Jeep Grand Cherokee review (15/02/2012)

A few months ago, I reviewed the new Jeep Compass and I thought it was terrible. It had a decent engine and that was about it. The rest of it was a damning indictment of American car production.

The Jeep brand is owned by Chrysler, which is now owned by Fiat and this automotive stew has throw up motoring curiosities (read: damnably awful cars), including the Compass.

It was with trepidation that I tested the new Jeep Grand Cherokee. The Cherokee has been a success for Jeep, and even outside of America it has a sizeable volume of supporters.

Even though the last version was awful — a Jeep chassis married to a Mercedes engine might have seemed like a good idea, but it wasn’t. Now the designers have produced a massive turnaround by basing the car on a Mercedes platform and a Fiat engine. The transformation could not be more startling.

Mercedes, once a partner of Chrysler (remember the ill-fated DaimlerChrysler merger?), no longer has anything to do with the American brand — much to the relief of everyone in Stuttgart. Such was the Germans’ haste to abandon that unfortunate merger, nobody knows what concessions they gave to the Americans.

That this machine has a Mercedes platform and that its engine — made by a concern called VM Moteri and ‘developed by Fiat’ — shares the same bore and stroke and has the same 2,987cc capacity as Mercedes’ V6 three-litre diesel, smacks of an alimony payment.

When the Fiat PR apparatus speaks glowingly of ‘our’ new diesel engine, one does not question it. This package genuinely impresses — even an old curmudgeon like me.

It may be that Mercedes’ generosity (or guilt) did not stretch to providing Jeep with its advanced seven-speed auto gearbox, leaving them to utilise an elderly five-speed design, but that does not spoil a machine that truly surprised me with its ability.

I expected a car as underpowered as it was unable to tackle a corner. I could not have been more wrong. Not alone was the Grand Cherokee sprightly and surprisingly quick, it handled with considerable verve and a surefooted willingness to take on any class of road.

The Cherokee will make the 0-100 kph dash in 8.2 seconds and has a top speed over 200 kph. It will also return 8.3 l/100 km (which is just over 34 mpg) and none of those figures is bad for a 2,272 kg SUV.

While this level of performance and ability was unexpected, it was nothing compared to the surprise of the ride and handling. American cars are not noted for their cornering and some of their SUVs are infamous in this regard.

The Cherokee is well-sorted and demonstrated a degree of grip that took me by surprise. After initial, tentative efforts to see how good or bad this thing was — expecting bad — I quickly realised that it was right up in Land Rover Discovery territory.

There is another Land Rover comparison here, too, because the Jeep is equipped with a system similar to the ‘terrain response’ that allows you to tailor the car to whatever is underfoot. Again, I was impressed.

The Jeep may not have the full off-road ability of the ‘Disco’ — its ground clearance ensures that is the case — but if you need a car capable of lugging horse boxes or trailers around, then you will not find it wanting. And you will actually like driving, it too.

It is not often that you find an SUV you want to drive, but this was one of them. My surprise could not have been greater.

Jeeps of old had all the styling brilliance of a cavity block and an interior so overloaded with mediocre add-ons that I coined the phrase ‘everything but the sinking kitsch,’ and nothing much has changed on that front.

While the new machine is not a head turner and relies on ‘blingy’ touches (check those flashy alloys or the privacy glass) to make its mark, it has a real presence on the road and its sheer mass ensures that. But it is not unpleasant to look at and I would not mind it decorating my driveway.

Inside, there are swathes of Nappa leather and loads of kit, but a lot of the plastics (many of which try to disguise themselves as metal) are pretty naff and not really the sort of thing you’d want or expect from a 60K machine.

Even so, I truly liked this car and I could not have been more surprised at that realisation.

I genuinely expected that I’d hate it, but nothing could have been further from the truth. I have had many issues with Jeeps in the past, but I am glad to say that while the company may have performed poorly with other models, in this case it has got things 95% on the money.

Check it out.