Hard as a rock

It’s pretty exciting to have the Gladiator back, but will South Africans embrace this bakkie,

Those of the older generation may remember Praetor Monteerders: the predecessor to BMW South Africa. The company’s plant in Rosslyn, Pretoria, not only built BMWs, but also the Jeep Wagoneer station wagon and Gladiator bakkie. Manufacturing ceased in 1970 when Kaiser Jeep SA terminated its partnership with Praetor, and the plant was taken over by BMW AG two years later.

And now, more than 50 years on, the Jeep Gladiator is finally back on local soil. We don’t know how many Gladiators were sold by Praetor, but Stellantis South Africa sold 55 new Jeep Gladiators within the first two weeks after its launch – and that’s without the proud new owners setting eyes on the new bakkie!

Inside and out

The Jeep Gladiator retains the Wrangler’s grille, but the slots are wider to let in more air and thus cool the engine more efficiently when transporting cargo or towing a trailer.

The brake lights have been moved to the farthest corners of the rear so that Jeep could give you a wide tail gate with unobstructed access to the load bin. Under the load bin is a full-size spare wheel (the cavity can accommodate up to a 35’’).

As with other Jeep Wranglers, you can remove the roof, doors, rear window and even windshield (or drop it forward) if you have a need to feel the wind in your hair. That’s not something you can do with any other bakkie in South Africa.

Inside, the centre console has chunky, water-resistant knobs, but it doesn’t mean you should drive into the nearest river – the leather upholstery may not like it.

The rear seats fold flat for extra storage

space and there are dozens of cavities for packing things like flasks, backpacks and map books.

Under the hood

The Jeep Gladiator Rubicon is available to South Africans in one model only. It’s powered by a proven 3.6 Pentastar V6 petrol engine. Since 2010, almost nine million of these engines have been produced and Jeep reckons it’s a suitable choice for South Africa.

The big V6 is coupled to an eight-speed automatic gearbox with a low crawl ratio of 77,2:1. If you plan to tow, you will probably also be satisfied with the 4,7:1 ratio in first gear and a 4,1:1 ratio in top gear. And 4x4 enthusiasts will be pleased with Jeep’s famous Rock-Trac system with a 4LO gear ratio of 4:1.

Conclusion

We haven’t yet driven the Gladiator, but we look forward to tackling a challenging obstacle course with it. We sincerely hope it will be embraced by South Africans, but we understand that it fills a niche market and its price is way higher than the budget of the average South African allows.