BATTLE READY

THE MOPAR-EQUIPPED GLADIATOR CRAWLED ACROSS ROCKY RIVERS WITHOUT TOUCHING DOWN, WHILE THE STOCK-HEIGHT MODELS BUMPED AND SCRAPED THROUGH

JEEP’S new Gladiator pick-up lands in Australian dealers midyear, but to give us a taste of what is to come Jeep shipped a handful of the muscular trucks to New Zealand’s South Island to see how they drive. While we did get a quick blast in a Gladiator Rubicon in the Nevada desert last month, it was great to spend a few more days with this much-anticipated model in extremely different terrain.

While the day in the desert was dry and sandy, the area around Queenstown copped a dumping of rain around the time of our arrival and many areas were flooded and the planned drive route had to be altered - the group of Americans who were flown