Gladiator 3l turbo diesel and Silverado 3l turbo diesel. I’ve got both so mini review. UPDATE!

[IOS-XR]

I just picked up a Gladiator High Altitude Diesel about three weeks ago and i got a new ‘21 Silverado LT with the 3 liter turbo diesel in late December last year as my new company truck. I figured you guys might like to know how they compare. At this point I’ve got a whopping 850 miles on the Gladiator and just rolled 9400 on the Silverado.

While both these engines are 3 liter, 6 cylinder, 24 valve turbo diesels otherwise they are pretty different. As we all know the Jeep is a 60 degree V6 and the Chevy is an I6. The Jeep uses an air-to-air charge cooler and what appears to be a mid-size top mounted turbocharger. The Chevy has an air-to-water charge cooler and a pretty large turbo. The Jeep of course has the 8 speed ZF auto and the Silverado has the joint GM-Ford 10 speed auto. The Gladiator has 3.73 gears and factory 20” wheels versus the Chevy’s 3.23 and factory 20“ wheels.

When new the Chevy was ridiculously quiet for a diesel. My previous company truck was a 2012 Silverado with the 5.3. The diesel was and continues to be much quieter. Now that I’ve got almost 10k miles on it the engine now sounds much more like a baby Cummins 5.9. It’s still pretty quiet and I basically have to mute the stereo to hear the turbo. Honestly for “cool factor“ I wish the turbo made more noise…..

The Jeep is much more “diesel“ sounding. Driving around town with the windows down gives me a bit of a “baby Hummer” vibe. The engine shakes more than the Chevy, especially when it does the auto start-stop (that I hate). The turbo doesn’t make much noise on the Jeep either. We’ll see what it does as it continues to break in.

The Chevy is quick on the bottom end but isn’t even close to as fast as the Jeep. The Chevy has very minor turbo lag, especially compared to the Gladiator. The Gladiator definitely has some lag. The Silverado is very smooth to drive overall. Good power compared to the old 5.3 and the 10 speed is very well tuned. The Jeep borders on being a sports car. Very fun to drive and the torque just pushes you back in the seat and keeps you there. I will say the lag kinda annoys me and I feel that the transmission downshifts on hills more than it should considering the torque of the engine.

So far on mileage the Silverado wins and I’m going to assume that won’t change as the Gladiator is a brick……. I’m averaging 26+ with mixed driving on the Silverado with a best 50 mile average of 32.5 mpg. I had to drive to the edge of Lake Erie a couple weeks ago for work and the Silverado got 31.3 average. That’s better than 750 miles on one tank. The Chevy does have a tonneau cover and that helps. Ive got a tonneau cover coming for the Gladiator and of course it isn’t even close to breaking in yet. I’ve been seeing 21+ right now and 26 on the few short trips I’ve taken. The mileage does drop on both when you get up around 80 mph on the highway but there’s still LOTS of power left to keep going faster.

In 9400 miles I’ve basically used one tank of DEF in the Silverado. No good read on that with the Gladiator yet as I just haven’t gotten enough miles on it.

Overall I really like both of them but obviously the Gladiator is WAY more fun. As I pile on more miles I’ll update.

Edited for some pictures:

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[Gren71]

Good review, thanks!

 

[A 2]

Thanks for the review. I’m going to be nearly in the same situation as you. My gladiator rubi diesel is on order And my company ordered a Silverado diesel For me. not sure the Chevy will be delivered anytime soon because of the chip issues.

 

[IOS-XR]

Thanks for the review. I’m going to be nearly in the same situation as you. My gladiator rubi diesel is on order And my company ordered a Silverado diesel For me. not sure the Chevy will be delivered anytime soon because of the chip issues.

You’ll like both. Chip shortage is screwing everything up right now.

I took advantage of Hotheads Memorial Weekend discount and picked up the sound assassin top kit. Hoping it kills some of the highway wind noise. I’ll be putting some stock size AT tires on this fall as well as the factory minivan tires just don’t cut it on a Jeep. I’m also planning on having it sprayed with Krown rust protection. Seems like it works better than Ziebart and I’m planning on keeping this Gladiator for a long time.

It‘s so easy to fall down the upgrades rabbit hole on these things. I keep looking at Rubicon take off Fox shocks thinking “I need those….”.

 

[Kpunk'n]

Very good review I came close to a GMC AT4 with the same diesel. I am very happy with my Gladiator so far!

 

[SB_Punk]

Very good review I came close to a GMC AT4 with the same diesel. I am very happy with my Gladiator so far!

I'm on the fence for these exact vehicles. What made you chose the JT?

 

[Yuri]

I was also between the diesel
Gladiator and diesel 1500 gmc at4 and am soo happy I went with the gladiator, test drove both multiple times and ended up going with the gladiator, would not change my decision.

 

[Kpunk'n]

I'm on the fence for these exact vehicles. What made you chose the JT?

Two reasons. Number one, Jeeps are much easier to use as a toad vehicle. Second reason, the GMC looks like most any other half ton pickup the Gladiator is a wow type vehicle. With the improvements I have already made it may be my favorite vehicle of all, and I have had well over a hundred vehicles.

 

[IOS-XR]

I’m at a whopping 1200 miles on the Gladiator and rolled 10k on the Silverado this week. 2nd service on the Silverado was performed by the dealer this week with a total cost of $136 including tire rotation and DEF top-off.

The power of the Gladiator diesel is addictive. I was blasting around today testing out the wind noise drop from half the Hotheads sound assassin kit. Just put the strips in under the front “T-top” pieces. Under the factory headliner. I’ll be doing the back section later. It works great by the way!

Anyway, I passed someone going slow and just kept my foot in it. Blasted past 90 and just kept pulling like a freight train. I’m gonna get a ticket if I’m not careful.

 

[Tufelhundin]

I think I was paying around $110 for my 2.8L service.

Curious to here the doom and gloom diesel service charge is on the JT 3.0L.

I feel like I’m guilty of voyerism … I’m always in the diesel threads but I just won’t touch

 

[IOS-XR]

Well, it looks like the filter is around $60. I‘m assuming that the service will be around $120 or so.

 

[Tufelhundin]

Dang filter must be made of unobtanium

 

[IOS-XR]

So a quick update. Rolled 11k miles on the Silverado this week and a whopping 1600 on the Gladiator. So far the only thing the Silverado has needed is two oil changes. Otherwise it's awesome. The Gladiator is running like a top as well. Here's where the average mileage is on the Silverado:

And the Gladiator:

The Gladiator isn't even close to broken in yet so I'm expecting it to get better. We'll be driving it on a bit of a road trip this weekend so I'll update with the mileage from that.

Also, I'm reasonably local to Baseline 4x4. Stopped in today to let Tony, the owner check out the diesel Glad. He really liked it! Said he's thinking really hard about picking one up as a shop truck now. He took me for a ride in the Overland Wrangler he built with 35's and a 6.4 liter swap. DAMN! It smokes the 35's with no issue at all. And I thought the diesel had power..... They did the 6.4 swap themselves. Engine was from a 2013 Charger. 500hp is a bit addictive.....

He's currently building a really nice looking blue Rubicon with some nice looking suspension bits and a RIPP supercharged 3.6. I should have taken some pictures.....

 

[IOS-XR]

Put about 160 miles on the Gladiator today. My average mileage for the trip was 24.6mpg. That is mostly 62mph on 2 lanes with some 80-ish on the 4 lanes mixed in. Also a little city driving as well. I did have the cover down on the bed for whatever help that gives.

 

[IOS-XR]

Just for fun here she is topless yesterday....

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