The first and most obvious observation is that once you added big, heavy tires and wheels to these things, it seriously robs them of a lot of power. In stock form, the 4.0 is actually great. My stock TJ has no problem getting up and going and actually feels quite peppy.
This khaki one on the other hand isn't too bad off the line, but once you drive them back-to-back, it becomes very apparent just how much power has been lost from the added weight and bigger tires. Of course this is to be expected.
That being said, the 4.0 isn't actually a bad engine, but when it comes to powering a rig like this, you really need to start thinking about a stroker, supercharger, or even an engine swap if you want to make it really livable. Of course I never bought this with the intention of daily driving it or commuting, so it's not so much an issue for me. However, if this was your sole vehicle for commuting or daily driving, you'd probably be miserable.
Also, maybe I'm getting old, but man is it a lot easier to get in-and-out of my stock TJ
The two can't really be compared. One feels like a peppy little around town, fun vehicle, while the other feels like a purpose built crawler almost.
In addition, I've commented in another post about how I prefer the NSG370 over the NV3500. The NSG370 has that 6th gear which I like, and it also feels like a more precise transmission from what I can tell.
The NV3500 isn't bad by any means, not even remotely bad. I just think that the NSG370 really feels nice.