I have a Sahara and am pretty happy with it. If the rubicon were out when I bought my jeep, I think I would have bought that. The good thing about the Sahara is that it comes standard with the dana 44 rear. If you get the X, you have to pay extra for it. The Rubicon has a dana 44 in the front and the rear which I would have liked to have.
As for lift, I have been happy with my Rubicon Express lift. Check them out at
www.rubiconexpress.com I would like to upgrade to the long arm lift a little down the road. There is also a kit available that replaces teh springs with air bags that allow you to raise and lower the jeep by 8 inches in each direction for a total of 16 inches. You can do this independantly for each wheel which is great for side slopes or steep inclines.