My Gladiator is the most polarizing vehicle I’ve ever owned.

[DailyMoparGuy]

The Gladiator is ugly.

Its elongated form looks awkward. But it serves a purpose. So its cool in a way. Because of the length all factory wheels look too small.

But put 35s on it and it looks purposeful. Ugly, but purposeful.

This is in contrast to something like the Pontiac Aztec that was ugly but purposeLESS. The ugly was because of all kinds of strange pointless styling features. It wasn't caused by the functional requirements of the design.

How dare you

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[NC_Overland]

First real Jeep I've owned...still have a 2003 Grand Cherokee Laredo, but nothing compares to these...

My wife noticed right off just how many other Jeeps there are on the road.
She asked me..."Why are all of the other Jeeps waving at us?"

I had an ‘04 Grand Cherokee Laredo with the 4.7l V8. It wasn’t the best off-road because of its terrible departure angle, but I loved that Jeep. Completely different vehicle though even though it did have a SFA.

 

[Slojo]

I have owned CJs and still own a JKU. My youngest son had the most unique response. "I like it, it looks like a 50s truck". Since I am in my 60s I took it as a complement.

 

[Victoryrider78]

I parked next to an older XJ with a lift on it at the gas station the other day and on my way into the store I heard the one guy mocking the fact that I have a fancy Jeep pick up that looks stupid. I can careless what people think, I love my JT.

Other than that I have had mostly positive feedback, and its always a pleasure running into other Gladiator owners and having a quick chat.

 

[MoDean]

My JT is the 5th Jeep I have owned and with the others I would get positive comments from time to time but nothing like the reactions the Gladiator gets. I live in San Francisco which as you can probably imagine is not a truck town. However, the first day I bought the truck I was showing it to a neighbor and two different people came up and asked me if they could take pictures of it, I was more than a little surprised. Later that same day, I went to get gas and a guy next to me told me it was one of the ugliest things he had seen, which shocked me even more. He was driving a Prius and my 15 year old son asked him how much fun he had in a Prius. He did not say anything back and left.

No one with a Prius is in a position to question anyone else's choice of vehicle.

 

[Pescatoral Pursuit]

About a year ago, after 2 decades in minivans, we went car shopping for my wife, and the first vehicles we drove were a Cadillac ATS and 3 series BMW. She was completely enamored with the Caddy which I thought (looks-wise) was too far out there especially those ridiculousl headlights. I kept trying to steer her to a more conventionally profiled 4 series BMW or E350 Benz convertible but they always fell short in her eyes for one thing or another.

When it became apparent she wasn’t going to budge and the ATS was too small for me, we drove an XTS which was nice and we may have settled on one but test driving all those bimmers had gotten my old high school hot-rodding itch up a bit. The CTS was the Goldilocks of that line though it took a bit for me to adjust to the front end but once I got past conventionality I could see it’s one of the most beautiful, if not avant-garde vehicles on the road.

Ironically enough, we rented a Ram truck (one of the best driving vehicles, car or truck) to drive around the state Thanksgiving weekend to negotiate a few vehicles that were plotted out. Took off in the Ram and lo and behold, no AC. Right back to Enterprise and they substituted a Jeep Wrangler Sahara. I’d never been in a Jeep before and took note the employee asked with trepidation as if they’re not for everyone. No bells and whistles but the front row top panels came off which was close to a vert and the wife wouldn’t let me put them back on for the whole 820 miles of the trip that weekend.

Well, being a truck guy driving a Jeep I became acutely aware of the Gladiator that weekend and every time I pointed one out my wife would say “ugly.” But I saw beauty in that ugliness. (I love fighter planes and there are many with graceful lines and flowing curves and acutely pointed noses, but none seem as beautiful as the A-10 Thunderbolt II.) A seed was planted that weekend. She got her black Gen 3 CTS, and I started planning...

Several months later we’re test driving gladiators. I wasn’t at all interested in the Rubicon (was thinking more Sport or Overland,) but she kept bring it up and how “tough” it looked. I had my mind set on diesel and the Sport trim was a great deal. Had never even considered a factory order (that was way too bourgeois for me, lol) but not finding a blue sport diesel, and some guiding in that direction from a sales guy convinced me that was the thing to do. When time came to order though, Jeep stopped offering diesel in the Sport (grrr) so bargain basement pricing was out the window which means it came down to Rubicon or Overland. Fresh off the regret of not getting the V6 twin turbo CTS VSport, I opted to go with the Rubicon figuring if I wanted to do a little mudding like in my youthful days in the Everglades, the lockers would come in handy. Plus my wife was already sold on it, so done and done.

Moral of the story: If your wife has good taste, trust her judgement on matters of taste. She picked you, right?

 

[dcmdon]

How dare you

 

[quantumleap39]

how polarizing remains to be seen for me. Im waiting with an "expected" delivery date of 11/7 (week of) for my Gecko green Majove!!! blacked fenders/roof and grill. Ive pulled into gas stations with my current daily driver and the jeep and gladiator owners all come over to ME lol lol!! I pull into a parking lot and come out, sure enough there is a jeep sitting next to me every time. but soon I will be retiring it, a 2007 H3. the tires on the pic are what was on it when I picked it up. keep in mind in the second photo, the garage doors are 8' tall! And yes I used a small step ladder to work on the engine,, Im 5'7" ohhh 11/7 cant come fast enough!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Tackett1980]

how polarizing remains to be seen for me. Im waiting with an "expected" delivery date of 11/7 (week of) for my Gecko green Majove!!! blacked fenders/roof and grill. Ive pulled into gas stations with my current daily driver and the jeep and gladiator owners all come over to ME lol lol!! I pull into a parking lot and come out, sure enough there is a jeep sitting next to me every time. but soon I will be retiring it, a 2007 H3. the tires on the pic are what was on it when I picked it up. keep in mind in the second photo, the garage doors are 8' tall! And yes I used a small step ladder to work on the engine,, Im 5'7" ohhh 11/7 cant come fast enough!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As a hummer enthusiast myself from way back when….little known fact:

the h3 doors are designed to be removed too. It’s just no one does it.

look at your wiring harnesses, they are quick disconnects with a lever. The bolts come out and the hinge is on pins not much different than the jeeps.

roll down the window, take off the harness, back the bolts out and the door lifts right off.

I ran around with no doors in my old h3 all the time.

 

[DocMike]

I saw one of those IRL....did a double take.

Different strokes. Ford managed to sell a ton of crew cabs built that way. The Taco, too.
Have you seen the new Hyundai Santa Cruz? It has a Subaru Brat sized bed.

 

[ttn333]

I've only had positive feedbacks, from all ages and both genders. Had a guy rushed up on me just to check out the Jeep out in Sedona earlier this month. His wife said he saw it from their home on the hill and had her rush in the car to drive down looking for me. Thought that was a really great compliment.

 

[dcmdon]

how polarizing remains to be seen for me. Im waiting with an "expected" delivery date of 11/7 (week of) for my Gecko green Majove!!! blacked fenders/roof and grill. Ive pulled into gas stations with my current daily driver and the jeep and gladiator owners all come over to ME lol lol!! I pull into a parking lot and come out, sure enough there is a jeep sitting next to me every time. but soon I will be retiring it, a 2007 H3. the tires on the pic are what was on it when I picked it up. keep in mind in the second photo, the garage doors are 8' tall! And yes I used a small step ladder to work on the engine,, Im 5'7" ohhh 11/7 cant come fast enough!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Holy crap. 11/7 !!!!????

I'm hoping for an early order of a 2022 and figured it would take a couple of months.

**edit - oh wiat. Its already 10/1. Ha.

 

[No Quarter]

Some of you guys need to work on your "F**k You" face. I can barely get people to make eye contact with me, much less insult me to my face.

My wife tells me I just look "aggressive" all the time. Guess the USMC trained me right.

 

[River2016]

There is an X factor for sure. By every measurable aspect, my 2017 Canyon was a better truck. It towed and hauled better, it was considerably faster and also got better mpg, more comfortable, considerably cheaper even fully loaded, etc but I like my Gladiator better.

sounds like the canyon was better than the Tacoma as well then. Haha. It was not a comfortable truck and I never did get used to the transmission. My jeep is averaging about 21 mpg and my taco averaged 18. For me it isn’t a jeep thing it’s that the gladiator just flat drives better and has more back seat room to boot. Although it does have a pretty cool X factor as you mentioned

 

[Pescatoral Pursuit]

My wife tells me I just look "aggressive" all the time. Guess the USMC trained me right.

Yeah my Mom used to say the same thing about me. Something about “Rough and tough and hard to diaper,“ lol.

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