2020 Jeep Gladiator promises to be the most capable midsize pickup you can buy
1Please watch: "Hyundai Motorsport World Rally Team Estonia has taken its second victory"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obcosEA6Zq4 --~--
What is it? The first Jeep pickup since the ill-conceived — and best forgotten — 1992 Comanche. It is also, in Jeep’s humble opinion, “the most capable midsize truck ever.”
Why is it important? Well, unless you’ve been living in a cave, you should know that anything even remotely truck-like is selling like hot cakes. Combine that with comely Wrangler looks and the Jeep nameplate, and pretty much everybody in the business — even Jeep’s competitors — thinks the Gladiator is going to be a smash hit.
As for that “most capable” boast, the Gladiator is available with 33-inch off-road tires, Dana 44 axles, Tru-Lock electric front- and rear-axle lockers, a Trac-Lok limited-slip differential and a segment-exclusive electronic sway-bar disconnect system. In other words, it’s off-road friendly. It’s also something of a workhorse, capable of towing 3,475 kilograms and carrying 725 kilos in its five-foot bed. To show how serious a work truck it is, Jeep engineers even imprinted dirt bike knobby tires on its fore wall to show motocross riders exactly where to load their bikes.
Like the standard Wrangler, there’s a fold-down windshield so you can get closer to nature, both soft and hard tops, and completely unique in this segment, all four doors can be removed for a true open-air experience. There’s even a forward-facing off-road camera available on Rubicon that helps you spot obstructions on the trail that can’t otherwise be seen.
But not everything about the new Gladiator is meant to be rough and tumble. Two standard USB ports are available, and in shades of modernity, there’s also a USB-C port up front along with a 400-watt, 115-volt AC three-pronged outlet. Throw in the fourth-generation Uconnect infotainment — that includes both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto playing on either 7- or 8.4-inch touchscreens with pinch-and-zoom capability — and maybe there is some truth to that most capable grandiloquence.
Motivation comes from either a 285-horsepower Pentastar V6 or FCA’s 3.0-litre EcoDiesel V6.
When is it coming? The Jeep Gladiator will arrive in the second quarter of 2019 as a 2020 model.
Should you buy it? What part of the “most capable” didn’t you get? Again, this is a pickup truck that is authentically styled like a Jeep and has most of the storied brand’s off-road ability — it will ford through 30-inch deep streams, for instance. So what’s not to like? Easily the hit of the 2018 Los Angeles Auto Show, Jeep is going to sell every one of these Gladiator things it can build.
Source:https://driving.ca/jeep/auto-shows/l-a-auto-show/2020-jeep-gladiator-promises-to-be-the-most-capable-midsize-pickup-you-can-buy