Topic: 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee; Day 1

[saint_satan]

Cory X:

IMHO, therein lies the problem with modern Jeeps.  The Jeep Cherokee had more low end torque and weighed 800 and 1200 lbs. less the the 2 generations of Libertys.  The result, the Liberty is slower, less capable (lower), and less fuel efficient than the vehicle it replaced.  Oh, and the interiors are cheaper than vehicles made 10+ years ago.  The Patriot and the Compass have worst in class acceleration. 

When Jeep decided it need to compete with the Honda Pilot, CR-V and Rav4 they managed to mangle the brand.  I think the Grand Cherokees of the mid 90's were a perfect combination of size, utility, power and refinement.  The current Jeeps try too hard to be alternatives to the CUV and stay "trail-rated" at the same time.  Not an easy task and I think it has resulted in missing the mark on both accounts.

After 2 excellent Cherokees, I looked for every excuse to buy another Jeep.  The Liberty is too slow and bad and fuel, The Patriot/Compass too small, unrefined and underpowered, and the Commander is a lame duck.  Only the GC shines. 

In general, Chryco can't seem to get more than one winner at a time.  The 1st gen Liberties sold over 200K - now they sell 90kish with the hideous gen 2.  Patriot and Compass were dying a violent death until they started giving them away with $3-4 k discounts.  I haven’t seen a Commander on a lot in 3 years.  Too bad.  Jeep was the crown jewel of Chryco and it has been neglected for the better part of the last 5+ years.

[kicker]

Quote from Michael Vaughans 2010 Report Card

B +

Chrysler: I had written Chrysler off until I saw the 14 new and improved vehicles that they are bringing to market. Huge improvements in all of them made with little or no money. Shows real commitment by the employees who are left. The soon to be debuted Chrysler 300 is another winner too.
Don't ask me who he is , I don't know .

[Spec5]

Well, I agree with saint_satan (really?!) - Jeep I think is just trying too hard to hit too many customers with the same vehicle. Maybe they need to make their more CUV type vehicles more ummm, desireable.

James - do you HAVE to get the panny sunroof or is that an option? Obviously you could just delete it if its an option (which I would do in a heartbeat - just another place for leaks to show up) which would hopefully fix your rear seat problem. How bad is it anyway? If there really is that much more room than other SUVs it might be worth a price to pay - at least for me. I know for 1 I won't be sitting in the back of it any time I'm in there. Wife always wants me to drive and with 1 2 year old and a 5'6" wifey it couldn't be THAT hard to live with...?

What about a non-trail rated version that gutted the off road capability and used lightweight components?

[wing]

You can't get the overland without the roof but you could get a base model without one.

[Bullet Blue]

When did < 10secs to 100 become SLOW for an SUV? 

Considering BMW's X5 can get from 0-100 in 6.4 seconds, with 300 horses as well, I'd say that's fairly slow. And the X5 is quite the porker weighing in at over 5 tonnes. As mentioned, I suspect the new GC could do with extra gears. And extra gears would also help with efficiency.

That said, I've recently had the chance to drive the new GC and my goodness, what an improvement! Looks great, interior materials are finally up to par, good steering feedback and as mentioned plenty of usable space. I think Jeep has a winner on their hands with this one.

Finally Chrysler is stepping up their game. Good to see.

[aquadorhj]

When did < 10secs to 100 become SLOW for an SUV? 

Considering BMW's X5 can get from 0-100 in 6.4 seconds, with 300 horses as well, I'd say that's fairly slow. And the X5 is quite the porker weighing in at over 5 tonnes. As mentioned, I suspect the new GC could do with extra gears. And extra gears would also help with efficiency.

That said, I've recently had the chance to drive the new GC and my goodness, what an improvement! Looks great, interior materials are finally up to par, good steering feedback and as mentioned plenty of usable space. I think Jeep has a winner on their hands with this one.

Finally Chrysler is stepping up their game. Good to see.

i agree GC is fairly slow, and needs more gears, but 5 tonnes for x5?    are you sure?  that's 10000 american lbs or metric 5000 kg (in which case is more than 10000 american lbs)

[ovr50]

When did < 10secs to 100 become SLOW for an SUV? 

Considering BMW's X5 can get from 0-100 in 6.4 seconds, with 300 horses as well, I'd say that's fairly slow. And the X5 is quite the porker weighing in at over 5 tonnes. As mentioned, I suspect the new GC could do with extra gears. And extra gears would also help with efficiency.

That said, I've recently had the chance to drive the new GC and my goodness, what an improvement! Looks great, interior materials are finally up to par, good steering feedback and as mentioned plenty of usable space. I think Jeep has a winner on their hands with this one.

Finally Chrysler is stepping up their game. Good to see.

i agree GC is fairly slow, and needs more gears, but 5 tonnes for x5?    are you sure?  that's 10000 american lbs or metric 5000 kg (in which case is more than 10000 american lbs)

I think he meant 5000 pounds, which is what it is. And that time is with the 6 cylinder, the V8 is faster.

[neil]

Car and Driver reported a 0-60 time of 8.4 seconds with the V6.  I trust their results.

Doesn't this make most of this thread wasted electrons now?

I wonder what a Liberty will do with the new engine?

[Jeep = Cheap]

Yeah u tell them....this jeep is not a big enough lemon....go for the biggest lemon of them all a POS Dodge Journey...lol

It's 10.4 according to AJAC, okay that's slow.  For comparison sake the Edge is 8.3, the 05 Cherokee tested was 7 seconds but I can only assume that's the V8.

I'm sure the new Pentastar is a good motor but it's just hauling too much weight. Put a fat suit on just about any Olympic athlete and they'll be slow too. Mopar needs to seriously consider new technology in shedding the pounds.

The reason it's so much heavier than, say, a Highlander, is because it's more off-road capable.  The sophisticated 4x4 systems and the chassis reinforcement that makes it so good in the rough stuff has a flipside to it.  If you don't need all that stuff, Chrysler has other vehicles to offer (the updated Dodge Journey springs to mind).

[Bullet Blue]

When did < 10secs to 100 become SLOW for an SUV? 

Considering BMW's X5 can get from 0-100 in 6.4 seconds, with 300 horses as well, I'd say that's fairly slow. And the X5 is quite the porker weighing in at over 5 tonnes. As mentioned, I suspect the new GC could do with extra gears. And extra gears would also help with efficiency.

That said, I've recently had the chance to drive the new GC and my goodness, what an improvement! Looks great, interior materials are finally up to par, good steering feedback and as mentioned plenty of usable space. I think Jeep has a winner on their hands with this one.

Finally Chrysler is stepping up their game. Good to see.

i agree GC is fairly slow, and needs more gears, but 5 tonnes for x5?    are you sure?  that's 10000 american lbs or metric 5000 kg (in which case is more than 10000 american lbs)

I think he meant 5000 pounds, which is what it is. And that time is with the 6 cylinder, the V8 is faster.

Yes, that's what I meant. My mistake. 

[CatsEye68]

Car and Driver reported a 0-60 time of 8.4 seconds with the V6.  I trust their results.

Dear god, don't let Jaeger see this. We'll get 50 posts telling us it's too slow...

[cruzzer]

I see today that Autoweek gave the Jeep Grand Cherokee 'Best of the Best' rating as their choice of best truck tested this year. Mostly 'fives' across the board. I struggle to understand how it received only a 'three' rating in this test. Every single test I've read about this Jeep ranks it amongst the best SUV's made, but with almost unmatched off road capabilities. Weird. While the Canadian Driver test wasn't negative, it didn't exactly come up with similar results to what I've seen in many other tests.

[wing]

It's nice, but 15L/100km for a slow V6 for everyday, meh.  If you want an offroader, yes its the one.  99% of buyers would be better served with the new Edge I suspect.

[cruzzer]

Wing, I guess it depends on where you live and where you want to go, etc. But an EDGE? 99%? This new Jeep is better in many areas of comparison and vastly better in a few. To me that is a strange choice. The Edge AWD gets about the same fuel economy as the V6 Jeep (one test I read it got 15.7 L/100km, but has NONE of the off road abilities. And it's kinda funny looking.

[wing]

I'd hazard to guess most GC owners never go over anything other than a gravel road.  The capabilities are great but few use them.