rsouthern
Active Member
- First Name
- Richard
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2025
- Threads
- 7
- Messages
- 27
- Reaction score
- 15
- Location
- Bay Area, California
- Vehicle(s)
- 09 JKU Rubicon
- Thread starter
- #1
TLDR: We love our new 2025 Gladiator Mojave X. It's even better now with the SmartCap, for taking my family and our dogs on road trips (dogs in the bed with a bedrug and the SmartCap). The Mojave is well suited for highway driving and many of the features are a welcome addition when compared to our 2009 (JKU) Wrangler Rubicon. There are some improvements needed with some aspects and some missing features that are head scratchers, but overall, this is a truck you can live with and do a lot with, every day. Fuel economy isn't great, Wind noise is higher than a car, but a lot less than older Jeeps. Visibility is good and acceleration is decent. There's a lot to enjoy in this truck.
The story so far...
We took delivery, this past Sunday, of a brand new 2025 Mojave X with pretty much every option and a few dealer installed options. We proceeded to drive 700 miles from Portland OR back to our home in San Jose CA. Then a few days later, after installing an RSI Smart Cap sport to protect out dogs, we continued south on Hwy 5 to Los Angeles for a weekend and then drove back to San Jose. All told, we covered 1500+ miles. In that time and I have learned a few things about this vehicle so I thought it would be good to share with anyone who might be considering a Gladiator.
First off, for anyone curious about the economy of this vehicle, we are currently averaging 15.3 mpg. We've spent $488 on gasoline (much cheaper in Oregon that it is in California!) We've filled up 7 times and used 100 US gallons. Keep in mind that these are highway numbers, traveling at 75+ mph. Slowing down makes a big improvement in consumption. I saw 20+ MPG on flat/level ground at 65 mph, so your mileage may vary based on where and how you drive. By way of comparison, my 2009 Wrangler Rubicon 6 sp had averaged 17.4 mpg in similar conditions over it's 239 refuelings/79k miles - we bought it new too. The JKU actually averaged 20 MPG for the first few years, then started to drop to it's current level. I use the Android MyCars to track every expense, fill-up and service so it's been interesting to see these economy numbers accumulate over the last 16 years. The Wrangler is slightly less tall (height) and about 4' shorter (length) but I think the main difference is the transmission.
My first observation: The 8sp auto in the Gladiator is not very refined, especially when combined with the adaptive cruise control (ACC). The 8sp seems to hold onto 6th and 7th longer than I would think it needs to, keeping the RPMs higher and consuming more fuel. It's sometimes very slow to shift to 8th, sometimes only doing so if I release the throttle then slowly reapply it. Maybe the transmission is still adapting, but this is a bit weird.
My second observation: When using ACC there are numerous times when the transmission would shift from 8 down to 6 to try and counter the slowing from going up an incline, only to then immediately hit the brakes as the ACC realized it was too close to the car in front. This happened a lot. So much that I learned to predict it and would cancel ACC and take over to avoid the "kick-down, redline then braking" cycle. It's like the 2 systems don't talk to each other, We've never had this happen in our BMW X7 but we did see something similar in our 2019 Buick Enclave. I think the motor in the Gladiator is undersized for a vehicle this heavy. It needs more torque to avoid this problem since that would allow it to stay in a higher gear longer, avoiding the kick-down. Maybe better programming of the shifting would help too because the ACC seems to wait for the transmission to finish it's change before applying the brakes. The lag is causing this over-correction. The ACC tends to tap the brakes a lot too. It works fine but it's not very smooth and not great for LA/405 traffic.
My third observation is also about ACC: The adaptive cruise control doesn't have "stop and go". The Jeep website says "Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop". It will resume but only if you stop for a second or 2. After a few seconds of being stopped, it beeps and ACC turns off, which will cause the truck to start rolling forward, so don't let your attention waver when you're in stop and go traffic, or you might rear-end the unsuspecting driver in front of you. You can press the resume button after ACC turns off and it will reactivate and stop again for a few seconds, just be quick before you tap the bumper of the car in front. They should call it "Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop-and-off"
One last comment on the ACC. Why does Jeep put 2 different buttons on the wheel for cruise control.? 1 for ACC and the other for normal cruise. A single button would be enough and press it to cycle through the modes which could be displayed on the dash. This 2 button approach is an odd design choice and extra expense of the additional button. Maybe the Jeep PM is sandbagging for a de-content/cost reduction round in the future? lol.
Anyway, the ACC works in most cases and does make open highway crusing a lot more comfortable when on open roads. Not so much for Los Angeles levels of heavy traffic.
And on the topic of stopping, The stopping distance is longer than our 2009 Wrangler, not to mention our other cars and SUVs. I know the Gladiator is heavier than the Wrangler but I still overshoot the lines at traffic lights and stop signs by a little. I'm sure I'll get better at predicting stopping distances in time. Keep this in mind if you're making a similar transition to the Gladiator. Give yourself room.
The fourth observation is related to the seats. Our Mojave has the leather seats. These have been mentioned on this site as being firm. I can't compare them to the cloth version of the same model over long distances, but our leather seats are firmer than the cloth seats in our 2009 Wrangler Rubicon. However the seats in the Gladiator are 16 years newer than the Wrangler so the foam is probably a long way off from breaking-in. I will offer that they seem less firm now, 1 week and 1500 miles later, than when the Gladiator was new. Maybe my backside is getting used to it or maybe the foam is conforming. Either way, I don't find them uncomfortable, nor does my wife. They're just different and a bit firmer. While on the topic of seats, I really wish there was seat and mirror memory. Not including this is an odd omission since it could have been included in SW in the driver profiles of uConnect 5. The profile remembers many other settings, like temp and radio pre-sets. It seems like adding mirror and seat positions would have been an easy add and made it that much nicer when sharing the car with a 2nd driver.
Since I mentioned mirrors, I also question why the passenger side mirror doesn't dip when the transmission is in reverse. The rear and front cameras are very helpful, but seeing the curb when reversing helps avoid damaging the sidewalls or hitting objects next to the truck. It also seems like an easy, SW only, change. Am I missing something? I have tried adjusting the left, right and center side mirror switch positions and nothing seems to work.
My fifth observation is in regards to the windshield wipers. Actually 2 observations. Why doesn't Jeep include rain sensing wipers at this price point? They have the place to put the sensor by the mirror (where the ACC camera is). It seems weird not to add such a simple circuit. The second comment is regarding the wiper speed. When we drove down from Oregon to California we hit a winter storm (in late March!) We had torrential downpours of rain, we had snow and even a little hail. The cross winds were pretty wicked too. But in the heavy rain, I noticed the wipers couldn't keep up, even on their highest speed. Visibility was significantly hampered, to the point that slowing down was the only option. This became dangerous when passing a truck (semi) though, since the spray from the tires added more gray to any already low visibility situation. I haven't seen that problem before in other cars, but I haven't driven the older JKU in similar condidions, so it may be related to the flat windshield on the Jeeps. I'll put some rainx on next time, but this was the drive home straight from the dealer, so that wasn't an option (and wasn't expected). It was "white knuckle" driving at times.
My last observation for now is about the key fob. This thing is driving me crazy. The button to flip out the metal/emergency key keeps getting bumped when it' in my pocket and I find the metal key digging into my crotch. Not fun. That button stands up too high on the fob, making it too easy to activate. This is with Levi's on, not some fancy skinny jeans or anything. I have also leaned over the tailgate a few times and accidently hit the panic button, causing the horn to start honking (once at a gas station and the other in a restaurant parking lot). 2 times in 2 days. That panic button is too big and too easy to accidently press. Jeep needs to rethink the key fob and consider that the key will be in a pocket instead of a purse.
I know this is a bunch of negatives. I wanted to share these with the community (and hopefully Jeep product managers if they read this forum). There are a lot of positives about the Gladiator too, I just don't have the time to list them all out. I will leave you with this... The Gladiator is a great vehicle. It has a lot going for it and it fills a lot of places in the eco-system that the Wrangler and other vehicles leave open. It's not perfect, but it can be more than lived with as an every day driver. It handles highway driving well and if you hit rough terrain or deep snow, well, it can handle that just as easily. We're super happy with our Gladiator and would buy it again if it was stolen or totaled tomorrow.
The story so far...
We took delivery, this past Sunday, of a brand new 2025 Mojave X with pretty much every option and a few dealer installed options. We proceeded to drive 700 miles from Portland OR back to our home in San Jose CA. Then a few days later, after installing an RSI Smart Cap sport to protect out dogs, we continued south on Hwy 5 to Los Angeles for a weekend and then drove back to San Jose. All told, we covered 1500+ miles. In that time and I have learned a few things about this vehicle so I thought it would be good to share with anyone who might be considering a Gladiator.
First off, for anyone curious about the economy of this vehicle, we are currently averaging 15.3 mpg. We've spent $488 on gasoline (much cheaper in Oregon that it is in California!) We've filled up 7 times and used 100 US gallons. Keep in mind that these are highway numbers, traveling at 75+ mph. Slowing down makes a big improvement in consumption. I saw 20+ MPG on flat/level ground at 65 mph, so your mileage may vary based on where and how you drive. By way of comparison, my 2009 Wrangler Rubicon 6 sp had averaged 17.4 mpg in similar conditions over it's 239 refuelings/79k miles - we bought it new too. The JKU actually averaged 20 MPG for the first few years, then started to drop to it's current level. I use the Android MyCars to track every expense, fill-up and service so it's been interesting to see these economy numbers accumulate over the last 16 years. The Wrangler is slightly less tall (height) and about 4' shorter (length) but I think the main difference is the transmission.
My first observation: The 8sp auto in the Gladiator is not very refined, especially when combined with the adaptive cruise control (ACC). The 8sp seems to hold onto 6th and 7th longer than I would think it needs to, keeping the RPMs higher and consuming more fuel. It's sometimes very slow to shift to 8th, sometimes only doing so if I release the throttle then slowly reapply it. Maybe the transmission is still adapting, but this is a bit weird.
My second observation: When using ACC there are numerous times when the transmission would shift from 8 down to 6 to try and counter the slowing from going up an incline, only to then immediately hit the brakes as the ACC realized it was too close to the car in front. This happened a lot. So much that I learned to predict it and would cancel ACC and take over to avoid the "kick-down, redline then braking" cycle. It's like the 2 systems don't talk to each other, We've never had this happen in our BMW X7 but we did see something similar in our 2019 Buick Enclave. I think the motor in the Gladiator is undersized for a vehicle this heavy. It needs more torque to avoid this problem since that would allow it to stay in a higher gear longer, avoiding the kick-down. Maybe better programming of the shifting would help too because the ACC seems to wait for the transmission to finish it's change before applying the brakes. The lag is causing this over-correction. The ACC tends to tap the brakes a lot too. It works fine but it's not very smooth and not great for LA/405 traffic.
My third observation is also about ACC: The adaptive cruise control doesn't have "stop and go". The Jeep website says "Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop". It will resume but only if you stop for a second or 2. After a few seconds of being stopped, it beeps and ACC turns off, which will cause the truck to start rolling forward, so don't let your attention waver when you're in stop and go traffic, or you might rear-end the unsuspecting driver in front of you. You can press the resume button after ACC turns off and it will reactivate and stop again for a few seconds, just be quick before you tap the bumper of the car in front. They should call it "Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop-and-off"
One last comment on the ACC. Why does Jeep put 2 different buttons on the wheel for cruise control.? 1 for ACC and the other for normal cruise. A single button would be enough and press it to cycle through the modes which could be displayed on the dash. This 2 button approach is an odd design choice and extra expense of the additional button. Maybe the Jeep PM is sandbagging for a de-content/cost reduction round in the future? lol.
Anyway, the ACC works in most cases and does make open highway crusing a lot more comfortable when on open roads. Not so much for Los Angeles levels of heavy traffic.
And on the topic of stopping, The stopping distance is longer than our 2009 Wrangler, not to mention our other cars and SUVs. I know the Gladiator is heavier than the Wrangler but I still overshoot the lines at traffic lights and stop signs by a little. I'm sure I'll get better at predicting stopping distances in time. Keep this in mind if you're making a similar transition to the Gladiator. Give yourself room.
The fourth observation is related to the seats. Our Mojave has the leather seats. These have been mentioned on this site as being firm. I can't compare them to the cloth version of the same model over long distances, but our leather seats are firmer than the cloth seats in our 2009 Wrangler Rubicon. However the seats in the Gladiator are 16 years newer than the Wrangler so the foam is probably a long way off from breaking-in. I will offer that they seem less firm now, 1 week and 1500 miles later, than when the Gladiator was new. Maybe my backside is getting used to it or maybe the foam is conforming. Either way, I don't find them uncomfortable, nor does my wife. They're just different and a bit firmer. While on the topic of seats, I really wish there was seat and mirror memory. Not including this is an odd omission since it could have been included in SW in the driver profiles of uConnect 5. The profile remembers many other settings, like temp and radio pre-sets. It seems like adding mirror and seat positions would have been an easy add and made it that much nicer when sharing the car with a 2nd driver.
Since I mentioned mirrors, I also question why the passenger side mirror doesn't dip when the transmission is in reverse. The rear and front cameras are very helpful, but seeing the curb when reversing helps avoid damaging the sidewalls or hitting objects next to the truck. It also seems like an easy, SW only, change. Am I missing something? I have tried adjusting the left, right and center side mirror switch positions and nothing seems to work.
My fifth observation is in regards to the windshield wipers. Actually 2 observations. Why doesn't Jeep include rain sensing wipers at this price point? They have the place to put the sensor by the mirror (where the ACC camera is). It seems weird not to add such a simple circuit. The second comment is regarding the wiper speed. When we drove down from Oregon to California we hit a winter storm (in late March!) We had torrential downpours of rain, we had snow and even a little hail. The cross winds were pretty wicked too. But in the heavy rain, I noticed the wipers couldn't keep up, even on their highest speed. Visibility was significantly hampered, to the point that slowing down was the only option. This became dangerous when passing a truck (semi) though, since the spray from the tires added more gray to any already low visibility situation. I haven't seen that problem before in other cars, but I haven't driven the older JKU in similar condidions, so it may be related to the flat windshield on the Jeeps. I'll put some rainx on next time, but this was the drive home straight from the dealer, so that wasn't an option (and wasn't expected). It was "white knuckle" driving at times.
My last observation for now is about the key fob. This thing is driving me crazy. The button to flip out the metal/emergency key keeps getting bumped when it' in my pocket and I find the metal key digging into my crotch. Not fun. That button stands up too high on the fob, making it too easy to activate. This is with Levi's on, not some fancy skinny jeans or anything. I have also leaned over the tailgate a few times and accidently hit the panic button, causing the horn to start honking (once at a gas station and the other in a restaurant parking lot). 2 times in 2 days. That panic button is too big and too easy to accidently press. Jeep needs to rethink the key fob and consider that the key will be in a pocket instead of a purse.
I know this is a bunch of negatives. I wanted to share these with the community (and hopefully Jeep product managers if they read this forum). There are a lot of positives about the Gladiator too, I just don't have the time to list them all out. I will leave you with this... The Gladiator is a great vehicle. It has a lot going for it and it fills a lot of places in the eco-system that the Wrangler and other vehicles leave open. It's not perfect, but it can be more than lived with as an every day driver. It handles highway driving well and if you hit rough terrain or deep snow, well, it can handle that just as easily. We're super happy with our Gladiator and would buy it again if it was stolen or totaled tomorrow.
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