All Jeep, More Truck
This was a perfect storm in every sense, but in a good way. My first experience with Jeep’s newest model, the Gladiator, took place on an off-road course carved out of the Monterey County hillside by the hard-core crew of the Land Rover Experience at the Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley, California as part of Western Automotive Journalists’ Media Day program. It was totally satisfying, with the 2020 Jeep Gladiator delivering equal parts of Jeep toughness and touches of luxury and technology that go along with the elevated price of the top model of this new pickup.
Jeep has gone down the pickup road before—this makes the sixth time, and second time for the Gladiator name—but the midsize pickup market has been hot, so this Firecracker Red model and its siblings should be able to find a welcoming home. It builds on Jeep’s solid off-road reputation by adding a five-foot-long steel bed with a 1,600-pound payload capacity. It also can tow up to 7,650 pounds while also being able to ford streams up to 30 inches deep.
This is the Gladiator’s claim to fame in this segment. It’s a Jeep, based on the hardcore off-roaders’ favorite 4×4, Wrangler. It only comes in four-wheel drive. It doesn’t apologize for being designed to go off-road, but it also doesn’t short you anything in comfort or modern technology, including things like a front-facing camera so you can visually see the terrain you’re challenging.
Basic Packages
The 2020 Jeep Gladiator comes in four flavors that straddle quite a price gap, especially when you consider the basic level of equipment is common to all four models. Start with the single engine choice—FCA’s tried-and-true 3.6-liter Pentastar V6, putting out 285 horsepower and an important 260 pounds-feet of torque (critical when you go off-road). Two transmission choices follow—the base six-speed manual and an eight-speed automatic. In EPA testing the manual gives you one mpg around town (17 vs. 16), but gives up an mpg on the highway (22 vs. 23). The combined fuel economy for both is the same—a meager 19 mpg. That’s even with a mild hybrid system that shuts down the engine at stops.
Relief is coming on that front. Next year Jeep will add the 3.0-liter diesel to the mix and that should bump the Gladiator’s fuel economy numbers into a more respectable region. Of course, since the gross weights of the truck range from 4,650 pounds up to over 5,000, it will be an uphill battle to get those numbers up much higher short of moving to a more electrified powertrain.
While the basic equipment will take the Gladiator further off-road than some of its competition, the up-level models, especially the Rubicon, offer the hard-core off-road equipment designed tackling serious terrain, such as locking differentials front and rear, better shocks and taller gear ratios to give the truck more low-end grunt. All that fancy hardware comes at a price, though, as the Rubicon model starts $10,000 more than the base Sport.
In my brief off-road experience with the Gladiator, the size of the truck did present some limitation off-road. Though based on the four-door Wrangler, the Gladiator adds almost 20 inches to the wheelbase and 30 inches to the overall length, including almost 10 inches of added rear overhang. Those numbers take away from the trail maneuverability of the pickup, but allow you to bring more goods along for the ride.
The Gladiator has skid plates galore to protect its underside; I put them to use since I found that long wheelbase of the Gladiator—a strength when you’re not doing serious rock-climbing—almost ended up with me high-centered.
Inside—Tradition with a Twist
Inside, the first impression of the Gladiator is like the outside—tradition is upheld. The flat dash is not far off of the ones GIs saw in World War II, but the technology embedded within definitely comes from the 21st century.
The high-tech equipment you might not expect in an off-road beast like the Jeep Gladiator—for the higher-end models—includes park assist—helpful because of the size of the truck, Jeep’s Uconnect infotainment system that includes Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with up to an 8.4-inch touchscreen, blind spot and cross path detection, adaptive cruise control, brake assist, a forward-facing camera and more. The availability of this technology, most of which we recommend you add because of the added safety, varies from model to model, so check things out online to see what’s standard and optional at each level.
While not a luxury vehicle by any stretch of the imagination, the 2020 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon I drove had leather-trimmed bucket seats in front. Of course, all this came at a cost. The final ticket on the loaded Rubicon was $57,230, including the $1,495 destination charge, and you probably could add some Mopar accessories to personalize it even more.
The different models stack up this way:
- Sport starts at $33,545
- Sport S starts at $36,940
- Overland starts at $40,590
- Rubicon starts at $43,740
All are 4X4s with the varying levels of standard equipment accounting for most of the price differentials. The key is to watch out if key equipment, such as advanced driver assistance technology, is not available on the model. That seems particularly to be an issue with the base Sport model.
The warranties for the Gladiator are fairly standard, although the powertrain backing is a bit stronger than some of the competition:
- Basic – Three years/36,000 miles
- Powertrain – Five years/60,000 miles
- Roadside Assistance – Five years/100,000 miles
- Rust-Through – Five years/100,000 miles
Bottom Line
You are not going to find a tougher truck than the 2020 Jeep Gladiator. It only comes as a 4×4 and that’s what it’s designed for, so be prepared for a higher ride height and slightly rougher on-road ride than some of the competition. It’s five-foot bed is shorter than some of competition, but it can tow (7,650-pound max) and haul (1,600-pound payload) with the best of them. No one else offers a soft top, fold-down windshield or removeable doors.
It’s a unique beast that really is in a category by itself. If you must compare (and we do), the other midsize pickups include the Chevrolet Colorado, Ford Ranger, GMC Canyon, Honda Ridgeline, Nissan Frontier and Toyota Tacoma. They’re fine pickups with more variety of powertrains and configurations than the Gladiator has at this point.
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Disclosure:
Clean Fleet Report is loaned free test vehicles from automakers to evaluate, typically for a week at a time. Our road tests are based on this one-week drive of a new vehicle. Because of this we don’t address issues such as long-term reliability or total cost of ownership. In addition, we are often invited to manufacturer events highlighting new vehicles or technology. As part of these events we may be offered free transportation, lodging or meals. We do our best to present our unvarnished evaluations of vehicles and news irrespective of these inducements.
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