Jeep Gladiator

[truckster]

All of this reminds me of an old joke. The teacher says, "Billy, can you use the word 'gladiator' in a sentence?"

Billy thinks for a minute, and then says, "A lion ate my teacher, and I'm gladiator."

[cypressbog]

I couldn’t wait to get the new Gladiator until I saw what they were going to look like. I opted for a 2018 Ram 1500 crew cab.

The wife fell in love with the new JLU when they came out so we got her one.

[special-K]

Originally Posted by WyattTX

The only think I don't like about the gladiator is that they made the bed a separate piece. It should've been part of the body tub like the Scrambler. With a set up like this, you could install a full hard top, and a have a compact 3 seat row SUV, and go back to an open bed when needed.

Yeah, that's a good point. Just like being hung up on 4drs by their marketing dept, they just had to make it a pickup. Pickups are the hot item today over cars 'and' SUVs. Shoulda made it an SUV. It would be a 4dr SUV that was WAF. I wouldn't call it compact or even downsized. I think my '95 Suburban is a tad smaller (with greater capacity).

Not even being able to lay out to sleep anywhere goes with your point, too. I mean c'mon, what good is this thing? Not worth much as a pickup. Not worth much as an SUV.

All these 4dr shortbed pickups these days giving up good truck design in favor of great passenger capacity annoys me. Not all, it's the ones where all the bed is hanging out behind the rear axle and the front of the bed doesn't even make it all the way around the wheel! I'm not an edgy kind of guy. But I am a guy who has had a lot of interest in trucks, over cars, almost forever. So I've been looking at trucks as trucks and looking at trucks for their merits for a very long time. Some style is always good, too. Shortbeds, SUVs, El Caminos, S10s and such, those are my cars. I've watched things change all the way along up to today. So I get how trucks and truck-like vehicles have become ever so popular today. I just can't get past how stupid that bed design is to me, as a truck guy. Trucks rely on good design when it comes to whatever application or use they are built for. That looks like a major screw up when I see that.

[WyattTX]

Originally Posted by special-K

Yeah, that's a good point. Just like being hung up on 4drs by their marketing dept, they just had to make it a pickup. Pickups are the hot item today over cars 'and' SUVs. Shoulda made it an SUV. It would be a 4dr SUV that was WAF. I wouldn't call it compact or even downsized. I think my '95 Suburban is a tad smaller (with greater capacity).

Not even being able to lay out to sleep anywhere goes with your point, too. I mean c'mon, what good is this thing? Not worth much as a pickup. Not worth much as an SUV.

All these 4dr shortbed pickups these days giving up good truck design in favor of great passenger capacity annoys me. Not all, it's the ones where all the bed is hanging out behind the rear axle and the front of the bed doesn't even make it all the way around the wheel! I'm not an edgy kind of guy. But I am a guy who has had a lot of interest in trucks, over cars, almost forever. So I've been looking at trucks as trucks and looking at trucks for their merits for a very long time. Some style is always good, too. Shortbeds, SUVs, El Caminos, S10s and such, those are my cars. I've watched things change all the way along up to today. So I get how trucks and truck-like vehicles have become ever so popular today. I just can't get past how stupid that bed design is to me, as a truck guy. Trucks rely on good design when it comes to whatever application or use they are built for. That looks like a major screw up when I see that.

My thoughts exactly. I thought the market got stupid when the 5.5 foot bed was introduced. You may as well drive a Suburban, and enjoy the benefit of covered cargo, and extra capacity you get from folding the rear seats. Today's insecure young men seem to think it is emasculating to drive a vehicle without a bed on it.

[special-K]

That's it! And it shows. Now it all makes sense. They are vehicles designed for men with an identity crisis . "Got this keypad tappin' desk job and I wanna feel like one of the boys on my way to the parking garage".

Once the ext cabs and 4dr SUVs came out the truck category blew up. So people are buying ext cab pickups as family cars, what's the next thing you see going big on the market? Locking hard bed covers. "This dang thing came without a trunk lid. I mean the trunk is huge and all, but people can steal stuff and it gets all wet" . Next you see them stuffing washing machines in their handy pickup bed with the hard cover stuck way up in the air like a huge air damn. Then you see hard bed covers laying in the back yard with leaves on them

[1976gmc20]

I keep expecting some company to come out with a "pickup" with an 18" long "bed"

[special-K]

T-buckets never bothered me. My kind of street rod

[WyattTX]

Had the Avalanche came with a blazer like removable hard top, it would be dang near perfect. You could have all the seating capacity and covered cargo of a Suburban, but still be able to revert back to an open truck bed when needed. Fiat should've taken a look at an Avalanche before they built the Gladiator. Having the bed as a separated piece only makes sense when it is too long to be joined with the cab, or has a possibility of being replaced with a utility bed (Many fleet trucks get outfitted with these). There is really no good reason why the 5.5 ft bed should exist, other than a broken truck market with buyers that don't understand practicality.

[dieseldawg142]

Originally Posted by WyattTX

There is really no good reason why the 5.5 ft bed should exist, other than a broken truck market with buyers that don't understand practicality.

yup, longbeds are where it's at...8 foot bed that don't need to be made...

[dieseldawg142]

Originally Posted by special-K

They are vehicles designed for men with an identity crisis .

here's the perfect "trucklet" for those guys with that id crisis...lol
drives like a car, but can still fit their murse in the back, and "neat-o" rollbar with off road lights- just like a big truck...

silly, but looks well enough done that it don't look like a hack job


i got some weird neighbors.........

[FleetsidePaul]

I'd roll it. Short bed and all. Just sayin.

[special-K]

Originally Posted by FleetsidePaul

I'd roll it. Short bed and all. Just sayin.

Just sayin' what?

I see a bonified sport truck. National identity does seem a bit confused there, though. But hey, Marco Polo did bring back the spaghetti thing from the orient to Italy. At least that's a real bed designed to carry a balanced load over the axle. My son has a red X-Runner and I really like that peppy little thing. That truck reminds me of it. He has done landscaping jobs, light moving... uses it for work

Not his, but his is red

[FleetsidePaul]

Originally Posted by special-K

Just sayin' what?

I see a bonified sport truck. National identity does seem a bit confused there, though. But hey, Marco Polo did bring back the spaghetti thing from the orient to Italy. At least that's a real bed designed to carry a balanced load over the axle. My son has a red X-Runner and I really like that peppy little thing. That truck reminds me of it. He has done landscaping jobs, light moving... uses it for work

Not his, but his is red

I always liked those. My wife and I saw a blue one on display at the Long Beach Gran Prix when they first came out. And she really wanted that truck.

I thought it was going to be an expensive day at the races.

[whitedog76]

The original concept not bad.

[whitedog76]

Not so much.

[CG]

Originally Posted by whitedog76

… I feel a little vomit in my mouth when I drive by one.

I can honestly say of all the ugly cars or trucks I have seen in my life none have ever given me this response. You're a passionate dude

[whitedog76]

Originally Posted by CG

I can honestly say of all the ugly cars or trucks I have seen in my life none have ever given me this response. You're a passionate dude

I turn the channel when there is a Gladiator TV commercial. My wife makes fun of me for it.

I've driven some not so stylish cars myself. I even thought the H2 and H3's were ridiculous, but for whatever reason I cannot stand the Gladiator.

[whitedog76]

Originally Posted by CG

I can honestly say of all the ugly cars or trucks I have seen in my life none have ever given me this response. You're a passionate dude

I turn the channel when there is a Gladiator TV commercial. My wife makes fun of me for it.

I've driven some not so stylish cars myself. I thought the H2 and H3's were ridiculous back in the day, I never really shunned them though. For whatever reason I cannot stand the Gladiator.

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by whitedog76

The original concept not bad.

Nice

(assuming it's a solid front axle)

[special-K]

That ain't no Gladiator. That there is a platypus.

[WyattTX]

We begged for another Jeep pickup, since the Commanche went away. We finally got, just not in the way we would've liked. The Comanche and the Scrambler are my two favorite compact pickups. I don't believe they produced enough of either one.

[1976gmc20]

Originally Posted by WyattTX

We begged for another Jeep pickup, since the Commanche went away. We finally got, just not in the way we would've liked. The Comanche and the Scrambler are my two favorite compact pickups. I don't believe they produced enough of either one.

Nothing so much wrong with this Thing that they are making now, but Jeep should have called it something else besides "Gladiator" so they could use that for a real Jeep Pickup sometime in the future.

It would be like if they made another subcompact FWD/AWD and called it a "Wagoneer"

[dieseldawg142]

It would be like if they made another subcompact FWD/AWD and called it a ..... Blazer

[special-K]

Originally Posted by 1976gmc20

...Jeep should have called it something else besides "Gladiator" so they could use that for a real Jeep Pickup sometime in the future.

I was thinking the same thing. They wasted a good name on a poor product. That little red one shown is neat. I really like it. But the marketing mentality is hung up on 4dr, so they probably feared it wouldn't sell hot. Well, think just a little bit and you'll realize a little Wagoneer could be built on that same platform using much of the same sheet metal. Now that's good economics. Those who need a back seat can buy a Wagoneer.

[Ol Blue K20]

Originally Posted by dieseldawg142

It would be like if they made another subcompact FWD/AWD and called it a ..... Blazer