2024 Jeep Gladiator: Built for Adventure and Beyond
Author:
Jeff Glucker.
Jeep recently launched a fresh-looking Wrangler, so it should be no surprise that a reworked Gladiator isn’t far behind. The pickup truck geared toward off-road adventure gets a restyled face, interior upgrades, and better standard features. Yet it’s still built on a platform designed to get you way off the beaten path and home again. Here’s a first look at the 2024 Jeep Gladiator.
What Does the 2024 Jeep Gladiator Look Like?
It’s still clearly a Jeep. But this one wears that familiar seven-slot grille with a slightly different look. There’s a little more curve and texture going on, but you won’t mistake it for any other brand. Even better, Jeep says the new look improves cooling as well. For this 2024 model, Jeep offers seven different wheel designs and various roof options. There’s a premium soft top, a body-color hardtop, and a black hardtop, and then a choice between full-size doors or half-doors. You also get to choose between nine different colors on the Gladiator. And then Jeep integrated the antenna into the front windshield to ensure there’s one less thing to get snagged on tree branches or in thick brush. On the inside, the new Gladiator comes standard with a 12.3-inch center touchscreen. It’s powered by the Unconnect 5 infotainment system with wireless connectivity for CarPlay and Android Auto.
What Is the Adventure Guides System?
Also, this Jeep comes packing the Adventure Guides system from Trails Offroad — a full off-road trail guide catalog at the ready. This guide consists of real-world evaluated trail ratings, difficulty ratings, route descriptions, key waypoints, and points of interest, all baked right into the system. The standard system features 62 Jeep Badge of Honor trails, including Hell’s Revenge, Jericho Mountain, and, of course, the Rubicon Trail. But if you want more, you can add a premium subscription that unlocks access to the full catalog of info. This means more than 3,000 trails with guided information. Of course, if you already have an account with OnX, don’t forget that it works nicely with Apple CarPlay.
What’s Under the Hood of the 2024 Jeep Gladiator?
For power, Jeep is staying with its tried and true 3.6-liter V6. It produces 285 horsepower and 260 lb-ft of torque. The standard gearbox is a 6-speed manual. The 8-speed automatic is available as an option, of course. I’d love to see both the hybrid 4XE powertrain and the 392 V8 offered on the Gladiator at some point, but for now, it’s just that V6. Regardless, the Gladiator is still a beast of a machine with a crawl ratio of up to 84:1, depending on which model you select. And it can tow up to 7,700 pounds or handle up to 1,725 pounds of payload.
What Are the Trim Levels of the 2024 Jeep Gladiator?
The Gladiator family includes the Sport, Sport S, Willys, Mojave, and Rubicon. Jeep has just added the Mojave X and Rubicon X. With the Sport, you’re getting a barebones but still well-equipped machine with a soft-top and fabric trim inside and more standard airbags than before. You also get Dana 44 solid axles, cargo lights in the bed, skid plates on the fuel tank and transfer case, and 32-inch tires. Jump to the Sport S, and you gain adaptive cruise control, stronger front glass, 17-inch aluminum wheels, and power windows and door locks. With the Willys, you’re gaining 32-inch mud-terrain tires, steel rock sliders, a rear locking differential, the Off-Road+ drive mode, and LED front lighting.
Of course, the stars of the show are the Mojave and Rubicon models. The Mojave is the Desert Rated truck, which is built for higher-speed blasts in the sand. It’s fitted with Fox 2.5 shocks with external reservoirs, a set of Fox hydraulic jounce bumpers up front to help soften movement in the nose, and the ability to lock the rear axle while still running higher speeds in 4HI. The rear axle ratio is upgraded to 4.10 gearing. There are paddle shifters behind the steering wheel. The seats have more bolstering. And there are steel rock rails for the cab. You also get 33” all-terrain tires. The King of the family is still the Rubicon.
This model has monster crawl ratios, electronic disconnect for the front sway bar, lockers for the front and the rear, upgraded 4.10 gearing, and rock rails for the cab and the bed corners. The Mojave and the Rubicon also get a 7-inch TFT gauge cluster. But you can climb higher still with the aforementioned Mojave X and Rubicon X. These models net you the Selec-Trac full-time transfer case for the Mojave or the Rock-Trac for the Rubicon, integrated off-road camera, front and rear steel bumpers, and interior upgrades as well. This means Nappa leather seats, an upgraded 9-speaker Alpine audio system, heated seats and steering wheel, and an integrated Bluetooth speaker.
What Can You Expect From the 2024 Jeep Gladiator?
Jeep has tweaked the styling, upgraded the interiors and standard features list, and made already capable trucks a bit better when you head out into the mud, dirt, dust, sand, snow, gravel, whatever. Now give us a Mojave 392 already, please, and thank you. Related:
2024 Jeep Gladiator: Choosing the Right Trim.
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