Is the jeep Gladiator the best off road truck?

[brianinca]

The F150 Raptor is too wide for West Coast trails, too - really hoping the Ranger Raptor is as good as it should be, my old Ranger flew pretty good. I wish the real compact pickups would come back, even the Maverick is oversized.

for its size i believe the gladiator is the best. i really wanted a raptor but its just to wide for the forested trails of the east coast. im waiting on my gladiator to be built now but have used a jkur on 35s for a decade and its been extremely rugged and will make me nervous before it runs out of capability

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[brianinca]

The Raptor would get left behind on any number of gatekeepers, it is hilariously wide. 2" of ground clearance is useless when the vehicles is too wide by 24" to even get to the trail.

if you're talking general purpose off-roading and you're talking from the factory stock, it's hard to beat massive tires. Which makes the Raptor with the Raptor 37 Performance Package hard to beat. There's no way to deny that from-the-factory extra 2 inches of clearance to the axles that the Raptor has over the Rubi or Jave.

That being said... it's also an 82k truck (cant get the 37 package without the high package). You could get a base model rubicon or mojave for about 46k at a gupton or similar, spend 2.5k on 37s and about 1k on an AEV 2" spacer lift and have something more capable off-road than an 82k raptor for about 50k

 

[Jefe1018]

In the midsize segment yes.

Overall, it won’t be as good as a say a trx or a raptor in the wide open desert, but in the slow stuff none of the ifs trucks can do as much or goes as far.

 

[brianinca]

The size of the Rivian is EXCELLENT, it is VERY similar in width to the JT and that speaks well to the engineers. Parked next to one at the club a few weeks ago, my wife liked it a LOT!

OTOH, the new Hummer is a trainwreck, saw one in SD this weekend and it's a joke to consider taking offroad. And this is coming from a former H2 driver, that thing was really capable where it would fit.

I think the rivian seems to be an amazing machine. So I think it needs to go head to head with a gladiator on a serious trail. Meaning obstacle for obstacle, line for line. I genuinely want to see how it does.

 

[cuellar13]

Not sure that an echo chamber is the best place to pose a question like that. That's like asking a bunch of dog people if dogs or cats are the better pet...

Sure, you'll get a couple of folks trying to be objective in their comparisons, but in the end, the consensus will be the same.

 

[WILDHOBO]

I like the way you think

Please tell my wife.

 

[booneja]

From an overall perspective and the trim levels I would say yes. From a Full size perspective FCA I think wtill has everyone beat, with the Power wagon is comparable with Rubicon and TRX is supposed to outperform the raptor, so there really is no competition for offroad outside of FCA products...*****Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated or sponsored by FCA , but maybe I should be so I can get a new 2024 JT when they come out....just saying, in case anyone from FCA Canada is listening, lol

 

[LostWoods]

The Raptor would get left behind on any number of gatekeepers, it is hilariously wide. 2" of ground clearance is useless when the vehicles is too wide by 24" to even get to the trail.

It's not the 2" of ground clearance that makes it great it's the 14"/15" of F/R suspension travel. They get crossed up way less than other IFS trucks if you can get past the fact they're 16 inches wider than the Gladiator.

JT owns the technical crown and Raptor will own the go-fast crown until the Ranger Raptor comes out but even that is 80 inches wide. It'll be an issue on a lot of trails but where it fits it'll readily keep up with the JT for most stuff. That is until you start modding because the Raptor has notoriously low headroom for improving technical ability. Such is life when extending your control arms means going wider.

 

[OngsterA]

I drove an R1T offroad on a First Mile event, very capable on the rutty flexy stuff, no loss of traction. Those quad motors really manage each wheel well. The adjustable suspension was also very nice. It's about the same size as our JT. I think for wheeling and crawling this is the closest competitor, pricewise our JT still beats it.

I even ordered one due at the end of the year, but canceled knowing Rivian's situation now. Plus the miles wheeling in off-grid areas worrying about charging, infrastructure is just not there yet. Heck, having Rotopaxes beats that all day.

 

[madesicc88]

I really enjoyed my 1st gen Raptor, it was a great truck in the trails that I play on, I do more fast fire roads and forest roads, not any rock crawling. The only downside to that truck was it was wide and getting into overgrown trials it would get scratched to shit.
I had a Ranger Tremor and absolutely loved that truck, it had a good suspension and could get a lot more places that the Raptor couldn’t get without me destroying the paint. Loved the little eco boost motor too. Unfortunately the backseat was too small for my kids and after our first long haul camping trip I decided to get rid of it.
I really like my Gladiator too but have only been off-road a couple times with it and it’s been great as well. Most any trucks can manage the stuff I ride on but I would say the Raptor did it best. I really like that truck and have kicked myself for getting rid of it many times.

 

[chadinsc]

unfortunately i think the gladiator/wrangler are some of the worst most outdated vehicles available. still using solid axles from the 50s when everyone knows ifs is the best. im sure excited to see the new bronco raptor truck! just trolling but the bronco truck looks cool.

 

[PsyRN]

As with most questions, the answer is: It depends.

For me it's pretty darn near perfect. For one, it's not a full-size truck. Two-it can really do more than I'll probably need it to do about 99% of the time.

 

[Gvsukids]

They say the wrangler is the best off-road vehicle. Then does that mean the Jeep Gladiator is the best off-road truck? I am curious what people think as I am not a SME and would like to know.

Are you trolling?

 

[@californiajeeping]

For real offroading absolutely. The raptor is close as far as capability and has that smooth ride at high speed but its as wide as a dually.

*factory skid plates
*straight axles
*heavy duty track bars tie rods steering and suspension links
*nearly 50/50 weight distribution
*good ground clearance
*good visibility
*relatively low COG. The engine and transmission and frame sit nearly below the rocker line for COG.

The last one is something the ranger raptor is going to have a very very tough time working around. The body looks like it sits 5" above the frame then the rear overhang sit akwardly low? Weird dimensions all around.

 

[bleda2002]

If you define best off roader as what will go over/through the most stuff to get to the other side then gladiator is definitely the best off road truck currently in production. A raptor will run desert/fast trails better for sure, but a rubicon will handily beat it on technical sections especially with mild upgrades. That said, most stuff that people are willing to try can be tackled in a mildly built tacoma, raptor, or gladiator pretty handily. Really just depends on how much dragging/scraping you are willing to endure.

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