Checking in with Jalopnik, the just-released specs for the new Jeep Grand Cherokee boast that its Quadra Lift air suspension can elevate the Jeep’s body from Parking Mode’s 4.5″ ground clearance to Off-Road 2’s 11.1″ (obvious joke deleted). So does that qualify the Grand Cherokee for “real Jeep” status? I mean, we are talking about an SUV with a fully independent suspension. Yes, I know: most of the brand’s lineup sport a similar set-up and would fall apart just looking at The Rubicon. But that doesn’t make it right, does it? Jeep’s brand managers are pro-actively defensive on the topic, claiming that the new vehicle “Hits the Sweet Spot of Real-world Capability and On-road Refinement.” I reckon that’s code for Soccer Moms Über Alles (it does sit on a Mercedes ML platform). And lastly, is there anyone who doesn’t think Chrysler is about to go Tango Uniform? Their thirty days are almost up. Isn’t this just pissing in the wind, preparing for a liquidation sale or something they cooked-up a long time ago so? WTH?
Chrysler will go away but someone will pick Jeep of its corpse, so this stands a chance of being built.
And very timely for Chrysler, what with SUV vehicles fairly flying off the dealer’s lots…oh, wait a minute…I forgot that this is 2009. File this one under too little, too late.
Chrysler should just stop trying? That would really make a lot of sense…
They MIGHT go under, so they should just shut down?
Car and SUV sales are in the toilet, so they should just cancel the GC?
This is absurd as those who call for Ford to stop making the F150 because fuel prices are high, the economy sucks, and “nobody buys them”
I have no doubt this is still one of Chrysler’s most important vehicles, and despite reduced volumes is almost certainly quite profitable as well.
Yes jeep goes on, but whoever builds the Toledo product must pare down the offerings. The last bunch of crossovers from chrysler were totally useless. Jeep must have a small wranger something they don’t have as they left mission creep allow the wrangler to become huge. This large wrangler could stay along with one cherokee type suv. All else is well not jeep.
Nice engineering, nice ride I’m sure. But there’s no way Chrysler can get sales anywhere near Jefferson North’s plant capacity (read: profits!) even with its upcoming step sister the Durango. The SUV craze is over and there are too many good choices out there. Chrysler should rationalize the entire Jeep line to be built as Wrangler variants at the Toledo Supplier Park. Then you have a focused brand making profits in a very nasty market that may last for years to come.
Would I prefer a solid rear axle for going off-road? Sure. But we all know the Grand Cherokee has long ago forgotten about the soft stuff and has itself become soft. No one that buys a grand Cherokee takes them off-road anymore, Chrysler knows that, I know that, everyone knows that (as is evidence by the SRT8 model). If anyone is buying a Jeep to go off the beaten path but needs 4 doors they have the Wrangler Unlimited for that now. I do have to say this iteraion looks a lot better than the current model. Not that we will ever see this one at stealerships.
Actually nice looking – if not a smidge bland.
SUVs will continue to exist – they just need to be production-scaled to demand. This will sell if the specs are right and the interior isn’t ass-cheap. Then the Durango/Aspen can just go away and nobody will notice they left.
Jerome10:
I have no doubt this is still one of Chrysler’s most important vehicles, and despite reduced volumes is almost certainly quite profitable as well.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Chrysler has to pay Mercedes royalties for all this trick technology. In any event, the Jefferson North Assembly Plant won’t be anywhere near optimal capacity with this new GC (the expensive, big SUV ship has sailed) and it’ll be many years of amortizing engineering and other fixed costs before this thing is ever profitable.
Umm… this may be picking nits but it’s a GRAND Cherokee, not a Cherokee.
If Jeep had just switched from Cherokee to Grand Cherokee out of the blue I could ignore it, the same way I intentionally call every Cobalt I see a Cavalier. But they were two separate models that they offered at the same time for at least a decade.
rodster205
Text amended.
Are they still going to make the grand Cherokee, that Wrangler 4dr thing, the Patriot, the Compass, AND this Cherokee? What a pile of crap we have here. SUV sales are and have been in the toilet for a couple years now as they just aren’t the IT vehicle anymore. So the plan then is to offer a wider variety? That should bring em in for sure.
Yeah, it’s a real Jeep.
For those who forget the brand basically pioneered the entire luxury SUV niche all the back in the 1960s and has steadily refined it ever since.
Under AMC Jeep even had all-speed, all-surface AWD and Selec-Trac eliminated manually locking hubs. The Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneers also featured most features and luxuries reserved for real luxury cars in their time, there was nothing absurd about that.
It’s about time the Grand Cherokee started looking sleek and somewhat sophisticated inside and out again. The model prior to the current was basically the zenith of Jeep sophistication, the redesign really destroyed it’s high-class style and luxury cachet.
It looks like Jeep will recapture some of it with the new model. Thank goodness.
Whoa whoa whoa, guys, let’s realize the significance here….
1) It’s not terribly ugly (unlike the last one)
2) The interior actually looks decent if bland (unlike the billion Chryco products that have been spit out over the past 6 years)
3) Probably still possesses some decent off road cred…. way more than say, a Porsche Cayenne or BMW X6.
So give credit where credit’s due, whether or not it will sell.
That one is the 2011 GRAND Cherokee.
If Jeep is 4WD + live axle at both ends of the vehicle, then that thing doesn’t qualify as that.
But the world evolves… and so have done other brands, even Jeep itself: Land Rover in this case went that route loooooong time ago. Did someone said a Range Rover stopped being a Range Rover because of that… I don’t think so. Jeep was among the first 4WD manufacturers that used a unibody for its vehicles… XJ Cherokee. Is the XJ Cherokee a Jeep or not?
If Chrysler builds a GC with 2 live axles… then it’s a caveman design, not refined enough and a stupid long blah blah blah by the media, B&B, whatever…
I think it is a Jeep. I honestly don’t give a shit if it has to have two live axles. If the thing can go out to the dirt and don’t break in the process, then it’s a Jeep for me.
This thread has to star with one basic definition: What is a Jeep. What defines the Jeep brand. Then we can honestly talk about the new GC.
PS: I’d buy the damn thing. The current one and the next one with the nicer interior. Hemi V8 for me, thanks.
I think it looks really nice, but unfortunately, it really doesn’t matter at this point. Classic “too little too late” scenario. Plus they keep harping that it’ll go 500 miles due to it’s 24.5 gal tank with the V6. I’m sorry, but that equates to a pretty horrible 21mpg hwy or thereabouts. In today’s world, that’s pretty sad.
If you’re going to stay on pavement, there are better choices for less money, starting with the Dodge Journey (yeah, I know) and going up from there.
If you’re going to go off-road and need to carry people and stuff, well, Toyota does nice work with the 4Runner.
I’m sure it’s nice and all, but what’s the point?
golf4me :
I’m sorry, but that equates to a pretty horrible 21mpg hwy or thereabouts. In today’s world, that’s pretty sad.
For an SUV that does what this will do…I say not bad at all! Some of us want room for four adults AND the ability to go somewhere (actually anywhere with a Jeep) on a weekend AND take more than a sack lunch with us. Sorry Nancy Pelosi, but the Prius won’t do that and I am not willing to pay $50k for those hybrids you say we all want….this IS the vehicle people want to buy.
It’s reality check time!
The Jeep brand will be around for a while longer, however US manufacturing will be vaporized all too soon.
Just ask yourself, where’s the value in the Jeep organization? Toledo? A bunch of bitter UAW workers? Nope, its the brand itself, back office (marketing & customer support) and about 500 North American dealers – that’s it.
Some Jeeps are already made in China, so in the future, all the Jeeps will be Chinese.
Low cost manufacturing, combined with North American marketing skills – it could actually work.
No one with even half a brain takes higher end SUVs off road. This is MORE than able to handle anything that 99.9% of the sane buyers would throw at it.
I don’t get the whole deal of people thinking all Jeep products must be “trail ready”. Thats dumb marketing plain and simple. Smart would be to market the fact that Jeep builds tough go anywhere 4×4 (Wranglers), and therefore are capable of building the best “light offroad” use great all weather luxury road vehicles (Grand Cherokee). And “light offroad” use more affordable (Patriot)
(Compass should DIE, answer to the question nobody asked.)
Any hard core offroader knows what Jeep they need, and the posers can keep buying what ever they want.(Wrangler owners don’t mind towing them out of the shit they get into)
Its not my cup of tea… but I really like the look, somewhat generic, but tastful and somehow it still says Jeep to me.
I hear it will have 40% better than average reliability, according to Consumer Reports.
It looks nice enough am I’m sure that it decent design – but I just don’t think it matters at this later hour. Chrysler will most likely be C11 by end of the month. Even if they do emerge and build this vehicle, I am not sure a techno laden SUV is the best way to go – I would aim for solid, reliable and affordable.
I second TriShield’s remarks…Me Likey. From what I’ve read and seen so far this morning, it looks well-designed and it seems like the off-road capabilities are very impressive. Nicely done Jeep and Chrysler…I can’t imagine the hurdles you had to jump to make this seemingly excellent vehicle happen with such a heavily reduced staff.
Hmmmm…maybe that whole ‘leaner staff’ thingy works.
There are different types of Jeeps, and when someone talks about a “real Jeep”, IMO as a Jeep guy it’s more about what it can do off-road vs. it’s style. For this reason, the Wrangler is more of the off-road warrior with it’s short-wheel base, front and rear solid axles, the massive after-market support, and that in it’s stock form can survive off-road more then any other vehicle (especially the Rubicon with it’s lockers and 4:1 four-wheel low).
I do own a Wrangler and a Liberty, and in a few years I may trade-in the Liberty for a Grand Cherokee. Now would I buy a Grand Cherokee to wheel it? Sure for basic trails but not for an off-road warrior. I’d rather take the 44k (for a loaded Limited Grand Cherokee) and buy a Rubicon Wrangler (for 30k) and spend the difference on a lift, after-market roll cage, new wheels and larger tires, etc., etc.
A Grand Cherokee is a Jeep; it’s just like a Wagoneer. Larger, more luxery, more room and can even tow the Wrangler to the hills or my favorite mud pit.
It’s got some sweet features, they’ve put some effort into this.
Forget about the 17″ tires, and go for one of the 20″ versions.
You can remove the air dam in front, in order to get better approach angles, and you can dial up the maximum clearance which is a respectable 11.1 inches. Add a couple of bumpers/spacers, and you can get even more, if off-road/dirt road is your pleasure.
They don’t go into detail about the suspension, but I take it that the offroad selections stiffen the suspension considerably, sacrificing on-road comfort for guaranteed clearance.
Don’t know what they’ve done as far as swaybars or restrictions, but that can probably also be adjusted/removed.
This shows they’re at least more serious than the Porsche people behind the powder-puff Cayenne:
• Sand/Mud: Traction control and Quadra-Lift operate with sensitive response to wheel spin, and torque is tuned for optimal performance
• Snow: Vehicle traction and Quadra-Lift adjust for ultimate performance over snow-covered roads
• Rock: Quadra-Lift suspension raises to maximum height (11.1 inches) and the transfer case, differentials, and throttle coordinate to provide low-speed control
Selec-Terrain, coupled with the all-new Quadra-Lift air suspension, offers drivers an adjustable suspension span that delivers legendary Trail Rated® performance.
With the front air dam removed, and the available Quadra-Lift air suspension, the all-new Jeep Grand Cherokee features a 35.9-degree approach angle, (compared to 32.3 on current model), a 29.2-degree departure angle (compared to 27.5 on current model) and 25.1-degree breakover angle (compared to 20.4 on current model).
After screwing up, Commander anyone? – they finally get their s*** sorted, when it’s probably too late.
But I agree with LXbuilder – you don’t really take these off-road. The interior alone will get messed up beyond belief once you’ve been in and out of the car a couple of times trying to get it past obstacles. Too pretty by far – like putting chinchilla fur on the breech of an artillery piece.
After 10 years… it will go out to the real tough and crude terrain.
After those 10 years… it will be an old used SUV. Their owners won’t care that much about dirty interior, because by then it will be already wasted.
Happened with Wagoneers…
I’m checking the MT pics and the steering wheel looks like a nicely done modern interpretation of the ones used during the AMC era. Neat!!!!
I don’t know one person that takes their new Grand Cherokee off roading. And I live near the hear of the Motor City and see hundreds of the things every day and know plenty of people with Jeeps.
So yes, an independent suspension is fine. By the way, the military Humvees use an independent suspension front and rear, and they would basically be the top dog on any off-road course.
And no love for the Cayenne’s off-road prowess? I’ve driven the Cayenne before, and everything I’ve read tells me that this SUV is heavy because it has serious off-roading mechanicals that are overkill for anyone that just needs to commute to work. So in theory they should be off-roading monsters.
If you’re going to go off-road and need to carry people and stuff, well, Toyota does nice work with the 4Runner.
I’ll second that. Toyota and others have more competent off-road vehicles already. Jeep is nothing more than a name today. Chrysler and Daimler used it [the name] for profits and it’ll be sold off to someone else for that exact same reason once Chyco goes Ch 7.
Not a chance in hell I’d buy a Jeep with the much better competition available today. Chrysler as a whole, including Jeep, make inferior products. Only a fanboy would buy the new GC over a superior product from a healthy company, i.e. Toyota, et. al.
Chrysler has a couple of off road 4×4 tests, they go by designations something like AK3, AK4 etc. Its been a few years, so if anyone else knows the correct test spec name and parameters, please post. If it passes the more rugged test, then yes it meets the wants of the hard core buyers, if not it may have become an all weather soft roader.
Curiously, the Dakota test was tougher than the Wrangler. Mind you that was before the Rubicon version, and it was probably tested to the Dakota level. The folks at JTE would know.
PS Does JTE still exist, or has it been rolled into CTC? Last I heard PROC was for-sale/sold.
PPS I went to Jeep College just before it was wound down. It was fun, but the marketing people only knew how to drive them. Still that’s better than what you get at a car show or dealer.
I know two persons who take their Grand Cherokees off-roading. One of them traded his Wrangler in for it, because it was too small to carry all the equipment: tent, weapons, easy-up, food, water, gas, tools, spare wheels, etc. Results are pretty good, at least for older GCs.
Exhibit 1:
http://rav4world.com/forums/album_page.php?pic_id=5765
My RAV4 is on the left. Yes, I take RAV4.3 off-roading, and BTW it’s far inferior to Grand Cherokee. I have a bunch of pictures being rescued by Tacomas, etc.
Just yesterday I’ve read about a guy who took his Range Rover from Moscow to Vladivostok and back through Ulan-Bator. Was the road clearance a factor? No, of course not. But the rover has cut its engine mounts no less than 3 times.
Exhibit 2: http://www.tema.ru/travel/ee-10/
Let’s get serious about this stuff. There’s a nonsensusal, genitalia measurement, big-boulder crawling, live-axle off-roading, and there’s practical, out in the sticks, deliver-the-supplies off-roading. I’m not saying that this specific Grand Cherokee is a good call for the practical off-roading, but it’s something to keep in mind.
Now that that SUV craze is gone, Jeep (and GM, for that matter) needs to return to the old way of selling SUVs: take a good long time and a not-stingy amount of money and make a damn good vehicle, then sell it for as long as it takes to design its replacement. They got the formula right in the 80s, which of course attracted the attention of Chrysler, and that was the end of that. Still, we got the Cherokee out of it.
Unfortunately, now that the lux-truck is formally defined as a class, and it’s unlikely that Lexus, Cadillac, Infiniti, and Mercedes will stop offering such things (I’m not holding my breath on the others), I don’t think Jeep can really compete. They can’t move fast enough to stay current in the gizmo-centric luxury market, and any help in that department by a corporate owner is bound to end up in badge-engineering. Or, they could stick with the near-lux segment that the Grand Cherokee currently occupies, in practice if not in concept, but I rather doubt that’s going to be viable for much longer.
All that said, this thing can probably go further than what the average SUV buyer considers to be “off-road” i.e. mostly even dirt tracks with the occasional really big pothole or rock, which a sedan can usually navigate with a little trouble, albeit not while towing a boat. Going to rough-and-rutted dirt track and open forest, this thing will probably survive, too. Leave the mud-bogging and rock-hopping to the Wrangler.
Fredman, good point, you are right, but let’s face it only 1% of people will use that capability. This is supposed to be a mass-market vehicle. Next time you are out driving, look inside every GC you see. I’ll bet you’ll see that it’s clean, and driven by one person. If you ask that person “hey have you ever towed your boat to a remote lake via a rutted dirt road with your entire family?” I GAR-UN-TEE the answer will be no.
I just think that in today’s climate, compared to a bigger Lambda which gets 24 mpg hwy (and BTW was designed at least 6-7 years ago) and accomplishes 99.9% of the needs of anybody, it seems like a step backward. Getting less MPG from a smaller vehicle designed much later just seems ridiculous on the surface, just for the sake of the added off-road capability. (which no one uses)
That for a company that needs some advantage over it’s competitors, which this vehicle, as nice as it looks, does not accomplish.
@200k-min : While I’d say that in general you are right, to my eyes, the decision isn’t quite as cut and dried as it may seem, depending at least on intended use. To wit, I’m close to buying a TRD off-road Tacoma (need the bed), and I know that in many circumstances, it’ll be more capable than my lightly modded 2001 GC. But not all. The wheelbase of the Tacoma (i.e., 4Runner) is considerably longer than a GC; nearly 20″ if I recall correctly, and I can think of some places I’ve been and where people go where that might be the difference between getting through and not. The Toyotas are also wider. Too, even with only a modest lift, my GC with front ARB disconnects and a solid axle will articulate more freely than Toyota’s.
Etc.
Overall, yes, the Toyota is a superior overall product, by nearly all measures, but sometimes, it’s not the right tool for the job.
Regarding Porsche’s off-road cred: loath as I am to give the Cayenne ANY credit whatsoever, it actually has proved itself in at least one adventure I know of, and that’s in a trans-Siberian rally. It’s pretty much the real deal. Too, its sister vehicle, the Tuareg, is no slouch in Paris-Dakar and Baja (check recent results; they speak for themselves). And, well preceding any Porsche water pump, Porsche is not without considerable experience taking–you guessed it–the 911 off road, in both rally racing and Paris-Dakar, and, often, winning.
Nobody is going to buy this thing:
-It has no more passenger room and storage than mid-$20s cute ute.
-It’s smaller than what Americans use to tow, and the independent rear suspension doesn’t help towing either.
-While some people tow with luxury SUV’s, nobody goes off roading with them, so the off roading features are worthless. Unless they’re buying Wranglers people just want to see above traffic.
-Soccer moms in this price range want a German badge, or at least a Lexus or Acura.
-It’s finally hit the mainstream media that Chrysler’s quality is horrible.
That leaves approximately 0 customers, at least until the incentives are poured on thick.
“Yes, I know: most of the brand’s lineup sport a similar set-up and would fall apart just looking at The Rubicon.”
An assumption, and I’m sure you don’t have the ability to check either.
“I’ll second that. Toyota and others have more competent off-road vehicles already. Jeep is nothing more than a name today.”
Sure, because the AMC Jeeps were the greatest vehicles ever made and “real” Jeeps, sure, Whatever you say.
“others”=HUMMER
Adjustable air suspension? Not a real Jeep. But then again maybe the wipers don’t work in the rain, or the paint will start peeling off in six months. There’s always hope.
I like it. The exterior has regained some of the tension from the 1999-2004 Grand Cherokee. Interior looks fine…which is all it should be. As for the air-ride wizardry, I think it’s a good idea. A Range Rover works well both on- and off- road precisely because of the ridiculous computing power.
Serious off-roaders need not apply, of course, and should stick with the Wrangler (which is still excellent). This will be a good product in the truncated post-Chrysler Ch. 7 Jeep lineup.
With the exception of the Hemi/545RFE combination all of the power trains offered are Daimler hand-me-downs.
The air suspension will not age well.
It will be interesting to see what the new owners of Jeep do with the lineup. I can see the new Grand going back to its niche roots with the Wrangler and Patriot becoming the bread and butter products. Between the 4 door Wrangler and the lighter and more efficient Patriot the Liberty has no reason to exist now.
From Jim Press at the unveiling of this new Jeep:
“We prefer having a shorter timeframe to get through this period, get all the questions out of our minds, and get back to business as usual,” Press said during the first day of media previews at the New York International Auto Show.
The timeframe he’s referencing is the 30 days he thinks is ample to get a deal done with Fiat.
Getting back to business as usual, eh Jim? Good idea. Keep turning out crap no one wants. What a dolt.
It’s a Jeep. Not the one that Patton rode in World War II. But we don’t have that one anymore. I guess they could just make the Wrangler and discontinue all other models.
Anyone in the administration that thinks any good auto organization can re-arrange its product lineup in 3 weeks is ignorant. This model has been in development for several years. If they cancelled it, then we would hear several responses: “The old Grand Cherokee is falling behind in technology” or “They wasted how many hundreds of millions developing the new Grand Cherokee and didn’t introduce the newly developed model?” I guess Chrysler/Jeep can’t win in either case. They say the model is profitable.
I am not up on the air suspension details but how many old Lincolns (with air suspension) have you seen dragging their rear on the road? It doesn’t strike me as being very rugged. And they fail when the model reaches a certain age that the owner isn’t very inclined to spend big dollars on the repair.
I think the styling is decent.
I do also believe that Jeep will continue on regardless of what happens to Chrysler. As witnessed by the Wrangler’s 16% increase amidst Jeep’s 41% decline in March brought on by imitation-Jeep variants. Every time I see someone driving a 4-door Wrangler I think, here goes another guy who was smart enough to not pony up the money to buy a Hummer.
Shed all the bloated crap and go back to selling a few serious off-road capable trucks and there will be coinage to be had. The world isn’t full of hippies – yet.
The people who are serious about offroading and into Jeeps will get a Wrangler. The people who buy a Jeep Grand Cherokee (all 3 of them) and think they are into offroading will drive their GC onto the grass at school to watch their kid play soccer. Yes, the “trail rated” GC will be capable offroad, but that capability will seldom be used.
The current GC desperately needed to be replaced, and this is an improvement — the interior is better and the exterior is less ugly. But it is too little, too late. Chrysler isn’t going to survive long enough. The market for midsize SUVs is in the toilet. And Jeep’s reputation for quality has long since gone down past the toilet. The question is whether whoever buys Jeep from the ashes of Chrysler already has a good midsize SUV. If they do, then they’re likely to keep the Wrangler and ditch the rest of the Jeep lineup.
People like me who have a midsize SUV will not buy a GC if they decide to buy another midsize SUV — I’ll buy another 4Runner because I know it will last well past 100k miles with minimal maintenance.
Enzo Ferrari long ago declared Jeep to be America’s sports car. Under common FIAT control, America’s Ferrari can become Ferrari’s American. Drop the 6 litre V12 and its 611 Italian stallions under the hood and this bad boy will leave the German pretenders crying in their weizenbock.
What’s that RF? It doesn’t fit the Ferrari brand you say? Nonsense. Did that stop Porsche, BMW or Mercedes? Anyway, there’s plenty of brand heritage in a Ferrari Jeep:
http://www.autoblog.com/tag/Jerrari+Ferrari+jeep/
Magnifico, no?
Looks like a great entrant into a moribund market segment. Once upon a time, the Grand Cherokee had the segment nearly all to itself. But now, everyone has climbed on board.
I agree that the vast majority of Grand Cherokee buyers could care less about Trail Rated nonsense. Jeeps don’t have to be Rubicon trail ready to sell, but they do have to be great products in a strong segment. Building Durangos and Aspens to go after the same segment is just stupid though.
mikeolan :
April 8th, 2009 at 11:26 am said
“It’s not terribly ugly (unlike the last one)”
You’re right, it sets a whole new standard of ugly in that it is terribly, terribly, ugly, and looks terribly cheap!
(Fog lamps look like they were done at lowest cost possible …)
I don’t know about all this criticism…the Grand Cherokee is as integral to Jeep’s image as the Wrangler. Someone pointed out that Jeep pioneered high end SUV’s a while back, and I agree. I remember when (mid to late 90’s I guess) the fully loaded versions were the Soccer-mom special, I saw them everywhere. I saw a few strippers upstate, off-roading etc…, but their natural stomping ground was always the suburbs. I’d predict success for this model if it wasn’t for all the negative Chrysler press.
Granted, I’d never in a million years buy one (especially with an air suspension) and same goes for the Chrysler soft-roader line up in general. I can’t despise this car though.
the vast majority of Grand Cherokee buyers could care less about Trail Rated nonsense
Exactly and why I think the whole “is it a real Jeep” a stupid question in the first place. The thing debuted in 1992 as an Explorer competitior and was the “first Jeep with a Chrysler badge.” Never been a “real” Jeep in the sense it was never about the off pavement lifestyle Jeep pretends to be, but a competitor in the new SUV craze.
From what I’ve read Iacocca wanted AMC for the Jeep brand and primarily the Grand Cherokee which was under development. Smart move for Iacocca since it was the perfect product for the 1990’s SUV boom. Today, not so much.
Jeep under Chrysler leadership hasn’t done much. The Grand Cherokee was a hit during boom years for that type of vehicle. The Commander was waaaay late the the big-SUV party and was a poor entry at that. The Liberty was an ok success but again, had a favorable market, for a while. The Compass and Patriot are just stupid and dilute the brand. Only the Wrangler has true Jeep heritage and oddly enough is the only current success in the lineup. A one-segment brand will always be cyclical and right now is not the good times for Jeep, plain and simple.
The Grand Cherokee has never been that great, and I don’t expect much better out of this new one. Well, that’s just assuming it’s going to see the light of day ever. The GC has always felt chintzy to me, and until the current one they’ve always been scary to drive IMO. The steering feels loose, the suspension feels soft, the slightest degree of steering makes it pitch and roll like an ocean liner in a hurricane, and without modifications it’s not much (or any) better off road than any 4Runner or Pathfinder. It’s no secret to anyone that knows me, working in a used car department ruined me on Jeeps because I got to see what they looked and drove like with some mileage on them. I wouldn’t buy any Jeep for any amount. In short, I don’t give a damn if they build that POS.
Robert,
A bit of clarification on the air suspension range that you list… The range is 4.5″ from Park Mode to Off-road 1. In other words, Park Mode ground clearance is 6.6″, while Off-road 1 is 11.1.
A few comments on the air suspension… If you don’t think an air suspension doesn’t work off-road, you haven’t been in the LR3 or seen it do what most vehicles cannot off-road. The air suspension actually works to emulate a live-axle’s articulation by pushing the wheel on the opposite side down if the other is pushed up. The articulation itself is not compromised if done right. You can search on YouTube for LR3 videos showing the crazy amount that it is capable of.
Regarding Jeep’s claim here…
“Jeep innovations including Quadra-Lift air suspension and Selec-Terrain traction control separate us from the crowd.”
Yeah, right. Not sure how they have the balls to proclaim this, given the LR3 has had both innovations since 2005. In fact, the picture and description of the Selec-Terrain system looks to be a direct rip-off of the LR3’s.
Anyhow, I bet that it is quite a capable off-roader, given these systems. It appears to be of higher-quality materials and design, inside and out. 4″ extra rear legroom is a huge plus. Hopefully you no longer sit your ass on the floor like the current model. And it would be nice to no longer smack your head on entry. Hopefully they looked carefully at the LR3’s interior for inspiration like they did with the 4×4 mechanicals.
Like Land Rover, they need a diesel offering in the U.S. for this model. At least it’s not a detriment to the Jeep line-up like the other poseur cute-utes and poorly executed models over the past 5+ years.
Couple of other points…
Why do they state “available Hill-Descent Control”? Please tell me that this is not an option. It is an integral part of the electronics controlling things off-road. Maybe it’s just ambiguous wording.
Where is the third row? Big silence here.
Overall, it looks like a well-executed design with lots of features, but it’s timing may be about five years too late.
Will the new Grand Cherokee be offered with a model that has three rows of seats? I would be inclined to buy a GC if it had three rows of fold-flat-on-the-floor seats. Until then, I much prefer my GMC Yukon XL Denali. I will say that the new GC is a very good looking vehicle. I hope the interior is not made from cheesy Dodge Nitro plastic bits. BTW, the next Dodge Durango will be based on this vehicle, assuming there is a Chryslerberus still around to build it.
Nice looking vehicle.
Too bad that it’s probably horribly cheap inside and put together poorly.
And one point, all three of my three siblings had Grand Cherokees. They drove okay I guess, especially the V8s. But lousy build quality and very poor mechanical reliability. And they found out why they are called “Grand.” Once out of warranty, every time you bring them in for repairs it’s gonna cost a grand (or more.)
With the exception of the Hemi/545RFE combination all of the power trains offered are Daimler hand-me-downs.
Apart from the 3.0L diesel destined for international markets, what are you talking about? The new 3.6L gasoline V6 is the first of a series of in-house-developed engines that will replace the existing Chrysler V6 lineup beginning in 2010. Granted, the new engine will be paired with a Mercedes-designed 5-speed automatic.
Owning a Jeep is a bittersweet experience. No matter how enthralled you are by the capability, raw honesty, and Spartan design, the shitty build quality is always there.
I’m sure this will be no different. At work today a good 5 guys, all with bad Jeep experiences in the past, were gathered around the screen looking at these pictures and freaking out over this. Two were open about buying it when it came out. There is something about the GC that really gets people.
It has seven spaces in the grill so it must be a real Jeep. That’s the only way to tell anymore.
My family owned a couple Grand Cherokees during the mid-to-late ’90s, and overall they were good vehicles.
I do have to concur that the dead spot in the center of the steering range was very annoying during highway driving.
To me it looks just like the WK with a Lincoln MKZ grille on it. Awful styling.
I wouldn’t ask for a 3rd row in a vehicle this short.
i’ve always been a fan of the GC, and this new one is easily my pick styling wise for SUVs. i like the interior too, it has a quite a lack of buttons for a car this days. i hope the new V6 is bang on and quality is up tho, for Chryslers sake
John Horner: “I agree that the vast majority of Grand Cherokee buyers could care less about Trail Rated nonsense.”I disagree. The whole ‘Trail Rated’ marketing hype is integral to the Jeep ‘lifestyle’ which motivates many to buy them despite their obvious and many failings as normal, daily transportation. It projects an image to the poseurs, the vast majority of whom rarely (if ever) take their ‘Trail Rated’ Jeeps off a paved surface. But, by god, they better have that rating (just in case). Likewise, it helps sell the non-Trail Rated Jeeps, as well, as in “Well, it might not be Trail Rated, but it’s still a Jeep”.
That’s just the way marketing works and many American car buying consumers are suckers for it. Although no Jeep is a ‘halo’ vehicle, per se, the Trail Rated marketing is certainly a halo around the brand and is likely responsible for keeping the marque afloat and the most successful of ChryCo’s miserable current product lineup.
In my foolish youth, I rented a brand new Grand Cherokee for fun and took it for some mild off-roading, or so I originally thought. We have a big diversion dam in our city and I drove down the hill beside it, through an opening in the bush and then alongside but above the river. At points I was literally inches away from rolling off the edge down into the river (at least a 12 foot drop). I gathered up some nerve and pressed on only to realize it was a dead end with no place to turn around. I had to go in reverse uphill again on that same precarious path. Thoughts of a destroyed SUV and a voided rental agreement ran through my mind as I tried to get out of the mess I put myself in. It took forever and I was sweating bullets, but man what an adrenaline rush!
A couple things I learned from that experience though:
• Finding a place to go off-roading is not easy, especially if you live in the city. Practically everywhere you go is trespassing on private property or inaccessible.
• I was willing to do it because it wasn’t my car but then I changed my tune half way along when I realized that I might be on the hook for repairs
• The GC was fully up to what I threw at it
I think many people buy an SUV with the ‘intention’ of trying it off-road, but then the concerns about damaging a vehicle they’ve paid a large amount of money for go into overdrive. For many, having Trail Rated on the side isn’t just for show, they just had unrealistic visions of off-road grandeur when they laid down the big money.
So I’m not an SUV guy.
Why is a solid axle better at off-roading then independent suspension?