Picked up New Max Tow Sport S..Traded Rubicon. Very pleased!

[Gladiatorx2]

Hello all! I just traded in my 2nd Gladiator on my 3rd. My first was a Sport S and I liked it. I put nearly 18,000 on it in 6 months. Number two was a used 2021 with a decent amount of modifications and 37's and I but 6,000 miles on it in less than 3 months. It was set up well and I really liked it. I had missed the options that I really wanted one the first. I found one with what I wanted including Max Tow, Convenience Group, Cold Weather Group, Limited Slip, etc. It took a couple of weeks but I got them to discount it from $56,000 to a little over $40,000 so I traded! I am very impressed with the Max Tow Group! With the gears on this one the drivable is greatly improved. The suspension for my driving I prefer over both my lifted Rubicon and the non Max Tow that I owned previously. The handling is flatter and tighter. The fuel mileage coming back was just under 23 Mpg for over 600 miles. I could have gotten better...and will. I will update changes and modifications at a latter date, but I am very impressed!

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[Gladiatorx2]

Oh, so far the auto stop/start is not working. I am guessing that it is the start of charge on the auxiliary battery. It only had 7 miles on it and it was on the lot since 10/2023.

 

[B34c0n]

Oh, so far the auto stop/start is not working. I am guessing that it is the start of charge on the auxiliary battery. It only had 7 miles on it and it was on the lot since 10/2023.

My start/stop didn't work right from the dealership either.

 

[BFgoodrich10]

teach me your ways, how did you talk them down that much?

 

[Farmer Fran]

teach me your ways, how did you talk them down that much?

Pretty normal right now, the dealer up from me had a Mojave that was 67 down to 52. The 2023s are sitting and they need to move them

That is a Max tow sport that is 6 months old.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Oh, so far the auto stop/start is not working. I am guessing that it is the start of charge on the auxiliary battery. It only had 7 miles on it and it was on the lot since 10/2023.

Put a good AGM battery charger on it. Don't rely on the charging system if it sat that long and is that low.
It's not just the aux battery that's low - it's the crank battery, too. It eventually drains out through the wiring that goes past the aux battery to the systems of the truck. Can't drain one and not the other, they are connected together.
So if one is that low, so is the other.

 

[Caveman]

That's a great price! I paid 36K for a similarly equipped Sport Max Tow with 24K miles on it back in 2021. 3 years later, I would not have thought that anything like it could be had new for the price you paid.

 

[Gladiatorx2]

They had a Mojave as well. It only had leather as an option but it would have cost me like $6000 more, even though it listed for like $2000 more. The Sport S had nearly $11,000 in options. There is a lot more mark up in options than the base price. In my case based on ZIP code there was a discount/rebate of 15% for mine but 13% on Mojave/ Rubicon. I have a lot of management experience at CDJR Dealerships. I dealt straight with the manager...and they have over 600 new vehicles on the ground! It took about a week or so of working four dealers in three states. I loved the Rubicon that I had but the math made sense.

 

[Gladiatorx2]

The days of getting goofy money for your trade are over...and the days of getting such deep incentives/discounts will end as well. I am glad that I did it now. We all remember when Gladiator's were over sticker. The 2022 that I bought new I got like $4000 back of retail and 6 months later I only lost a little over $1,900 on it. I put nearly 18,000 miles on it. That's cheap smiles per mile. This is my third Gladiator. Quirk's and all, I like em'

 

[Gladiatorx2]

Put a good AGM battery charger on it. Don't rely on the charging system if it sat that long and is that low.
It's not just the aux battery that's low - it's the crank battery, too. It eventually drains out through the wiring that goes past the aux battery to the systems of the truck. Can't drain one and not the other, they are connected together.
So if one is that low, so is the other.

I would say that you are correct as it shows charging at 14.1 to 14.2 nearly all the time

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I would say that you are correct as it shows charging at 14.1 to 14.2 nearly all the time

Fussing with a low battery or two is pretty easy to ignore with the deal you got and as happy as you are with the Gladiator and the deal.

 

[Rahkmalla]

Pretty normal right now, the dealer up from me had a Mojave that was 67 down to 52. The 2023s are sitting and they need to move them

That is a Max tow sport that is 6 months old.

Different dealers have different ideas on what's normal.

I wanted to test drive a JTRD softtop at a local dealer i'd never used before and the salesman insisted talking numbers even though I told him i was just kicking tires. I used to be a car salesman and I didn't want to get him in trouble (one of many reasons being a car salesman is a shitty job, getting in trouble because a customer just wants to test drive is a real thing) so i sat down and played his game.

He showed me 15% off MSRP (just the rebate) and I couldn't help but laugh and I told him any halfway decent dealer these days is matching the rebate or at least close and told my salesman I'm sorry he has to work for a dealership that operates this way. Then I asked if i could just leave without him getting yelled at or do I need to be "TO'd"?

I'm not sure what my salesman told his manager, but the manager came over heated screaming about "we can't sell trucks for 30% off MSRP" and "we deserve to make money, it costs money to do business" and "profit isn't a dirty word, we provide a service, my salesmen deserve to feed their families" (it seems the salesman training hasn't changed in decades because i remember being taught all those lines in 2009). It was a spectacle.

But i don't respond well to being yelled at so now i don't want to just walk out, so i sat there telling him he's bad at his job and no GSM in their right mind would order a 70k truck without the cold weather package and shame on him if he ordered it that way but even more shame on him if he just let Jeep send whatever they wanted to build without specifying his stock orders and he must enjoy himself working at a dealership that only sells overpriced junk to rich idiots because no way in hell was I paying sticker for a leftover.

At this point they finally get my keys back from the valet. Apparently they have no issue with an employee screaming at a customer in the middle of the showroom, but when you get strong back they don't want other customers to see it.

So i guess that's what one jeep dealer considers "normal". No surprise they had about a dozen MY23s on the lot when every other dealer in my area is sold out.

 

[Samsons Wig]

Stellantis is trying to clean up the shitty CDJR dealers that seem abundant in the US. I had a very similar encounter when discussing a trade in with a used car manager at a dealership when I was shopping for my Gladiator. It nearly led to a fistfight on the showroom floor. He was feeding me complete lies and I called him out on them. He didn't like being called a liar, I guess, which is funny since he knew that's exactly what he was doing. I managed, with effort, to keep my cool while the lunatic ranted and raved, although the urge to pick him up and throw him through one of their floor-to-ceiling windows was strong.

The dummy lost his job, and Stellantis contacted me a number of times afterward, wanting to know exactly what happened and seemed hell-bent on bringing that dealership and others like them to heel. I hope they have success. The dealership where I ended up purchasing, and later bought my wife's Grand Cherokee L Summit Reserve, was incredible from top to bottom. It's amazing how many dealerships don't operate on the philosophy that taking care of customers leads to repeat customers.

Some states will protect their dealers thanks to outdated and crony-based laws, making it difficult for manufacturers to control them, but the death knell is tolling for traditional dealers nonetheless. Those of you in states that don't have protectionist laws on the books are already reaping the benefits. I look forward to the days of just buying directly from the manufacturer.

My father was in the car business his entire life, as a GM for the last few decades of his career. I grew up in that world and worked in it myself as a young man. I know some dealers operate above board, and I understand how the business works. I understand that many customers are unreasonable and don't understand how little dealerships typically make on sales, especially of new vehicles. It doesn't justify the tactics of the dealers who run their shop like a criminal enterprise, however, and encourage management and sales (and service) to lie with every breath in an attempt to fool customers and squeeze a few more nickels. Time has passed the old model by, and it needs to go.

 

[ArchEtech]

My start stop hasn’t ever worked. 2023 Rubicon, 1300 miles so far. Battery at 13.3-13.5. Should I have the dealer make sure both battery are charged up?

Congrats on the Gladdy. Now can someone explain why people keep putting ducks on my Gladiator ?

 

[ShadowsPapa]

My start stop hasn’t ever worked. 2023 Rubicon, 1300 miles so far. Battery at 13.3-13.5. Should I have the dealer make sure both battery are charged up?

Batteries are not at 13.3-13.5 - that's the charging system voltage.
With the truck OFF is the only way to check battery voltage.
You can push the button without pressing the brake pedal to put it in run mode and check voltage then, but it will read low because of the drain on the batteries in ACC and RUN modes, even not running.
So the only way to know battery voltage is to open the hood and use a volt meter at the battery terminals.

Fully charged is at least 12.7-12.8, some run higher, and if it's over 13, that's the surface charge, not actual battery voltage once the surface charge is removed.

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