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2004 Rubicon. How reliable?

5K views 19 replies 9 participants last post by  jkp 
#1 ·
I have a 2015 that I am looking at selling. I am going back to school next year and looking to try to save money before going back to school.

I took my JK to a dealership yesterday to look at trade in values. They had a 2004 Rubicon with ~42k miles. The price seems to be pretty good. It has a host of mods although I'm not sure at this point what all was done.

My concern is while I'm in school for the next 2 years, money is going to be pretty tight. Even though the mileage is low, it's going to be a 13 year old Jeep. I would be looking at selling my Jeep for a new daily driver and want to find something that is affordable and will save money for me, but not something that I am going to need to spend money fixing often.
 
#3 ·
I'm not sure all of the mods. I would need to find that out.

I know it has lift, wheels, winch, safari style roof rack and snorkel. Not sure what else may have been done and would need to get that info. But I wanted to see if I could be reasonably confident in it as a daily driver for the next 2 years without having any major problems before looking into it too much.



They are asking for 17k. I would potentially look at taking off the roof rack and selling it to help with cost and potentially the snorkel as well but I'm not sure how involved that would be with the hole cut through the side.
 
#7 ·
If it was a 5 SPd without the mods and oversized tires and no significant rust with decent maintenance history and not abused it would be damn reliable and high teens on the highway

However it has half doors no hard top is over priced and a theft magnet especially if parked at a college




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#8 ·
Not getting in your business but it does not sound like you need this jeep, considering your financial position. If you have to sell the rack to help defer cost, you need to look else where. Get rid of the expensive JK, buy a gas sipper and drive until you finish school. Then buy what you want with out any financial pressure...Just my 2 cents of free advise, that's about what it is worth......
 
#14 ·
Your best bet is a mostly stock TJ. However, it will still be 10 yrs old or older.

The '05 and '06 models have an issue with the oil pump drive that you would need to check out on them before buying.

Otherwise, I have put 265K on my YJ and 155K on my TJ with no major mechanical failures. Just normal maintenance items.
 
#16 ·
I have no problem with normal maintenance. And obviously no one can predict if a certain car is going to have major issues. But I just wanted to check what other people's experience has been with Jeeps from around that time if I decide to go that direction
 
#15 ·
I wouldn't go 17K but at 15K I would be interested. How far do you have to drive daily?
I love the "mods are worth nothing" people. If the mods are well done and of good quality then they are worth "something". People say they are worth nothing and then spend 10 grand adding them.That Rubicon with 48K miles "in good shape" is 15 grand all day long. The biggest drawback to me would be the snorkel.
 
#17 ·
I don't drive very far at all right now. I'm going to be moving to a new city and in a new role and I'm not even sure where I am going to be living yet so I'm uncertain how much driving I will be doing daily. I'm hoping that I will live close enough to bike or ride a shuttle to work during the week and mainly drive to other places on evenings and weekends to keep the miles down no matter what I end up with.

I think I have against decided that one specifically. But I will keep looking at some other TJ's or older JK's to try to save money if I can. That would be my first choice because I like Jeeps so much. But if I can't find one that I think would be reasonably reliable and a good price then I might have to look at a Subaru or something different instead
 
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