The one thing I’ve learned about Jeeps is to manage your expectations. They aren’t normal vehicles. They don’t ride like one, they’re are a lot noisier inside, and they have sloppy steering feel compared to other normal SUVs and trucks. Then it hit me: if driving enthusiasts are all for the joy and engagement in-between going from point A to B, then Jeep enthusiasts are for the experience of going above and beyond any obstacle past point B. Once I set off in this 2024 Jeep Gladiator Mojave X, I began to understand what the Jeep thing is all about.
Introduced in 2020, the Gladiator is the byproduct of combining a Wrangler with a Ram 1500 chassis. The Gladiator is tied with the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon twins for best-in-class towing capacity, at 7,700 pounds. Unlike some of the competition, the Gladiator only comes with a five-foot bed, where others can be optioned with a six-footer. With that said, it boasts the best-in-class payload at 1,725 pounds. To put it into perspective, a 900-pound Polaris Sportsman ATV fits comfortably, with a few hundred pounds to spare. One thing I noted with this bed is how shallow it is compared to competitors with taller bed-sides.
Aside from the obvious bed, the Gladiator shares most of its styling cues from the Wrangler. It looks slightly awkward in certain angles, but enthusiasts do appreciate the function-over-form motif Jeep is known for. Other exterior features include smoked LED headlights, a metal front bumper, rock rails, and a trick forward-facing trail camera with a built-in washer nozzle that helps while going through muddy trails and steep off-road inclines. On this Mojave X trim, you have an additional one-inch suspension lift along with beefy 33-inch Falken all-terrain tires, making for a more commanding road presence with the wider stance. Getting in and out is a bit of a chore considering there are no side steps, but at least they give you interior grab handles.
The 2024 model year also introduces a lot of welcome changes in the interior space. All Gladiator trims come standard with a 12.3-inch infotainment display integrated into the recessed instrument cluster, which is thankfully still analog. As well, the Gladiator thankfully retains physical controls for climate and infotainment, with a clearly marked Screen Off button for those who loathe glare and reflections. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto come standard; it worked most of the time, but I experienced a few glitches. I noticed CarPlay had a hard time pairing to my phone, especially with multiple phones saved into the system. Another mishap was when Waze froze for 15 minutes, rendering Car Play completely useless despite multiple reset attempts.
Other tech features include Jeep Skill for Amazon Alexa, which allows you to start the vehicle by speaking to Alexa from the comfort of your home, handy for those really cold winter days. The Mojave X also comes with standard safety features such as blind-spot monitoring, forward collision warning with active braking, and adaptive cruise control.
Tech aside, another creature comfort with the Mojave X is the Nappa leather seating throughout, now with power-operated driver and passenger seats up front, plus lumbar support that makes long drives more bearable compared to the cloth seats on the lower trims. The Gladiator’s longer wheelbase compared to the Wrangler also allows for a comfortable rear seat space, made apparent by seating two giant Eastern European friends of mine in the back without much fuss.
Being a Jeep, the Gladiator is designed to allow you to remove the doors, roof panels, and fold down the windshield. The inherent trade-off from this is wind noise, with strong headwinds and crosswinds being amplified due to the fact that it’s shaped like a block of cheese. The lack of sound deadening also doesn’t help. Furthermore, the solid live front axle makes steering the Gladiator a slightly crude experience. As some Jeep enthusiasts might say, it’s a Jeep thing.
Despite the crudeness and inherent design flaws, the Gladiator was actually more pleasant than I expected, especially compared to other Jeeps that I have driven in the past. The longer wheelbase, dual-canister Fox shocks on each corner, and hydraulic bump stops mean the Mojave X rides smoother compared to the Wrangler on-road. Thanks to additional frame reinforcements and a beefier cast-iron steering knuckle, it also feels more substantial and very solid overall. However, with our tester’s 33-inch Falken Wildpeak all-terrain tires, there’s a lot of road noise and vague steering feel at highway speeds. That said, the Mojave X along with these tires were made primarily to punch through sand dunes and go off-roading at high speeds; if you want a quieter and more isolated drive, the Gladiator will not be for you.
Powering this Gladiator is the familiar 3.6-litre Pentastar V6, making 285 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque. Although power delivery feels consistent throughout the powerband, the Mojave X’s 5,073-pound curb weight makes this V6 work hard, almost redlining in many instances just to get up to speed. We’d love to see the Wrangler 392’s Hemi V8 find its way into the Gladiator, as it would suit the Mojave X’s character even more, but we all know the Hemi isn’t long for this world. The EcoDiesel V6 on the other hand is now dead, making the Pentastar V6 the only engine offered. A six-speed manual is still standard across the board, making the Gladiator one of two new trucks on the market — the second being the Toyota Tacoma — to still let you row your own gears. Our tester featured the optional eight-speed automatic sourced from ZF, which is always in the right gear and quickly downshifts without hesitation.
Considering the all-terrain tires and approximate aerodynamic properties of a house, the Gladiator’s fuel economy is expectedly abysmal. Fuel economy is rated at 13.7 L/100 kilometres around town, while highway driving should return 10.7 L/100 km. My observed, real-world fuel economy with the Mojave X was even worse, at 16.8 L/100 km combined.
Pricing for the 2024 Gladiator is a tough pill to swallow considering the lack of powertrain choices. It ranges from $56,473 including destination for the base Sport S trim, while our Mojave X tester with add-ons came up to an eye-watering $90,108 as-tested. A similarly equipped Ford Ranger Raptor with its twin-turbocharged V6 engine 120 more horsepower than the Gladiator retails for around $85,000, making it even more eye-watering and a slap in the face.
The Gladiator may be a hard sell, but it definitely shows that a Jeep can evolve into a more livable and usable vehicle, while still offering the off-road capability and character people have come expect. With impressive towing and payload capacity, the 2024 Jeep Gladiator Mojave X is definitely more than just a Wrangler with a pick-up bed. The function-over-form attitude that Jeeps have been associated with is still alive and well, and even though there are objectively better choices out there for the money, I finally understand what the Jeep thing is all about.
