Pimpm3 is considering a new car purchase....

I have bought one new car in my lifetime. 

I am normally adamantly against buying a new vehicle.  I have a dealer license and normally buy used but...

Right now seems like a hell of a time to buy a new car.  I am blessed to be a police officer and have been working a ton of overtime each week, I don't see that lessening in the near future.  My wife is an administrator at a virtual school, her job is blowing up.  I can afford the payment easily with out the OT but each hour I work means a bigger down payment.

I sold my 4 door wrangler last year and have missed it ever since.  I would love to have a new gladiator because it would fulfill a ton of roles for me.  It can tow a trailer, it can go off road, it has a bed, it's a convertible, its doors come off, I can buy it with a manual transmission and most of all it should hold its value well.  

I have seen $42,000 MSRP ones advertised for $33,000.  What am I missing here?  When does the hive think the best time to buy is?  Now? A month?

My thoughts are if I can get s new one for 32k at a 10k discount I should never be upside down.  Especially when the market picks up in a few months.

Thoughts?

In another thread a dealer guy suggested waiting a few weeks.  I'm shopping scat pack chargers and typically there are a few dealers that have the $42k msrp cars for $31k.  I'm hoping to go lower out the door delivered, and if they get hard up enough for cash flow it might happen

In reply to Patrick :

I agree especially if they offer 84 month 0% financing, it would be a no brainier.

My biggest concern is the reliability of a new Jeep.  I knew of a 2015 that was in and out so much he could have lemon lawed it but like you know the resale value on them is so good he just traded it in on a F150.  

Patrick said:

In another thread a dealer guy suggested waiting a few weeks.  I'm shopping scat pack chargers and typically there are a few dealers that have the $42k msrp cars for $31k.  I'm hoping to go lower out the door delivered, and if they get hard up enough for cash flow it might happen

Jesus if that happens I might be in that market. 

I would wait a month or so. While the hype and buildup has been huge for the Gladiator, they aren't exactly flying off the lots. I heard that Jeep already started to offer incentives on them even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. If I were a betting man, I would bet that after this blows over, Jeep would be very interested to move more units and will offer even more incentives.

Keep in mind that the diesel version is still coming. The only engine available right now is the 3.6L V6. The 2.0T is supposedly coming before the diesel as well. There will be more choices in a year.

Do you know which one you want?

I just got a new used 2018 JL 2 Door Rubicon. 5600 miles on it and 14K of sticker. 

The sales have been poor to say the least. The main reason I think is the cost. With all of the incentives they are now just on par with the cost of the competition. If you have the means.....go for it. The JL and JT are the first jeeps I actually wanted to buy. 

I would say wait until the end of April.  Covid will still be in full swing and the dealerships will be fully distressed.

In reply to stanger_missle :

I want a sport s with a 6-speed. 

I have heard they will not be selling the diesel with a manual transmission.

Yeah. No manual with the diesel and they aren't releasing the diesel for at least a few months now on the Gladiator. Who knows if that is getting delayed with everything happening. 

I live in a rabid Jeep location. I've been surprised at how few Gladiators I've seen on the street.

I would keep watching the market.

I'd go for it if you can find one, but as I understand it you're going to have a hard time finding a manual on a dealer lot. They were slow to produce them to begin with, and then had to stop for a while until they fixed a clutch hydraulics issue that was causing people to melt down and explode the clutches. My boss ordered a manual back in like december...it never actually got built. About a week before corona hit big time he managed to find one at a dealer in NC from a similar situation where somebody ordered it and then by the time it finally got built and delivered they didn't want it anymore. He did supposedly get a pretty good discount on it, but also had to fly and drive it back to ohio.

There are no manual transmission ones within 100 miles of Jacksonville.  I am fine picking one up from far away and having it shipped or do a fly and drive.

Best deal so far is a hardtop sport s with quite a few options for 33k.  

I think the end of April will be the prime time to find one.

the Gladiator configurator on jeep.com sucks my ass.  i have selected exactly ONE feature:  Manual transmission.  "No exact matches, but here are 1,319 partial matches."  sorry, but 0 out of 1 is not a partial anything.

I have been searching on autotrader for manual transmission.  There are over 40 available for less than 35k

I wonder what they would do on a new hellcat challenger or charger?

pimpm3 said:

I have been searching on autotrader for manual transmission.  There are over 40 available for less than 35k

I went to cars.com and found 68 with manual trans and heated seats.  Not that I'm seriously looking, but that truck answers a lot of questions.

There is a lot of options here in the Denver area. My experiences have been that they aren't as aggressive here on the pricing but with all that is happening.....Who knows. 

In reply to bmw88rider (Forum Supporter) :

This is truck central, not surprising the dealers aren't offering any real incentives.  These look awkward to me, I think I'd rather have a traditional 1/2 ton vs one...

Just as some comparative info, I've driven every drivetrain offered between Gladiator and JL Wrangler. Just gave back an EcoDiesel Wrangler.

The manual Gladiator was a dog compared to the 8AT/Pentastar (both driven at a local media preview day). Your right arm will stay busy stirring the shifter. On the plus side, the pedals are spaced well for heel-toe.

Pentastar is a great engine option though it makes power higher up in the revs so you do wind it out a bit if you want good acceleration.

I drove the turbo four cylinder in a loaner Wrangler when my Ram was in for work. It's busier than the Pentastar. I don't see the point.

Jeep gave me a press loan of a Wrangler EcoDiesel recently. THAT is the engine to have, holy cow. 442 ft-lb of torque and available down low. If you liked how a TJ Wrangler drove, torque-wise, this feels similar but you can actually keep up with traffic. It costs $4k more but is worth it. And the 8AT is good enough that I never cared for a manual; that said, I don't get the appeal of a manual in a truck.

Gladiator press preview

Wrangler Pentastar review

Wrangler EcoDiesel review

I've also been shopping trucks. It looks like the higher option ones are getting relatively cheaper, but things are still expensive. I'll start more seriously looking the last week of this month. 

In reply to Brake_L8 :

I have already been looking into re gearing it, I imagine that would help.  Its pretty much a requirement for larger tires which is my plan for the truck. 

A set of 35's cures the awkwardness quite nicely.

I walked around the Jeep dealer lot in Plymouth MI today, killing time waiting for my carry-out from Zack's Diner. The destination charge on the Gladiator jumped out at me:

because they're built right down the road in Toledo OH:

$30 per mile, plus or minus a penny or two.

I might have just spent way to long looking at new NDs.

Did anyone ever figure out why the Gladiator has so much more towing capacity than then wrangler?