Awesome quick review man! Reminds me of the old school Motor Trend reviews, but brought into the present and with a cleaner presentation style. Interesting to know the Gladiator actually rides fairly nicely even without a loaded bed. They are one of my favorite pickups currently available, but I think I would like one with a hardtop since I get sick of road noise and it will be cool to see if the 4xe model is an improvement.

I just bought a Mojave trim Gladiator - I love it. Its a capable 4x4 and a truck. I'm coming from an Audi Q5 - the Jeep has a better interior - why? 1. Because it looks and feels like quality parts were used and 2. I can mod it without too much hassle, which is the whole point of owning a Jeep. The vehicle is fun - not just something that takes you to the grocery store. BTW - I have a hard top and the road noise around town is nearly zero - at highway speeds it more noticeable but you're not elevating your voice to talk to your passengers or turning up the music to hear it. Is it as quiet as my Audi - no. Is it too loud - no. If I could go back, I might have even gotten the soft top. Bottom line - road noise w/ the hard top isn't a problem. I think most of the road noise you might experience will come from the 285/70R17 Falken Wildpeak tires that are OEM on the Mojave and Rubicon trim levels.

Did you ever figure out the parasitic battery drain on your GTO? I seem to have fixed mine by replacing the gage cluster. Couldnt figure out how to program the mileage tho so I'm starting over at zero