Jeep Gladiator Rubicon 2025 Review

There are not many new vehicles updated with more features for less money, but the 2025 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon is one of them. Priced at $82,990 (plus on-road costs), this facelift model is $4260 less than the outgoing Rubicon.

Premium paint ($1145) and body-coloured hardtop ($1950) are the only factory options. Warranty is five years/100,000kilometres, while servicing is due every 12 months/12,000km. Jeep has a capped-price-service schedule that is $399 per service for the first five services.

Items once part of the optional Lifestyle Adventure Group pack are now standard. So, the Rubicon now gets lockable under-seat storage, trail rail system, auxiliary switch bank, 240-amp alternator, Bluetooth speaker and spray-in bedliner as part of the deal.

The key exterior changes are a redesigned, wider grille (which Jeep claims gives better engine cooling), new alloy wheels and body-colour guard flares. The steel aerial has been replaced by an integrated aerial in the windscreen, which is now made of ‘Gorilla glass’ (a special chemically strengthened glass said to be more impact resistant). A new underbody skid plate has been fitted and there’s also a selectable tyre fill alert feature, making it easier to air-up after off-roading.

Available exterior colours  that continue from last year include Bright White, Black, Firecracker Red, Hydro Blue, Granite Crystal and Anvil. New colours for 2025 are Mojito, a bright green and a ’41 dark military green.

Inside, the dash is now covered with soft-touch surfaces and contrasting stitching and has an Attachment Mounting Pattern Standard (AMPS) bracket. This bracket allows accessory electronics to be more easily mounted. The air vents have been redesigned under the new larger touchscreen, while the seats are now upholstered in Nappa leather with the driver’s seat gaining 12-way power adjustment.

The infotainment is new and the larger 12.3-inch screen runs Jeep’s Uconnect 5 operating system with embedded navigation as well as wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

New safety features include side curtain airbags, rear seat belt reminder and auto high beam headlights, adding to the existing autonomous emergency braking (AEB), blind spot monitoring, rear cross traffic alert, active cruise control, rear parking sensors and rear-view camera.

There are no lane-keeping safety features, but the Rubicon does employ front, front side and side curtain airbags. The Gladiator has a three-star ANCAP rating from 2019 (based on the Jeep Wrangler crash test results) that will expire in December.

ANCAP gave the Gladiator 60 per cent for Adult Occupant Protection, 80 per cent for Child Occupant Protection, 49 per cent for Vulnerable Road User Protection and 51 per cent for Safety Assist features.

The powertrain is familiar with the 3.6-litre 209kW/347Nm naturally aspirated petrol V6 being hooked up to an eight speed automatic. Then there’s the full-time/part-time two speed transfer case and locking front and rear diffs.

The 2025 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon hasn’t changed much and its admirers will be happy about that.

The exterior changes are so minor that only Jeep diehards will spot them — which means that the iconic bluff Jeep design will still stand out in traffic.

Inside, the new, bigger infotainment system is a notebale change and it’s easy to use. It has useful Tom Tom embedded satnav and wireless phone mirroring to bring the Jeep up to date. Overall, the interior is boxy but good with a decent amount of space front and rear.

The rest of the Gladiator package pretty much stays as we already know it. The good things about that are a powertrain that is relatively smooth and responsive, as well as the composed ride quality.

Off-road ability is very good with proper off-road tyres and loads of clever features like sway bar disconnect and super low gearing.

The new Jeep Gladiator Rubicon shares much of the earlier model’s disadvantages.

To start with, the V6 engine gets thirsty when challenged by anything more than 80km/h cruising. While we saw 9.0L/100km doing exactly that, with a mix of city and highway driving the fuel consumption average settled at 13.7L/100km.

While quite responsive, the engine seems to need to drop down a gear regularly to get to its power band, too. Jeep has made no mention of replacing this engine, but we wonder if the 2.0-litre turbo-petrol unit in the Wrangler would work better than the V6.

The Gladiator’s wheelbase, at 3487mm, is long — which no doubt helps ride quality, but makes the turning circle (13.6m) seem huge.

With its 20.3-degree ramp-over angle, beaching the Rubicon on sharply undulating trails can be a problem. The driver’s footwell is narrow and lacks a left footrest, too. While the 2721kg maximum towing capacity isn’t bad, it’s well behind the 3500kg that most expect of a large dual cab ute these days.

If you need a work-and-play dual cab for hauling work tools, the Jeep’s 693kg payload is well short of the tonne or so you’ll see elsewhere in this class.

At the premium end of the dual-cab ute market, the 2025 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon is one of the few retro-styled models with genuine off-road ability.

It will get you through gnarly tracks that others would need money spent in the 4x4 aftermarket to achieve.

More than ever, the Jeep Gladiator Rubicon represents reasonable value, too. And as a premium weekend off-roading toy that stands out from the crowd, it’s worth a look.

2025 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon at a glance:
Price: $82,990 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 3.6-litre V6 petrol
Output: 209kW/347Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 12.4L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 278g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Three-star (ANCAP 2019)

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