Eighty years after its birth, Jeep offers us a pick-up in Europe. America's favorite work and play vehicle crosses the pond designed by the quintessential American firm when it comes to off-roading. The new Jeep Gladiator comes to offer more versatility for leisure and work than its brother the Wrangler.
Quite stretched, because of the 4.88 meters long that the 4 × 4 measures, this pick-up is 5.59 meters long. It maintains the width, 1.89 meters, and barely varies in height. Jeep Gladiator led headlights will become hot sale accessories. The point is that here we have a battle of 3.48 meters, 48 cm more, to be able to place on the rear axle the box that supports up to 613 kg of load and that measures 1,531 mm long.
With Mopar accessories we can put a folding tonneau cover, a hard top, fastening accessories, etc. And if we can't fit any more, the Gladiator can pull up to 6,000 lbs. The off-road dimensions also change with the body stretches, as it now has an 18.4 degree breakover angle from the Wrangler's 19.2 degrees. On the other hand, the attack is 41 degrees and the exit is 25 degrees, the first better, the second worse than the Wrangler.
These differences will only be palpable if we put both models on the same obstacle, and in this case that limit is very far.
How far is that limit? After having tested a Wrangler Rubicon, further than your common sense dictates. Although in the Jeep Gladiator, for now only in Overland trim, we do not have the differential locks or the disconnectable stabilizer, we still have a very capable vehicle.
In our first contact, we attacked several ramps and obstacles with the Gladiator along a route in which we were more concerned about not caressing any tree than the slope in front of us, and that is that with the gearbox on, the car advances like a good Jeep that is, no problem. And yes, its size matters, because although it turns surprisingly well for its 5.59 meters in length, the Jeep Gladiator is still tall as it goes 25.3 cm from the ground, something that helps to avoid obstacles, but we It puts you in a bind if the trees along the path are very inclined... Nothing that looking carefully won't solve.
It should be noted that we did the test with road tires, the BF Goodrich Mud Terrain tires can be ordered as an option, and even so the car did not lose grip on the steeper ramps. He is a titan of the field. This sector is more traditional, and for now the Jeep Gladiator in Europe only comes with the 3.0-liter V6 diesel, which produces 264 hp and 600 Nm of torque from just 1,400 rpm. We did not test it on the road but in the field a slight touch of the accelerator made us move forward without any problem.
It is only sold with an 8-speed automatic gearbox, and as in its brother without a rear box, the transmission allows you to choose between two-wheel drive or four permanent, with two management modes in all-wheel drive with high ratios and, of course, reduction gear. It comes standard with the Trac-Lok rear differential. One point in favor of the Jeep Gladiator is that inside it is designed more for adventure. Although the design and its space is identical, as well as its technology with the instrumentation screen or the UConnect system on the 7-inch central screen, there are differentiating elements.
For example, the rear has seats that can be lowered or folded in different ways, and these hide some storage compartments under them and behind, for those little things that we do not want to roam in the rear box. A curious detail is its optional Alpine sound system, which includes 9 speakers including a portable one. This is located behind the right rear seat, and can be removed and connected with Bluetooth to listen to your music wherever you want once you get out of the Gladiator.
Another useful detail is the front camera. It is optional, and it can show where we are going with our Jeep Gladiator, it will undoubtedly be very useful for parking, but also for avoiding stones or tricky potholes on the road to adventure. A car that big had to come at a big price, but that's at least at the final price, which is €73,300 in Overland trim. But Jeep offers its renting for the Gladiator for 399 / euros per month, with 18,825 euros down payment and in 36 installments.