In Praise of Gladiator Comfort

[johnchabin]

Coming from a 2014 Tundra which is very comfortable… but I have no issue with the Gladiator seats.

I do miss the dead pedal, though.

And I’m gonna really miss the truck.

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[bleda2002]

The gladiator isnt terrible other than the seats feeling like they want to break my tailbone after 6 hours.

Not the worst by any stretch (my wife's ford was an absolute prison compared to the gladiator), but if I compare it to my previous jag, cayman, or ram the seats are pretty bad. The cayman was proof you can have firm seats that are also comfortable as we drove it 26 hours from MN to florida and constantly remarked by the 4 of us making the trip how comfortable they were.

 

[Throwback]

I'm really surprised by the comfort. Now having taken a few multi-hour trips on farm roads, county highways etc., I've been really impressed. It doesn't jounce around over bumps like my Ranger did. Surprisingly smooth and holds a line decently -- not as well as the Ranger but very good for the setup.

 

[Tanners Owner]

I too am happy w/ my Sport S comfort. I have seat covers and a dead pedal and find it more comfortable to drive long distance than my wife‘s outback. My previous rig was a Ram crewcab

 

[offtheroadjeep]

I agree with the Gladiator being more comfortable. I'm 6-2 and have a TJ which has a surprising amount of leg room. I wound up with a 23 Taco and even though the thing was massive, I couldn't fully stretch my legs. Seats were leather but just okay in the comfort department.
The Glady I ordered finally got built and shipped. I tried it out and found it not only to be considerably more comfortable, but also the seats also hold you in better. Combine that with the far more commanding view and way better general visibility and its easily the winner.

 

[rr11]

I have 80K on my 2020 Sport S, I previous drive was a 03 F250. My longest trip has been 750 miles towing a 21 ft center console boat. No complaints, yes its more cramped than my F250 it is also a lot smaller. Is also a lot more fun, any one who buys a JT looking for a luxury ride will fail their next drug test. it's a Jeep have a resemble expiation of what you are buying.

 

[Borismtngoat]

Traded off my ‘19 Passport after I got hail damage and the plastic wouldn’t quite fit back the way it should after repaired. It was the elite edition, all the bells and whistles. The only thing I truly miss is the heated seats/wheel. All the other amenities I can do without. Compared to the 20” wheels and low pro tires, the JT rides beautifully on the day to day. Sure an angled drive does cause a bounce but it was more cringe worthy in the passport. Plus, no worrying about curb rash with a side wall (I just roll over them for fun).

I’ve taken my JT on a 2k+ round trip for pheasant season this last October. It was excellent for that trip. Great mileage with the diesel, comfortable. My wife’s 2011 GC has leather and power seats and after 2.5 hours by back is starting to pain me. This thing is phenomenal. Excited every time I get to go somewhere. It’s a plus my 3yo says, “It’s the biggest Jeep I’ve ever seen,” and excited to go cruise at any time.

 

[bucolic]

I was very surprised at how easy it is to drive and how comfortable I am in it. I have a full-size GMC Denali 1500 diesel with super cruise and love it. But since getting the GLadiator, I have put 400 miles on the GMC and 4000 miles on the Gladiator! I just find myself jumping in it instead of the full size.

The only thing I miss a little is the Super Cruise, and I wish I at least had the adaptive cruise. Also, the Halogen headlights are bad, but that can be fixed. I wouldn't buy another one without the LED light group.

The heated seats and wheel in the Gladiator are way more potent than the GMC! Cook you right out.

The 29MPG on the diesel is missed a bit also, but that's probably a wash dollar-wise when you figure in the extra cost of diesel and maintenance. I do miss the range that the GMC has with over 600 miles on a tank. The diesel Ram I had though before the GMC had the 33-gallon tank, and I would often see over 900 miles of range on trips! Could drive all day and do not need to stop for Fuel!

Back to the original post, though YES! The Gladiator is very comfortable and so easy to drive and park in crowded parking lots and traffic. Love it!

 

[Mister Lamb]

I'm 6'4 and have a seat slammer installed and I still find these seats awful. I dread any drives that exceed 2 hours.

 

[WestwallNF104A]

Sooooo, my prior experience with Jeeps is my old 1945 Ford GPW. Not exactly a paragon of comfort. Hell, before I moved the seat position back by cutting into the rear wheel wells (relax, it was a wreck when I bought it!) I could barely fit in it.

So for me, my JTR is new terrain. I have so far done one 1200 mile drive towing a trailer (it did awesome, and the story of being pulled over by the Nye County Sheriffs deputy in a case of mistaken identity is a hoot!) and two 400 mile drives without trailer. In all three cases my comfort level was substantially the same as my Sienna that I used to drive. Yes, the cab is a bit tighter than the minivan, but it is not uncomfortable in any way.

I was able to dodge the cracked windscreen till mile 5,473 when a rock, hurled by a semi, hit right at the top of the window frame, and my wife and I watched it snake inexorably across the window. So, a new pane of Gorilla Glass is on order.

So, all in all, based on what the JTR can do, and the minimal driving that I have done so far, all I can say is I am very happy with my purchase.

Now, I need to figure which rear bumper to install!

 

[JCappy]

How about a positive post for a change? LOL I've read a lot of negative posts on here and elsewhere complaining about the comfort of the Gladiator - specifically the seats, lack of a dead pedal, rough ride, and and wind noise. My last truck was an '09 Tacoma, so that's my main basis of comparison (I owned a couple of sports cars between them). My wife & I (and our dog) just took a 700+ mile road trip in my Gladiator over the holidays and I have ZERO complaints. The trip was very enjoyable! Even though my Sport S seats are cloth and lack a lumbar adjustment, I found them to be very comfortable with just the right amount of support and the right seat bottom angle (I'm 6'0 with a 34" inseam). No need for Seat Jackers for me. I also did not miss having a dead pedal at all... since there is plenty of room to move your feet/legs around (BOTH feel/legs if you use the cruise control - which I did). The ride - especially with the Rubicon take-off 33" Wildpeak AT's that I'm running - was nice and smooth. It swallows up expansion joints & pavement imperfections with very little noise/harshness/drama. Wind noise was fairly high at higher speeds - but mainly because I have a Sunrider for Hardtop on mine - which is generally comparable in noise level to the hardtop - until you get above 75 MPH or so (which I was over a lot of the time). If I'd put the freedom panels back on, that would have been a non-issue as well - but even so was no big deal. I'm sure the Gladiator doesn't compare to a high-end trim level full-size pickup, but but those luxo-barges can't do what a Gladiator can do off-road either - and it is hands-down better than my old Taco in every way. This is my first Jeep and I honestly expected more of a trade-off between off-road capability and comfort, but I have been pleasantly surprised. Very happy with it.

I completely agree. Just got my Gladiator a couple of months ago and recently got back from my first road trip. Drove over 800 miles in a 4 day period and was comfortable the entire time. I did add an inexpensive dead pedal before the trip that was nice. I too had a Tacoma but I found the Gladiator to be much more comfortable on long drives. Love that extra room in the rear seat for family and passengers vs that of the Tacoma which was cramped. There was a little more wind noise at higher speed but it wasn't loud enough to bother me. So far I am very happy with the ride and comfort.

 

[Redfour5]

I've read all the critiques of the Gladiator and part of me was like, OK, how bad is this going to be. I had to drive 500 miles home from the place that had 30% MSRP with dealer and Jeep incentives. First, I found the lack of the power seats a little bit of a pain, but once I got it set up I found it was substantially more comfortable than the Jeep Renegade 2018 I've been driving for four and a half years. It handled great and they obviously have improved things since the 2020 iteration. I found my driver position is perfect so my elbows rest perfectly and comfortably for long driving holding onto the bottom of the wheel or elbow on the edge of the window. It was never just right on either the Gladiator or the Ram 2500 I tow the trailer with. Yes, there is a reason rack and pinion and independent suspensions are the go to for "comfy" cars, but I didn't buy a Jeep for that and frankly the 2500 takes care of that.. But they have obviously maxed out the capabilities of a solid axle and riciprocating steering. I don't have any of that micro adjusting some reference in the early ones. I did have death wobble on the way home but they fixed that at my local dealer simply by checking the specs (torque) on everything, with a few off they said and adjusting the damper. So, I couldn't re-create it later in the day so I'm good.

Dealer fixed the "death wobble." Tightened everything up to spec and bled the damper and fixed, cked the tires... I drove 180 miles yesterday doing 80 in a few places. It really prefers 75 or less I'm noticing, I'm good with that, but lots of places for the death wobble to happen and it didn't. My after market accessory guy says, it may come back. He fixed his with first the recall/TSB on the gearbox? Then he has worked on a few and has an adjustable track bar for 159, and pretty easy (cheap) to install, don't remember the brand that he says seems to work well.

 

[Alc]

I love the comfortable seats in my JTRD…the seats are perfect for me. We have a ‘15 GL350 which is the ultimate cruiser (quiet diesel with a huge fuel tank and air suspension) but the JT is almost as comfortable except for the expected noise and lack of ventilated seats. I find it much more comfortable than my wife’s ‘18 Cayman S with 14-ways. I’ve had Tundras, Hondas, Audis, Cadillacs, and Porsches and I’d say the Glady is right there at the top. My only complaint is why the hell did they only include lumbar and height adjustment in the left seat and not the right. They did that in the Honda Odyssey as well and it was one of the worst seats I’ve ever sat in for an extended time. Just terrible and a stupid way to cut cost. I know there’s a fix out there for it but that’s just annoying.
my question is who is going to be the first engineer on this forum to to retrofit those new power seats on the ‘24 into their rig?

 

[Wildtoad]

Compared to the rid bin my '15 Wrangler 2DR My '21 Gladiator Willys Sport is far better. More comfort, less wind noise. Seats are fine, plenty of leg room at 6'2". Being primarily a daily driver, mostly interstate driving, the only complaint I have about the ride is the tires. The knobby Firestone Destinations may work well for off road, but (IMO) suck when used on pavement. This will be corrected in the morning.

On added bonus is so far no water leaks.

 

[AstroZombie]

I love my rubicon it is very comfortable to me. WAY BETTER than my 04 Taco!! ond '14 Ioniq

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