With the shift of the Jeep franchise in Ireland to Fiat, writes Brian Byrne, as part of the Italian carmaker's merger/acquisition with Chrysler, it seemed an appropriate time to get a feel for the 70 years-old icon's flagship, the Grand Cherokee.
My review car was the Grand Cherokee Overland, and I drove it for two weeks in the best place possible to try it, its own country. Which, of course, meant an engine difference, because the 3.0 diesel from VM Motori which will power it in Ireland is not available in the US. Still, the 3.6 V6 petrol Pentastar is an interesting experience, and has showed off the car well.
The style of the latest Grand Cherokee is strong, but without being domineering — although there's no getting away from the presence of that big chrome grille. Very classy headlights design offers a very contemporary look, complementing the overall sleek lines of a car which also has the requisite muscular look for offroaders. But a controlled one, none of your overblown Muscle Beach here.
In the Overland specification, my car came with everything you could think of, and then some. It was also a Trail Rated 4x4 — the Grand Cherokee in the US is also available in 2WD format, strictly for road use.
In size it fits pretty well the footprint of the Land Rover Discovery 4, but isn't far short of the full Range Rover either. It is longer than the Toyota Land Cruiser, and has a longer wheelbase.
In the US, the GC is well respected, and people turned to look at this version when I rolled it to a stop in a car park. The reviewers have been enthusiastic about it, especially in relation to its interior finish.
Which is very much where it does score. The quality of the inside trim and fit is way above what used to be the norm for American cars, even upmarket ones. Part of the reason may be that this model was developed while Daimler owned the brand and were determined to move it upwards.
With the Overland specification I had real wood trim, including on the steering wheel; leather wherever I'm likely to touch; a full sat-nav system and Chrysler's Uconnect package which includes voice-activated Bluetooth phone control and a Sirius satellite radio system (for which there's an annual charge after the first year).
In the comfort area there is, of course, full climate control and heated seats. More interesting, and certainly very useful in the 36degC steamy weather we experienced on this trip, air-conditioned cooling for the front seats. Safety features include radar-controlled Adaptive Cruise Control, rear backup camera, blind-spot overtaking warning and all the other things we take for granted. There's also a collision danger warning system.
The review car also has a dial-up AWD selection system called Selec-Terrain, with which you have it set up for whatever kind of situation you want, from Automatic and Sport for normal highway driving, through Mud/Sand and Rock modes. An adjustable air suspension is also an option.
I picked up the car in Boston and by the time I had made it out of the city and to my first base in Groton, Massachusetts, I was already impressed. The V6 was smooth, the 5-speed automatic equally creamy. Riding high was a big help in managing the unfamiliar drive through rush-hour traffic.
A number of days spent in the old New England region proved the car very easy to manage even on the smaller and twisty roads which are part of that area. Americans drive slower than we do, and don't go in for hard braking, so you quickly get into a fairly laid back driving mode.
Next came an all-day run down to our next stop in Jersey City. In all it was about seven hours of mostly highway driving, but the last hour was taken up by just a few miles of getting across lower Manhattan, with plenty of time to observe the minutiae of life on Canal Street as we inched our way toward the Holland Tunnel. Again, the high riding position was a boon to see above the traffic, which has its own inimitable pattern of apparent chaos. Still, Rome is worse, I think.
This was just an overnight, before another long driving day down to Onancock, Virginia. Now with four up and all our luggage, we came to appreciate both the capacity and the miles-gobbling capability of the Grand Cherokee. With the day's driving being the equivalent of going from Letterkenny to Dingle, I wouldn't have wanted to be in anything smaller.
A couple of niggles showed up, but very minor. The most annoying is the info readout between the pair of main dials, difficult to monitor when wearing the sunglasses you must do in sunny weather. And my rear seat passengers suggested a couple of more aircon vents in the back would have helped.
The day's run back up to Jersey City at the end of our time in Virginia only confirmed that this is a pretty top-notch car for a long haul trip with full load of people and luggage.
Fuel consumption in Irish terms has worked out at 10.7L/100km, about 27mpg, not bad even when the price of petrol here has hit €0.70 a litre. I have driven the diesel version already and it's a torquey and refined motor that will offer significantly better consumption here.
The car's price? Well, in the US you can get into a GC from $30,000, while the Overland version I had was probably closer to $40,000 or maybe a bit more with all the options. In America, that's considered a fairly expensive domestic car. We don't yet have an Irish price list under the new distributor arrangement, but a high-spec version at somewhere under €57,000 would be very competitive.
