In all the years that I have been doing this Jeep thing and for better or for worse, it's been a very very long time, I have to say that this is the very first year that I have ever seen Jeep offer the kind of deep discounts that they're now offering on 2023 Gladiators. If you haven't seen it, they're taking 15% Off of MSRP and with the addition of other dealership discounts, you can find crazy amazing deals on something like a fully loaded Rubicon and at BELOW base price. I mean, it's just nuts!! Of course, we did find that some of these deals are in fact, way too good to be true but Cindy and I did come across one at Lithia Jeep in Reno and... it was the real deal.
Unfortunately, for us to do make this purchase happen, we agreed that something would need to go and if only because we simply have no more room in our garages for anything else. And, to be completely honest, it wouldn't kill us to have a bit more cash to work with to help offset our out of pocket cost even further. Needless to say, Pippi would be the one to get sent to the chopping block.
As much as we genuinely loved Pippi, she was always last on the list of Jeeps that we found ourselves driving. And, I should note, not because she wasn't fun to drive because she really was, but rather, because she was just too... impractical for what we were doing or needed to be doing on a daily basis. What we really needed was more room. Anyway, being that we would be trading her in and wouldn't get anymore for the few mods that she had, I decided to return her back to stock. Here are some final shots of what she looked like before sending her off.
Fortunately for us, there's still a crazy demand for used Jeeps and amazingly, Lithia was willing to give us about what we paid for Pippi over 2 years ago!
So... what did we ultimately get? Well, I should first point out that color was NOT a deciding factor. When it comes to "end of year" specials, you're pretty much limited to what's on the lot and with whatever options they were built with. That said, getting a Gladiator and in a Rubicon WAS. Yes, we already have a Gladiator and as much fun as it is off road, it's kind of useless as a pickup truck and for the kind of things we need it to do. As far as a Rubicon goes, we'd like to wheel this truck and having done it the other way where you start with something like a Sport and then build it up and on more than one occasion, we found that it just wasn't worth it. Certainly, with the kind of price you can get on a 2023 Gladiator Rubicon now, there's no way you could do it for the same cost and you still wouldn't have all the extras that come on a Rubicon. Anyway, while it would have been nice to get something other than white, this Gladiator had all the features we wanted and at a crazy killer price.
At least it has a black face and a black hard top and I have to say, we think it looks great. If nothing else, it'll help to make it look different from our other Gladiator. Anyway, here are a few more first all around shots of what it looks like.
As far as the name "BANDIT" goes, it's actually something that our good friend Lisa had once said about Ripley - that she was, "so white and looked like a bandit with a black mask". Of course, Ripley already had her name but thought it'd be a great fit for this Jeep Gladiator.
A short video about this new Jeep can be seen here
Unfortunately, for us to do make this purchase happen, we agreed that something would need to go and if only because we simply have no more room in our garages for anything else. And, to be completely honest, it wouldn't kill us to have a bit more cash to work with to help offset our out of pocket cost even further. Needless to say, Pippi would be the one to get sent to the chopping block.
As much as we genuinely loved Pippi, she was always last on the list of Jeeps that we found ourselves driving. And, I should note, not because she wasn't fun to drive because she really was, but rather, because she was just too... impractical for what we were doing or needed to be doing on a daily basis. What we really needed was more room. Anyway, being that we would be trading her in and wouldn't get anymore for the few mods that she had, I decided to return her back to stock. Here are some final shots of what she looked like before sending her off.
Fortunately for us, there's still a crazy demand for used Jeeps and amazingly, Lithia was willing to give us about what we paid for Pippi over 2 years ago!
So... what did we ultimately get? Well, I should first point out that color was NOT a deciding factor. When it comes to "end of year" specials, you're pretty much limited to what's on the lot and with whatever options they were built with. That said, getting a Gladiator and in a Rubicon WAS. Yes, we already have a Gladiator and as much fun as it is off road, it's kind of useless as a pickup truck and for the kind of things we need it to do. As far as a Rubicon goes, we'd like to wheel this truck and having done it the other way where you start with something like a Sport and then build it up and on more than one occasion, we found that it just wasn't worth it. Certainly, with the kind of price you can get on a 2023 Gladiator Rubicon now, there's no way you could do it for the same cost and you still wouldn't have all the extras that come on a Rubicon. Anyway, while it would have been nice to get something other than white, this Gladiator had all the features we wanted and at a crazy killer price.
At least it has a black face and a black hard top and I have to say, we think it looks great. If nothing else, it'll help to make it look different from our other Gladiator. Anyway, here are a few more first all around shots of what it looks like.
As far as the name "BANDIT" goes, it's actually something that our good friend Lisa had once said about Ripley - that she was, "so white and looked like a bandit with a black mask". Of course, Ripley already had her name but thought it'd be a great fit for this Jeep Gladiator.
A short video about this new Jeep can be seen here
Last edited:
