The Gladiator is the first Jeep truck since the Comanche met its untimely end in 1992. The release of the Jeep Gladiator had many truck fans—especially Dodge Ram drivers—excited for another option for a capable pickup truck. But the Gladiator is far from a full-size half-ton. In fact its built on a stretched Wrangler chassis. For this reason, every Jeep Gladiator engine originated in the Wrangler, and the Jeep truck doesn’t offer a V8. But it does have a high towing capacity and a powerful top trim engine developed for the Ram 1500.

How much can the Jeep Gladiator tow?

The Jeep Wrangler can only tow 3,500 pounds. But the automaker engineered a more advanced engine cooling system for the Gladiator, available as part of its towing package. This bumps the mid-size truck’s towing capacity up to 7,650 pounds.

This number would be impressive for any midsize. But its especially impressive for the Gladiator because this truck achieves it with the old 3.6-liter “Pentastar” V6 that has been powering Jeeps for years. In the Gladiator, this engine makes 285 horsepower and 260 lb-ft of torque.

The Jeep Gladiator also offers a turbocharged diesel engine option. But while diesels are usually known for their towing capabilities, the Gladiator’s is tuned more for fuel efficiency. Jeep does not offer it with a towing package, and thus it cannot pull anywhere the truck’s 7,650-pound maximum.

While the EcoDiesel Gladiator only offers 260 horsepower, it does make 442 lb-ft of torque.

Is there a Jeep V8?

For the first time ever, Jeep began offering a factory V8 Wrangler in 2021. You can get the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon as the “392 Edition” and it ships with a Hemi.

The engine in question is the 392 cubic-inch (6.4-liter) V8 from the Scat Pack Dodge muscle cars and the Ram 2500 trucks. In the Wrangler Rubicon this engine makes 470 horsepower.

But here’s the kicker, while you can order the Jeep Wrangler with a Hemi V8, you can’t currently get one in the Gladiator.

Why? There’s a good chance Jeep just needed to engineer the option for the Wrangler first before adapting it to the Gladiator—like all the Gladiator’s current engine options. But for the Wrangler, the Rubicon 392 trim costs more than a Challenger Hellcat. We’re not sure we want to see how much more expensive this Hemi will be in the Gladiator.

Does the Jeep truck have a manual transmission?

Jeep’s Gladiator pickup truck has the distinction of being one of the final midsize pickup trucks to offer a manual transmission. The other is the Toyota Tacoma.

The Jeep Gladiator–just like the Jeep Wrangler it is based off–is available with a six-speed manual transmission behind its V6 engine. The EcoDiesel Jeep Gladiator only comes with an eight-speed automatic. In addition, the manual transmission Gladiator is not available with the towing package, so its maximum towing capacity is lower than the automatic.

Next, find out what makes the EcoDiesel Jeep Gladiator an instant classic truck or see the Jeep truck reviewed in the video below: