Jeep Gladiator vs Farizon Supervan

What's the difference?

The Gladiator is far from the most practical, versatile, or sensible dual-cab on the market. Not going to lie, though. This is the most fun I’ve had in a ute in a long time.

You’d think Farizon would be onto a winner given it has created a van with cool looks and the packaging benefits that come with a dedicated EV architecture. However, the SuperVan left a sour taste in my mouth.

There are good bones here, but Farizon has a long way to go with fixing the electric motor whine and safety systems.

It’s great the company is aware of the SuperVan’s shortcomings and is currently working on software updates, but it begs the question, why wasn’t it good in the first place?

Despite a legion of trendy retro-styled off-road pretenders, from the Ineos Grenadier to the GWM Tank 300, there’s nothing quite like the original Jeep style which the Gladiator shares with its Wrangler sibling. Unless you’re Mahindra which has technically been producing Willys Jeep successors for longer, but that’s another story for another time).

The new Rubicon looks a bit more swish in 2026, with the body coloured wheel arches and a tweaked grille which is now wider and shorter. The two-tone roof which was previously optional is now standard.

It looks rugged, tough, and undeniably classic, with the mud terrain tyres sealing the deal.

Of course, you can’t forget the many so-called ‘Easter eggs’ Jeep hides about the place. In the case of the Gladiator, these include a silhouette of a Willys Jeep climbing up the driver’s side windscreen, a gorilla imprint on the opposite side signifying the windscreen is now constructed from the same stuff designed to make your phone scratch-free. The tray features imprints of dirtbike tyres where you might want to strap two in and even the recirculate button on the climate unit is in the shape of a Wrangler. Nice touch.

On the inside generally, it feels like a purpose-built vehicle in much the same way as an old Defender. It leaves you with a sense of how genuine it all is, with loads of physical switchgear and an overall shape meant to replicate the no-nonsense appeal of Jeeps dating back to the Willys.

This electric van makes a fantastic first impression with its design. It’s futuristic and stands out on the road.

I haven’t driven a car that gets this much attention in a fair while, which is wild given this is a delivery van and traditionally they’re some of the dullest vehicles out there in terms of design.

What makes the SuperVan stand out the most is the variety of colours it comes in. Sure, you can get standard white if you want, but there’s also grey, green and blue. Our tester is finished in the latter which looks cool and modern.

The front continues the futuristic theme with a bright LED lighting signature for the headlights. They’re connected by an LED light strip, as well as an illuminated Farizon badge.

Given this van is electric, it doesn’t need a large, traditional grille to keep an engine cool. Instead there’s a small slotted opening at the bottom of the front bumper to cool the electric motor and high-voltage battery. It’s cool Farizon has made this van obviously look electric with this cue.

Beyond the stylish aero covers for the 16-inch steel wheels, there really isn’t much to talk about in terms of side profile design. It’s very slab-sided which is a classic van look.

It also leans into the trope that vans are essentially boxes on wheels. This is no bad thing because at the end of the day, a van is a work vehicle that’s meant to maximise hauling potential.

At the rear, this version of the SuperVan with the ‘Low Roof’ body style is perfectly square. It looks a little funny, but again this is a work-oriented vehicle that’s the opposite of a mullet - business at the back, party at the front.

Inside, Farizon has made a big attempt to make this electric van look luxurious and contemporary. Having synthetic leather seats is a luxury that many vans don’t have, along with the big digital instrument cluster and touchscreen multimedia system.

I’m a fan of the orange highlights around the cabin as they break up the monotonous black finishes.

Once you sit in the cabin, however, the commercial roots do begin to show. Virtually every surface is rock-hard plastic, which in a way is good because it means it’ll be hard-wearing in the long run.

However, also like an old Defender, the Gladiator’s interior is full of compromises to maintain its iconic design.

The seating position is awkwardly high, which is fine when off-roading, but can be limiting when you’re just driving around a city, and the footwell is half taken up by a transmission tunnel so there’s nowhere to rest your foot.

The door cards are pretty basic because the doors are removable (although Jeep stresses this is only legal on private property), but elsewhere there’s much-appreciated levels of functionality in an era of touch-based controls.

The centre control panel, for example, features physical dials for high-use functions and toggles or buttons for everything else. It’s mercifully easy to use and old-school motorists will also love the physical shifters for gear selection and the transfer case alongside. And an analogue handbrake is an increasingly rare sight.

There are even buttons we didn’t ask for, like the four pre-wired auxiliary switches, and while the dash trades away a fully digital panel for a digital supervision screen with analogue dials either side, it suits the character of the car.

It’s not the most comfortable space to be in, however. Not only is the seat base super high off the ground, but despite the Gladiator’s imposing dimensions the front seat somehow feels narrow.

Storage is okay, but not on the same level as many rival utes. The basic doors score nettings on each side, with two deep and useful bottle holders in the centre console. The armrest box is two-tiered which is handy, and there’s a small glove box. Outside of this, there’s not a lot of storage up front.

The rear seat is decent when it comes to space for the ute segment, although it is also very high off the ground and hard to clamber into thanks to the way the rear door is shaped. Once you’re in there, be sure not to smack your head on the frame, which seems like it could be an easy thing to do.

Again, nets feature in the doors, with two more nets on the backs of the front seats, which also feature luggage hooks. There are dual adjustable air vents back there and two bottle holders moulded out of the centre console. They're nicely-sized, but will eat into the legroom of any adult you want to put in the centre rear position, making it extra cramped if you have three across.

The back seat features some things I’ve never seen before, though. There’s a huge storage area underneath the seats with its own lid, and some limited storage space behind the seat backs which features a removable Bluetooth speaker which also automatically re-charges when it’s docked back there. Cool.

The rear window features an opening port, which is also rare, while all the main storage compartments are lockable for when you want to leave the car with the roof and/or doors off.

Capacities and payloads have never been a strong point for the Gladiator. The tray measures 1531mm long, 1443mm wide and 1137mm between the arches, making it unable to fit a standard-sized Australian pallet. The payload is also limited at just 693kg, far short of the close-to-one-tonne many work-focused dual-cabs can hit.

However the tray isn’t for show only, featuring an array of useful tie-down points and a built-in rail system to help secure all sorts of objects. There are even steps built into the rear bumper design for easier access and a full-size spare wheel underneath.

The braked trailer towing capacity is limited to just 2721kg which is also short of the industry benchmark 3500kg, all of which may limit its use as a work vehicle, or even its appeal as a touring vehicle. I could see how these capacities are easily exceeded with a rooftop tent, recovery gear, a fridge, supplies and at least one passenger.

While good looks can get you so far, cabin practicality is where things are a little mixed for the SuperVan.

The driver’s seat is generally comfortable, offering a decent amount of support and a centre armrest, but the driving position is heavily compromised.

The worst offender are the pedals as they’re mounted so high that I need to take my foot off the floor to press them. Then the steering wheel only offers tilt adjustment and not reach.

As a result I need to have the seat pushed further back than I’d like to make sure I can press the pedals without making my right ankle hurt in stop-start traffic. Then even with the backrest virtually upright I still need to have arms extended almost fully to reach the wheel.

It’s not the kind of place I’d like to spend a considerable amount of time, which is disappointing because many people who drive this van will likely spend hours behind the wheel at a time.

Thankfully both seats offer both heating and ventilation, which is rather luxurious.

Ahead of the driver, the steering wheel is wrapped in buttery soft synthetic leather, like the seats, and is nice to hold. I appreciate the amount of physical buttons on it. They’re all clearly marked and easy to click.

The steering wheel is also heated and gets hot super quickly. There’s only one setting – on or off.

The digital instrument cluster looks flashy and has a range of informative pages you can cycle through. One even displays a vehicle weight page which is great if you’re unsure if you’re close to the gross vehicle mass (GVM).

Moving across, the touchscreen infotainment system looks glossy and high-definition, but there’s not much to do on it. This also means it’s hard to get lost and even if you do there are shortcut buttons on the right-hand side of the screen.

As standard there’s wireless Apple CarPlay connectivity which is great if you’ve got an iPhone, but terrible if you have an Android phone. This car has no Android Auto support whatsoever.

It’s great to see a continued use of physical switchgear around the cabin for things like the drive modes, regenerative braking settings and most notably the climate control settings. The latter are big and chunky, meaning they’re hard to miss.

In terms of storage up front, it’s fairly mediocre beyond big door pockets. There’s a slide out drawer with two cupholders and another small storage section, as well as another small storage drawer and a glovebox.

Around the side you'll find one of this van's most unique features. When you open up the passenger side front door and slide open the side cargo door, you’ll see this van doesn’t have a B-pillar. There’s only a plastic partition between the passenger and cargo areas.

As a result, the seatbelt for the passenger is mounted on the door. This feels a bit weird in the passenger seat because the seatbelt cuts across more than usual and doesn’t rest on your shoulder.

The SuperVan only comes with a single sliding door. You can’t opt for one on the driver’s side in Australia which is a little disappointing from an ease-of-use standpoint.

At the back there are rear barn doors that have stops at 90 degrees and 180 degrees, before opening all the way up to 270 degrees. This is great because you’ll be able to put whatever is on a forklift into the cargo area.

Speaking of the cargo area, it’s massive. This SWB Low Roof version measures in at 2690mm long, 1795mm wide and 1440mm tall. This equals 6.95 cubic metres, which is considerably more than any similarly sized van, whether that be diesel or electric.

It’s another major benefit of this van being built on a dedicated electric vehicle architecture, rather than a combustion platform that needs to take drivetrain and exhaust components into account.

Payload is 1300kg which is fairly standard for mid-size electric vans.

I like how low the load lip is at the back. This means you don’t have to lift things too high in order to get them in the cargo area.

In terms of amenities there are some lights, tie-down points, as well as three powerpoints for vehicle-to-load (V2L) support at up to 3.3kW. Disappointingly the latter didn’t work in our tester no matter how hard I tried…

Surprisingly under the cargo area is a full-size spare wheel. This is incredibly rare for an EV, especially one that’s all about maximising cargo capacity. It’s great peace of mind if you do long-distance travelling.

The Farizon SuperVan is being offered in Australia in three trim levels. On test here is the entry-level short-wheelbase (SWB) Low Roof option.

Pricing for this variant starts at $71,490 before on-road costs. It’s worth noting that this is for private buyers. If you’re an ABN holder or are buying a fleet of SuperVans, pricing will likely be different.

This is more affordable than the Ford E-Transit Custom, Peugeot E-Expert and Volkswagen ID. Buzz Cargo, but the LDV eDeliver 7 is cheaper again. However, that rival Chinese electric van isn’t built on a dedicated electric platform and doesn’t offer as much range.

As standard the SuperVan comes with a plastic cargo partition, a single sliding side door, as well as rear barn doors that swing up to 270 degrees. You can’t option any other configuration, currently, beyond different wheelbase lengths and heights.

Standard equipment across the line-up includes LED headlights, a 7.0-inch digital instrument cluster, a 12.3-inch touchscreen multimedia system with wireless Apple CarPlay, a heated steering wheel, as well as heated and ventilated synthetic leather seats.

This is generous for a commercial vehicle that’s going to be a workhorse and will need to stand the test of time.

There’s a relatively massive 3.6-litre non-turbo, non-hybrid ‘Pentastar’ petrol V6 engine under the bonnet, producing 209kW/347Nm. 

Sounds old-school because it is, and it remains the only option for this machine in Australia despite emissions regulations closing in and a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged engine available in the current Wrangler and overseas versions of the Gladiator.

The V6 is mated to a predictable ZF-sourced eight-speed (torque converter) automatic transmission and drives either the rear- or all four wheels depending on the mode selected.

All versions of the Farizon SuperVan in Australia are powered by a single, front-mounted electric motor that produces 170kW and 336Nm.

This is fed by an 83kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery which is sourced from Chinese battery producer CATL.

Farizon doesn’t quote an official 0-100km/h time, though it claims the top speed is 135km/h.

As you might imagine, the large naturally aspirated petrol engine combines with the over 2.0-tonne Gladiator to make for a relatively steep fuel bill.

Consumption is a hardly-impressive 12.4L/100km on the official combined (urban/extra-urban) cycle, with our car consuming even more - 12.9L/100km - on our three day test covering nearly 500km and with no shortage of freeway time either.

Brim the 83-litre tank and theoretical range is around 670km, dropping to just over 640km using our on-test figure.

Claimed range for the SuperVan depends on the body configuration, but it’s up to 376km according to WLTP testing for the SWB Low Roof body style.

The battery pack can be DC fast-charged at rates up to 140kW, which would see the battery charge from 20 to 80 per cent in 36 minutes.

The battery pack can also be AC charged at rates up to 11kW, which would see the battery charge from 15 to 100 per cent in seven hours.

The SuperVan also offers vehicle-to-load through Australian domestic household plugs at up to 3.3kW of continuous power. This allows you to use the van’s battery pack to power appliances, tools, or other emergency backup systems.

Farizon doesn’t quote an official energy consumption figure for the SuperVan, but during my unladen testing I saw an average of 23.5kWh/100km, which would give a theoretical range of 350km. This would likely drop with a heavier load onboard.

The Gladiator is interesting to drive for many reasons. Mainly, because as a purpose-built off-roader it's a little compromised when it comes to on-road manners.

For example, the high seating position and tapered bonnet shape might be great for visibility off-road, but the boxy design of the chunky A-pillars (designed to keep the car in one piece when the doors roof and windscreen are removed) make it a little difficult to see properly around corners at T-junctions or roundabouts in the confines of a city.

Even proximity of my head to the roof presented a problem when trying to see whether traffic was coming at an intersection with the vehicle angled downhill.

The next alarming trait is how vague the steering is while on the tarmac. It’s an unfortunate characteristic of the Gladiator’s rugged live front axle, making this ute a bit of a handful to steer at low speeds. And it tracks all over the place on the freeway, requiring constant vigilance and steering input from the driver at higher speeds.

It’s also noisy, despite this 2026 version featuring extended sound deadening in the cabin. It needed it. The knobbly mud terrain tyres make their presence felt through a resonant droning entering the cabin at all speeds.

Then, at freeway pace, the wind noise from the Gladiator’s blocky shape picks up. You can feel the sound waves leaking in through the removable doors and plasticky removable roof. There are even silly things like being able to feel reverberations of the sound system through the accelerator pedal.

So, I should hate the Gladiator, right?

Wrong.

This thing is ridiculous amounts of old-fashioned fun. The V6 engine is keen to rev and the transmission lets you ride the gears out, creating a throaty roar and lurching acceleration reminiscent of old Commodores.

While the mud terrain rubber is noisy and offers questionable levels of grip on tarmac or in the wet, the thick sidewall combines with coil springs and chunky Tenneco shock absorbers all-around to make for a pretty decent ride for a ladder-frame vehicle.

In addition, we took the Gladiator for a quick off-highway jaunt as its design intends and it performed as-expected. It has great approach and departure angles, with good visibility for peering over moguls and into ruts or dips.

The mechanical hardware feels up to the task, and while it might slip once or twice as the less sophisticated traction systems (compared to, say, a modern Defender) find their bearings, the Gladiator ate up the moderately challenging trails we found for it.

The chunky tyres come into their own, with the sidewall offering confidence, and the car clambers about with relative ease. Obviously, the enormous 3488mm wheelbase and resulting 18.4-degree breakover angle are the Gladiator’s Achilles heel, making me think twice about cresting certain hills or objects, and making this ute particularly prone to cringe-inducing underbody scraping.

Still, despite its comparatively unsophisticated approach and lack of environmental responsibility the Gladiator is a huge amount of fun to drive.

Driving this van is punishing. It’s quite unlike any other modern van I’ve experienced as they can be fun to drive. This SuperVan, however, leaves me feeling like a lot of the elements need finessing.

First up there’s the electric motor. It makes a decent amount of power and easily gets this big box on wheels moving. In Sport mode the front wheels can get overwhelmed if you’re not careful.

However, this van has an incredibly loud electric motor whine. It builds as you gain speed, then once you reach your desired speed it hovers at an annoying high pitch. Some extra sound deadening would likely help.

Additionally, there’s a pedestrian warning sound that plays under 25km/h, as well as a beeping tone when reversing. While this is common for EVs, this one feels like it’s louder on the inside rather than the outside. This somewhat defeats the purpose.

There are three levels of regenerative braking as standard and all of them require you to use the brake pedal to come to a complete stop. This means there’s no one-pedal driving mode.

With all the settings the regen braking is either completely on or off. There’s no in between which creates a thrashy feeling in the cabin, especially when travelling down a hill and you’re trying to coast along without activating regen braking too much. As a result, I like the weakest regen setting the most.

Surprisingly the interaction between the regenerative braking and the traditional friction brakes is rather seamless. Even the brake pedal feels relatively normal, compared to a regular combustion vehicle, which is sometimes uncommon for EVs.

As standard there’s an electric power steering system which, unlike some other new Chinese vehicles, feels like it’s actually connected to the wheels. While you can tell the steering is electrically assisted, you can still feel what the wheels are doing.

Thanks to the dedicated electric architecture, the turning circle is surprisingly good for such a large vehicle. It measures in at 12.2 metres kerb-to-kerb.

Like many commercial vans, the SuperVan has a double wishbone independent front and a rear leaf spring suspension setup. This typically prioritises cargo-carrying ability rather than on-road comfort.

When unladen the SuperVan’s suspension is incredibly jittery and harsh. You can feel every single bump in the road and crossing a speed bump makes me grit my teeth. It doesn’t help that the tyres need to be pumped up high. As standard the rear tyres need to be pumped up to 61psi.

With some added weight onboard the SuperVan’s suspension does settle, but it’s still quite choppy. We didn’t get a chance to test this vehicle at the full GVM, but it would be interesting to see whether the rear springs get a little more compliant then. Range would likely plummet though.

In terms of visibility, you sit up high in the cabin and there’s a large windscreen. These are both big ticks. It also helps there are large side windows and side mirrors that make seeing kerbs easier.

Like many vans however, over-the-shoulder checks aren’t possible in the SuperVan as there are no rear windows, plus seeing out the back through the tiny envelope is virtually impossible.

Thankfully there are front and rear parking sensors as standard, as well as a surround-view camera that has good quality but a choppy camera feed. Having the standard sensors and camera system is great while doing tricky parking manoeuvres.

Lastly, let’s talk about the chimes… They are some of the loudest and most incessant I have ever experienced in a new car. They’re so loud that they honestly scared me at first.

There are a variety of different tones for all the different safety systems. One that grates the most are the intelligent speed limit assist which bongs each time it detects a new speed limit, then again if the system thinks you’re travelling over that limit. It’s particularly annoying because it picks up 40km/h school zones even when it’s not school zone times.

Another chime plays for the driver monitoring system when it can’t detect your eyes. This is annoying if you want to wear sunglasses while driving.

You can turn off these settings in a menu on the touchscreen, but they all default back to on when you restart the car.

Other loud bongs play when you change the drive mode, the regenerative braking setting, even when you turn on the adaptive cruise control. You just can’t escape it.

The Farizon SuperVan hasn’t been crash tested by ANCAP just yet, however it was awarded a five-star rating by Euro NCAP earlier this year.

As standard there’s autonomous emergency braking (AEB), blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, lane-keep assist, adaptive cruise control, traffic sign recognition, intelligent speed limit assist, a driver monitoring system, front and rear parking sensors, as well as a surround-view camera.

This is a lot of safety kit, especially for a commercial van, but as mentioned above a lot of safety systems are rather intrusive and have obnoxiously loud chimes.

Thankfully Farizon is currently working on a software fix that’ll see all the chimes reduced by 20 decibels. It’s also planning some tweaks to the lane-keep assist and reverse camera which may form as part of the same update.

It’s no secret ownership has long been an awkward topic for Jeep, with models like the Grand Cherokee previously causing all kinds of dramas for owners. A quick scan of forums suggests the Wrangler and Gladiator are less prone to issues compared to their more mainstream siblings in the Jeep line-up. So, food for thought.

Regardless, the Gladiator is offered with a five-year warranty which is distance-limited to just 100,000km, which is well off the pace, although a five-year capped price servicing pack is priced at a reasonable $399 per annual or 12,000km workshop visit.

The brand also offers lifetime roadside assist so long as you continue to service your Jeep in its authorised dealer network.

The Farizon SuperVan is covered by a five-year, 200,000km warranty, while the high-voltage battery pack is covered for eight years or 200,000km.

There’s also five years of complimentary roadside assistance.

Logbook servicing is required every 12 months or 30,000km, which is relatively standard for commercial vehicles.

The first five services are capped and all up cost $2730. This averages out to around $550 per service, which is a little on the expensive side for an EV. However, diesel vans can be much more expensive to maintain in the long-term.

Farizon currently doesn’t have a dealer network in Australia and only sells vehicles in Queensland through its website. The company is working on setting up a dealer network in the coming months and is prioritising the eastern seaboard.