Car and Driver: Would you rather? Gladiator vs GMC Canyon

[Sweetums]

Could be - like i said, never owned one, never really followed them, so can't trash them. I can only say his has been bad news from the word go.
Leaks, electronics issues, transmission not letting him change gears - some sort of thing he had to access to release some lever? I'll ask him again but he said he went online or something and found a similar issue and how to bypass some safety thing that wouldn't let him put it in gear.

Either the year/model he got is problematic or he got one of those lemons that exist around the whole ranges of cars and trucks.
He said "never again".

He doesn't have a Frontier, the only Nissan truck offered in the US with a diesel engine is a Titan XD, and those are notoriously bad - but again, not a Nissan engine or transmission.

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[starrskream]

Jeep just needs to make a hellcat gladiator.
heck they put one in a minivan….

 

[ChrisNLA]

I didn’t read the whole thread….. I just traded a 2016 Canyon for a 2024 Mojave.

Back in 2016, , I traded a 2007 Tacoma to buy the 2016 Canyon (w/ V6). The Canyon was a nice truck all around. It had more features & more options than the Tacoma (at that time). Drives nice & quiet, tows smooth. My only complaint….. was the shifting/programming. The 2016 had the 6speed transmission. It always upshifted too early and didn’t know how to downshift when you needed it. So, you’d get the infamous ’chuggle - stutter’. Under warranty, they did several computer updates & changed out my torque converter. Nothing fixed it. I believed it was all in the programming. If you put it in tow/haul mode - it shifted as you’d expect (no chuggle stutter). These trucks had what they call “Adaptive Learning” where the transmission programming would adjust to your driving habits. That chugge stutter only really affected those with a ‘light foot’. It wasn’t an issue if you had a heavy right foot (or put it in tow/haul mode). Google Chutter / Stutter - and you’ll see it.

Even the 8 speed transmissions are having similar issues. Hence, why I believe its all in their transmission programming.

My husband and I were looking at the new 2023 GMC Canyon redesign. Waited A year before considering buying One (But didn’t). My husband wasn‘t a fan of the 4cyl turbo, and GM seems to have one issue after another. It took them forever before the new 2023 trucks came out (mid 2023 I think).

My 2016 Canyon treated me really well over the years. No regrets.
I work from home fulltime, so whatever vehicle we bought could be more of a ‘pleasure vehicle’ than a daily driver. So, we bought a JT a couple weeks ago. Being able to tow & haul, and do other ‘truck’ things as well as being a convertible, an offroader, and the fun Jeep community. YOu just can’t get all that in a Canyon.

Touching on this transmission thing...

So I have a 2015 Camaro SS (GM 6 speed auto) and now I have HP Tuners software for fooling with engines and transmission. I did some digging into the tune on my car as well as asking around - and found that GM does in fact do some very strange things in the transmission tunes - things like purposely allowing the torque converter to slip constantly (70RPM in my car, even when 'locked') and other goofy stuff that was intended to make it 'smoother'. Turns out - it also kills the converter prematurely and that in turn kills the otherwise mostly fine transmission (at least in the case of the 6L80E).

All of the problems can be tuned out of it for the most part (and I have watched a few videos so I can do it myself - just haven't yet), but it is not good in stock form.

 

[Chunky White]

Jeep just needs to make a hellcat gladiator.
heck they put one in a minivan….

I would not be able to afford one but yeah that would be great.

 

[Janster]

Touching on this transmission thing...

So I have a 2015 Camaro SS (GM 6 speed auto) and now I have HP Tuners software for fooling with engines and transmission. I did some digging into the tune on my car as well as asking around - and found that GM does in fact do some very strange things in the transmission tunes - things like purposely allowing the torque converter to slip constantly (70RPM in my car, even when 'locked') and other goofy stuff that was intended to make it 'smoother'. Turns out - it also kills the converter prematurely and that in turn kills the otherwise mostly fine transmission (at least in the case of the 6L80E).

All of the problems can be tuned out of it for the most part (and I have watched a few videos so I can do it myself - just haven't yet), but it is not good in stock form.

Crazy isn’t it? It’s like they do that crap on purpose cuz they don’t want you to mess with it.

I took the truck to a local professional tuner (I was still under warranty) and they basically told me… It’d be really expensive to professionally tune it and they couldn’t guarantee it’d fix the issue I was having. I honestly believe they didn’t want to touch it…..

I learned to drive with a heavy foot….. and dealt with it until I bought the Gladiator.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Touching on this transmission thing...

So I have a 2015 Camaro SS (GM 6 speed auto) and now I have HP Tuners software for fooling with engines and transmission. I did some digging into the tune on my car as well as asking around - and found that GM does in fact do some very strange things in the transmission tunes - things like purposely allowing the torque converter to slip constantly (70RPM in my car, even when 'locked') and other goofy stuff that was intended to make it 'smoother'. Turns out - it also kills the converter prematurely and that in turn kills the otherwise mostly fine transmission (at least in the case of the 6L80E).

All of the problems can be tuned out of it for the most part (and I have watched a few videos so I can do it myself - just haven't yet), but it is not good in stock form.

So you are saying that the lockup clutch is not disengaged, and not engaged,but there's some pressure holding the clutch partially engaged rather than fully released?
I can see leaving the converter unlocked, but leaving the clutch disks with pressure against each other, partly applied instead of released is going to run them hot and shorter life. I don't know why it's not unlocked during a shift.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Take away the context and it sounds quite familiar ?

I suppose if you go to the Nissan forums there's a thread called O that used to be called "Last Nissan I'll ever own" ??

 

[Sweetums]

I suppose if you go to the Nissan forums there's a thread called O that used to be called "Last Nissan I'll ever own" ??

There is, but not for the Frontier or Xterra. We left that for anything with a Nissan CVT.

 

[ChrisNLA]

So you are saying that the lockup clutch is not disengages, and not engages, but there's some pressure holding the clutch partially engaged rather than fully released?
I can see leaving the converter unlocked, but leaving the clutch disks with pressure against each other, partly applied instead of released is going to run them hot and shorter life. I don't know why it's not unlocked during a shift.

I'll see if I can find the info on it I was reading - you'd find it pretty interesting. The GM transmission tuning is pretty funky when stock.

 

[wachuko]

Saw a GMC Canyon AT4X AEV today on my way to Orlando. Man! It sure looks badasssss…. I miss the slightly deeper/taller bed… (mine was a ZR2 Bison diesel ). And everything about it is better than what I had in that ZR2.

But I am enjoying the Jeep too much to change it for one…

 

[Sweetums]

That tire in the bed makes me wonder if the space is too tight to fit an oversized tire or if the owner just likes the look and hates cargo space.

 

[Rockhunter]

No thank you. I just sold a GMC Duramax diesel that I bought new , due to quality problems. The chickens came home to roost as the truck aged. 63K on the miles. I would not buy a new GM anything unless they get their head out of their "you know what" and give the customer what they want, not what they want them to have.

 

[chr15m]

That tire in the bed makes me wonder if the space is too tight to fit an oversized tire or if the owner just likes the look and hates cargo space.

Its an AEV thing, same as their JT build package. I don't think 35s will fit under though, unless they "massage" the heat shield.

 

[Sweetums]

Wouldn't be the first time I've done some creative "sculpting" of OE metalwork to make stuff fit.

 

[MudderNuker]

No thank you. I just sold a GMC Duramax diesel that I bought new , due to quality problems. The chickens came home to roost as the truck aged. 63K on the miles. I would not buy a new GM anything unless they get their head out of their "you know what" and give the customer what they want, not what they want them to have.

I had a 2021 GMC Sierra 1500 AT4 Duramax that I traded for a JTW. I miss that truck. The power delivery was amazing and I never ran out of power towing. I wish I could say the same about the JTR I currently have. I traded the JTW for the JTR. I've been eyeing the Canyon AT4 Turbomax for a while now. That engine is stout! I wish Jeep would put an engine like that in the Gladiator. 430 lbs of torque is incredible coming from a 4 cylinder. My favorite brand is Jeep and I love the aftermarket support and billions of cool parts and accessories but man, Jeep is slower than molasses, making changes, especially engines. The 3.6 is merely adequate for daily driving a minimal towing. Towing anything over 4,000lbs is an exercise in frustration and a screaming engine. I can fit the life of me understand how Jeep days you can tow 7,000 pounds. Well maybe at sea level but where am at at 7,000 ft in elevation, towing my tractor (6,200 combined weight of tractor and trailer) it felt gutless and embarrassing. Going up a hill at 6,000 to maintain 40ish in a 45 mph, felt like I was going to blow up the engine. To be fair, I'm running 35s with the stock 4.10.

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