Opinion: Jeep Made A Massive Mistake By Giving Up On The Gladiator 4xe

[BourbonRunner]

The only people who seem to feel this way are people who own a Jeep with a diesel. I think most truck buyers know that the diesel was a bit silly. The average truck owner who buys a 3/4 or 1 ton pickup with a diesel sees it as a tool. Those vehicles have payload and tow ratings that far exceed the 1/2 ton trucks, so the extra costs and complexity associated with buying a diesel are negated by the benefits of owning a diesel. In the case of the Gladiator, the diesel engine was so much heavier that payload and towing limits were actually less. The consequence was that the type of buyer who bought the diesel Gladiator was the same type of person who buys a 3/4 or 1 ton pickup with a diesel but has nothing to carry or tow. It's just a toy. That coupled with the fact that Stellantis chose an Italian-made diesel with a ton of issues only made matters worse, and the diesel Gladiator was short lived. As someone who has owned diesel trucks and has done countless 4 gallon oil changes and fuel filter changes and encountered many DPF issues, I can say that the average Jeep owner really does not want to deal with all that mess.

Yes, for some reason the typical American consumer doesn't "get" diesels, be it in a passenger car or light truck. The rest of the world does... Is it because of the nanny features? The memory of the Olds V8 Diesel is 40 years+ old now, it can't be that, right?

I still don't understand why FCA/Stellantis doesn't use the Cummins R2.8 instead of the VM.


Also: We had the opportunity to compare a fully kitted out Mojave and JLUR-D in California crawling trails in the desert a couple years ago and the JLUR had enough torque at idle and mostly went in RWD to do what the Mojave had to do in 4Hi. Aside from that, the JLUR with identical mileage to the JTM had to be filled up about 2/3 as much as the JTM did. Granted, the JTM was much heavier along with the SmartCap and slide out with all the fixings, but both had RTT's and all the aerodynamic qualities of a brick wall.

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[danimal2000]

Daily driver about 14mi one way. I leave early enough to beat traffic and get into the 80s zipping down the highway. Coming home is much slower stop and go, takes twice a long. I get 17mpg pretty consistently. Also tow a camper regularly.

4xe simple gonna be too heavy for my needs/wants. I've heard the 4xe wrangler is so heavy, the full- gas mode is awful mpg just from the excess weight. 25miles on a charge wouldn't even get me thru a day.

I'd imagine the extra weight, eating into payload and tow capacity, kinda makes the current 4xe setup very limited use in the gladiator so they ditched it. Maybe a new version down the road.

I really wanted to hold out for the diesel, but after the excess weight and cooling issues cut into towing so much, I just went gas. Never looked back and still love it

 

[BourbonRunner]

Wishful thinking: The next gen JT gets a variation on the Ramcharger's range extender setup...

I hope they make it IN FATHOM BLUE!

 

[Deleted member 57233]

I still don't understand why FCA/Stellantis doesn't use the Cummins R2.8 instead of the VM.

Because the R2.8 is a dog with 100 less HP and 140 less torques than the VM.

 

[BourbonRunner]

Because the R2.8 is a dog with 100 less HP and 140 less torques than the VM.

Fair enough. I was thinking that with the proper management and some hardware changes they could have beefed those numbers up to match. Plus think of the cross-marketing ability... Ram 1500 Cummins Turbodiesel, just like its big HD brothers same way GM did with the baby Duramax and Ford with the baby Powerstroke.

 

[Deleted member 57233]

Fair enough. I was thinking that with the proper management and some hardware changes they could have beefed those numbers up to match. Plus think of the cross-marketing ability... Ram 1500 Cummins Turbodiesel, just like its big HD brothers same way GM did with the baby Duramax and Ford with the baby Powerstroke.

It might have more to do with Cummins than Stellantis since Cummins is its own company. They have a deal to partner with the Ram brand, but partnering with Jeep would have to be a whole new deal. While Duramax is owned by GM and Powerstroke is owned by Ford, so they can put that label on anything they want.

 

[BourbonRunner]

It might have more to do with Cummins than Stellantis since Cummins is its own company. They have a deal to partner with the Ram brand, but partnering with Jeep would have to be a whole new deal. While Duramax is owned by GM and Powerstroke is owned by Ford, so they can put that label on anything they want.

Of course. What I meant to say was you'd think there was an in for FCA/Stellantis already with Cummins that would smooth the path.

Could be wrong here but I seem to recall Powerstroke was the name Navistar gave its Ford-destined engines, it was not initially a Ford trademark. Once the Blue Oval bought out Navistar they could call whatever they wanted a Powerstroke

 

[Deleted member 57233]

Of course. What I meant to say was you'd think there was an in for FCA/Stellantis already with Cummins that would smooth the path.

Could be wrong here but I seem to recall Powerstroke was the name Navistar gave its Ford-destined engines, it was not initially a Ford trademark. Once the Blue Oval bought out Navistar they could call whatever they wanted a Powerstroke

They probably tried and realized it was a lot cheaper and easier to use the engine Fiat already developed than paying an outside company to develop one. And if you are familiar with Italian companies doing anything, you know they will always choose to use other Italian companies. It's insulting to suggest a non-Italian company could do it better lol.

 

[Comanche]

I traded a 4xe Rubicon for a Gladaitor Mojave. I enjoyed the 4xe especially for short daily errands. My hybrid battery died at 30k miles and needed to be replaced. I would not buy another one or even consider the new Land Cruiser because of the hybrid system. I bought the Gladiator because it didn’t have a turbo or hybrid system.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I just checked my Google Timeline, and my commute is actually 8 miles, not 7. I estimate that about 8 months out of the year, the thermostat opens during my commute. The other 4 months, I would have to let it warm up for the thermostat to ever open.

They START to open at the rated number, and fully open in the 220 area.

There's really no set "when is it fully warmed up" as it depends on ambient temperatures, the load on the engine, throttle position and more.
You really have no idea when the thermostat is actually open other than when it hits about 190 or so, it starts to open and that's measured in thousandths of an inch. I don't know what the rating of these is off the top of my head.

the thermostat on these trucks doesn't open till like 210 degrees then will drop down to say 192-195 depending on speed etc.

What you are seeing is combination of the stat cycling and the fan running or stopping.

 

[Splenda]

They START to open at the rated number, and fully open in the 220 area.

There's really no set "when is it fully warmed up" as it depends on ambient temperatures, the load on the engine, throttle position and more.
You really have no idea when the thermostat is actually open other than when it hits about 190 or so, it starts to open and that's measured in thousandths of an inch. I don't know what the rating of these is off the top of my head.

I remote started my truck before the 100 yard walk out to the parking lot tonight. My coolant temp was over 150 when I got in and hit the start button. By the time I left the parking lot, it was 190. It got up into the 220s several times during the drive. Ambient temperature was 69. I don't think this engine takes long to hear up at all.

 

[Stan H]

I don't agree with everything in this article about how the JT stacks up to other midsize pickups, but I do think it was a mistake to cut the 4xe option. In 2025, it is hard to live with 13-14 mpg from a daily driver, no matter how fun it is on the weekend. I'll drive the wheels off my Gladiator, but when the time comes to replace it, I'm unlikely to buy a brand new ICE Jeep. I could get a hybrid crossover to daily and a JKUR for new JTR money, and save a mountain of cash by not commuting in a truck that has the worst fuel mileage in its market segment.

Opinion: Jeep Made A Massive Mistake By Giving Up On The Gladiator 4xe

The question has been when Jeep would extend the 4xe powertrain to the Gladiator, its midsized, Wrangler-based pickup. As confirmed by Stellantis’s UAW agreement and CEO Antonio Filosa, the Gladiator 4xe plug-in hybrid was supposed to arrive in 2025. However, Stellantis, in a frenzy of curtailing its electrified ambitions, informed suppliers that the truck is no longer happening.​

This move surprised us a bit. The Wrangler 4xe, while not perfect, has been quite popular. Jeep has sold more than 250,000 of them. The Gladiator, with sales flagging, could certainly use something to generate a little bit of interest, and hybrid sales have been booming. We’re not privy to all the data and internal information at Stellantis’s disposal, but axing the Gladiator 4xe seems like a short-sighted mistake.​

...​

The best argument against the Gladiator 4xe may not be that buyers didn’t want a plug-in hybrid. But bringing 2020’s plug-in hybrid technology to what will be a rapidly expanding market may be too little, too late for this Gladiator generation. We remain interested to see what could happen with the next generation of Stellantis midsize trucks.​

Nah, totally disagree respectfully of course. It wasnt time tested and proved .

 

[ChrisNLA]

Only your coolant does. The whole engine isn't up to temp.
I can drive 10-15 miles and my transmission isn't up to full temperature, and the oil hasn't been warm very long.

You have to get the oil hot - and keep it there for several minutes to burn out fuel and water contamination. For me, that takes about a 30 minute drive.

Looking at the coolant and saying it's reached 190 isn't going to cut it. You should see how things build up with those short drives. I also have oil pans that rusted through from the inside - from short drives that didn't get the oil hot enough for long enough and acids form (which also etch bearings)


So you see the coolant temp and believe the engine is hot enough to burn out fuel and water contamination?
I wish we had cell phones when I was doing rebuilds and trying to salvage engines that went through sub-10 mile drives almost their whole lives.

I drive 8 miles on backroads to get to the highway and then another 4 or 5 miles and I barely get everything hot enough to be satisfied the water and fuel is burned out of the oil.

For me, the most direct way to work is 4.5 miles / 10 minutes.

The longer direction, but not ridiculously out the way, is 9.5 miles / 14 minutes. I try to do that one at least once a day, either coming or going.

But my truck still sees a two hour round trip drive at least once a week - so that's gonna have to make up for my work week sins cause that's just how life is right now

In the next 6 months that should increase to 38 miles one way to work, and i'll spit that between my two dailys.

I consider this short run time with my new little tractor, too. I don't have a TON of work for it, so when I do use it I try to let it run a while. Crank it up, let it run while I get a few things together, do a little work - hop off and man handle something or rake or cut or whatever (little tractor just chugging away in the background) to ensure it gets quality run time.

Good news is the kids love it so sometimes we're just gonna look like a bunch of goobers cruising around the block on a JD

 

[Firingpin1977]

Definitely agree, if they could have gotten the ranges up through technology/transmission changes from the older components that are in place.

I was looking forward to the possibility of the JT 4xE from the hybrid operation view, especially after my work commute requirement changed this year. I went from 112 mile weekly work commute, to now a minimum of 512 miles a week commuting for work, and that’s not even counting for son’s select/travel soccer travel, errands, weekend fun, that’s just straight work mileage. I don’t have the income that I once had to be able to buy a third vehicle as a commuter, yet I have truck needs at home for hauling, towing, and side jobs. So that 4xE wasn’t looking too bad of an idea. My only hope is that I can find a used JT diesel with low miles I guess, and trade over to it.

 

[Stan H]

Definitely agree, if they could have gotten the ranges up through technology/transmission changes from the older components that are in place.

I was looking forward to the possibility of the JT 4xE from the hybrid operation view, especially after my work commute requirement changed this year. I went from 112 mile weekly work commute, to now a minimum of 512 miles a week commuting for work, and that’s not even counting for son’s select/travel soccer travel, errands, weekend fun, that’s just straight work mileage. I don’t have the income that I once had to be able to buy a third vehicle as a commuter, yet I have truck needs at home for hauling, towing, and side jobs. So that 4xE wasn’t looking too bad of an idea. My only hope is that I can find a used JT diesel with low miles I guess, and trade over to it.

Trade over to that diesel and your PM work will double and other side issues with DEF,EGR, Turbo, glowplugs, etc... that the Eco is plagued with will haunt you
As someone else said its hot garbage thanks to the EPA regs. And that my fine feathered friend is why it was discontinued.

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