

[BackcountryBirds]

Rubicon pros:
Rock crawling
Ease of suspension modification
Ability to purchase today
Reliability (arguable but it's been proven off-road over time as the gold standard so bronco has to prove that it will hold up over time)

Badlands or Bronco w squatch pros:
High speed off-roading
On road comfort
More tech
Factory 35"s (hard to beat bigger tires for most off-road situations)

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