3 for 3. My wife’s now too afraid to drive the Gladiator.

[DesertDog]

I get that the problems are rare. I’m happy for that. With that said, I don’t think it would hurt Jeep to do a little better assistance with warranty work. There’s an eco-diesel that’s been sitting at a dealership in Salt Lake for months. In cases like that, Jeep should at least provide another similar vehicle. They won’t.

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[Barnaby’sdad]

I’m sorry to hear that OP. I hope you are able to get it straightened out.

i have over free 10,000 trouble free miles on mine. Did one cross country trip and a bunch of shorter trips with it. I feel your pain. Had one car that was a major pita from the get go. It didn't last long.

Only in a Jeep is that noteworthy. I’ve seen numerous similar posts and I get a chuckle whenever I see it.

I don’t say that to be a douche, but to point out that they’ve set the bar so low on reliability that people think it’s worth mentioning that their vehicle hasn’t stranded them in 10,000 miles, 20,000 miles, etc.

Jeep/Chrysler is gonna Jeep/Chrysler. Mine hasn’t stranded me yet, but that’s only because I don’t really go anywhere (barely coming up on 4,000 miles now).

I thoroughly enjoy my JTR, but the only way I’d trust my rig on any sort of remote expedition is if I had a lot of extra water, backup rations, SPOT/GPS beacon, etc.

 

[CrazyCooter]

This thread borderline makes me ill. We regularly travel alone 1000s of miles from home, 100s of miles from cities, or even a paved road!

Should we have an issue out there, could become complicated. We always have food, water, and gear onboard though

 

[NachoRuby]

Ive k

I have owned more VAG cars than any other….. I haven’t had any serious issues with any of them.
If I were you I would look up the ones I posted- I don’t think you will find many “issues”….

I've owned a bunch of VAG cars. The issues are never major, they are just annoying. Major mechanical failure is rarely an issue. Just electrical gremlins (that allow you to keep on driving. Your windows or radio might just stop working). That said, VW is the whole reason modern diesels have these issues. They screwed it up for everyone. Manufacturers have no choice but to make their diesels limp home and shutdown on any emissions issue. VW made has them scared to do anything else that might get them in trouble.

 

[Divided_Wood]

This thread borderline makes me ill. We regularly travel alone 1000s of miles from home, 100s of miles from cities, or even a paved road!

Should we have an issue out there, could become complicated. We always have food, water, and gear onboard though

Keep in mind, this is a small sample size and only the people who have issues tend to show up for these threads. Tens of thousands of other Jeeps are on the road without any issues at all.

 

[Alans17]

Sounds like it's time to get a G Wagon.

 

[CrazyCooter]

Keep in mind, this is a small sample size and only the people who have issues tend to show up for these threads. Tens of thousands of other Jeeps are on the road without any issues at all.

I totally get that, but it could certainly could suck to be one of the unlucky 4% of the people that had a major failure and need a helicopter tow out to the pavement.

 

[Escape.idiocracy]

Ive k
I've owned a bunch of VAG cars. The issues are never major, they are just annoying. Major mechanical failure is rarely an issue. Just electrical gremlins (that allow you to keep on driving. Your windows or radio might just stop working). That said, VW is the whole reason modern diesels have these issues. They screwed it up for everyone. Manufacturers have no choice but to make their diesels limp home and shutdown on any emissions issue. VW made has them scared to do anything else that might get them in trouble.

The vw dieselgate is a lot of serious misinformation….. Chevy was busted with the Cruze, most bmw’s, Mercedes’, obviously the entire VAG group.
In my opinion the whole thing is trash- Europe got out of having to deal with most of the issues we in North America still face. Europe (specifically Germany) has laws that protect manufacturers- simply put, they can circumvent certain components that have the potential to cause damage to the motor.
I don’t want to turn this into a huge hoopla and go off course. But I’ll leave it with VW are the pill for a Huge group of auto manufacturers, and specifically for VWOA…. It’s trash.
Now that the American Supreme Court just smacked the EPA and their ability to create laws…. Hopefully we will see some common sense in a few years.

 

[Marlinvx]

Strange that we are blaming VW, but we really should be blaming the government(s).

 

[Gren71]

Strange that we are blaming VW, but we really should be blaming the government(s).

 

[John Lenheiser]

I wanted to buy an EcoDiesel Gladiator and started the process of reading all I could find on the 3.0 EcoDiesel in the Gladiator. There was a lot of good and some bad from what I could find, but my turning point was when my dealers service department advised me against it. This was because of my driving habits, short trips and not used daily (retired), thus a diesel was made to run and run, get hot and keep going. They also said for those who drive 100 plus miles per day the engine works great and those owners have very few problems, but for those low mileage drivers they have the most problems, just don't get the engine up to running speeds and temps needed for proper diesel use.

 

[Ward]

I wanted to buy an EcoDiesel Gladiator and started the process of reading all I could find on the 3.0 EcoDiesel in the Gladiator. There was a lot of good and some bad from what I could find, but my turning point was when my dealers service department advised me against it. This was because of my driving habits, short trips and not used daily (retired), thus a diesel was made to run and run, get hot and keep going. They also said for those who drive 100 plus miles per day the engine works great and those owners have very few problems, but for those low mileage drivers they have the most problems, just don't get the engine up to running speeds and temps needed for proper diesel use.

Great post & worthwhile information. I had much the same conversation with my local Jeep service manager in February of this year. I was shopping a trade on a 2021 Mojave with about a thousand miles on the ODO & had contacted him for insight. He highly recommended the 3.6 for the use he knew we'd be giving it, low mileage daily driver & very limited distance driving with zero pulling. I traded for the Mojave & have accumulated 3K in a bit over 6 months. I've known this service manager nearly 30 years & he's always been straight. Zero issues with the Mojave except a blown Fox shock that was replaced under warranty.

 

[sharpsicle]

I think this thread is a great reminder to everyone that these trucks are not workhorses. They aren't capable of being reliable in the way things like F250s or Sierra HDs are. Especially the EcoDiesels. In the end these trucks are toys, and should be treated as such. The occasional heavy work and towing? Sure. But consistent and repetitive? No.

@DesertDog I really do feel for you and your situation. But sounds like your use case might exceed what the Jeep is really designed or capable to do. Especially the diesel, that thing is not a great long-term hauler in the Gladiator platform. I hope this gets sorted out for you, but in the end if you went to another brand in order to do your trailering, I wouldn't be surprised.

 

[Gren71]

I think this thread is a great reminder to everyone that these trucks are not workhorses. They aren't capable of being reliable in the way things like F250s or Sierra HDs are. Especially the EcoDiesels. In the end these trucks are toys, and should be treated as such. The occasional heavy work and towing? Sure. But consistent and repetitive? No.

@DesertDog I really do feel for you and your situation. But sounds like your use case might exceed what the Jeep is really designed or capable to do. Especially the diesel, that thing is not a great long-term hauler in the Gladiator platform. I hope this gets sorted out for you, but in the end if you went to another brand in order to do your trailering, I wouldn't be surprised.

i love that so many people default to "these trucks arent trucks" Not a dig at you @sharpsicle just a sentiment I see on the forum from time to time.

They are perfectly capable for what they are designed to do. I pull 6k LBS travel trailer happily with two adults / two kids / two dogs. Just finished a 500 mile round trip not two weeks ago. Of course there is better out there and there is always a more capable truck...just like there is a more capable version of that already more capable truck.

As long as you use it as its designed theyre fine workhorse vehicles. That being said, the ecodiesel is a platform I am entirely unfamiliar with and cant speak to. I just wish they were better than what they seam.

 

[Wango's Tango]

DeserDog,
I'm about two hours away from Butte(Butt). Is there anything i could bring you guys?
Can't change the crappy situation or service issues, but willing to try and lend a hand.

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