Jeep slaps price tag on revised and uprated Gladiator

Just over a month after its confirmation for South Africa, Stellantis released pricing of the facelift Jeep Gladiator.

Limited to a solitary trim level once again, the off-road focused Rubicon, the Gladiator debuts just under two years after premiering its revised self in the United States and three after its original South African market launch.

What has changed?

Requiring a keen eye to spot the various tweaks, the Gladiator’s new aesthetic consists of a blacked-out seven-slot grille, a new colour-coded hard-top roof, the aerial now integrated into the windscreen and new 17-inch alloy wheels wrapped in 32-inch all-terrain tyres.

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As before, and indeed with its sibling, the Wrangler, the Gladiator’s doors and roof can be removed completely, and its windscreen folded onto the bonnet.

Inside

Residing inside, Jeep has made the biggest changes, as on the facelift Wrangler, by including the new 12.3-inch infotainment system complete with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, integrated satellite navigation and Stellantis’ latest Uconnect 5 software.

Along with the dashboard being new in order to accommodate the new infotainment display, Jeep has restyled the air vents, fitted upgraded materials and replaced the type-A USB ports with type-C outlets.

Spec

On the specification front, and besides the items mentioned, the Gladiator becomes the beneficiary of electric front seats, six airbags instead of the previous four and front parking sensors.

Carried over features from the now pre-facelift model include:

• seven-inch TFT instrument cluster display;
• nine-speaker Alpine sound system;
• removable wireless Bluetooth speaker;
• auto on/off LED headlights;
• remote engine start;
• ambient lighting;
• heated steering wheel;
• keyless entry;
• push-button start;
• dual-zone climate control

Existing driver and safety systems consist of a tyre pressure monitor, rear parking sensors, Adaptive Cruise Control, Blind Spot Monitoring, Rear Cross Traffic Alert, Forward Collision Warning and Rollover Mitigation.

Off-road first

Underneath, the Gladiator’s off-road hardware remains as is by being inclusive of the Rock-Trac four-wheel drive system, heavy-duty Dana 44 axles, the Tru-Lok front and rear locking differentials, a low range transfer case and the rear sway bar disconnect function.

Unlike before, though, Jeep has uprated the Gladiator’s payload from 693 kg to 725 kg, while also increasing the ground clearance from 249 mm to 282 mm.

The claimed tow rating is, however, unchanged at 2 721 kg, with the same applying to the 800 mm wading depth.   

Also unchanged are the approach angle at 43.4-degrees, the departure angle at 26-degrees and the breakover at 20.3-degrees.

V6 still the only engine

Up front, as a result of the Gladiator not being sold with the same 2.0-litre turbocharged Hurricane petrol engine as the Wrangler, the venerable 3.6-litre Pentastar V6 prevails as the only powerunit with outputs of 209kW/353Nm.

Sending the amount of twist to all four wheels again falls to an eight-speed automatic gearbox.

Colours

On the colour front, nine hues remain, but with the departure of Snazzberry, Silver Zenth, Sting Grey and Sarge Green.

Replacing them is a hue called 41 that pays homage to the original Willy’s Jeep, Anvil, an orange colour called Joose and a green shade dubbed Mojito.

Retained are black, Bright White, Granite Crystal, Firecracker Red and Hydro Blue.

Price

Priced at R1 399 900, the Gladiator’s price tag includes a three-year/100 000 km maintenance plan and a five-year/100 000 km warranty as standard.

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