Our Life Owning 3rd Gen Tacoma and a JT Gladiator

Hey guys,

As many of you know we have a 3rd Gen Tacoma and have had many other older ones and we have lifted and wheeled them all. But when Jeep said they are coming out with the Jeep Truck, we had to have it.

Our Tacoma is in Hawaii, our JT Jeep is here in AZ with us.

Here is a link to our Current Build for the JT for those of you that want to check it out:



Ok so, what is life like when owning both trucks..... Here are our PROS / CONS that we have come up with.

(These are in compare to our Tacoma)

JT Gladiator PROS:

Strait axle / Dana 44 with lockers from factory
They make just about everything and anything you would ever need
jeep community is crazy, jeep waves happen all the time (Tacoma People are Dicks, not all of them but enough) We only know one Dick from Jeep world in 6 months...
No Blind Spots
tech packages, heated steering wheel/seats/LED lights, Alpine stereo
full size spare tire fits under the bed

JT Gladiator CONS:

Drive like total trash on the road
Awful gas millage
Towing is awful when compare our Tacoma
Jeep doesn't seem to have any quality control, we are already on our 2nd axle
Lots of electrical problems, like e locker Turing on while driving on the HWY @ 80MPH
Seats on long road trips not as comfy as Tacoma

These are just the main things we dislike about it, but the main thing is, we still love the truck, its just a shame on how poorly some things have been done in the Gladiator, it should have been a lot better...

Why did we get one? well i was planing on doing a SAS 3Link to our 3rd Gen, but didnt want to spend 30-40k on it, so decided to give the jeep a try....


So let me close with this, if your willing to give up the cons, you will love your JT, If you plan on wheeling the heck out of it and dont really care about on the road, you will love it, if you plan not to tow anything you will love it.....

I am glade we held on to our Tacoma for when we go to hawaii and i am glad we have our normal daily driver too.

If we had to do it again, I would and the only reason is, we love wheeling with the community that jeep has, when we go out with Tacoma people it was just always here and there, there is no real following.....

What do you guys think? Have you looked? Did you switch? Thinking of Switch?

 

I never considered an FCA product while truck shopping.

 

That thumbnail though.....

 

Same here FCA is the definition of Dog shit.. Jeep dodge Chrysler was bad before but now they have taken the cake for last place. Unfortunate because I have seen some killer done out ones and they are pretty sick! Sorta like a older Landrover look.

 

Yes, I have switched. From a JK.

 

Won’t touch anything fiat. Or Jeep. Or Chrysler.

Edit... if I want to off road it will be on a 2 stroke dirt bike.

 

I like the looks of a heavily modified JT, they look badass. Stock JT’s look terrible. Tacoma’s look great stock (and drive great on the highway), heavily modified, and everything in between.

When I was buying my truck there was a guy trading his few month old JT Rubicon on a Tacoma, he said it drove like shit on the highway. I thought that was pretty interesting.

 

Somewhat similar story, but reversed. I have a 3rd gen (wife wanted it) which is our first Toyota for any kind and first pickup of any kind. We've been a jeep (and German) family for over 20 years building every jeep we've had and helping others (CJ, XJ, WJ, TJ etc). Your pros and cons (relating to solid axle jeeps is spot on). I could certainly add a lot to both columns. As for the Taco, to date it's stock and met my wife's expectations. The one thing I can definitely say I like about the Taco is improved open frame.

 

Let's be honest... why 90% (conservative estimate) of TW will watch your video.

 

Yeah it really is unfortunate Jeep doesn't seem to care about quality.

 

I recently switched. Have had two Tacomas and this is my 3rd jeep. My last two jeeps were great, my 1st Tacoma was full of problems and vibrations. My 2018 trd offroad was ok, but let’s be realistic, the Tacoma needs more updates to be current. The powertrain is much better in the jeep and I am consistently getting better mileage. The nav system is way way better in the jeep along with the whole head unit functionality. For me the Gladiator is the best of both worlds.

 

The bean counters at Fiat are now piloting the ship.

 

Totally! If they built anything to last longer than warranty they would have more respect. But I have a bunch of friends and family friends who are mechanics and they all got seriously mad at me when I told them I was sorta looking at a Jeep during my Tacoma since I wanted to test everything possible. They all said DO NOT BUY A FCA product! You will regret it! Actually never heard a mechanic ever recommend a Dodge or Jeep unless they need business.

 

You mean 90% of TW are too stupid to realize that pic is “click bait”?

 

It happens I know everyone has personal preference. This is why there is more than 1 company. You think Jeeps is amazing most people will say your wrong. All that matters is your happy with your vehicle and doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. You will be the one paying to fix it.

 

Those look so god damn cool. If only Toyota made them.

 

Right? Nobody would’ve clicked on this crap if it was a front shot.

 

Only IMO, a modified Wrangler is the coolest looking vehicle. Not a Porsche or Ferrari, but a modded Wrangler. I just love the way they look.

What got me out of my JK though and put me in a Taco is road manners and reliability, in a package that still allows me to off-road.

Very funny story... getting gas, and on the other side of the pump was a brand new Gladiator. The guy strikes a conversation about my Kings, and we started talking Jeeps. I told him I had just sold my JK, and he still had a JK besides the Gladiator.

I told him how much I like having a truck with that's very capable off-road and still drives very nicely on the street.

I asked him how he liked the Gladiator, and he wasn't happy at all. He kept saying "yeah, it still drives like a Jeep...". And that's the issue. They might look real cool when you drive them, but I got tired of how they felt when driving.

 

Ouch.

 

That’s just savage.