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Gladiator

don87401

Original Owner
BENEFACTOR
Gold Member
Lifetime Member
SOA Member
City
Farmington
State
NM
I haven't driven one yet but they do have my interest.
 

Chamba

Not obsessed: focused.
Member
City
Vero Beach
State
FL
Only Pickup left in America with three pedals: I love that.
 

gazzo

AMC Jeep nutjob
Lifetime Member
City
Fremantle
State
WA
So when these finally made it to Oz they decided it would be without the diesel. That was where my two-vehicle Gladiator work vehicle plan died. Can’t have gasoline vehicles on mine sites so that’s that.
For what it’s worth this is the best proportioned and colored example I’ve seen:IMG_1351.jpeg
 

Chamba

Not obsessed: focused.
Member
City
Vero Beach
State
FL
Could you convert it and run it on gas? Easy enough.

Can't get the diesel in a manual in the states anyway, so not worth the buy.
 

Doc Savage

Basic User
City
Greenville
State
TX
Well I have to say I'm having to eat some crow. When the Gladiator was first announced I had dissed it and wouldn't consider it. Alot of that had to do with the initial rumors being it would be called Scrambler not Gladiator. Well still wasn't too interested when they first came out but really got interested when I heard they were putting the ecodiesel in them. I had been considering a Ram with the ecodiesel, but just couldn't justify it. Then I started considering the Gladiator. Well last year in the heat wave here in TX, my Grand Cherokee blew the upper radiator hose and lost water so fast, the temp never got hot before I ended up with a warped head and coolant in the oil. I was suddenly in the market for a new jeep. I had looked into a 22 diesel that was "stuck in transit". I had a down payment on it but after several weeks of driving the Scrambler daily, I lost an AC hose on the Scrambler. Looked that weekend and found a used 21 diesel at a local dealer at a decent price. After canceling my other order and getting my deposit back, I went and picked up the other Gladiator. I have to say that I absolutely LOVE this jeep. The diesel is amazing and the fuel milage is amazing. Until recently the price delta for diesel hasn't been bad either. We've used it alot and it has been coast to coast in the last year. In 14 months we've put 31K miles on it. It has become our trip vehicle. Only issue I've had is lots of rocks on the drive into work and I've replaced the windshield fairly early on and already have a star in the new one. If work will calm down, I need to get the AC on the Scrambler fixed, but It still gets driven on occassion, mainly in the cooler months. ;)
 

gr8dain

Old and Slow
BENEFACTOR
Gold Member
Lifetime Member
SOA Member
City
Ashburn
State
VA
Did I hear that they are stopping the diesel option? If so, does anyone know why?
 

spankrjs

Scrambler Junkie
Lifetime Member
SOA Member
City
Biloxi
State
MS
Did I hear that they are stopping the diesel option? If so, does anyone know why?
Yes. Demand, but more importantly, it probably will not meet the newer/stricter emissions standards coming down the line, not enough ROI to make it compliant, just an educated guess :shrug:
 

Bad Karma

Captain Sarcasm
BENEFACTOR
Lifetime Member
Member
City
Cobourg, Ontario, Cana
State
da
They discontinued the Eco-Diesel because they have problems with the bottom end blowing up. So much so that the Eco-Diesel was completely re-designed THREE times in its entire life span or roughly 10 years but that never fixed the problem. FCA has been losing money hand over fist replacing them under warranty, which was $18,000 Canadian when I had mine replaced in 2021. Thats just for the engine, not including labor. Had to wait months for them to even get a replacement since they are so far back ordered because of the warranty claims. My 2018 Ram was 6,000KM out of warranty when it blew up. FCA only paid for half of my engine, even though I had brought it in during my warranty period due to a low oil pressure warning, at which time I should have listened to my gut and sold the truck... I loved my Ram, the diesel was awesome. I would still have it today. Of all the dealers I spoke too, they usually had AT LEAST one Eco-diesel blown up in their shop all the time.
I have always wanted a diesel Gladiator, like dream truck like wanted... But with the experience I had with my Ram, I opted for the 3.6L JTR.
 

Ron84cj

Engine nerd
Lifetime Member
City
West Bend
State
WI
They discontinued the Eco-Diesel because they have problems with the bottom end blowing up. So much so that the Eco-Diesel was completely re-designed THREE times in its entire life span or roughly 10 years but that never fixed the problem. FCA has been losing money hand over fist replacing them under warranty, which was $18,000 Canadian when I had mine replaced in 2021. Thats just for the engine, not including labor. Had to wait months for them to even get a replacement since they are so far back ordered because of the warranty claims. My 2018 Ram was 6,000KM out of warranty when it blew up. FCA only paid for half of my engine, even though I had brought it in during my warranty period due to a low oil pressure warning, at which time I should have listened to my gut and sold the truck... I loved my Ram, the diesel was awesome. I would still have it today. Of all the dealers I spoke too, they usually had AT LEAST one Eco-diesel blown up in their shop all the time.
I have always wanted a diesel Gladiator, like dream truck like wanted... But with the experience I had with my Ram, I opted for the 3.6L JTR.

Yikes. I heard they were bad but not that bad! I never really looked into the diesels until now. Geez, so the only other engine choice in these things is the 3.6L Pentastar? 🤮 Those things also have a terrible track record.
 

Bad Karma

Captain Sarcasm
BENEFACTOR
Lifetime Member
Member
City
Cobourg, Ontario, Cana
State
da
everything has a bad track record now. Everything is designed to fail after warranty.
I honestly have yet to meet someone that hasnt had their own Eco-Diesel blown up or personally know someone whose Eco-Diesel blown up.

Here's what mine looked like at 106,000KM.
IMG_7088.JPG
 

gazzo

AMC Jeep nutjob
Lifetime Member
City
Fremantle
State
WA
We were told no diesel to to emissions. Looks more like reliability issues having read all this.
 

spankrjs

Scrambler Junkie
Lifetime Member
SOA Member
City
Biloxi
State
MS
I went the other way yesterday, traded my 2022 Gladiator on a new 2024 Wrangler:

20230918_165403_HDR.jpg

20230922_191619_HDR.jpg

IMG_8715.jpg

The Gladiator was nice, but wasn't quite enough "truck" for the tradeoffs compared to a Wrangler, for me.

I ordered a white one of these 60 something days ago, order confirmed, never scheduled for production, and now the strike......

This one was 5 minutes from my house on the showroom floor, the color is interesting, since I have already had a white Jeep, figured why not. Should get it late next week after it gets ceramic coated, can't wait!!

I test drove a used 2023 model right before I ordered one. I knew within 10 seconds of driving it I was going to buy one. It was just that awesome IMO. The raw power is incredible, but just the torque that is evident during normal driving was fantastic. Something the V6 was missing. I test drove the used one for about an hour, I was able to maintain 15-16mpg vs my Gladiator 17-18mpg, negligible for the driving pleasure!!!

A V8 Gladiator would be awesome!! For now, I'll just tow a trailer behind this if I need a pickup truck!
 
Last edited:

gazzo

AMC Jeep nutjob
Lifetime Member
City
Fremantle
State
WA
Is that all stock? Awesome setup of height and tires etc
 
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