JEEP GLADIATOR RUBICON
One serious mudder trucker
Written by DriveLife online
The Jeep brand is no stranger to the offroad market around the world, being well regarded among the most capable off road vehicles available. But the ute market in New Zealand is not a familiar playground for them. However, they have entered in with both arms swinging, as they launch the all-new Jeep Gladiator. Jeep advertised the new Gladiator as the most capable mid-size truck ever. That’s a bold claim for a new product entering the saturated mid-size market New Zealand already has. DriveLife jumped at the opportunity to review the mighty Jeep Gladiator and see how it stacks up. The Range The Jeep Gladiator is available in two variants; the Overland and the Rubicon. Similar to the Wrangler variants, the Overland is the entry level which starts at $89,990. The Rubicon is the flagship off-road variant starting at $92,990. There is an obvious visual difference between the two variants - the Overland comes with body coloured wheel arches and body coloured roof top, while the Rubicon has hard black plastic arches and rooftop. It also sports a very loud and proud Rubicon badge across the bonnet. Both variants come with the 3.6 Pentastar V6 with ESS (engine stop-start) which produces 209kw and 347Nm of torque. Both have the same 8-Speed Automatic with selectable two and fourwheel drive modes. 1 6 CAPRICORN IGNITION FEBRUARY 2021
The two different variants come with their own 4x4 system, the Overland has Jeep Selec-Trac Active ondemand 4x4 system, while the Rubicon has the Jeep Rock-Trac Active on-demand 4x4 system. You can select a wide range of different colours for your Gladiator, white, black, billet silver metallic, granite crystal, sting grey, gobi, gator, hydro blue and firecracker red the colour of our review vehicle. The Overland comes standard with the following: McKinley leather seats with Overland logo, heated front seats & steering wheel, removable body colour freedom hard top roof, body colour fender flares, LED headlights/taillights/day-time running lights/ fog lights, full speed forward collision warning plus, adaptive cruise control with stop, blind spot monitor with rear cross path detection, 8.4” Uconnect with satellite navigation, Apple CarPlay & Android Auto, 18” alloy wheels, remote proximity keyless entry and a 9-Speaker Alpine premium Audiosystem. Unlike many other brand variants the Rubicon does not come with the same as the Overland and more. It is similar, but there are differences. The
