So what about those factory V8 Gladiator rumors?

[bleda2002]

I can't imagine the ungodly amount of money they'd want for a V8 Gladiator. If the Wrangler is like $80,000 to start, the JT would be easily upwards of $90,000. I can almost buy a house in some places for that much.

Gladiator would be more fun, but shhh dont give them ideas or my wife will divorce me when she sees the 90K sale contract

Sponsored

 

[XJFanatic]

I would much rather have the i6TT. Especially if it performs anywhere near as well as the 2.0T torque curve wise.

 

[bleda2002]

"...the race between the Tesla Model S P100D and McLaren 720S isn't even close. The Model S pulls off a 9.42-second quarter-mile with a trap speed of 146.86 mph. Meanwhile, the McLaren supercar finished the sprint in 10.17 seconds with a 139.50 mph trap speed." Source

 

[CrazyCooter]

I can hear it now and the drag strip......"Ya, but you have an electric Challenger" like that has less value than real race with a real gas powered engine.

Reminds me of when someone asks me what fuel economy I get on 37's in my JT......21-25mpg.....And they reply with "Ya, but you have a diesel" like that's cheating or something?

 

[dcmdon]

I’ll admit I don’t know much about long term reliability, but I remember the Cadillac Northstar V8 provided both decent gas mileage when around town or taking it easy, but also had V8 power when wanted it. Did that turn out to not work so well or have reliability issues? Maybe just expensive engineering?

Other than gas vs diesel (diesels are thermodynamically more efficient than gas engines and diesel fuel has more energy per gallon) most modern engines use similar amounts of fuel to make a given amount of power.

What's more important to fuel efficiency than how much power an engine CAN make is how much power it is ASKED to make.

A 460 hp corvette can easily break 30 mpg if its driven easily because the Corvette is light, has a small frontal area and is a slippery shape.

If a vehicle takes X amount of power to maintain 70 mph on the highway, its going to get similar fuel economy whether its a turbo 6 or a V8.

If one vehicle takes more power to move, its going to get worse economy, within reason, regardless of the engine. My old Mitsubishi Montero weighed 4100 lbs and had Jeep like aerodynamics. It only had 145 hp but still only got 14 mpg.

This is also why my 5000 lb 3.6L Gladiator gets worse fuel economy than my friend's 4000 lb, 460 hp LT1 powered Wrangler. His truck has more power, but most of the time, my engine has to put out more power than his.

The Northstar was an advanced efficient engine. But it was also put into pretty slippery reasonably sized vehicles. My father-in-law's Caddilac DTS got decent fuel economy with its NorthStar engine.

 

[dcmdon]

i don’t need a 5.7 or 6.4 hemi. but i sure wish a smaller v8 with 300-320hp and 300-320ftlbs of torque was available. not a monster just a good strong pickup. i would be very interested in that if the price was reasonable. i cant afford a 392 wrangler or gladiator

The 5.7 is like a $2000 option over the 3.6 in a Ram. It would be a no-brainer for the Gladiator if it was offered.

But CAFE will prevent that.

 

[friskeljr]

I want the new huricane engine and vented seat option to go with heated

 

[AmishMike]

I’ll admit I don’t know much about long term reliability, but I remember the Cadillac Northstar V8 provided both decent gas mileage when around town or taking it easy, but also had V8 power when wanted it. Did that turn out to not work so well or have reliability issues? Maybe just expensive engineering?

Lots of head gasket issues. The head bolts would pull out of the block. GM never seemed to get it right but Jasper did. Used to buy the oversized inserts from Jasper to make repairs at our Cadillac dealership.

 

[Pedal Metal]

The ICE has reached its pinnacle of engineering. It was one hell of a ride. But the lithium-ion battery - and the next generation of sodium-ion batteries - ultimately offer so much more to the end consumer. Now don't read this has me being an EV nerd, I'm quite the opposite (I drive a Gladiator for crying out loud), but I see the writing on the wall.

• A finite supply of fossil-fuels
• Crude oil supply in volatile regions of the globe
• Battery technology greatly increasing while costs continue to decline
• High R&D in new battery technologies (sodium-ion)
• High performance
• Low maintenance
• Game changers (Musk) willing to burst through existing barriers (unions, governments, oil)
• Political pressure for the "green" future

Of course revolution and change doesn't come easy nor cheap (initially).

I don't see how our energy grids are going to support full-scale electrification. Here in CA we're already challenged. For electrification to truly work, large scale solar deployments need to be administered. Like now. I don't see that happening. The solar industry is not dialed in properly.

I think government-mandated electrification is going to receive backlash from many different communities. I've already read some communities claiming discrimination because they can't afford new EVs. The response is that's what the used ICE car market is for. I don't see this going smoothly.

My guess is the Gladiator will continue with the Pentastar V6 and Diesel. It'll get the Hurricane TT I-6 for a short period while also getting a 4xe version. I don't think it goes true EV (beyond 4xe) for a long while. Definitely no V8.

I’ve tried not to misquote or take you out of context, but I do have a few questions:
- is the ICE *REALLY* at its pinnacle when there is a new inline 6TT that has been under development and preparing to launch? That would seem to be a current advancement whether we like it or not. Maybe there is still fruit on the vine and new opportunities for other enhancements that are being hamstrung by such talk?
- isn’t everything including lithium and whatever is next finite?
- Oh, and I think it’s hilarious how I’ve been told my whole life of 49 years that we’re running out of petroleum, but we keep discovering more. Oh, and something related, where is the world of acid rain that I was promised for my future when I was in the 7th grade?
- batteries = green, I think not:
http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5...hium-mine-atacama-5%255B6%255D.jpg?imgmax=800

 

[Hootbro]

Peak oil is a myth and oil is only traded as a commodity because Standard Oil led by Rockefeller had to convince the buying public it was a short term finite commodity so there could be a value attached to it to profit from.

 

[dcmdon]

I’ve tried not to misquote or take you out of context, but I do have a few questions:
- is the ICE *REALLY* at its pinnacle when there is a new inline 6TT that has been under development and preparing to launch? That would seem to be a current advancement whether we like it or not. Maybe there is still fruit on the vine and new opportunities for other enhancements that are being hamstrung by such talk?
- isn’t everything including lithium and whatever is next finite?
- Oh, and I think it’s hilarious how I’ve been told my whole life of 49 years that we’re running out of petroleum, but we keep discovering more. Oh, and something related, where is the world of acid rain that I was promised for my future when I was in the 7th grade?
- batteries = green, I think not:
http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5xyCB__8sBw/Vim-k2Z0e-I/AAAAAAABIEI/6j1VPkPCyck/lithium-mine-atacama-5%255B6%255D.jpg?imgmax=800

There will be incremental improvements in ICE power and efficiency. Incremental gains in efficiency are all that is really left without hybridization.

In contrast, EV tech is nascent. Large gains can ge expected in the next 20 years.

I'm a dyed in the wool ICE person, but I'm not closed minded.

The problem with EVs isn't range. Its recharge time and availability of charging stations.

Taking a trip now with any non-Tesla EV is currently either a chore or an adventure depending on your perspective. There aren't a lot of places to charge and there are even fewer high speed charging locations, with many out of order.

Once you can charge your 800 hp EV in 10 minutes at a charging station that is as easy to find as any gas station, it will be game over for the ICE, other than as a specialty or curiosity vehicle.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

You'll see an electric Gladiator first. If there ever is a factory V8, it will be a limited run special edition.

The V8 end of the line is coming soon for other FCA vehicles - other companies have and will be following that line.
This is 2022 not 1970.

The only reason I’m surprised that we haven’t seen either a 392 or 4XE JT is that you would assume at least some of the engineering for the JL could be directly applied to the JT.

Nope, and that's been discussed ad nauseum as well. These are different vehicles - they are trucks. They have to watch payload and towing ratings. As far as engineering - they are also different in crash tests. To change to a different engine means starting over getting certified.
I have a PDF where FCA recently applied for some government certs - and the rules and law numbers and codes and what they have to list page after page after page to stay certified without going through testing again actually had me almost dizzy. That's a department I'm thankful I never worked in! It was crazy. Even I thought it was more simple than that.
They had to detail parts of each emissions system, transmission controls and more and state they still complied with this or that. It made me think we were lucky to get the JT at all.

 

[bleda2002]

I’ve tried not to misquote or take you out of context, but I do have a few questions:
- is the ICE *REALLY* at its pinnacle when there is a new inline 6TT that has been under development and preparing to launch? That would seem to be a current advancement whether we like it or not. Maybe there is still fruit on the vine and new opportunities for other enhancements that are being hamstrung by such talk?
- isn’t everything including lithium and whatever is next finite?

The tt v6 isn't a real advancement of the internal combustion engine, it's just stellantis joining the party. Ford's been pushing turbos for over a decade now, and euro for even longer. The ICE really is at peak performance right now short of going to truly exotic materials to try to squeeze out a few percentage points more of efficiency.

Also, lithium is finite but recyclable. When the battery is at the end of it's life, all the precious metals and elements can be recycled in to a new battery, just takes energy and processing.

I've had a ton of really fast cars with v8s, but once I drove my uncle's tesla once there was no question where the performance future was. The power and torque are mind blowing, it's just infrastructure holding it back.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Jeeps outsell every other FCA brand? Maybe they are sacrificing other brand models to reduce overall fleet MPG numbers to save the best selling brand....Jeep?

Maybe if you count ALL models of Jeeps - Cherokee, Compass, Grand Cherokee, Renegade and so on. It's a big family.

 

[TroutFishingInAmerica]

There will be incremental improvements in ICE power and efficiency. Incremental gains in efficiency are all that is really left without hybridization.

In contrast, EV tech is nascent. Large gains can ge expected in the next 20 years.

I'm a died in the wool ICE person, but I'm not closed minded.

The problem with EVs isn't range. Its recharge time and availability of charging stations.

Taking a trip now with any non-Tesla EV is currently either a chore or an adventure depending on your perspective. There aren't a lot of places to charge and there are even fewer high speed charging locations, with many out of order.

Once you can charge your 800 hp EV in 10 minutes at a charging station that is as easy to find as any gas station, it will be game over for the ICE, other than as a specialty or curiosity vehicle.

I read a interesting article the other day about a Chinese electric car company. You buy the electric car without a battery, you buy a battery subscription. There are automated battery exchange stations that take 3 to 5 minutes to remove and replace your battery. The subscription cost $12 (in USD) a month and allows you 3 battery swaps. The station holds 13 batteries and takes up 3 parking spots. You can also charge at a regular charge station or at home. The benefits are many, cheaper purchase price since you aren't paying for the battery, if the battery goes bad it's not thousands for a replacement you just swap it out, 3 to 5 minutes for a full charge, at a 3 parking spot footprint they could be put in a lot of places. New ideas continue to roll out.

Sponsored