Jeep Gladiator is a serious adventure vehicle, but what’s it like to live with?

QUICK REVIEW: Jeep Gladiator 3.6 Rubicon

Johannesburg - When it was launched locally back in June, the Jeep Gladiator hit the headlines as the country’s most expensive bakkie, but it’s also one of most capable. This we managed to confirm after experiencing the R1 259 900 double cab on the gruelling Hennops Off-Road Trail near Hartbeespoort Dam on the local launch event.

Boasting a 249mm ground clearance, Fox aluminium shocks, Dana 44 front and rear axles with Tru-Lok locking differentials as well as 35-inch FB Goodrich off-road tyres, the Jeep Gladiator crawled through some massive and steep ruts that looked big enough to swallow the vehicle whole. And it did all this with the greatest of ease.

You can read all about its bundu-bashing abilities in our launch review, but since Jeep also gave us a vehicle to test drive for a week recently, our objective with this review is to see how the Gladiator fares as an everyday vehicle.

One thing we can certainly say is that this is a massive vehicle that commands a lot of attention and respect. It’s not very often that we’ve seen people waving and even hooting at us in a car and when that happens it’s pretty much always a supercar of some kind. But the amount of attention this Jeep garnered really took us by surprise.

With an overall length of 5 591mm, the vehicle itself is pretty huge and has massive presence, although its width of 1 894mm is not out of the ballpark. Of course, a vehicle of this size is never going to be easy to park, but it also wasn’t as difficult as we had expected and not too much harder than your average double-cab bakkie.

Given that this 2 240kg behemoth is powered by a 3.6-litre V6 petrol engine, we were expecting it to be a gas guzzler of note, but the figures we saw on the on-board readout were not as bad as we’d expected. On a highway journey it consumed just 10.6 litres per 100km and after resetting for some town driving it settled around 16.6 l/100km. Sure, that’s not exactly frugal, but also not too far above the 4x4 double cab norm.

Engine performance is average at best, but should prove adequate for most needs, while the ride quality is reasonably comfortable thanks to those Fox shocks.

But when it comes to on-road refinement, this Jeep is fairly compromised. Its blocky aerodynamics and protruding soft-top roof make for considerable wind noise at highway speeds, while those knobbly off-road tyres let off a loud hum that can get quite irritating after a while.

So, yes it is compromised, but then in many ways this and its Wrangler SUV sibling are among the best adventure vehicles that money can buy.

The Gladiator is available in both soft-top and hard-top configurations, depending on availability, and these can be removed from the vehicle along with the doors, while the windshield can be folded down to create a true open-air experience.

Added to that, interior specification is anything but spartan, and standard features include a nine-speaker Alpine sound system as well as heated leather seats, dual-zone climate control and an array of driver assistance features like Adaptive Cruise Control and Forward Collision Warning with Active Braking. There are many thoughtful touches throughout the cabin, including a portable Bluetooth speaker and many nifty storage facilities.