2022 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon Review

Specialist off-road vehicles seem to be all the range at the moment with lots of manufacturers introducing hardcore versions of their regular utes – Nissan has the Navara Warrior, Ford the Ranger Raptor and so on. But long before these specialist off-road versions were even thought of was Jeep, that gave all its vehicles specialist off-road ability. With that in mind, how does an off-road themed Jeep ute compare to rivals? We tested the 2022 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon, essentially a ute version of the iconic Jeep Wrangler, to find out.

The Gladiator stands out in a crowd, with its rugged looks it seems to be more believable as an off roader than other offerings in the market. Competing with the likes of the Toyota HiLux Rogue, Ford Ranger Raptor, Nissan Navara Pro-4X and the Volkswagen Amarok W580X the Jeep has a lot to compare to, so can it keep up? Let’s find out.

Price & Equipment: 7/10

Priced from $70,550 plus on-road costs, the 2022 Jeep Gladiator range has now shrunk down to two models: the entry level Night Eagle and the top spec model we tested, the Rubicon. The Gladiator Rubicon will set buyers back $79,250 plus on-road costs (around $86,000 drive away, depending on your location), which is a steep price hike over the model below.

Coming as standard on the 2022 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon are 17-inch alloy wheels with off-road 32-inch BF Goodrich tyres, automatic all-LED exterior lighting, keyless entry and start with remote start, an 8.4-inch touch screen with Jeep’s ‘U-Connect’ system, satellite navigation, digital radio, wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a partially digital driver’s display, a nine-speaker Alpine sound system, dual-zone climate control, a leather steering wheel and gear knob, an auto-dimming rear view mirror, heated front seats, a heated steering wheel and a three-piece removable hard top.

Safety features in the Gladiator include four airbags, blind-spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control, forward collision alert, high and low speed auto emergency braking (AEB), rear cross traffic alert, trailer sway control, front and rear parking sensors, front and rear cameras, tyre pressure monitoring and an alarm system.

There are a few options available for the 2022 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon, one of them being a Rubicon Premium Package, which includes body-coloured fender flares and a body-coloured hard top for $2,950. The Lifestyle Adventure Package adds four auxiliary switches, a 700-amp maintenance battery, a Trail Rail system for the tray, lockable rear under seat storage, spray-in bed liner, a roll-up tonneau cover and a removable Bluetooth speaker all for $2,950. Our test car had both packages.

There are a wide array of colours available on the Gladiator. The standard colours available are ‘Black’ and the colour seen on our test car, which is named ‘Bright White’. All other colours come at an additional cost of $895 and include ‘Silver Zynith’, ‘Granite Crystal’, ‘Sting Grey’, ‘Firecracker Red’, ‘Hydro Blue’, ‘Snazzberry’ (maroon) and ‘Sarge Green’. Black leather is standard, but a brown tan colour is optional.

While the Gladiator Rubicon is well equipped, there are still some missing features, such as automatic wipers (due to the fold down windscreen), lane departure warning and lane keep assist, wireless phone charging, wireless smartphone mirroring, auto high beam and driver attention monitoring.

Rivals include the $70,200 Toyota HiLux Rogue, the $79,320 Ford Ranger Raptor X and the $68,090 Nissan Navara N-Trek Warrior. All these cars have diesel engines and are off-road focused versions of regular utes. They have features similar to the Jeep, but they all have lane keep assist, auto high beam and driver attention detection.

Performance & Economy: 8/10

The sole engine that powers the 2022 Jeep Gladiator range is a familiar 3.6-litre ‘Pentastar’ petrol V6, which has been powering Chrysler and Jeep products for years. The engine produces 209kW at a high 6,400rpm of power and 347Nm of torque at 4,100rpm. The Gladiator is only available as a 4×4 dual-cab model and in Australia, it’s only available as a petrol V6 – the 200kW diesel V6 on offer in North America is unfortunately not built in right-hand drive.

The engine noise is a little on the high side but it is an old engine – not that that excuses it. One noise that is more noticeable than the engine noise in the Gladiator Rubicon is the tyre noise, which is loud. One word to summarise the Jeep Gladiator’s engine is smooth. There is a nice linear power band that makes driving the Gladiator enjoyable and there is even a nice engine note that comes when accelerating.

The standard transmission option is an eight-speed torque converter automatic. It shifts very quietly and you barely feel the shifts when on the move. The kick down works quickly when power is needed and unlike other transmissions with more than six gears, you never feel like it is hunting for the right gear. The shifter itself even has a little Gladiator graphic on it.

The claimed average fuel consumption for the 2022 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon is 12.4L/100km, which is on the high side compared to other utes. The Gladiator has an 83-litre fuel tank and can run on 91RON fuel. We saw an average fuel consumption with a mixture of urban and highway driving of 13L/100km which isn’t far off the claim. Both the Ranger Raptor and Navara Pro-4X have twin-turbo diesel four-cylinder engines which offer more low down grunt but less high end power. They also cost less to run as they both have claimed average fuel consumption figures of around 8L/100km.

Ride & Handling: 8/10

Some off-road focused utes or even SUVs can often have quite bouncy rides as they try to iron out all of the sticks and rocks on off road trails and the 2022 Jeep Gladiator is sort of like this. It is comfortable enough for daily duties but not soft enough to make you feel sick. We would call the ride compliant but not too soft, and more comfortable than some rivals thanks to the Jeep’s length. The steering does feel a little detached from the wheels as it is an electronic steering rack.

The handling ability of the Gladiator is not as good as something like an SUV but that is to be expected from such a long off-road focused machine. There is noticeable body roll and the off-road focused tyres don’t help in the corners either. But around town – aside from the considerable size – it’s more than manageable.

The braked towing capacity of the Gladiator Rubicon is 2,721kg (750kg unbraked), which is better than most SUVs, but unfortunately not as good as the 3,500kg that the Toyota HiLux, Ford Ranger and Nissan Navara can tow. As far as off-roading equipment is concerned the Gladiator Rubicon comes kitted with nearly everything. There is a proper transfer case with high and low range four-wheel drive, front and rear diff locks, an electronic front sway bar disconnect, Fox Performance shock absorbers and serious off- roading tyres.

The active safety on the Gladiator works well -the forward collision warning does a good job of not being over sensitive but still effective. We like that you can choose between adaptive cruise control and regular cruise control with buttons on the steering wheel an the adaptive cruise control does also do a good job. We just wish it had features like lane keep assist and more than four airbags.

Interior & Practicality: 8/10

The interior of the Gladiator, unlike Jeeps of past, feels roomy and spacious, which is due to the sheer size of the Gladiator and that you can take the roof panels off to make it feel airy. There is also a good mix of materials throughout the cabin – the dash is a mix between a soft rubbery-like material and hard plastic which we quite like, and everything feels durable in the cabin like it was built to be tough. The door panels are hard plastic and leather and the doors themselves are also removable if you so desire. The leather quality in the Gladiator is rather good: soft but durable.

To put it bluntly, there are not too many storage options in the Gladiator – two cup holders in the front with a slot to stand your phone up in between them, a centre console bin with a USB port, a small glove box and small door nets.

One thing we love about the Gladiator is the removable roof panels. It makes it feel like an adventure vehicle as it is so versatile. You can remove the two front panels, the Gladiator turns into a T-top or get the tools out and remove the whole rear section and it turns into a convertible.

The 8.4-inch touchscreen that sits in the middle of the 2022 Jeep Gladiators dash uses Jeep’s excellent U-Connect infotainment system. It may be getting a little old now but it is still very good. The shortcuts at the bottom of the screen are very helpful in navigating the menus, the Garmin-based navigation system is easy to use and the off-road menu is very helpful. The nine-speaker Alpine sound system in the Gladiator does a reasonable job as well, with excellent bass and reasonable clarity.

The rear seats are rather accommodating with a nice amount of leg- and headroom. The rear amenities are excellent as there are rear door pockets, air vents, two cup holders, grab handles to help ingress and egress and storage bins under the rear seats. Behind the rear seat is also the removable Bluetooth speaker that comes with the Lifestyle Adventure Group.

Opening the tailgate (which soft opens so it doesn’t slam) reveals a bed lined tub that has a clever track system to tie items down. Out test car also had a rolling tonneau cover. The tray itself measures 1,531mm long and 1,137mm wide between the wheel arches and has a payload of 693kg. The payload in the Navara Pro-4x Warrior has a payload of 952kg, which is significantly more than the Jeep.

Service & Warranty: 7/10

The 2022 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon comes with the Jeep’s five-year/100,000 kilometre warranty. Nissan, Toyota and Ford offer the same five-year warranty but they all aren’t limited by kilometres like Jeep’s is. At the time of purchase, the Jeep comes with five years of roadside assistance and if you continue to service with Jeep after the five year mark, you are rewarded with another 12 months of roadside assistance.

Servicing the Jeep Gladiator comes around every 12 months or 12,000km – an unusual interval as most cars, including the Ford Ranger, are 12 months or 15,000km. The cost to service the Jeep Gladiator over the span of five years or 60,000km is $1,995 ($399 for the first five years). Compare that to the $1,586 ($317 per year) it will cost owners to service the Ford Ranger and it seems a little steep, though the Nissan Navara costs $2,971 ($594 per service) to service over five years.

The 2022 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon DiscoverAuto Rating: 7.4/10

Jeeps have always had a certain following, by those who have a go anywhere attitude and this Gladiator doesn’t fall far from the pack. The Gladiator is very much a lifestyle go anywhere vehicle, it is the perfect beach crawler or off road weapon but it is also a fun and interesting car to drive every day. It offers something that other dual-cab utes seem to miss: character, and lots of it.

The Gladiator has a personality, it becomes a part of the family. Yes, it isn’t cheap to buy or cheap to fuel but it is nice to drive and is also well equipped. So the big question is: would we buy the 2022 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon over the other dual-cab utes on the market? It would be in the top few on our list, we would also consider the Nissan Navara Pro-4X Warrior as an off roader that can also mix the school run and off-roading but a Gladiator has way more character, if that’s what you’re looking for.