Weight FYI

[ShadowsPapa]

They'll all be different........ little real use comparing.

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[JET_83]

Diesel Rubicon? My gasser JTR says 1236.

Gas Mojave no bedcover or nothing all stock

 

[AwesomeDad]

Tardis?

Very close lol....

 

[LostWoods]

There are federal regulations that classify a truck - though they have changed over the years. For example, a class 2a light duty vehicle is 6,001 - 8,000 pounds GVW, basically your 150 or 1500 series or large SUV. Class 2b - would be the 'midsize' pickup, or 250/2500 at 8,001 - 10,000 GVW, etc....

So yes they wouldn't want the gladiator to compete with a midsize, sure thats probably true. I also dont think the gladiator would be good to be classified as a midsize. Plus there are some dimensional restrictions in that regard as well I believe.

The Gladiator is the mid-size much like everything else in the segment... it's basically the collection of 74-77" wide pickups currently available whereas the old Ranger, first gen Tacoma, etc were all compacts in the 71-72" range. The old Dakota, T100, and first-gen Tundra were all mid-size back in the day wheras all full-size pickups have mostly been 79-79.9" (and up for many) for about 50 years. The gladiator cab is very much a compact size cab but the extended fenders put the actual width in mid-size territory.

The size classifications are entirely independent of the weight classes but it used to be that mid-size (GM twins and Tacoma) were all under 6k GVWR (so class 1) with the "half ton" class starting right around or just above 6k (class 2a). It was a clean break that's no longer clean thanks to the Ranger and Gladiator both coming in north of 6k which now means some of the midsize are a 2a truck.

But it's all irrelevant to my point that they just don't want to siphon sales from themselves. If you can stick two people in the cab and a full ton in the bed of a mid-size, it makes buying a full-size much less necessary for people carrying tools and equipment that just need capacity over size.

edit: I think you might be conflating midsize and medium trucks... midsize are light trucks, medium are 10k - 26k which is basically F350 through F650.

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