I finally had some free time to go down and check out the all-new Gladiator. It’s a very nice truck! I’ve spent a lot of time around the JL Wrangler and it came to no surprise that the Gladiator feels almost identical to it. This isn’t a bad thing, the new JL is a great product and all the positives follow over to the Gladiator.
The increased wheelbase does lead to a smoother ride compared to the Wrangler. Speaking of the increased length, in true midsize fashion, this truck never felt large or difficult to manage. Parking was easy enough even with the increased length. Rear legroom is excellent for the class and should be a good selling feature.
I think this will be a good product for FCA. The price is hard to swallow on these higher option variants (this Overland MSRP was 54k), but I bet lower equipped models will sell without issue. Although I was initially quite excited about the Gladiator, my expectations were brought back to normal after checking it out - it’s a capable, comfortable Wrangler truck.
I like Jeeps but this baby is a lot more my style. It sounded fantastic and is too fast!