Under the ownership of Fiat Group, Jeep has produced a capable off-roader in a world of increasingly soft and wimpy SUVs. But at almost €60,000, the Grand Cherokee still lacks premium appeal, writes PADDY COMYN
JEEP. WE have been here before haven’t we? Many of you will remember our brief encounter with Jeep up until now. Back in the 1990s, when we were first presented with the Cherokee and Grand Cherokee, and the curious Wrangler, they were a novelty act that briefly grabbed our attention.
It was the postcard from America that you could drive. The all-American pancakes and maple syrup that we could buy into. And we did, albeit in small numbers. When they first came, they were crude, blunt and probably at their best. Attempts over the later years to tailor them to a wider audience perhaps dumbed them down too much. Ill-considered pricing and retailing of them here hasn’t helped over the years either. There were two Jeep vehicles sold in 2010, 13 the year before. There were 76 sold in 2007, but to put that in context there were 31 Bentleys sold that year as well.
Jeep is now under the stewardship of Fiat, which will undoubtedly mean better things in the European context. This marriage really suits both sides, but in the case of Jeep in Europe it means much better engines and driving dynamics more suited to our roads and our tastes. You have to feel that, for Ireland, the addition of Jeep and Chrysler are perhaps a distraction. With Fiat having just 1.02 per cent market share and Alfa Romeo just 0.17 per cent, they should have enough to be doing to rescue their core brands’ sales before they need to start becoming midwife to two brands which failed to ignite interest in Ireland prior to this new rebirth.
We know a little about the upcoming Chrysler line-up, which will essentially be versions of the Lancia cars from mainland Europe, but more immediately we have the first of the new Jeep range landing here. The Compass, the Qashqai rival which we have previewed here in The Irish Timessome weeks ago, will be the core product of the range, but sold alongside is the flagship model, the Grand Cherokee.
This car has lots of presence. In a time where large executive SUVs will get you narrow-eyed glares, it feels a little odd to jump into something so overtly large. It isn’t vulgar in the Audi Q7 sense, but it is palpably bigger than some of the more discreet batch of SUVs that have started to arrive. It is chunky and shiny from every angle, with more shiny chrome than in a kitchen showroom.
The look of the Jeep range will always tweak something of the inner eight-year-old. Men in particular seem to be programmed to like that big Jeep grille and their designers have now quite shrewdly made this the main focal point of the car. It dominates the front of the vehicle like a military decoration.
Inside the cabin plastics aren’t going to threaten Audi anytime soon, but there is so much leather around that you won’t worry too much about the plastics. And the equipment levels are really astonishing considering that you don’t have to pay extra for any of them. All of the luxuries that you would like these days, such as Bluetooth, leather upholstery, climate control, cruise control, iPod connection and the like are all as standard on the Limited versions and if you opt for the full bells-and-whistles Overland version there literally is everything.
The seats are very good; comfortable yet supportive and there is tons of space up front, in the rear and at the back there is a massive luggage compartment, with 782 litres which can expand out to 1,554 litres with the rear seats down. As a family vehicle it is first rate. We managed a very enthusiastic visit to Ikea and the boot swallowed all of that and a buggy too with relative ease.
We tend to associate Jeeps with big V8 engines and in some markets you can have a 5.7-litre V8 Hemi petrol, but the engine for us will be a new 3.0-litre V6 diesel, which is putting out a meaty 241bhp and 550Nm of torque. With a 0-100km/h time of just 8.2 seconds, it is quicker at this measure than the V8 Hemi and when you consider that this vehicle weighs in at 2,272kg, it makes it all the more impressive.
The Grand Cherokee is at its best in a straight line. There isn’t an awful lot of feel from the steering and it leans a fair bit through bends. None of these large SUVs, perhaps X5 aside, are up to much when it comes to handling so it’s really not unexpected. The Limited version comes out of the box on steel springs, but the Overland version gets the clever “Quadra-Lift” sports air suspension, which we tried on another version and this gives the car much more composure through the twisty stuff. The chances are that you won’t necessarily want to push the boundaries in your large SUV, so the steel springs will be fine for most.
The Grand Cherokee is, in theory, very capable off-road, with an automatic four-wheel drive system, hill descent control and a low-range mode for really foul terrain. We did, as it happened, help tow a driver in a broken-down Fiat (the irony wasn’t missed, of course) and almost removed the car’s chassis from its body, so it is plenty strong enough. In a world of increasingly soft and wimpy SUVs, it is nice to drive something that, if it was human, would have tattoos and bulging biceps under its business suit.
A week in the Grand Cherokee and it really does become part of the family very quickly and you can see why they have become the staple diet of the white-picket-fence brigade in the US. You feel that they almost certainly could have fitted two more seats into that massive boot and made it a seven-seater and then it would become even more versatile. But overall it is immensely likeable.
There are drawbacks. The 3.0-litre V6 diesel engine, while strong and powerful, isn’t all that clean, even though it doesn’t fare worse than most of its rivals. Emissions of 218g/km put it in band F, so you’ll have to pay out more than €1,000 a year in motor tax, which will grate very quickly and put off, second-hand buyers. You will pay half that in road tax per year in a BMW X3 30d, which is slightly more powerful too. You will also pay less for six-cylinder diesel versions of both the X3 and Audi Q5, which are perhaps smaller vehicles but are superbly put together and with better road manners.
The thing is though, in terms of pricing, the Grand Cherokee sits a little uniquely. It costs €59,995 for the 3.0 Limited and will be closer to €70,000 for the all-singing Overland version. Presuming that the Limited spec will be the main attraction, it can either be viewed as a premium rival to the X3 and Audi Q5 or as a cut-price alternative to the larger vehicles such as the BMW X5 and Range Rover. After our time in the car, we would consider it the latter, but know that the market is for the former.
We won’t see too many Grand Cherokees sold here, but we do expect big things from the smaller Compass. Yet as an example of how things have improved at Jeep, this is a very shiny and shining example.
FACTFILE
Engine
2,987cc V6 turbo diesel putting out 241bhp at 4,000rpm, with 550Nm of torque at 1,800rpm with a six-speed automatic gearbox
0-100km/h8.2 secs
L/100km (mpg)urban – 10.3 (27.4); extra-urban – 7.2 (39.2); combined – 8.3 (34)
Bootspace782 litres
Emissions (motor tax)218g/km (€1,050)
Specificationsafety features include active head restraint, advanced multi-stage front airbags, side-curtain airbags, supplemental side airbags, anti-lock four-wheel disc HD brakes, electronic stability control, electronic accident response system, traction control, blind-spot and rear cross path detection. Other standard features include, 18 inch x 8 inch alloy wheels, 265/60 R18 BSW all-terrain tyres, alpine surround sound system (nine speakers plus subwoofer), audio jack input for mobile devices, media centre with 6.5-inch touch-screen display and 30GB HDD, steering wheel-mounted audio controls, iPod connector, remote USB port, Uconnect Bluetooth with voice command, Quadra-Trac II 4WD system, Keyless Enter-N-Go, Bi-Xenon HID headlamps with headlamp washers, dual-zone automatic temperature control (ATC), leather-trimmed seats, leather-wrapped shift knob, leather-wrapped steering wheel.
Price€59,995
THE RIVALS
Audi Q5 3.0 TDi V6 240hp S-Tronic Quattro SE
Bhp240
Torque500Nm
0-100km/h6.5 secs
L/100km (mpg)7.5 (38)
Emissions (motor tax)199g/km (€1,050)
Bootspace540 litres
Price€59,455
BMW X3 XDrive 30d SE Auto
Bhp258
Torque560Nm
0-100km/h6.2 secs
L/100km (mpg)6.0 (47)
Emissions (motor tax)159g/km (€447)
Bootspace550 litres
Price€57,710
Lexus RX 3.5 450h 2wd
Bhp299
Torque317Nm
0-100km/h8.2 secs
L/100km (mpg)6.1 (46)
Emissions (motor tax)140g/km (€156)
Bootspace496 litres
Price€58,420
Range Rover Evoque 2.2 TD4 150bhp 4wd Dynamics
Bhp150hp
Torque400Nm
0-100km/h10.8 secs
L/100km (mpg)5.7 (50)
Emissions (motor tax)147g/km (€302)
Bootspace575 litres
Price€50,295