The interior is essentially carried over from the Wrangler. It only requires a few screws and latches to be undone, and with some added arm strength, off it goes! Now tell me again that a naked Gladiator is not dripping in presence. You don’t need to be handy to detach it though. The rear roof and windshield come as one piece however, are heavier, and requires a wrench that comes with the vehicle. They can be easily stowed in the truck bed as well in case it rains (Gladiator: 1, Wrangler: 0). The front two panels are easy to remove - all it takes is two minutes of unlatching six hooks without any tools. The Freedom three-piece hard top on our Gladiator gives you the freedom (hah!) to drive without a roof as well. You can personalize it as much as your imagination allows. Mopar has you covered with performance accessories and its paraphernalia. One of the largest appeals of the Gladiator is its aftermarket support and customizable features. Don’t commit heavily to last-minute overtakes, and on-ramps might require a flat throttle, but the delivery is linear, predictable, and the extended travel in the pedal makes acceleration easy to modulate. In the meantime, the V6 produces a healthy 285 hp and 260 lb-ft, and is enough to get this truck up and away with a decent amount of shove. A 3.0-litre diesel should be coming next year. Or you can have an 8-speed automatic for $1,795. There’s only one engine available for the Gladiator in Canada, and that’s the 3.6-litre Pentastar V6 that comes naturally aspirated with start/stop technology, and is paired to a standard six-speed manual. If you prioritize comfort and road mannerisms above all else, best to stick with the more conventional Gladiator models like the Sport S or Overland. The all-terrain tires don’t do a very good job absorbing impacts or quelling cabin NVH either, adding to a more focused drive than a relaxed one, but it’s more comfortable, friendlier, and stutters less than the Wrangler. It still requires full-on concentration to tame the wandering front tires, and there are butt-clenching moments when you hit large bumps going triple digit speeds on the highway. The stretched out length quells some of the cumbersome behaviour on long straights, and you don’t fight the steering wheel as much just to keep the Jeep from veering into Grandma’s Civic in the neighbouring lane. All body-on-frame Jeeps are a bit wobbly, shaky, and unnerving on the streets.īut here’s the biggest surprise: the Gladiator with its longer wheelbase, unique frame, and upgraded Fox dampers, actually delivers more civility and rides better than the Wrangler that it's based upon. But is it any comfortable to drive? No, not in the slightest. Of note, the off-road button and red-coloured diff locker switch will need the occasional dusting. Hell, you can pretty much create your own parking spot on the nearby hill at this point. Yes, the beefy tires will let you squish those peskily high curbs, and the lift kit means you can peer over every other Prius when eyeing for those coveted parking spots. In these missions, the Rubicon is clearly overkill. Instead, our Jeep crawled its way into pandemic-era grocery store parking lots. I won’t be reporting about its off-roading capabilities. Now, this is purely a road test of the Gladiator Rubicon. And if you must know, it can tow up to 7,650 lbs, gaining commercial workhorse credentials. That gets you the most off-road capable truck that Jeep currently offers, with a lift kit, rugged all-terrain tires, FOX shocks on all four corners, a wider front and rear track, locking differentials, an electronically disconnecting front sway bar, and a 4:10:1 ratio. The base Gladiator Sport S starts at $43,876, while the Rubicon model that we’re driving begins at $49,627, with all our bells and whistles pushing it up to $66,055. But you will be paying a pretty penny to enter this theme park. The Gladiator name sounds wicked, queueing up fond memories of Jeep pickups from the sixties, or Russell Crowe kicking ass in the Roman Colosseum. What other truck lets you unhook the doors, tear the roof off, fold flat the front windshield, and drive around looking like Bear Grylls in search of his overnight hotel? Yes, there’s leather in our Gladiator, but Bear likes toilet paper too. Dressed in a flaming red suit with boxy proportions that heavily contrast today’s popular aero-slick shapes, it’s certainly got presence. The new Gladiator is a long awaited entrant into the storied brand, a midsize truck meant to compete against the Ford Ranger, Toyota Tacoma, and Chevrolet Colorado. In fact, by the time I finished my one-hour commute, I had lost track of how many Wranglers and truck enthusiasts had flagged me down. It only took three minutes behind the wheel of Jeep’s new pick-up truck for me to witness the first Jeep wave.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |