2020 Jeep Gladiator Review: You Know You Want This Off-Roading Pickup

2020 Jeep Gladiator Review: Yous Know You lot Want This Off-Roading Pickup

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What you run into is what you get with the 2020 Jeep Gladiator: Information technology has the soul of a Jeep Wrangler SUV, which means it goes off-road. It has a pickup bed, which means it goes to and from Home Depot. And information technology has four doors and two rows of seats which (along with the pickup bed) ways it'southward more than xviii feet long, and so fifty-fifty if the Gladiator goes everywhere, you can't park it just anywhere.

The Gladiator rides alright, tows upwardly to 7,500 pounds, and has a decent drivetrain. But highway handling is non great, wind racket is noticeable, and you have stride up about ii feet to get in. The cheapest Gladiator is $35,0o0, and the Gladiator Rubicon meant for serious off-roading tops $62,000. But if you can choose to get one, you'll have fun.

2020 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon iv×four – a serious off-road Jeep with a 5-human foot pickup bed.

30 Inches Longer than Jeep Wrangler

Jeep Wrangler SUV.

Jeep dates to World War II and the get-go Full general Purpose (GP, pronounced geepee and eventually jeep) calorie-free 4×4 utility, the offset civilian Jeep (CJ) in 1945, and pickups produced 1947-1992. There was a 10-year gap until the first new Jeep pickup truck concept vehicle was shown briefly in 2003, with adaptations teased and reteased for xv more than years until the Gladiator pickup finally arrived terminal twelvemonth, a gap of nearly xxx years. Too long.

Compared to the four-door Wrangler it is based on, the Gladiator is 30 inches longer overall, 218 inches vs. 188 inches, with a wheelbase 19 inches longer for a truly comfy legroom in the rear seat. The Gladiator as well tows more and costs more, but simply $2,000 more comparison entry model to entry model. Both have easily-owner-removable doors and tops, which makes both fun itch over boulders or sand dunes in practiced weather, and louder and sometimes harsh in solar day-to-mean solar day highway driving. No surprise there. Still, 75 mph on the highway in the Gladiator feels better than 55 mph did in a Jeep a generation ago.

Centre stack bristles with buttons and knobs. Lever on left controls four-wheel-drive. If you tin can't find the electric window controls on the door, they're here, in the very middle of the film.

Jeep Gladiator On- and Off-Road

I test-drove the most top-of-the line Jeep Gladiator Rubicon 4X4, $62,020 including a healthy $1,495 freight fee from the Toledo, Ohio, factory. The Rubicon is the about serious off-roader in the line. To get in, yous have to stride upwards almost two anxiety. Don't even think most wearing a skirt. (Damn. And here I am, stuck with this new leather mini – Ed) The front end windshield is essentially a flat piece of glass. The doors are rudimentary. The heart console and stack bristle with controls for the iv-wheel-drive organisation simply if information technology'southward initially confusing, but press the starter, pull back on the primary shift lever, and off you become.

Around town the Gladiator drives reasonably well and yous feel as if you're sitting up high. (Yous are since it's 75 inches high.) On the highway, the road and wind racket builds from the lack of sound insulation and the big, knobby 33-inch (bore) tires on the Rubicon. The steering feels imprecise at speed, significant you sometimes make repeated small-scale adjustments to keep it centered in the lane. The saucepan seats are pretty flat, and some adjustments are manual. The front left cycle well is so large, there's no room for a driver footrest. On bad road surfaces, y'all feel the bumps, although there'southward less pitching than on the Wrangler with its shorter wheelbase. The Gladiator uses the sophisticated coil jump suspension of the Ram 1500 pickup and that helps. Some other dainty impact is the damped tailgate that comes down smoothly, rather than banging open up.

Off-ready tires on the Gladiator Rubicon.

Once you lot're off paved roads, the Gladiator is in its elements. The Rubicon has 11 inches of basis clearance and fords 30-inch streams with the doors on. It has a 43-degree slope approach angle. The front breakover angle, the measure of how steep an angle you lot tin approach without scraping anything, is 20 degrees. The rear departure bending is 26 degrees. Both are less than the Wrangler because of the longer Gladiator wheelbase and the pickup bed.

At that place's nothing else similar this amid midsize pickups in terms of off-roading. The Gladiator Rubicon employs a two-speed power transfer (between front and rear wheels), locking front and rear differential to improve traction, a disconnecting front sway bar (it raises off-road clearance), Dana 44 front and rear axles, and a 77.ii:1 crawl ratio for depression-speed travel. An Off-Road+ mode that modulates stablity command, throttle, and gear selection. In 4WD High, it's dialed in for romping in sand; in 4WD Low, for traversing rocks and small logs.

All this from a iii.six-liter, 285-hp V6 engine and eight-speed automated that gets to 60 mph in about vii.five seconds. A V6 diesel fuel is coming, expected this agenda year; information technology's downwards 26 hp versus the V6 but the 442 pound of torque tops the gas V6 by 70 per centum. The EPA rates the gasoline Gladiator at 17 mpg city, 22 mpg highway, 19 mpg combined on regular fuel. The vi-speed transmission too offered is rating at sixteen/23/xix. Await the diesel fuel to boost mpg by two-3 mpg or about ten percent. A Rubicon weighs a fleck more than v,000 pounds, about 500 pounds more than the competing Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro or Ford Ranger Lariat SuperCrew 4×iv, 300lbs more than than the Chevrolet Silverado ZR2.

Want to ride bareback (Ialmost)? Disengage a couple bolts and each of the doors comes off in a few minutes. The top comes off and the windshield folds flat.

Jeep Gladiator Models

At that place are 5 Jeep Gladiator model variants, or trim lines. Birthday, in that location are enough options to make the top of the line loaded Gladiator approach twice the base price of the entry model.

Gladiator Sport, $35,040, including $ane,495 freight. Four-cycle drive is standard, as is a six-speed manual, and reasonable 17-inch steel wheels with 245/75R17 all-season tires with all-terrain tires optional. Seating material is material. The UConnect three infotainment screen is a modest 5 inches diagonal, with eight speakers, and there is a remote USB port, simply a bigger LCD is not an choice, nor is Apple tree CarPlay or Hard disk drive Radio. The musical instrument panel multi-information is a iii.v-inch monochrome LCD. Towing chapters with the improve of two options packages is 7,650 pounds. A Torx toolkit is included to remove the doors in just a few minutes. Skid plates, tow hooks, and a soft top are standard.

Gladiator Sport S, $38,240. The Sport S goes upscale a flake, with blend wheels, a leather-wrapped steering bicycle, power windows, heated power mirrors, auto-on headlamps, keyless entry, and a security alert. A optional vii-Inch Radio Grouping makes satellite radio

Upper trim lines include an AC jack, and it's not an extra-charge choice.

Gladiator Overland, $41,890. It steps up to a seven-inch center stack brandish, UConnect four, Apple CarPlay and Android Automobile, and seven USB jacks. In that location are side steps, a 7-inch color multi-data brandish, 115-volt outlet, and garage opener. During 2019 production, this was the superlative end Gladiator focusing on comfort and smoother driving while nevertheless being able to match or vanquish most any all-wheel-drive vehicle off-road.

Gladiator Rubicon, $45,370. In addition to the serious off-roading features, it steps dorsum down to 17-inch blend wheels and offers optional driver assist features. Its acme speed is governor-limited to 97 mph vs. 110 mph for other models.

Gladiator North Edition, $47,410. Information technology'south the model for more comfortable cold weather driving. It has an 8.four-inch display with navigation, Alpine premium audio, cold weather group (remote starting time, heated seats, heated steering wheel), blackness difficult height, and slush mats.

Gladiator Mohave, price TBA. Sold every bit a limited editon, it'south intended for college speeds, upwards to l mph, in the low driving range. Most typically you'd be running sand dunes rather than creeping over rocks. It rides an inch higher than Rubicon and uses a different set of Fox shocks. The frame and break parts are even heavier duty to deal with a vehicle that might (correction: volition, if you lot play hard) get airborne from fourth dimension to time and land hard. The Max Tow towing package comes standard to get the more powerful cooling package. Pricing volition exist in line with the Rubicon-Northward Edition models, Jeep suggests.

The Gladiator comes with iii or four serious tow hooks. The Gladiator Rubicon bumper is steel, allowing a winch to be added.

Options, Driver Assists Boost the Price

Information technology's the options that push the top Gladiator models into the sixties on pricing: higher-chapters tow package, LED Lighting Group, driver assist packages, a wireless Bluetooth speaker, forward-facing trail cam, 3 kinds of pickup bed covers, pickup bed cargo rails, premium blend wheels, a modular hardtop (iii pieces, separately removable), a hardtop liner for insulation, premium paints, premium sound, leather seats, and a winch-capable steel bumper. The eight-speed automatic raises the price by $ii,000 alone.

Driver assists are options rather than standard. The Agile Safety Group, $895, comprises blind spot detection, rear cross-traffic warning, and rear parking sensors. The Adaptive Cruise Control / Forrad Collision Warning Packet, $795, is what the name says. ACC goes down to 0 mph only will return to speed; it holds the car stopped for 3 seconds then disengages. Lane departure warning / lane keep assist are not offered, nor is pedestrian detection.

In that location are two forepart airbags and 2 side airbags, but no side air curtains.

Neb Murray reprised Groundhog Day, this time in a Jeep Gladiator, during Super Bowl 54.

Gladiator Vs. the Competition

The 2020 Jeep Gladiator competes with several midsize trucks, most of which have an off-road version. They are, in order of end-of-2019 sales: Toyota Tacoma, Chevrolet Colorado, Ford Ranger, Nissan Borderland, Jeep Gladiator, Honda Ridgeline, and GMC Canyon. The Gladiator sold 40,000 units in 2019, its kickoff year, just didn't reach full output and sales until the second half when it sold 33,000 units, the acme month existence a flake over half dozen,000 in Oct. Sales may option upwardly in the wake of the the Super Bowl: The Bill Murray / Groundhog Twenty-four hour period advertizing featuring the Gladiator was seen equally the best ad of the game. In its first year, the Gladiator named a bunch of truck of the twelvemonth awards including North American Truck of the Year from NACTOY.

If you only want to accept a 4×4 pickup onto a dirt or gravel road with ruts and the occasional rock sticking upward a flake, they'll all get the job done. Others will be better at highway driving, smoother, and quieter. What the Gladiator offers is the Jeep aura, off-route abilities that go from good to great. For now yous've got a very long vehicle with a roomy cockpit (front and dorsum), and a shortish pickup bed. Jeep suggests other Gladiator size configurations will come.

This is definitely a automobile you want your partner or spouse to empathise and capeesh earlier you lot sign the papers. Run into if you can test-drive information technology a couple miles on an interstate, not just local rounds. The Gladiator is no Jeep Grand Cherokee (upscale ii-row SUV) if you want a smoothen ride, quiet cockpit, and soft leather upholstery. And the Gladiator is 1 step ahead of the Grand Cherokee in going style-off-road, which G Cherokee in turn is ane stride ahead of near all other all-wheel-drive cars. Jeep understands unpaved roads and obstacles.

For serious off-roading, or if this is not your only car, the Gladiator Rubicon is the all-time option. Yous'll easily pay in the mid- to high-fifties on list price once you check the options you want, perhaps top $60,000. A more toll-effective Gladiator is the Sport S with automated transmission, hardtop and insulating liner, the two commuter aid / rubber packages, the 7-inch (LCD) radio group with CarPlay and Android Auto, the less costly trailer tow packet, and a convenience group package required by i of the other options. That'southward $43,165 earlier the incentives, so you might well wind up paying nether $40K (run into beneath).

(If you want the nicest all-round midsize pickup, that's the Honda Ridgeline, the most car-similar pickup. The Toyota Tacoma is some other adept choice. Toyota, Ford, Chevy and GMC make off-roading versions of their pickups.)

If y'all've shopped for a Jeep Gladiator over the past several months, you may know Jeep dealers were marking upwards the Gladiator, especially the Rubicon, past equally much every bit $10,000, sometimes $20,000 (asking, if not getting) at mid-year when the Gladiator starting arriving in quantity. By year's end, the markups were gone. At present, information technology'southward Jeep that'southward giving dorsum money: a $2,000 incentive for most all buyers, $five,000 at many dealerships, and, says CarsDirect, every bit much as $9,000 in a few cases. Some incentives excluded the Rubicon.

The bottom line on the Jeep Gladiator is that it'south a footling rough as a highway cruiser and many contractors / tradesmen want a bigger bed for hauling stuff, but it'southward corking off-roading, and information technology has grapheme in droves.

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