Thinking About Buying A Jeep Gladiator

[Stan H]

Rain isn't an issue unless YOU would melt. The Jeep is ok in rain.

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[Mike-len]

I have Jeeps for when other stuff breaks.

As long as you have multiple “Jeeps” you should be fine unless all of them are broken down at the same time, which is entirely possible

 

[MeanGreen]

Title says it all.
I’m married, 52 years old with 2 kids ages 21 and 23.
I drive 10 miles round trip to work and my hunting lease is about 15 miles round trip.
I currently have a 2008 Tundra.
Your thoughts?
Is the Gladiator Rubicon the smoothest rides out of the Gladiators? I’m leaning towards that one for the little bit of towing I do.

I'm new to the Jeep/Gladiator world. I bought a '21 Mojave about a month ago. I'm coming from a Mustang GT on E85 thought so it's a bigger vehicle and better MPG's for me. I have grown kids as well and have had 4 of us in it multiple times now and no complaints. I drive 44miles round trip for work. I filled up the Mustang every 3 days with E85 and so far fill up the gladiator once a week with 87. The gladiator tank is bigger but I'm getting in the 17's with it to the 13 to 14's I was getting in the Mustang. I had a lot of concerns about getting this vehicle too. Especially after snooping on this forum and seeing all of the conflicting info. I'm 100% happy with my decision. The only thing I was wrong about is I thought I'd save money by getting one! I've bought so much crap for this thing already!

 

[Mike-len]

Since 2019 we've owned 2 JLs and a JT, all lifted and wheeled hard. Roadtrips all over the country. 160k miles between the 3. 0 days in the shop. The only time we were stuck without 1 was when the 2019 JLUR was stolen. Replaced with the 2022 inside of 2 months. Half the shop horror stories on here are people waiting for dumb shit like a battery replacement or a new sun visor. If you can't so much as change a battery you NEED a backup vehicle...or 2.

I’ve had multiple Jeeps over the past 30 years and all of them have left me stranded at least once. My current one has been in the shop for a month with a blown turbo and other diesel related issues at barely 30k miles. But. I. Still. Keep. Buying. Them! I always keep a Toyota in the driveway for back up.

 

[Gvsukids]

I've been told for the last 6 years the sun visor is a ticking time bomb and they all break eventually.

My driver's broke early in the ownership. After the repair by the dealership, it's been fine. The passenger side hasn't broken since 2020.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

That is EXACTLY what I was thinking of as I typed. You nailed it.

 

[Stan H]

That is EXACTLY what I was thinking of as I typed. You nailed it.

I used to get scared to death watching that as a child..lol

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I've been told for the last 6 years the sun visor is a ticking time bomb and they all break eventually.

Some do. It's a problem in some cases. Never happened to us with our Jeeps.
I am convinced a lot of it is how they are used - they can't possibly break when latched back into the default position - it ain't gonna happen.
IF it's not latched, or, if it's swung to the side and extended clear out to the end of the bar, that's a lot of leverage on that piece - in fact, there were problems back in the 1980s when companies moved to plastic visor mounts away from the pot metal mounts (which could break, but rarely did). The plastic mount failing was a common issue.
I suspect because I insist that my wife return a visor to default and latch it in place any time it's not needed to the side, that could be why we've not seen a failure (yet?)
But with that thing swung over, extended, and then driving rough roads - yeah, it's a lot of leverage out there bouncing on that plastic.

If that's the case then, I should go back to using my banks throttle monster. because I felt that is what killed my EGR and my cams.

ALL that a pedal device does is remap the throttle positioning vs. pedal position. It's like changing the resistance on a rheostat - making it more linier instead of resistance climbing gradually then giving it the last 50% in the final 20% of travel. It has nothing to do with anything except make it "feel better".
It can't harm a thing. It only changes how it feels to a human. The PCM still sees 50% throttle if that's what's being sent to it and it acts accordingly no matter how your foot feels.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Owned various Jeeps since 1987 - none have ever left me stranded.
My wife was left stranded at home, her Jeep in our own garage - when the batteries bit the dust.
But I was home and a jump start from my first JT got it going and it was fine until I took it in (1 month left on warranty) and got new batteries in it for free.
Other than that, never stranded - and even that was resolved with a pair of jumper cables.

 

[Master_Cylinder]

I used to get scared to death watching that as a child..lol

As a kid, my dad always told me to watch this movie upstairs on the black & white TV. Years later, when I got my first color tv, and Dorothy come out of the house and the movie turns to color! My head exploded! I called my Dad and told him he messed up my whole childhood.

 

[WILDHOBO]

As long as you have multiple “Jeeps” you should be fine unless all of them are broken down at the same time, which is entirely possible

Dude. You don’t seem to like jeeps. Maybe a rivian forum instead? If the wind blows to hard when you open the door to your rivian, it might bend backwards and cost the owner around 15k. But at least you get a car that requires the touch screen to point your hvac vents. So that’s cool?

 

[WILDHOBO]

I’ve had multiple Jeeps over the past 30 years and all of them have left me stranded at least once. My current one has been in the shop for a month with a blown turbo and other diesel related issues at barely 30k miles. But. I. Still. Keep. Buying. Them! I always keep a Toyota in the driveway for back up.

You wouldn’t need a backup if it weren’t the diesel. Maybe better maintenance as well? If you’ve had that many problems, I have to at least suspect that they’re not being maintained.

 

[WILDHOBO]

Owned various Jeeps since 1987 - none have ever left me stranded.
My wife was left stranded at home, her Jeep in our own garage - when the batteries bit the dust.
But I was home and a jump start from my first JT got it going and it was fine until I took it in (1 month left on warranty) and got new batteries in it for free.
Other than that, never stranded - and even that was resolved with a pair of jumper cables.

And as much as some people seem to like the 4xe, they’re a disaster. Hence the class action suit that they’ll likely lose handedly.

 

[Mike-len]

You wouldn’t need a backup if it weren’t the diesel. Maybe better maintenance as well? If you’ve had that many problems, I have to at least suspect that they’re not being maintained.

WRONG.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

And as much as some people seem to like the 4xe, they’re a disaster. Hence the class action suit that they’ll likely lose handedly.

I was referring to a Grand Cherokee - a 2018.

But, if you mean that law suit about the fires? Naw, FCA isn't going to lose that one. It was a Samsung issue, Jeep broke all records on the recall timing (it was the fastest action ever taken according to some)
They acted quickly and it's a done deal. Battery packs were redesigned by Samsung.
I dove into that thing at some real depth, and decided - it's done, taken care of. Ours went in, was determined to not have the issue and software changed how it charges (you should hear the fans running when it's 80+ degrees out and charging - that never happened before the recall).
To win a suit, you have to prove Jeep knew, Jeep did nothing, or acted too slowly, didn't deal with it and so on. They were all over it, buying the burned vehicles (at the time I was digging into it, there were a total of 6 out of the many thousands sold)

We've not had problems since the transmission, which was a ZF thing. The 4xe isn't what I'd call a disaster. It's still a big seller and for most people, quite reliable.

No worries here.

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