Discussion: Base Gladiator Sport vs Tacoma Off Road

[Jeepers Creepers]

Hey guys, been a lurker for some time but now getting closer to actually buying a truck, I could use some advice. In terms of tech and capability, what are your thoughts on the base Gladiator Sport compared to the Tacoma Off-Road for light duty off roading/trails (light crawling, snow, small stream crossings; no moab, no fording, etc)?

I'm new to the off road scene but I'm excited to start. I wish I could spring for the Rubicon but I'm headed into the military and a massive pay cut soo my options are limited. I reallly want a JT but if I can get well-optioned Tacoma that can do the job for significantly less than a base glad, I don't know...

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[hoch]

Hey guys, been a lurker for some time but now getting closer to actually buying a truck, I could use some advice. In terms of tech and capability, what are your thoughts on the base Gladiator Sport compared to the Tacoma Off-Road for light duty off roading/trails (light crawling, snow, small stream crossings; no moab, no fording, etc)?

I'm new to the off road scene but I'm excited to start. I wish I could spring for the Rubicon but I'm headed into the military and a massive pay cut soo my options are limited. I reallly want a JT but if I can get well-optioned Tacoma that can do the job for significantly less than a base glad, I don't know...

I've had and currently have a Tacoma Off Road. For what you're doing, any 4WD or even a Subaru would do just fine. Don't get caught up on all the off-road gizmos. I ran some tough trails in the Tacoma without having to engage the locker or ATRAC. Just good ol' Low Range and good set of tires, you can get through 95% of the trails out there.

 

[Oilburner]

Welcome & THANKS in advance for your service.

Money aside, If any One (or more) of the following would make you Happy, the Jeep is for you:
- Removeable doors
- Removeable targa & top
- Fold-down windshield

 

[WRE]

The TRD Off-road Tacoma is a TRD. TRD's are upper end Toyota models, the Sport equivalent is the Sr and SR5. I don't think you'll find a TRD OR for much under 40k, but a gladiator sport with no options and under invoice pricing will be close to 30k. The point being that the trucks aren't quite apples to apples. To go farther, a base model Tacoma comes in around 25k last I checked.

A stock Tacoma or Gladiator will both handle snow and light off roading easily. The Toyota's have a system called A-trac to mimic lockers, just like the gladiators have the brake lock systems (Except the TRD OR has a real locker instead). I think the decision really has to come down to price, options and what you enjoy.

I've put a few thousand miles on a current gen tacoma and really enjoyed it, plus many thousands of miles on older generations. They are great trucks, and I would gladly buy one (almost did), but they are Tacoma's. The Gladiator is a jeep, and unless you want a jeep, you should get the Tacoma.

 

[lrtexasman]

Invoice less 1k rebate on a 2019 Tacoma off-road 4x4 5’ bed with destination of $1095 is $34,007. There is still another $700 in dealer hold back. A Sport JT at 5% under invoice available at a handful of dealers if you can find one near-by is $32,818 with delivery. The Tacoma is going to have a hardtop, Auto, 7” touch screen monitor with Nav, satellite, and App, Standard TSS safety(adaptive cruise control, forward collision, lane departure), 1 touch power windows, power locks, power and heated mirrors, towing package, rear glass, factory bed liner, automatic head lights, and alloy rims.

The list is long and very expensive to get the JT up to comparable trim level even at invoice plus 5% discount.
Jump to Sport S $2706
Auto trans $1780
Hard Top $1064
Tech/Conv $1416
Trailer Tow $223
Safety $1594 ( adds Blind Spot option Taco)
Bedliner $441
So with 5% below invoice for options and trim you are looking at $2706 to upgrade to Sport S plus another $6192 in options for a total of $8898. Add that to the Sport $32,818 and you’re sitting at at least $41,716 or $7709 more to get to the Tacoma Off-road trim equivalent.

But it’s a Tacoma and not a JT. So if you want the JT as the previous poster mention you have to get the base with maybe just the hard top and auto and live without all the rest. You can add a larger monitor if you get the code from seller but it will not have all the functions and some accessories may work a little wonky.

 

[Slapping_Rabbits]

Here's the other thing. I sat in a tacoma the other day. Its fine in the drivers seat, but at 5'11" i then moved into the back seat and couldn't put my legs together as they were pressed up hard against the drivers seat. I'm not sure my kid's car seat will fit back there and that was the double cab. Why the hell are those back seats so small?!

 

[Reasons]

You also forgot to add the anti slip differential to the Sport As an option because the Tacoma TRD Offroad comes with rear lockers.

 

[Reasons]

However, where one can see the prices get closer in comparison between the Taco Offroad and Gladiator Sport S is when you start to MOD. Lifting a Gladiator and fitting 35s is easy (bolt ons) and a hell of a lot cheaper than Lifting a Tacoma, (cutting, welding) and adding 35s to it.

 

[Slapping_Rabbits]

You have to do all that just to lift a taco?!

 

[Reasons]

You have to do all that just to lift a taco?!

To fit 35s you have to do a lot of trimming.

 

[Slapping_Rabbits]

Is that the case with the 4runner and tundra?

 

[lrtexasman]

You also forgot to add the anti slip differential to the Sport As an option because the Tacoma TRD Offroad comes with rear lockers.

As much as I have been looking at the Gladiator (like every fkn video and article) and I was surprised to learn from my buddy (who off-roads) that the Rubi is the only trim level with locking diffs. Even a 2wd Tacoma Off-Road has a locking rear diff and Bilstein shocks (as well as rear drums, lol). Just a little disappointed that I am not getting at least rear lockers standard or even an option on my Sport S. Will the Trak-Lok anti-spin differential with the max-tow package be comparable to a rear E-locker?

 

[IWantAJeepGladiator]

As much as I have been looking at the Gladiator (like every fkn video and article) and I was surprised to learn from my buddy (who off-roads) that the Rubi is the only trim level with locking diffs. Even a 2wd Tacoma Off-Road has a locking rear diff and Bilstein shocks (as well as rear drums, lol). Just a little disappointed that I am not getting at least rear lockers standard or even an option on my Sport S. Will the Trak-Lok anti-spin differential with the max-tow package be comparable to a rear E-locker?

I would also like to know more about the anti-spin rear differential...

 

[Jeepers Creepers]

Don't get caught up on all the off-road gizmos.

Good point, and thanks for the advice. That's probably the advice I need to hear but I'm not ready to accept it yet! I want the gizmos! That's why the more I research, the more I'm actually liking the zr2. At first I left the Colorado off the table solely because of its looks but it's grown on me fast, especially the zr2 trim. Looking at the used market (is "used" a bad word on these forums?) a low-mileage, good condition zr2 is only a couple thousand more than a similarly used Tacoma OR but it includes front & rear lockers, great suspension and other goodies like heated seats and apple carplay/android auto, more rear seat room. An equivalent Gladiator would be a Rubicon with extras, and would cost significantly more.

 

[Jeepers Creepers]

I would also like to know more about the anti-spin rear differential...

Take this with a tiny grain of salt, but I've seen a few threads about this here and other forums and what I've gathered is that it would not be close to the capability of a rear locker. I've heard the comparison that if a rear locker was a 5/5 improvement in off-road capability, the anti-spin would be a relative 1.5/5 improvement. In addition, because it's clutch-based it would require more maintenance. I saw somewhere else that the anti-spin is good for stability on hazardous road conditions (think ice or water) but not much improvement off-road.

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