My 3000+ mile, 5 day adventure, the good and the bad

[Murgatroid]

I embarked on a 3000 + mile adventure. Goals were, one to deliver a forge I picked up for my youngest son who lives in Utah, two to see the grand babies, and three to put some miles on the Gladiator, my first Jeep. First impression, it rides great. I feel like I'm riding down the road in my comfy arm chair, and the chair is sitting on a flying carpet. I've all kinds of vehicles over the years and I drive a car hard down windy roads, the jeep feels as sure footed in corners as all but the two sports cars I've owned. It doesn't have the roll the Previa van had, matter of fact, it has very little roll if any at all.
On the way out, I saw one Gladiator. It was an original '60's on a trailer. On the way back I passed another firecracker red Gladiator in Sweetwater Wyoming. The only difference I could tell, we went by each other at close to 80, was I think it had a convertible top and I have the 3pc. removable. Saw lots of Wranglers.
I really love the adaptive cruise control, only problem I had was in a construction zone, the car in front of me would go far to one side and the adaptive would think he was clear and start speeding up the car.
I averaged 20 mpg and that was going 75-80 most of the way.
I'm not real impressed with U-connect. I would work great for a while then would freeze and I wouldn't notice for a while that the the blue arrow hadn't moved or was going over the same spot. When that happened I could not get it to restart no matter what I did until I would stop the Jeep and turn it off then on again. I would restart the phone and get the connection only to find that maps was locked on the same loop. Worse was this seemed to happen when I need it the most, like everytime I came to an exchange. It got me lost in St. Louis after midnight. Had to disconnect my phone and call up maps on it to get through the city and back on track.
I had not planned on naming the Jeep, the only vehicles I've ever named in my life were my three BMW motorcycles, Boomer, Lucky and Thumper. But after spending, basically 12 hours a day for 4 days in it. I named it Vlad.
Also after spending all that concentrated time in Vlad I've decided I have to do something with all that blank space on the passenger side dash. That big expanse needs at least a Jeep sticker or the grab handle needs to be embossed with Jeep or Gladiator.

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[smoverland]

I embarked on a 3000 + mile adventure. Goals were, one to deliver a forge I picked up for my youngest son who lives in Utah, two to see the grand babies, and three to put some miles on the Gladiator, my first Jeep. First impression, it rides great. I feel like I'm riding down the road in my comfy arm chair, and the chair is sitting on a flying carpet. I've all kinds of vehicles over the years and I drive a car hard down windy roads, the jeep feels as sure footed in corners as all but the two sports cars I've owned. It doesn't have the roll the Previa van had, matter of fact, it has very little roll if any at all.
On the way out, I saw one Gladiator. It was an original '60's on a trailer. On the way back I passed another firecracker red Gladiator in Sweetwater Wyoming. The only difference I could tell, we went by each other at close to 80, was I think it had a convertible top and I have the 3pc. removable. Saw lots of Wranglers.
I really love the adaptive cruise control, only problem I had was in a construction zone, the car in front of me would go far to one side and the adaptive would think he was clear and start speeding up the car.
I averaged 20 mpg and that was going 75-80 most of the way.
I'm not real impressed with U-connect. I would work great for a while then would freeze and I wouldn't notice for a while that the the blue arrow hadn't moved or was going over the same spot. When that happened I could not get it to restart no matter what I did until I would stop the Jeep and turn it off then on again. I would restart the phone and get the connection only to find that maps was locked on the same loop. Worse was this seemed to happen when I need it the most, like everytime I came to an exchange. It got me lost in St. Louis after midnight. Had to disconnect my phone and call up maps on it to get through the city and back on track.
I had not planned on naming the Jeep, the only vehicles I've ever named in my life were my three BMW motorcycles, Boomer, Lucky and Thumper. But after spending, basically 12 hours a day for 4 days in it. I named it Vlad.
Also after spending all that concentrated time in Vlad I've decided I have to do something with all that blank space on the passenger side dash. That big expanse needs at least a Jeep sticker or the grab handle needs to be embossed with Jeep or Gladiator.

Thanks for sharing! I love the idea of embossing the grab handle... I'm disappointed in how unfinished it looks compared to my JK's.

 

[nlicalsi91]

Someone in time will come out with an interchangeable grab handle

 

[basicGlad]

thanks for sharing!
do you have the auto or manual?

 

[Murgatroid]

thanks for sharing!
do you have the auto or manual?

I have the auto, had to give up manuals when I lost my left leg in a motorcycle accident. I can drive one, I just can't find the clutch if I take my foot off it and that can cause problems.

 

[Gladiator4Runner]

Thanks for sharing. Hoping Vlad can give you that sense of Freedom on the road like your bikes used to!

 

[tweak89]

I'm not real impressed with U-connect. I would work great for a while then would freeze and I wouldn't notice for a while that the the blue arrow hadn't moved or was going over the same spot. When that happened I could not get it to restart no matter what I did until I would stop the Jeep and turn it off then on again. I would restart the phone and get the connection only to find that maps was locked on the same loop.

Sounds like you are using Android Auto or Apple Carplay, is that right? I've only used Android Auto and can tell you from experience that it can be very finicky on certain phones. I use it daily (I have the upgraded 7inch infotainment package in my Sport S) and have never had issues with it. I have a dedicated data only phone I used for it that stays plugged in the center console. But, I can say that it's (Android Auto) stability has been affected by the phone I use. If I try to use an older Motorola phone with it, it locks up and restarts ramdomly (I have a newer LG phone what works a little better, but was still a but unstable as well). But, I switched to a Nokia 7.1 and now Android Auto works like a champ. I tend to buy a new phone every so often so I have a few laying around that I use for streaming/Android Auto so swapping phones may not be an option for you.

Also after spending all that concentrated time in Vlad I've decided I have to do something with all that blank space on the passenger side dash. That big expanse needs at least a Jeep sticker or the grab handle needs to be embossed with Jeep or Gladiator.

Here's what I did (I have a Star Wars theme going throughout my Jeep):

 

[Murgatroid]

Sounds like you are using Android Auto or Apple Carplay, is that right? I've only used Android Auto and can tell you from experience that it can be very finicky on certain phones. I use it daily (I have the upgraded 7inch infotainment package in my Sport S) and have never had issues with it. I have a dedicated data only phone I used for it that stays plugged in the center console. But, I can say that it's (Android Auto) stability has been affected by the phone I use. If I try to use an older Motorola phone with it, it locks up and restarts ramdomly (I have a newer LG phone what works a little better, but was still a but unstable as well). But, I switched to a Nokia 7.1 and now Android Auto works like a champ. I tend to buy a new phone every so often so I have a few laying around that I use for streaming/Android Auto so swapping phones may not be an option for you.




Here's what I did (I have a Star Wars theme going throughout my Jeep):

Well you may have nailed it, I'm using android auto on a motorola. That is a great use for the blank space, I like it.

 

[Bobzdar]

I embarked on a 3000 + mile adventure. Goals were, one to deliver a forge I picked up for my youngest son who lives in Utah, two to see the grand babies, and three to put some miles on the Gladiator, my first Jeep. First impression, it rides great. I feel like I'm riding down the road in my comfy arm chair, and the chair is sitting on a flying carpet. I've all kinds of vehicles over the years and I drive a car hard down windy roads, the jeep feels as sure footed in corners as all but the two sports cars I've owned. It doesn't have the roll the Previa van had, matter of fact, it has very little roll if any at all.
On the way out, I saw one Gladiator. It was an original '60's on a trailer. On the way back I passed another firecracker red Gladiator in Sweetwater Wyoming. The only difference I could tell, we went by each other at close to 80, was I think it had a convertible top and I have the 3pc. removable. Saw lots of Wranglers.
I really love the adaptive cruise control, only problem I had was in a construction zone, the car in front of me would go far to one side and the adaptive would think he was clear and start speeding up the car.
I averaged 20 mpg and that was going 75-80 most of the way.
I'm not real impressed with U-connect. I would work great for a while then would freeze and I wouldn't notice for a while that the the blue arrow hadn't moved or was going over the same spot. When that happened I could not get it to restart no matter what I did until I would stop the Jeep and turn it off then on again. I would restart the phone and get the connection only to find that maps was locked on the same loop. Worse was this seemed to happen when I need it the most, like everytime I came to an exchange. It got me lost in St. Louis after midnight. Had to disconnect my phone and call up maps on it to get through the city and back on track.
I had not planned on naming the Jeep, the only vehicles I've ever named in my life were my three BMW motorcycles, Boomer, Lucky and Thumper. But after spending, basically 12 hours a day for 4 days in it. I named it Vlad.
Also after spending all that concentrated time in Vlad I've decided I have to do something with all that blank space on the passenger side dash. That big expanse needs at least a Jeep sticker or the grab handle needs to be embossed with Jeep or Gladiator.

That sounds like a phone issue tbh. Make sure android auto is updated - I've never had that issue with my galaxy s9+.

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