Just like my last car purchase, I ended up with a vehicle that wasn't on my radar as a contender early in the search. I had posted previously about trying to find a replacement for my aging high-miles Nissan Xterra "Alexis" - here is the result.
2021 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon with the Fiat 3.0L V6 turbo diesel and a heavy duty version of the German ZF8 automatic 8-speed transmission. We bought it sight-unseen from a dealer in South Dakota, flew in (via Las Vegas), signed the paperwork, and drove it home. Initially I wanted a manual transmission and we had looked at new examples; unfortunately the manual was okay-ish, but not great - the clutches are also prone to, um, exploding. At the time of this post you still cannot buy a new Gladiator with a manual due to a national Stop-Sale order. I was worried that the issues with the manual transmission would continue to be a problem after a "fix" was released, so we scratched that idea. With the automatic being the only option left, we expanded the search to used diesel models - because why the hell not have a diesel if I'm going to have an automatic?
We found this example with all the features we wanted and very low miles - at two years old it only had about one year's worth of driving on the clock. The previous owner (who was apparently scared of the dark) added the off road lights and a Jeep Rubicon branded Warn 12,000 lb winch with synthetic line and a Factor 55 Ultrahook. Other than that, everything is out of the Jeep catalog.
It sits a little nose-down and the suspension, which was already pretty soft, was not resprung to take the weight of the winch. That's something that will have to be addressed.
The plan is to do a 2.5" lift at some point with uprated springs and shocks, new 8.5" wide rims (stock is 7.5") to open up more tire options, and 35" tires. With this being a diesel, I won't have to re-gear with this minor upgrade in tire size (OE is 33")
The truck also replaced the Taurus as the road-trip car. We decided we didn't need a fleet of three cars anymore and the reason for getting the Taurus is no longer a consideration. Plus, the truck gets fuel economy equal to or better than the Taurus.
So that's the new Support Truck for the Wrangler. It will take on mild to moderate-difficulty trails, handle hauling the camping gear and chauffer the dogs - but when the trails get really bad "Banner" the Wrangler will take over.
Essentially, this is how Kiki and Banner see the new truck:
2021 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon with the Fiat 3.0L V6 turbo diesel and a heavy duty version of the German ZF8 automatic 8-speed transmission. We bought it sight-unseen from a dealer in South Dakota, flew in (via Las Vegas), signed the paperwork, and drove it home. Initially I wanted a manual transmission and we had looked at new examples; unfortunately the manual was okay-ish, but not great - the clutches are also prone to, um, exploding. At the time of this post you still cannot buy a new Gladiator with a manual due to a national Stop-Sale order. I was worried that the issues with the manual transmission would continue to be a problem after a "fix" was released, so we scratched that idea. With the automatic being the only option left, we expanded the search to used diesel models - because why the hell not have a diesel if I'm going to have an automatic?
We found this example with all the features we wanted and very low miles - at two years old it only had about one year's worth of driving on the clock. The previous owner (who was apparently scared of the dark) added the off road lights and a Jeep Rubicon branded Warn 12,000 lb winch with synthetic line and a Factor 55 Ultrahook. Other than that, everything is out of the Jeep catalog.
It sits a little nose-down and the suspension, which was already pretty soft, was not resprung to take the weight of the winch. That's something that will have to be addressed.
The plan is to do a 2.5" lift at some point with uprated springs and shocks, new 8.5" wide rims (stock is 7.5") to open up more tire options, and 35" tires. With this being a diesel, I won't have to re-gear with this minor upgrade in tire size (OE is 33")
The truck also replaced the Taurus as the road-trip car. We decided we didn't need a fleet of three cars anymore and the reason for getting the Taurus is no longer a consideration. Plus, the truck gets fuel economy equal to or better than the Taurus.
So that's the new Support Truck for the Wrangler. It will take on mild to moderate-difficulty trails, handle hauling the camping gear and chauffer the dogs - but when the trails get really bad "Banner" the Wrangler will take over.
Essentially, this is how Kiki and Banner see the new truck:
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lug nut", roughly translated to English as the "smell the 
