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Former Ford F150 owner - first 1000 mile update/opinion

Doolin64

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Little background, I bought my Gladiator Rubicon (2" level and 35" tires) last month and had traded in my 2015 Ford F150 XLT Supercrew (1.5" level 33.5" tires). I used my F150 similar to most people. Commuter vehicle, Home Depot runs, family vacations truckster, dirtbike/four wheeler hauler. One place I differed was that I plowed with it. It was a great truck for the 5 years I owned.

Now as a convert, I wanted to give my opinion of the Gladiator after my first 1000 miles of ownership. This included a 500 mile family road trip this past weekend from Massachusetts to Northeast Kingdom area of Vermont with plenty of road salt! I see a fair amount of posts with people thinking about or who have swapped out from 1/2 ton.

Looks...these things get looks and start conversations everywhere. It certainly is a vehicle you turn around and look at while you're walking away. At least for me it is. I'm actually really surprised by the room in it. Yes, we had to be a little more creative for the road trip in comparison to my F150, but we all fit. I just left the tiedowns back home that I store behind the passenger rear seat so I could stow my laptop. My family consists of myself at 6'2, my wife is 5'1, a 9 year old, a 10 year old and a 30lb dog.

I'm not an audiophile, but I thought the sound system was great. I really like the Uconnect interface. It's much better than the old Sync 2 I had. I'm just happy to have Android Auto. Charging ports! Plenty there to keep a couple smartphones, an iPad and a Nintendo Switch charged. One improvement I would like to see is on the presets. I don't like that I can only be in XM and have 10 presets. In my Audi, if you select presets, you have up to 45 AM/FM/XM all mixed in and about each other. I probably never would have thought of this, but after owning a system like that I appreciate it.

Other tech, I enjoy. Adaptive Cruise. This was really nice on the road trip. I set the cruise at 71 and left it there for 80% of the trip. I even left the Adaptive Cruise follow another car on and off ramp merging on to another highway.

MPG...Yes, it matters to me. It's a mental thing. Plenty of you will say "It's a Jeep, I didn't buy it for gas mileage". That is a true statement, but mentally I couldn't live with 10-12mpg. I calibrated my speedo for the tires with an AEV Procal Snap. So far after 935 miles of driving, I'm averaging 18.5mpg. Up here in the Northeast, we're still running winter blend gas which easily drops your MPG my 1.5-2mpg when couple with the cold weather through the winter. If I average closer to 19 on 35's, I'll be beyond thrilled. I'm already thrilled. Truth be told, I'm easy on the throttle. I don't regularly just floor my vehicle everywhere. I was just around 17.5 on my F150 with the 5.0 and 3.31 gears for comparison.

HVAC - I'm still trying to figure this out. I think this could be my biggest complaint. I know others have issue with it. I tried used it manually or in auto with varying degrees of success. Inching the temperature up by 1 degree at a time didn't change much. You really had to go high. We were never freezing and that including one day where the high temps was -4F. I also wish there was a button to sync the two temps. To me, dual climate control is silly. My F150 didn't have it, but wifes car and my car both have it. We always have the temps in sync.

Last but not least, ride quality. For what it is, a stick axle vehicle, with big tires and removable roof and doors...it rides great. Did my F150 ride better, most certainly. Does it pitch and sway more than most vehicles, yup. It's still lightyears ahead of my JKU that I had. This road trip was also the first time my wife had ridden in the Jeep. I need to preface, she's not a Jeep person at all. Once we started rolling down a pot hole filled secondary road leading the highway, she quickly got aggravated and proclaimed "REALLY?". Uneven frost heaved roads do not help. Once on the highway, it was a smooth operator and the complaints ended. Except for the wind noise. By myself this is not a problem, crank the tunes and go on your way. But with a family of 4 and two kids who speak softly from the back seat, the wind noise and I guess some tire noise make for a much louder ride. This was expected, but it was noticeable and something to consider. In all honesty, I think this the one factor that will continue to hamper it's sales against the other midsize trucks. This truck fits a niche for those who want the Wrangler features with a truck bed and I think that market slice is not as large.

I'd be remiss to not bring up steering. In my first few 100 miles of driving, I was thinking I had loose/sloppy steering. After 1000 miles and this road trip, I'd say it's fine. I had no issues and was not over correcting, etc. I just needed some time to get used to the Jeep and how it handles.

Next big family road trip will be to the beach for vacation in July. I'll be utilizing bed racks, roof racks, and bike racks to get all our stuff down there!

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hjdca

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Thanks for the review ! Nice Truck ! It is always great to hear from a F150 owner. It's cool that your wife likes it. Note: My girlfriend loves mine, it is the only vehicle she drives, and it's a stick.
 
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On the Uconnect 10 preset station limit I believe has to do with the station buffering capability. For those who might not be aware the radio buffers each XM preset station so you can DVR/rewind the music/news/talk show up to est. 60 minutes and fast forward the commercials/other songs. That’s also how some of your favorites that you tag start at the beginning of the song. If it’s playing on a preset station it is actually buffered in memory and begins when you select it.
 

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I also wish there was a button to sync the two temps. To me, dual climate control is silly.
Agreed, in these smaller cabin vehicles it feels pointless. There is a way to sync the two because I have it set that way myself. Take a look at the climate control settings in UConnect, I think it was there (its a checkbox)
 

Insert_Clever_Name_Here

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I came from an 18 Raptor and had a 16 JKU. You have a pretty spot on review. I think the U-connect is far superior to the Ford Radio. The temp controls threw me off as it's front and back in the jeep versus left and right in the F150. I figured that out in day two when I realized having one on high vs low didn't change what came out of the front vents. The interior on the JT is far superior to my JKU. I had never been in a JL/JT before buying my truck. I was really impressed when I first sat in it. My first trip (400 miles hiway) I averaged a hair over 20 using cruise control.
 

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Doolin64

Doolin64

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Take a look at the climate control settings in UConnect, I think it was there (its a checkbox)
You are correct. I found it on the HVAC screen. On the right side just below the the blue passenger temp arrow on the attached picture . I never use the screen for HVAC controls, I've only been using the physical knobs and buttons.

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Gatorized

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You are correct. I found it on the HVAC screen. On the right side just below the the blue passenger temp arrow on the attached picture . I never use the screen for HVAC controls, I've only been using the physical knobs and buttons.

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I thought there was a sync activation on the passenger side knob, but the screen sync is the only way to sync both sides.
 
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wiredup60

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Coming out of a F150 Lariat with 35's, exhaust, 5.0 V8. Your review is spot on. I have only had mine a week, but have already done a 3 hour road trip when I picked it up. Mine is heavily modded and I paid too much for it, but am enjoying it so far. I do need to add an exhaust and change gears, then I think I will be very happy. Yours looks great! Enjoy!

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Doolin64

Doolin64

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@wiredup60 nice rig as well! I had those wheels on my Gladiator when I bought it! They do look great.

I just ordered a Corsa Touring turn down exhaust. Will update once it ships and I get it installed.
 

wiredup60

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@wiredup60 nice rig as well! I had those wheels on my Gladiator when I bought it! They do look great.

I just ordered a Corsa Touring turn down exhaust. Will update once it ships and I get it installed.
How did you settle on that one? I am looking at the flowmaster fx cat back.
 

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Doolin64

Doolin64

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I don't want to drone is the first thing and I wanted more sound but not obnoxious. I still want it quiet at cruise for when the whole family is with me. I watched way too may youtube videos, even just closing my eyes and listening to the sound. I really just liked the sound of the Corsa, the best. I was close to going Borla but the Corsa won out.

Only negative was the price and that it's not in stock with Quadratec. They gave me a great price so I will wait.
 

TheVeeDub's

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Wow, what a great write up. I mirror your sentiments, to the tee. So glad we can sync the AC, was gonna have to re-read the user manual, because that dual zone A/C setting bugs me when not synced, since I usually drive my JT alone. My '12 A7 did the same thing- 4 zone climate control is just useless (to me anyway).

Just over 1000 miles on mine, in the last 3 weeks and I will say the wind noise is annoying. We previously had a '13 JKU, and left the soft top on up until it snowed in Colorado. I feel as if the JT's wind noise is slightly louder than the JK's freedom panels - we also picked up the Beat Top full-back front top, not sure what it's called but really enjoy just flipping it back and away we go! Best way is, top off and crank the tunes and cruise at 65.

I say 65, because in Denver, anything over 65 is dropping me into the mid teens for MPG, averaging 80% highway and I'm at 16.6 mpg avg. Definitely a disappointment in the fuel economy dept. As we're coming out of an Audi A7 & JKU for our daily driven rides.

Overall, I love the truck as well, but I'm kicking myself for not being patient enough to do more research- as if I'd done so, I would most certainly have waited for the 3.0 Diesel.

I feel as if the JT fits the perfect niche, mine for one. Use it for short daily commuting and its perfect for Home Depot & grocery runs. Can't wait to hit the trails in our new JT Rubicon! We'll definitely need some cargo racks to handle all the goodies that dont fit in the bed for camping and hunting.

I will say, I'm super impressed with the roll-top cover from Truck Covers USA. Know we paid a lot for it, along with the premium Line-X - but its amazing to be able to quickly secure all your loot in the truck bed and be on your way.

Thanks again for the great write up, and for letting us share in the adventure!
 
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Doolin64

Doolin64

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@TheVeeDub's great to know we're simpatico. My view still hasn't changed. I agree higher speeds drop the mpg pretty fast. Overall for pushing a brick on 35s I can't complain. I do wish I could have waited for the diesel. I'm just not that patient.

Please update me here on the windnoise with the besttop panel.
 

LiftedrubiconJT

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I don't want to drone is the first thing and I wanted more sound but not obnoxious. I still want it quiet at cruise for when the whole family is with me. I watched way too may youtube videos, even just closing my eyes and listening to the sound. I really just liked the sound of the Corsa, the best. I was close to going Borla but the Corsa won out.

Only negative was the price and that it's not in stock with Quadratec. They gave me a great price so I will wait.
Did you ever get the corsa exhaust? If so how do you like it? I’m about to order the sport version
 

Rafael's Jive

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I ask because we are probably driving a lot of the same roads.

Did your gas millage improve from the high teens? Mine has gotten better with time. I started at 21-20mpg and after 5k miles and 8 months, I have been able to get close to 24mpg if I drive secondary roads. This is the first vehicle I have ever had that gets worse mileage on the interstate.

I have a 6spd, and can't maintain anything less then 70mpg in 6th on the length of 395. At lower speeds I need to keep it in 5th. Does the automatic do a lot of shifting on the interstates?

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