Gladiator or Tacoma, Help Me Decide!

Get a Ford bronco

 

Pretty sure that 35's require a lot of mods and 37's require even more mods and neither are big enough to go hard in the rough stuff. 40's seems like the price of admission and the mods required will equal building a crawler vs maintaining a daily driver. Any weight added will require even more mods.

 

It’s funny to worry about consumer report ratings as you are bashing your 80k rig down the Rubicon

 

It's not going to be a daily driver. I have a company vehicle I take too and from work and use it at work. The only thing I will be using this vehicle for is running errands around town on the weekends and overlanding/off-roading

 

I’m sure that is all true, however think it’s reasonable to offer Jeep some kudos for making a solid-axle vehicle with a lot of off road capability, even stock. If reliability wasn’t a factor, Jeep would have more of the off-road market than they do. It’s just their poor QA and crazy pricing that really holds them back. Having said that, if Toyota made something comparable it would probably be $100K or more.

 

Why do all the jeeps are junk comments come from taco dudes in nearly stock trucks incapable of driving hard trails? Sure these trucks have high reliability ratings. ON ROAD.

If hard wheeling is your thing, the taco will require such serious mods, that the reliability ratings disappears. You will not be able to run those hard trails without solid knowledge and skills to fix shit on the trail either way. But I guarantee that many many many more jeeps have done holy cross or rubicon or other actually hard trails than tacos. Myself included.

If you get a taco don’t waste your effort on mid travel. And don’t expect to only spend $20k (considering the camper options you want eat nearly half of that).

 

I’ll admit im jelly. I drive junk.

I’d still recommend an older rig unless you want to be an overland bro.

 

Word. So many dudes in here say I went wheeling and actually just drove down some mild ass forest road that any fucking Subaru can do. Man I’m sick of hearing about overlanding.

 

I might have missed it, but did OP say what tranny he wanted?

If he wants a manual, RUN from the Gladiator. Jeep has no desire to produce even a halfway "passable" manual. Im not saying its meh, or its just okay. Im saying its a train wreck. I just came from onw before my Taco, so trust me, I know.
However, Jeeps AT are quite good.

Sounds like you are going to spend a ton of money either way, so just get whatever you think will get you more panties....

 

My experiences with my JLU Rubi on 38” wasn’t much different to be honest. There was alot less fab work but a lot more bolt on solutions.

When you get deep into hard off roading it’s never ending. You get a Jeep you want tons and 40s. Then you want an LS swap. Before you know it. You have a 100k wrangler. Then you think man I should just build a buggy

My Tacoma has been fun because I feel like I’m doing more of a built than a bolt on process. I’m building it in phases. Build and wheel until I reach its limit. Then the next phase begins.

Overlanding, high speed desert running, and crawling are never ending money pits.

 

Let's end this right here.
Even with $20k mods on a Tacoma, you can only go sorta hard. Same with a Jeep Rubicon Gladiator.
Either will only go sorta hard. To go hard core, you need a dedicated crawler, which will probably cost you less than modding a Tacoma to go sorta hard.
Build a old Jéep. Build a Samurai. Build an old truck. Still cheaper than sorta building a 3rd gen Tacoma.

 

That’s because you’re poor. Stop being poor, bust out the credit cards and take a cash out refinance on your house.

 

I think the “Jeeps are junk” comments come from the population in general, not just Toyota owners. Especially those that have owned Jeeps. Nobody is arguing they are not a more capable design. They are that.

 

Heard on the radio today. Gladiator Willy’s are 9k off at the dealer in Paso Robles CA Sounds lil sus….

 

I was just contemplating this same scenario gladiator or tacoma because I wanted a manual 6 cylinder I actually test drove a Rubicon first and it was nice but the seat wouldn't go back hardly at all I'm 6'4 and my knees were all in the dash and steering wheel. That was the biggest thing for me the tacoma I don't even have to put all the way back has plenty of leg room. Plus I've been following the gladiator forums and they have a bad misfire problem that nobody can figure out on brand new gladiators.

 

Gladiator will be cheaper and easier to build. But personally I think the quality is a lot less. Gladiator is a lot more expensive as well.

If I was to do it over again and wanted something for more difficult trails and running bigger tires I’d go Jeep. Anything else Tacoma.

Unless you having money falling out of your pockets and do that high horse power Jeep. Then no question.

 

I think OP that you really need to price this out.

If you get a Tacoma. To be able to have your camper and run Holy Cross or Rubicon it’s gonna cost more than you think. Because you can’t just put a lift and 35s and call it good. You really would want long travel and need armor and a front locker. I’m using lazy math with quick look ups of these items, but you get the idea.


GFC $7700 ++
Front bumper $1000
Rear high clearance $2500
Skids $700
Sliders $800
Long travel kit with shocks $5500
Rear set up (shocks, shock relocate hammer hangers or shackle flip, shocks, bumps etc $2000+++
Front locker $1000
Gears $2000
Steering upgrade $1000 - $1500
This does not count labor. That would add $5k? Or more

Same could be said for the gladiator cause you can’t really do those hard trails in a stock gladiator.

So moral of the story is that budget may not be enough of it is a hard stop and you want to overland and off-road that hard .

 

I just looked at there website there willys jeep are 55-60k msrp listed on there site but willys jeep msrp around 42k so there msrp is plus 20k give or take so I'm sure at 9k off it's still higher than factory msrp. The cheapest manual jeep here in georgia I've found was 40k listed.

 

Buy the Jeep - that way you can triple up on the pain you will feel - Manufacturer/Owner is bankrupt; Manufacture/Owner does not want to do warranty work; can't get critical mandatory recall parts that are on back order; won't agree to paying for a rental while your pos sits in the lot; and you finally say F it and dump it for a $ bath and finally buy the Tacoma. Yah. Chrysler is that bad and none of their sales staff is going to tell you the truth.

 

Good looking truck