Road test review: Jeep Gladiator Overland

Monday, 13 July 2020

Watch: a fleet of left-hand drive Jeep Gladiators take over Central Otago for the model's international media launch.

JEEP GLADIATOR OVERLAND
Base price: $89,990
Powertrain and economy: 3.6-litre petrol V6, 209kW/347Nm, 8-speed automatic, 4WD, combined economy 11.2L/100km, CO2 257g/km (source: RightCar).

Are you not entertained? The Jeep Gladiator does its best Russell Crowe impersonation.

Vital statistics: 5591mm long, 1894mm wide, 1905mm high, 3488mm wheelbase, 18-inch alloy wheels.
We like: Looks awesome, comfortable and well-equipped interior, relentless off-road.
We don't like: Massive, wanders at open road speeds, not tested by ANCAP yet; not likely to be good though…

Joey, do you like movies about Gladiators? How about huge V6 petrol-powered convertible utes? No? Well, too bad, because one is already here in the form of the Gladiator, Jeep’s forceful entry back into what American’s laughably call the “medium pick-up” segment. We call it huge.

Really? They call this medium?

While something like the Gladiator is truly only a “medium” in the land of the free and the home of the XXXL - where the buffalo roam and Ford F150s playfully nuzzle up against Chevrolet Silverados at the gas station - we are essentially ¾ scale to them, so something like the Gladiator is actually rather huge here, even compared to the more familiar, yet ever-increasingly large utes we are used to in this part of the world.

Yes, the Gladiator is almost unstoppable off-road.

* First drive review: Jeep Gladiator

* Jeep Gladiator NZ price and spec confirmed

The Gladiator shares the same 209kW 3.6-litre petrol V6 as the Wrangler.

* Meet the Gladiator: the Jeep ute you have always wanted

As such, the visually imposing Gladiator makes a scene wherever you park it. People point and stare, taking photos and hesitantly smiling, much in the way you would if, say, a giant robot whale suddenly materialised in a city CBD.

Yes, the interior is retro and upright, but it perfectly suits the Gladiator.

And, yeah, it’s about as incongruous as that too – a hulking, ridiculously long thing that is familiar Wrangler for the front three quarters and equally familiar ute for the final fourth. Except they’re not at all familiar when joined together in such a way.

But that is exactly what makes the Gladiator so special, so interesting and so fun. Well, there’s that and that whole “convertible” thing – yes, the Gladiator features the Wrangler's “Freedom top” (how American is that?) that features two removable from roof panels, while the entire hardtop can also be removed.

And, like the Wrangler, you can also remove the doors and fold the windscreen down, if the need takes you…

How does it actually measure up to the likes of the Ranger or Hilux then?

While the tray is a good size, the Gladiator can carry way less than the utes we are used to.

Well… it doesn’t really because, aside from sharing the double cab wellside layout, the Gladiator is a rather different beast entirely.

For a start the Overland we drove here only has a meagre tray payload of just 527kg, because payload just doesn’t matter to Americans. It also only tows 2,700kg on a braked trailer, making it less of a workhorse and more of a big, chunky toy. Which is just perfect, really.

Around town the Gladiator is surprisingly better than the Wrangler in terms of ride comfort, if not actual manoeuvrability. Although in the Gladiator’s defence it has an impressively tight turning circle for something so long, which makes life easier.

The ride quality is impressive though, with only a slight “unladen ute” jiggliness coming from the rear over rougher surfaces.

It doesn’t necessarily last, however, as when you venture further out onto open roads, the Gladiator betrays more of its Wrangler origins, with a slightly cruder ride than you would expect from something like a Ford Ranger or Toyota Hilux, while it also has the Wrangler’s tendency to wander quite a bit during highway cruising, meaning you spend a lot of time chasing it on the open road.

The Gladiator’s 209kW/347Nm V6 petrol engine doesn't necessarily feel over-endowed with power, but it does an admirable job of hustling it along at a more-than-acceptable rate and feels nicely brawny when overtaking.

It does become a bit breathless and runs out of torque at higher revs, but the slick 8-speed transmission does a good job of generally keeping it where it needs to bo to make the most of the engine’s torque band.

It does sound a bit harsh though, but you could argue that this actually suits the Gladiator's personality anyway.

Is it as blatantly American on the inside as it is on the outside?

Of course. The Gladiator shares the Wrangler’s interior, which is a very good thing as it was a simply massive improvement in terms of what Chrysler stuck inside a Jeep.

All of the expected chunky Jeep heritage styling cues are present, although there is a frankly surprising lack of fake allen bolts and screw heads present. Which is nice.

The seats are comfortable and supportive (although in a more broad American backside sense), while Jeep has even managed to banish the irritating habit the old Wrangler had of reflecting all of its dash lights in the side windows at night. It only does it in the rear window now.

Being American the audio system is, of course, a hilariously over-powered pounding way to destroy your relationship with your neighbours, while the heated seats and steering wheel could be used to cook lunch on.

It’s a Jeep, so I assume it is utterly excellent off-road?

You assume correct. It really goes without saying that the Gladiator is truly spectacular off-road, given its close relationship to the Wrangler.

Like the Wrangler, the Gladiator simply dismisses aggressively unwelcoming terrain as effortlessly as a Toyota Corolla driving through the carpark of a lawn bowls club.

While its extra length makes the occasional ramp-over underside scrape a bit more regular, it is still as essentially unstoppable – and impressively comfortable – as a Wrangler off the sealed stuff.

In fact, like the Wrangler, the Gladiator weirdly seems to get more comfortable the worse the surface gets. Which tells you all you need to know about its intended purpose in life, really.

Any other cars I should consider?

There aren’t really all that many, to be honest.

A Ford Ranger Raptor is in the same price range ($84,990) and packs a reduced carrying capacity (750kg in this case), putting them both squarely into the “massive toy” segment together, but the Raptor is far more polished, yet nowhere near as outrageous (although it is still quite outrageous).

The Volkswagen Amarok V6 Aventura ($90,000) frolics in the same price pool, but is far more po-faced and serious when compared to the Gladiator’s joyously in-yer-face style, while the Mercedes-Benz X350d was around the same price, but has been consigned to history as a failed experiment.

When it comes right down to it though, the real decision a potential Gladiator buyer is likely to be between it and saving $5,000, ditching the tray and buying a Wrangler Unlimited instead. While both are spectacular, yet ruthlessly single-minded toys, the Gladiator does win the cool battle hands-down…