{"id":23894,"date":"2019-06-20T14:58:55","date_gmt":"2019-06-20T18:58:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=23894"},"modified":"2019-06-20T14:58:55","modified_gmt":"2019-06-20T18:58:55","slug":"payne-can-the-rugged-jeep-gladiator-pickup-adapt-to-domestic-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2019\/06\/payne-can-the-rugged-jeep-gladiator-pickup-adapt-to-domestic-life","title":{"rendered":"Payne: Can the rugged Jeep Gladiator pickup adapt to domestic life?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I first drove the 2020 Jeep Gladiator pickup\u00a0<\/a>on a bruising off-road course in rural California: Mud-caked trails. Rocky landscapes. You know, Jeep stuff. Marketers love to show this capability\u00a0off to journalists.\u00a0How about that, eh? Unbelievable, yes?<\/em>\u00a0Yes, yes. But rugged as the ladder-frame Gladiator (and brother Wrangler) may be, how many owners will ever take it to those extremes?<\/p>\n

So I was eager to get a Gladiator in my driveway this spring to test it as a common commuter sled where I would have to live with the Jeep\u2019s more, ahem, truck-like attributes.<\/p>\n

Silly me. I forgot that driving Michigan roads is an off-road test in itself.<\/p>\n

Michigan has some of the worst byways I\u2019ve ever driven (and this is coming from a West Virginia boy, no stranger to bad roads). Especially during the spring thaw when potholes the size of the Mariana Trench open up. Close your eyes crossing from Ohio to Michigan and you\u2019ll feel it. KUH-THUNK, KUH-THUNK, KUH-THUNK. Welcome to Pure Michigan.<\/p>\n

Pure Michigan.<\/p>\n

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The rugged Jeep came as a relief. I\u2019ve been testing the autonomous-driving capabilities of a few luxury cars this spring \u2014 Mercedes, BMW, Tesla \u2014\u00a0and it\u2019s murder on the concentration. The vehicles are competent enough at seeing lanes and traffic, but they can\u2019t see\u00a0imperfections in the road, so I\u2019m always poised to intervene for fear of \u2014 KUH-THUNK \u2014\u00a0losing a tire.<\/p>\n

The Jeep, by contrast, has no self-driving pretensions, and its rugged tires and frame shrugged off potholes like Avengers bouncing off Thanos. Take I-75 north of Madison Heights, for example. Ruts have opened up between the concrete lanes like moats around medieval castles. Negotiating these in a sports sedan is nerve-wracking. The Gladiator thumps over them with ease.<\/p>\n

\u201cKid stuff. Payne, take me to a real off-road park like the Mounds!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The Jeep was begging me. But I resisted. I was determined to write about the Gladiator as a daily commuter.<\/p>\n

It gave me peace of mind every day I left the house. No worries about rough roads shaking the car to dust. In fact, my Gladiator Overland tester almost floated over the road on its big Bridgestones. This truck is no sport truck like the stiff Chevy Silverado Trail Boss.<\/p>\n

Road handling is not its forte. But personality it has in waves. I covet the spare aesthetic brilliance of a Porsche or a Mazda, but after a week with the Gladiator\u00a0I get its brand magnetism: Iconic face. Raw, outdoorsy design with exposed hinges and lock-down hood. Tattooed graphics everywhere, including\u00a0a Jeep crawling up the windshield and “\u2665419” carved in the bed to honor its Toledo-built area code. Signature interior touches like straps that adjust the seat backs and door nets that hold cargo.<\/p>\n

I find mid-size truck interiors to be cold and uninspiring,\u00a0but the Gladiator has an appealing wardrobe with luxury-like flair. You know when you are in a Mercedes \u2014 and when you\u2019re in a Jeep. It is this personality that makes the Jeep coveted across mainstream and luxury buyers.<\/p>\n

I took Mrs. Payne out for an evening on the town and she chose the Jeep pickup in the driveway over the BMW 3-series. She wanted the Jeep\u2019s status: outdoorsy, unique, authentic. She had coveted the Jeep Wrangler at a young age.<\/p>\n

Is there any other truck with that kind of cross-gender appeal?<\/p>\n

Jeep knows it\u2019s got game, and you pay for it. The Jeep is priced to be exclusive, eschewing the low-end, rear-wheel drive market occupied by Chevy and Ford to start at $35,000\u00a0with 4-wheel-drive only. My tester was pricey \u2014 Gladiators are generally $2,000-$3,000 more than comparable competitors \u2014 yet lacks handy tech like the Ford Ranger\u2019s self-parking feature. At $53,000, my Overland still had cloth seats!<\/p>\n

My wife pulled herself into the cab with the A-pillar handle and remarked about the cloth and the noisy cab (all the panels, including doors, are designed to come off). But the Jeep turned heads, dressed in silver with\u00a0gray 18-inch wheels,\u00a0when we pulled into an upscale parking lot full of BMWs and Lexuses.<\/p>\n

Payne, I\u2019m getting impatient here. When can I get dirty?!<\/em><\/p>\n

The Jeep\u2019s voice continued to nag at me. All that off-road capability \u2014 skid plates, plastic bumpers, signature second shift-knob\u00a0for 4-wheel-low \u2014 and I was just going to drive it back and forth to work? Even my pickup bed forays to haul mulch and winter debris from the yard seemed soooo mundane.<\/p>\n

I finally gave in. Like driving a Porsche for a week and never going to the track, it just wasn\u2019t right to deny the Gladiator a trip to its natural habitat. We set course for the Mound ORV Park near Flint over the Memorial Day weekend.<\/p>\n

Just an hour north of Metro Detroit in Mount\u00a0Morris, the Mounds is a haven for off-roaders. Its swampy, hilly, mogul-infested terrain is choked with dirt bikers, ATVs\u00a0and mega-tire trucks. And Jeeps.<\/p>\n

Jeep Wranglers are everywhere. The new Gladiator was an instant rock star.<\/p>\n

I floored the 285-horse V-6 across moguls and splashed through narrow bike trails, the Gladiator\u2019s compact proportions allowing it to go where a full-size truck could never roam. That floaty, on-road handling is perfect for terrain like this as the chassis requires flexibility over undulating terrain.<\/p>\n

A helmeted dirt biker sidled up to me. \u201cDude, that Gladiator is beautiful. How\u2019s it feel out here?\u201d Like a Wrangler with a bed, I replied, and he gave me the “hook ’em horns” sign.<\/p>\n

I slopped through a series of muddy ruts, caking the Gladiator in mud. A female ATV-writer sidled up to my door. \u201cHow\u2019s it doin\u2019? My daughter wants one sooooo bad!\u201d<\/p>\n

Locked in four-wheel low, I fishtailed across a muddy trail. A herd of dirt bikers rode by \u2014 all pumping their arms and giving me “hook ’em horns” signs.<\/p>\n

Does the Jeep Gladiator pass muster as a metro commuter vehicle? Yup. Its mid-size dimensions, easy Uconnect infotainment\u00a0and signature interior make it an all-season ride. But don\u2019t forget to heed the call of the off-road every once in a while.<\/p>\n

2020 Jeep Gladiator<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u00a0Vehicle type: Front-engine, four-wheel drive, five-passenger pickup<\/p>\n

Price: Base price $35,040 including $1,495 destination charge ($53,045\u00a0Overland as tested)<\/p>\n

Powerplant: 3.6-liter V-6<\/p>\n

Power: 285 horsepower, 260 pound-feet of torque<\/p>\n

Transmission: 8-speed automatic; 6-speed manual<\/p>\n

Performance: 0-60 mph, 7.2 sec. (Car and Driver); maximum towing, 7,650 pounds; payload, 1,600 pounds<\/p>\n

Weight: 4,450 pounds (5,072 Overland as tested)<\/p>\n

Fuel economy: EPA: 17 city\/22 highway\/19 combined (automatic); 16 city\/23 highway\/19 combined (manual)<\/p>\n

Report card<\/strong><\/p>\n

Highs: Jeep cred; off-road warrior<\/p>\n

Lows: Pricey; numb handling on-road<\/p>\n

Overall: 4 stars<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I first drove the 2020 Jeep Gladiator pickup\u00a0on a bruising off-road course in rural California: Mud-caked trails. Rocky landscapes. You know, Jeep stuff. Marketers love to show this capability\u00a0off to journalists.\u00a0How about that, eh? Unbelievable, yes?\u00a0Yes, yes. But rugged as the ladder-frame Gladiator (and brother Wrangler) may be, how many owners will ever take it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23894"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23894\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}