Photo Gallery:
2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Diesel
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4
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I have been looking forward to this week for sometime now. I booked this vehicle a few months ago and have had it on my mind since then. I even had a friend who was looking at one of these vehicles as a tow rig for his race car and after recommending it (sight unseen) I was hoping to drive it myself soon.
How can you argue with the engine in this thing? We have this week the Jeep Grand Cherokee EcoDiesel and all its three litres of V6 diesel goodness that outputs a mighty 420 lb-ft of torque and offers up a respectable towing capacity (3,300 kg/7,200 lb).
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I was excited to see how this vehicle performs in towing and fuel economy this week, but unfortunately cannot test towing due to the lack of brake controller. Kind of silly if you ask me, a vehicle like this should just come with one standard and integrated into the on-board electronics, especially when you consider the price of the vehicle.
A small diesel with the ability to pull a large load like this Grand Cherokee is really appealing as a daily driver. It allows you to have your cake and eat it too, while a V8-equipped vehicle will return horrible fuel economy empty and laden, while the diesel should return great fuel economy empty and no-so-horrible laden.
My tester is a “Summit” model, which comes pretty much loaded full jam with features like navigation, dual-zone climate control, heated and ventilated seats, automatic cruise control, blind spot detection, leather seating and more. First impressions for me are quite positive — in fact I think the interior looks fabulous.
Pricing: 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee
Base price (Summit Package): $63,345
Options: EcoDiesel Engine — $4,995; Granite Crystal Metallic Clear Coat — $195; CD Player — $225
A/C tax: $100
Destination charge: $1,695
Price as tested: $70,555
Competitors:
Audi Q5 3.0 TDI quattro
BMW X5 xDrive35d
Mercedes-Benz ML 350 Bluetec 4Matic
VW Touareg 3.0 TDI Diesel 4Motion
