Gladiator in ring for ute honours
Move over Ranger Raptor? There’s a new Jeep lifestyle ute on the way and it’s called Gladiator, writes David Linklater.
It’s been a long time between genuine Jeep pickup trucks: the last factory effort was the Cherokee-based Comanche that bowed out in 1992, or if you wanted something similar to a Wrangler the CJ-8 Scrambler of 1981-85.
Neither were sold new in New Zealand.
But Jeep still has truck heritage. It made them right from the early days of Willys-Overland, from the simple 4x4 Truck (as the 1947 original was called) to the FC (Forward Control) workhorse to the classic J-series Gladiator (1963-87).
Speaking of which: Jeep is picking up the ute mantle once again with the new Gladiator, which takes its name from the brand’s longest-running pickup and much of its architecture and visual style from the Wrangler.
The Gladiator is heading to New Zealand mid-year, but we’ve already bashed it around on Kiwi roads . . . and over some really big rocks.
Make me an instant expert: what do I need to know?
The Gladiator will be of huge interest to Kiwis because it fits into the ‘‘one tonne’’ ute category we know and love.
We’re talking more Ford Ranger Raptor than Toyota Hilux Workmate: Gladiator is unashamedly a ‘‘lifestyle’’ pickup. It’s for towing your boat or carting your carbon mountain bike, not thumping around a farm or building site.
Jeep would like to remind you it’s not merely a Wrangler with a tray. From the B-pillar forward Gladiator definitely owes its existence to Wrangler, but from there back it’s a different proposition.
Compared with the Wrangler four-door, the Gladiator has a 479mm-longer wheelbase and it’s a massive 691mm longer overall (or still 175mm longer than a Raptor).
The longer wheelbase and a more sophisticated five-link rear suspension (adapted from the Ram 1500) make the Gladiator more tarmac-friendly than Wrangler. The off-road hardware and technology is shared, but there’s opportunity cost in off-road performance for the ute. The departure angle drops from 29.2 degrees to 26 for the Gladiator, for example. That’s still impressive . . . just less than the Wrangler.
As a ute it has a long tray (1.5m) but the payload isn’t up to the standard of the one-tonne crow, because Gladiator can only carry 620kg. Ditto for the towing ability: while most Kiwi-market utes can haul 3500kg, the Jeep is limited to 2721kg.
You can have Gladiator in softtop or hard-top configuration, and you can still remove the doors and fold the windscreen down. As a soft-top it’s also the world’s only convertible ute . . .
Where did you drive it?
On a Jeep media event based out of Queenstown in late-2019: two full days of driving both on and off-road around the Rob Roy Valley.
The timing explains why you might have seen online pictures of Gladiators wading along Kiwi roads already; this was all going on when Wanaka was nearunderwater in early December (but with an official embargo on our words until now).
The location would be pretty special under any circumstances, but this wasn’t an ordinary New Zealand launch event. It was an international programme run by the Jeep factory, with all stops officially pulled out and media participants from around the world.
Production of the right-hand drive Gladiator hadn’t started when the Central Otago drive kicked off, so for the launch event Jeep shipped out a fleet of 20 lefthand drive models and even brought along a concept car: the Wayout camper, which Gladiator designer Taylor Langhals slept in during an overnight camp at the foot of the Avalanche Glacier.
Staying on the correct side of the road is still more difficult in the Gladiator than your average ute.
It remains a hard-core offroader, so the steering and directional stability are both a bit on the approximate side for narrow Kiwi roads.
But we got into the Gladiator right after test-time in both the Wrangler Overland and Rubicon models and it’s clear that the ute is a lot more polished on-road than its sibling.
Now that the Pentastar V6 engine has an eight-speed gearbox, the powertrain is pretty smooth as well.
Off-road? Still phenomenal. The launch took us to a narrow, rockstrewn gully we’ve visited before with Jeep.
It’s a precarious and slow drive over huge boulders that requires instruction from outside the vehicle to avoid damage.
A challenge, then; not so much for the drivers because of all the onground assistance, but certainly for the vehicles.
Jeep is adamant that you can slam the Gladiator into as much hard stuff as the Wrangler and still drive away.
Example: there are ‘‘rock rails’’ not just underneath the sills, but also around the tray. Several times we rolled off huge boulders with the back wheel, slamming the tray overhang down onto the hard stuff. No problem.
You cannot help but be impressed by the Gladiator’s offroad abilities.
What’s the pick of the range?
Model specifics are still not decided for New Zealand, but expect at least Overland and Rubicon versions as tested on the launch.
And it’s got to be the Rubicon, right?
There’s no doubt that the Overland is a bit more roadfriendly, but unless you really accessorise it up it appears a little undernourished. The Rubicon looks the business and has the offroad smarts: so just go all-out and be done with it.
Why would I buy it?
It’s a dramatically different take on the whole ute thing, it’s tons of fun and that extreme off-road ability brings a lot of enthusiast credibility.
If you want to go silly, you can. Included in the launch fleet was a Gladiator fully kitted up with Mopar accessories, including ‘‘tube’’ doors (pretty close to no doors really) and an outrageous performance exhaust that brought a touch of Maserati to the mountains.
Why wouldn’t I buy it?
It’s not as slick on-road as the topline Ford Ranger or Volkswagen Amarok models. The potential price. The payload/towing ability isn’t up the level of the utes we know so well in New Zealand.