Why did you go diesel?

[Pescatoral Pursuit]

The torque.
Better mileage.
Turbo tunability.
Cool factor.

I wanted a Mojave but there's a reason you can't get it with a diesel. They're very front-heavy, ergo the bottoming out issue. Can't make a nimble desert racer/ trail runner with that, extra torque or not.

The diesel is tailor made for the Daily Driver and the Mall Crawler. It should be standard in the High Altitude.

While it's plenty capable offroad and I'm sure the extra power comes in handy here and there, the gas version is probably a little more in keeping with the Jeep ethos.

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[BowlofSoup]

I'm a huge fan of a lot of these answers. I haven't seen a diesel gladiator around me but I love the idea of them.

My only "c'mon?" Is when people say fuel economy is the main reason. Because it takes like 10 years to make up the price difference, and the fuel range is shorter because of the smaller tank.

Outside of that reason, I totally get it. Low torque, easier pulls, less effort all around and just awesome. If it came with an option for a manual I would have bought one.

I wish my gladiator sounded like a diesel so I could hear it when shifting.

Edit. I never took in consideration how gas mileage changes with bigger tires and a lift... So MAYBE after all that the range is better on the diesel... And of so then yeah, totally get it

 

[Almost]

Well after almost 200 miles on my Diesel Rubicon that I picked up on Saturday I can officially say I made the right decision. After driving an 09 JKU with the gutless 3.8 and anemic 4 speed transmission for 233K miles I don't miss it one bit.

The ecodiesel in the gladiator makes for an effortless experience compared to what I'm coming from. When I read about posts with people complaining about the 3.6 hunting gears and having to rev to the moon to try and get out of it's own way it sealed the deal - I was not spending over $60K to drive an underpowered vehicle for the next 10-15 years.

Some initial thoughts:

Power - the engine is unbelievably smooth paired with the 8 speed and rivals many of the germans in terms of power delivery. From 20-80 mph it will pull non-stop in a very consistent manner and you barely even feel the gear changes. At highway speeds you can pass without downshifting and if you want you can creep all the way up to the speed limiter no problem without ever a gear change.

Sound - its surprisingly quiet in the cabin. You only really hear it in the cabin below 40 mph before the wind noise starts to drown it out. There is a slight turbo noise when building boost at these speeds which you can also slightly hear in the cabin. Outside the truck it sounds like a diesel, but isn't nearly as loud as your traditional half ton diesel given the smaller motor.

MPG - in the short amount of time I have had it I have been driving it like I stole it after its fully warmed up to help seat the rings and I'm only seeing 18-19 mpg. The only break it gets is when my wife is behind the wheel. We're looking to take some day trips this weekend so we'll see what it does then. I will say if I was driving my 09 JKU like the ecodiesel I would probably be looking at 10-12 mpgs so the 18 it's currently getting is pretty impressive. Back in the day I had a lot of seat time in an Ecodiesel GC and it was normally north of 24 mpg so I expect similar.

 

[LOGS]

Because about a decade ago I built a YJ with a 1.9 TDI from a VW and LOVED it. Sadly the EcoDiesel just isn't the same.

 

[Unkle Luk]

The entire Gladiator experience was my chance to combine many things I love:
Diesels
Trucks
Jeeps (mainly Wranglers)

So it just made sense to combine them. I love the sound, the low end torque, the freight train like pulling power with the turbo spooled up and a nice side effect of not having to rehear with 37s and still getting 20+ mpg.

Another nice side effect is the reaction people give me when I fire it up. Most people (at least around here) have no idea you can get a diesel in a jeep.

 

[A 2]

I switch to diesel so I wouldn’t accidently forget to shut it down at night…

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/forum/threads/why-didnt-jeep-foresee-my-stupidity.53910/

 

[Almost]

That's why the 2022s now honk 3 times when you jump out with the fob while it's running. It's absolutely maddening as there is no way to turn it off. I turned off all my honks for locking & remote start, but that one you can't.

 

[BEERviper]

That's why the 2022s now honk 3 times when you jump out with the fob while it's running. It's absolutely maddening as there is no way to turn it off. I turned off all my honks for locking & remote start, but that one you can't.

My guess is that the TazerJL will soon have an update to fix that!

 

[BEERviper]

I'm a huge fan of a lot of these answers. I haven't seen a diesel gladiator around me but I love the idea of them.

My only "c'mon?" Is when people say fuel economy is the main reason. Because it takes like 10 years to make up the price difference, and the fuel range is shorter because of the smaller tank.

Outside of that reason, I totally get it. Low torque, easier pulls, less effort all around and just awesome. If it came with an option for a manual I would have bought one.

I wish my gladiator sounded like a diesel so I could hear it when shifting.

Edit. I never took in consideration how gas mileage changes with bigger tires and a lift... So MAYBE after all that the range is better on the diesel... And of so then yeah, totally get it

I was going to respond to this post about fuel mileage with larger tires but it looks like you edited for that reason.

I now have nearly 17k miles and have a hand calculated 22.5mpg ... all but 500 miles of that on 37" tires. What do you think a 3.6L gas engine with a 3.73:1 rear axle ratio might get miles per gallon? I haven't bothered to query about it but I would assume 14-15mpg.

Add in the cost to regear (which then includes the possibility of voiding your powertrain warranty) and you're negating much of the price of the diesel upgrade.

To top it all off, here in Colorado diesel was 0.30 - 0.40/gallon CHEAPER than gasoline!

 

[ajkaz]

I chose diesel for a few reasons and honestly MPG did play a role, but not really for the financial gain.
-High MPG on road trips to trails and on family trips means fewer stops! I dont care about the payback or investment of DEF or additional maintenance. Though the savings of the high MPG is definitely nice.
-Power - The torque is incredible. I owned 2 supercharged JK's and was still impressed with the stock diesel torque. I will do some light towing in the 5k range every few months.
-Problems with the 3.6 - From head replacements, rocker issues, oil cooler problems, I've had my share and though its a light, powerful engine, its no where near problem free. If the diesel has only as many problems as my 3.6's and yields much more torque and mpg I'm 100% okay with that.
-The warranty; 100k mile powertrain is rare on an American made vehicle. I intend on extending to 8 years 125K to cover the emissions systems.

Though many feel the need under criticism, I dont need to justify my purchase to myself or anyone else, I bought it because I love the sound of the engine and the pull of the torque literally made me smile. Both test drives, I couldn't quit smiling. That's worth more to me than anything else.

 

[ilovebikes99]

I chose diesel for a few reasons and honestly MPG did play a role, but not really for the financial gain.
-High MPG on road trips to trails and on family trips means fewer stops! I dont care about the payback or investment of DEF or additional maintenance. Though the savings of the high MPG is definitely nice.
-Power - The torque is incredible. I owned 2 supercharged JK's and was still impressed with the stock diesel torque. I will do some light towing in the 5k range every few months.
-Problems with the 3.6 - From head replacements, rocker issues, oil cooler problems, I've had my share and though its a light, powerful engine, its no where near problem free. If the diesel has only as many problems as my 3.6's and yields much more torque and mpg I'm 100% okay with that.
-The warranty; 100k mile powertrain is rare on an American made vehicle. I intend on extending to 8 years 125K to cover the emissions systems.

Though many feel the need under criticism, I dont need to justify my purchase to myself or anyone else, I bought it because I love the sound of the engine and the pull of the torque literally made me smile. Both test drives, I couldn't quit smiling. That's worth more to me than anything else.

I basically got mine for very similar reasons. This engine fits the truck so well. The overall package is IT with this engine.

 

[tonyS2022]

This is not only my Jeep for Jeep stuff, but my commuter. I drive 54 miles one way to work in her, and I average 26 mpg with no mods. Plus, diesels will last!

 

[MikeMunn]

If you have been around the Jeep community long, the ultimate thing that people have been asking about for decades are engine related. Everything else was an aftermarket option. So were engines to some degree, for a much higher cost. Now we get tons of engine options from the factory which means one thing: warranty. We can order what we want from the factory. Inevitably the 3.6 has every functionality but one...torque. It has marginally higher HP and half the torque.

Ultimately for me it was about being able to tow. The 3.6 has a higher tow rating but I guarantee that it doesn't tow as well. Torque matters.

 

[AleYeah]

I was about to start an "looking for diesel education" thread of my own and ran into this one. (Yes, sometimes people do use the search function lol.) If you fine folks will indulge me, I'll just paste most of my draft thread contents here...

Financial considerations have me postponing a JT purchase for longer than I'd anticipated. In the meantime, I thought I'd pick the brains of diesel fans about why this option might (or might not) be an option for someone like me.

About me:

• My Wrangler is my daily driver because it's a convertible 4WD that brings fun both to daily driving and family weekend/road trips. A JT would serve as the same, plus providing a bit of the pickup practicality that I enjoyed before my JKU came along.
• I don't offroad, unless you count rutted out forest service roads on the way to trails not everyone will bother to hike.
• I tend to keep vehicles a long time. (Bought my JKU in April 2014. Had my previous 2 vehicles- both pickups- for 10 years each.)
• I don't do any towing other than occasionally a small landscaping type trailer or- in case of emergency- my VW Bus for short distances.
• I've never considered diesels before because the upfront cost of the engine option and cost at the pump are higher than regular gas.
• I love rowing gears and wouldn't consider an automatic unless there was a really compelling reason to do so.

So... as someone who primarily enjoys Jeeps because of the top off/doors off/4WD combo, should I seriously consider the EcoDiesel when the time comes for a purchase?

 

[ajkaz]

I was about to start an "looking for diesel education" thread of my own and ran into this one. (Yes, sometimes people do use the search function lol.) If you fine folks will indulge me, I'll just paste most of my draft thread contents here...

Financial considerations have me postponing a JT purchase for longer than I'd anticipated. In the meantime, I thought I'd pick the brains of diesel fans about why this option might (or might not) be an option for someone like me.

About me:

• My Wrangler is my daily driver because it's a convertible 4WD that brings fun both to daily driving and family weekend/road trips. A JT would serve as the same, plus providing a bit of the pickup practicality that I enjoyed before my JKU came along.
• I don't offroad, unless you count rutted out forest service roads on the way to trails not everyone will bother to hike.
• I tend to keep vehicles a long time. (Bought my JKU in April 2014. Had my previous 2 vehicles- both pickups- for 10 years each.)
• I don't do any towing other than occasionally a small landscaping type trailer or- in case of emergency- my VW Bus for short distances.
• I've never considered diesels before because the upfront cost of the engine option and cost at the pump are higher than regular gas.
• I love rowing gears and wouldn't consider an automatic unless there was a really compelling reason to do so.

So... as someone who primarily enjoys Jeeps because of the top off/doors off/4WD combo, should I seriously consider the EcoDiesel when the time comes for a purchase?

I love my diesel and wouldn't own a gas variant of this truck. But thats due to my history with the 3.6 and my use case is much different than yours. I do a moderate amount of towing light to mid weight trailers. I also offroad regularly and keep vehicles approx 5-6 years. Based on most of your comments, I don't think the diesel would be best for you....
-Not available in a manual.
-In order to keep this vehicle a long time and keep the repair bill at bay, you'd need to find a way to disable EGR.
-Added cost up front, at the pump and in maintenance has to really be worth it for you. Thats could be quite a few pair of Merrell's per year instead.
If I were you, I'd wait to see the possible coming changes in 24, that might be the right time to jump on-board.

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