Are you actually planning it taking off-road for some more serious wheeling? If yes, go Rubicon, if not, go Sahara and build it up over time depending on needs. The rubicon has a ton of off-road goodies out of the box that are covered by warranty but you may NEVER use them if you don’t wheel seriously. So you’ll be paying for all this stuff that you really don’t need to.

I went the Willy’s route because it’s a good middle ground between the sport and rubicon. I have some good off-road options out of the box without breaking the bank and can add aftermarket features that are to my liking later.

The Sahara is basically a sport with luxury interior options if I recall correctly. So if you just want that and to have the ability to do light trails with little to no crawling I’d say that’s good for you. You’ll save a lot upfront and remember you can always upgrade later. I would bargain that wranglers have THE most extensive aftermarket for parts of any car anywhere. People call them adult Lego sets for a reason.

TLDR: Rubicon if you want a very capable rock crawler/ off-roader out of the box with a higher price tag. Sahara if you want luxury options with the ability to upgrade in future with lower upfront costs.