Built for the Backcountry: Why the Jeep Gladiator Is the Inland Empire’s Ultimate Summer Adventure Truck

At a glance: The Jeep Gladiator is the Inland Empire’s ultimate summer adventure truck because it is the only midsize pickup that pairs a genuine open-air, Trail Rated 4×4 experience with an honest five-foot bed you can load with gear. Four-wheel drive is standard on every one, it tows up to 7,700 pounds properly equipped, and payload reaches 1,720 pounds. For Claremont drivers who spend weekends in the San Gabriel Mountains, at Johnson Valley, or hauling toys to the desert, that combination is hard to beat.

Most pickups ask you to choose: a comfortable daily driver or a serious off-roader. The Gladiator does not make you pick. It removes its doors and roof for open-air canyon runs, climbs rocky trails on hardware built for real terrain, and still gives you a usable cargo bed for coolers, camping gear, mountain bikes, and firewood.

That is exactly the profile of a weekend around here. Trailheads in the San Gabriels are minutes from Claremont. Big Bear, the high desert, and off-road areas like Johnson Valley are an easy drive. The Gladiator is engineered to take you to the pavement’s edge and then keep going.

The Gladiator is the only midsize truck that lets you drop the top and take off the doors. On a warm Southern California morning, that turns an ordinary drive up into the foothills into something you feel. Fold down the windshield, pull the roof panels, and the cabin becomes part of the outdoors.

That open-air design is the heart of the Jeep experience, and it is what separates the Gladiator from every other pickup on a Claremont lot. If the freedom appeals but you want to weigh it against the SUV version, our team can walk you through the Gladiator and the Wrangler side by side so you land on the right one. The short version: same open-air hardware, and the Gladiator adds a bed while giving up some tight-trail agility to a longer wheelbase.

The Gladiator keeps things simple for 2026. There is one powertrain: a 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 producing 285 horsepower and 260 lb-ft of torque through an eight-speed automatic.

More importantly, four-wheel drive is standard on every Gladiator. It is not a box you tick or a trim you have to reach for. Neither are the solid front and rear axles, which is the hardware that actually matters when a trail gets uneven, and which no other midsize pickup gives you.

So the decision is not which drivetrain to buy. It is which trim suits the terrain you actually drive, which is a much easier conversation.

The 2026 lineup runs Sport, Sport S, Willys, Mojave, Mojave X, Rubicon, and Rubicon X. Two of those are worth understanding properly, because they are built for different kinds of Inland Empire weekend.

Rubicon is the rock-crawling specification, with FOX 2.0-inch shocks and the low-speed articulation hardware that gets you up a technical climb.

Mojave is the desert specification, and it is the one to ask about if Johnson Valley is on your calendar. It runs FOX 2.5-inch internal bypass shocks with remote reservoirs, tuned for speed and repeated impacts over open desert rather than slow rock work. If your weekends look more like whoops than boulders, this is your trim.

Both Rubicon and Mojave also come standard with high-capacity engine cooling and a 240-amp alternator. That sounds like a footnote until you are climbing in August heat with a full bed and the air conditioning running, which is when it stops being a footnote.

Willys deserves a mention as the value pick, adding meaningful off-road hardware without stepping into premium pricing.

Whichever you choose, this is capability you can grow into. Keep it close to stock for weekend trail runs or build it out over time. It is a platform designed to be lived with, driven hard, and enjoyed.

Adventure is only fun if you can bring your equipment, and this is where the Gladiator stops being a rugged SUV and starts being a truck.

The five-foot bed hauls the muddy, dusty, oversized gear you do not want inside the cabin. Load bikes, dirt bikes, kayaks, coolers, and camping kits, then hose out the bed and head home.

Two numbers to know:

That working-truck side is why the Gladiator shows up on so many Inland Empire adventure checklists. It carries the toys to the fun and the supplies to the campsite, then drives you back to Claremont Monday morning without complaint.

A great adventure truck still has to handle the everyday. The Gladiator cabin is built for California summers, with available climate features, a touchscreen infotainment system, and modern driver-assist technology that make the daily drive down Foothill Boulevard or a run over to the 210 comfortable rather than a chore.

That balance matters. You are not buying a trailer queen you only drive on weekends. You are buying a truck that commutes all week and disappears into the backcountry the moment you have a free Saturday. It is one vehicle for two very different jobs.

Buying local means test-driving the exact truck you want, getting straight answers from people you can visit, and handling service down the road without a long haul. Our team knows these trucks and knows the terrain our customers actually drive.

Knight Claremont Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram is at 620 Auto Center Drive, Claremont, California 91711, just off the Indian Hills exit on the 10 freeway.

We are open seven days a week, Monday through Saturday from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM and Sunday from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM. Those hours are worth knowing if the only time you can properly look at a truck is after work or on a Sunday, and we serve drivers across Claremont, Pomona, Ontario, Upland, Montclair, and the wider Inland Empire.

When you are ready to talk numbers, current savings and finance and lease programs are listed on our new vehicle offers page, and you can estimate a monthly payment with the payment calculator or start with our finance center. Every offer runs on approved credit, and specific terms change month to month, so check the offers page for the details that apply to the Gladiator you want.

The Gladiator is the rare truck that says yes to open-air canyon drives, real off-road trails, a full bed of gear, and a comfortable weekday commute. For Inland Empire drivers who want all of it in one vehicle, it is genuinely hard to top.

See it in person and take it off the lot to feel the difference. Browse the new Gladiator inventory, or contact our Claremont team to schedule your test drive. If you are towing or hauling something specific, bring the weight and we will match a trim and package to it properly.